We went to bed in Papeete on Saturday night expecting to awaken Sunday morning in Moorea. That did not happen. We awoke Sunday morning still in Papeete. The storm that arrived Saturday and cancelled the festivities of the food trucks had also caused havoc with the sea and cancelled our ability to sail through the reef and anchor in Opunohu Bay. Instead, we set course to Bora Bora and arrived there Sunday night just after dinner. (If you’d like to read about Moorea, French Polynesia check out our post from January 24, 2018.) I’m afraid that for many, an extra evening in Bora Bora was not enough to compensate for missing Moorea. But just imagine the panic of those passengers who had ferried from Papeete to Moorea to enjoy a night in an overwater Bungalow! They wound up scrambling to catch flights to Bora Bora to re-board the MS Amsterdam.
We are all back on schedule now.
Let me show you a little bit of Bora Bora:
We are anchored in the Bora Bora Lagoon and tender to the dock.Mount Otemanu dominates the island.Vaitape is a small town with many Black Pearl shops, a supermarket, church, a few restaurants, and the tender dock. It doesn’t take long to explore.So we elected to take the island sponsored shuttle (US $5.00/pp/trip) to Matira Beach. It was about a 15 minute drive to the beach. This is the view along the way.The shuttle let us off at the Moihere Snack Bar on Matira Beach.First priority: have a local beer! As long as we’re at the Moihere Snack Bar, that’s where we decided to have the afternoon libation.That Hinano beer was pretty good!Hinano is the local beer.This is the closest we came to swimming!And Rog is still enjoying his afternoon libation!Next, we caught the shuttle to Bloody Mary’s. (another US$5.00/pp)At Bloody Mary’s, it is almost a requirement to have Jimmy Buffet’s Cheeseburger in Paradise!As you can see on the celebrity visitors board, Buffet has been here. So has Michner! (There are more signs of famous names. Bloody Mary’s has been a local institution since 1956.)The food looks pretty good. And the Bloody Mary’s are too!There’s often a wait to get a table. We were between tour buses so it wasn’t too bad today.Bloody Mary has a private dock–but we have never seen private boats bringing diners. None-the-less, it is a very pleasant place to sit and enjoy the view and tropical breezes.We caught another shuttle ($5.00/pp) back to the ship. The MS Amsterdam is awaiting our return.The local entertainers, vendors, and tour guides are all still on the dock. Ready to bid us farewell!
Now, it will take 3 more days at sea to sail to Nuku Alofa, Tonga. The adventure continues!
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