Bora Bora

(And certainly not boring boring!)

After six days at sea we finally reached land on Tuesday, arriving in Bora Bora in French Polynesia. I had booked an all-day “Lagoon Extravaganza” that delivered great sights and memorable experiences. First, there were only twelve in my group — a good, manageable, and (dare I say) even Biblical number. Our first stop was a place to snorkel and admire the many tropical fish. The day was cloudy, limiting the light under the water. At least that’s my excuse for my little waterproof camera not delivering better shots (note how I didn’t cite “photographer error” as the issue!).

Then we motored over to a sandbar with more fish — especially stingrays and black-tipped reef sharks. We were able to pet the stingrays. The sharks we admired but did not touch. Pretty amazing to be in the water with them. I can now say that I swam with sharks (and I’m not even talking about the days when I was a lawyer…).

The off to a quiet, shallow place for more swimming. A kind lady in my tour group offered to take my photo, resulting in what I’m dubbing my “burial at sea” picture. We then enjoyed a BBQ lunch on a private “motu,” one of the many small out islands surrounding Bora Bora. Even the airport is on a separate motu.

While it was lovely to walk on solid ground for the first time in nearly a week, I mistakenly assumed that the prevailing cloud cover meant I really didn’t need to apply the sunscreen I had brought with me for the day. I was wrong. Quite wrong. And this led me to meet my new best friend, Vera. As in aloe vera, which I have been applying liberally since Tuesday night.