LAST DAY IN BORA BORA
22 June 2013 | 16 29'S:152 10'W, HEADING WEST TO MAUPITI
LIL
For those of you who have been dutifully following our blog (we'd like to think there are a few of you out there), you will recall that we switched gears and decided to stay in Bora Bora one more day. GREAT CALL!
If there is a theme to this day in Bora Bora (and I do like to have a theme), it would be 'colorful'.
With the dinghy engine repaired, the whole world (or at least the whole world of Bora Bora) opened up to us with options for many activities.
Ronnie and Jon went snorkeling with new friends, Jens, Evelyn and Michelle. Ronnie, our artist laureate, was impressed by the beautiful colors under the sea, particularly the purples (her favorite color) of the fish and coral.
Michael, Linda, Ken and I went diving....with a very professional dive company, Top Dive. (Sidebar: when Ken and I dived in Tahiti 25 years ago, we had an awesome time, but the dive 'company' could only be described as ragtag. Linda was most impressed with the staff. In her 400+ dives, she had never had both a female divemaster and a female boat captain. It is a brave new world. I was guessing that I hadn't dived in 15 years. Well, I was close. After checking my log book, I saw that it was actually 14 years, 1 month since I had been suited up in dive gear. Needless to say, as showtime approached, I started getting nervous. Elise, our divemaster, sensed my concern, and took me under her wing (OK, under her arm) and kept me close until I got my (under the) sea legs. And...what was lurking 20-40 feet below the surface? Beautiful, colorful fish, spotted eagle rays, very, very cute clams with iridescent eyes and blue and purple lips, a huge moray eel, and the piece de resis tance.....a sea cucumber with white sticky stomach strings hanging out of his mouth (I think). Really! Look it up on Wikipedia.
And, now for the festival, the raison d'etre for staying the extra day. Dinner was the first order of business....as always. Michael and Linda had wandered over the prior day and watched a gentleman and his family creating and decorating his restaurant, so out of newly-found loyalty, we chose that one from the many possibilities. As it turned out, it was the most popular and the food was excellent. My choice of poisson cru Tahitian, raw fish marinated in coconut milk and surrounded by fresh veggies was delicious. We were pleasantly surprised by (believe it or not) the chow mein special. The second largest group of non-locals in French Polynesia, after the French, are people of Chinese extraction, and their food has not yet been 'Americanized'.
Probably, the most special part was seeing local culture from the perspective of locals. All of us who have done a bit of travelling can relate to having seen one too many dinner/"traditional" dance performances created by local promoters for tourists. Not here. This was the real deal. It is a month-long competition of dance, sports and other activities by people from the many villages, hoping to win the top spot of Bora Bora and go on to represent their island in the national competition. It is truly a family event: a sand stage created for the yearly competition, surrounded by families picnicking on blankets, kids playing fussball, a few kids playing with iPads (yes, it truly is one world), grandmas in festive and floral garland headdresses, and a few kids sound asleep in mama's arms. And: flowers everwhere. The dancing and singing, performed by locals in beautiful, traditional garb were fabulous. (See picture above).
That evening was probably the latest we have stayed up in some time...but not late enough to thwart our plans for an early departure the next day for Maupiti.