Etape 20 - Bora Bora, just another paradise..

Aerial view of Bora Bora
see all photos »

As a cherry on the cake I ended up to Bora Bora. I could not miss BB if I were in Polynesia. It is legendary, for a good reason, but it is becoming a joke. They are building way too many overwater bungalows for desperate honeymooners who end up winding anywhere between 500 to 1500 US dollars per night in those overhyped places. Simply not worth. However, it is worth visiting Bora Bora and staying at basic pensions and local guesthouses.

Lagoon has incredible colors and I was feeling very happy to visit the island. Although not planned I ended up diving in Bora Bora -- doing famous Lemon Shark site of Tapu, diving with plenty of sharks in Muri Muri and being amazed of 20+ eagle rays coordinated dance in Toopua. Much better than I expected.

Lagoon has impressive colors..
see all photos »

I was diving with Bora Diving Center (Eric, Simon, Anthony, Patrick & Elaine) who I can also recommend warmly. In fact I met Simon already at Rangiroa where he was diving with a few blokes from the USA. In BB I bumped into him in the bar of Novotel Matira on my search of nightlife on Friday night. He was there celebrating his birthday with half of the islands' dive instructors. That was apparently the best 'party' in the island that night. After a few beers we ended up to a local resto for dinner and yet another drinks.. argh, next morning I had to spent a few mins in breathing clean air via regulator to clear my head prior to diving. The following 2 days I was hanging around with local friends and learnt about the darker sides of paradises like Bora... very interesting.

Local speciality, eagle ray, en masse..
see all photos »

I was feeling very sad to leave the place as I also knew that I was my last stop in warm tropical climate. I returned to Tahiti (Papeete) on Sunday evening and took Air France flight (very nice) to Los Angeles on Monday morning 27th.

--- CHECK 'View more photos>' LINK FOR REST OF THE BORA PHOTOS ---