Saturday, April 21, 2012
Moorea Island Tour - tropical gardens
Polynesian Temples - island tour of Moorea, French Polynesia
We are greeted by locals in traditional Polynesian dress as we disembark the tender in Moorea, French Polynesia. We are doing a half day island tour then the ship is repositioning to Papette, Tahiti later in the afternoon.
Elaine and Patricia
other marae.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Bora Bora -last glimpses.
We have just returned to the port after spending a wonderful day on the island with Maohi Nui (Patrick's Tour). R
Rapa and Elaine
4x4 driver; Patrick and his daughter.
Polynesian Lunch on Motu, Bora Bora
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHEfoOLo4FU&feature=plcp
My video link of the explantion of the traditional Polynesian style of cooking.
Wonderful lunch at Patrick's Motu! Grilled lobster and fish. A huge meal prepared in a pit buried in the sand with poi, a suckling pig! The food was just great - but to watch it prepared in a traditional way was cool. We actually sat on a picnic table in the water. Champagne included!
snorkling with the manta rays!
small reef tip sharks below - my video of the sharks:
About Patrick
Born in Bora Bora in 1964, Heifara Patrick TAIRUA grows up in a large family, where working means survival. All children take part in the daily tasks, such as working in the plantations, fishing, coffee picking and processing, pandanus work (for vegetal roofs), and many other traditional manual tasks.
The father, a cultivator widely involved in the community, is considered by everyone as the Chief of the village of Anau. He’s the last one to occupy this social position in the community. He’s a man very close to nature, and he shares this passion with his son Patrick during long fishing nights.
Patrick is 13 years old when he starts dancing with the local group, representing the village at the famous annual HEIVA, a contest where all the dance troupes of Bora Bora take part. Excellent dancer, Patrick learns gradually the fire dance.
He finishes school and military service at 18 years old, and starts working in all sorts of jobs, from construction to truck driving, until the day he becomes a tourist guide and bus driver, his first job in the tourism field. He will never go back to the tool box!
His thirst for learning takes him to Papeete where he starts, at 25, a professional program which includes Polynesian history and culture courses, ecology, geology and astronomy. He comes back to Bora Bora more motivated than ever and becomes quickly the activity manager of a hotel. For him, it’s a great opportunity to explore different type of activities, such as the lagoon excursion, one of his favorite.
Beside this, he creates his own dance troupe and starts his first professional shows. He also has a strong interest in the sacred symbols of Polynesian marriage. This will lead him to celebrate the vows renewal by himself, for the couples visiting the island. In his own way, he gives to their love a touch of Polynesian Energy. The couples feel that and trust him.
After 5 years, he needs a change, and leaves the hotel industry. He becomes a 4X4 Safari Guide for a private company. The hilly trails of Bora Bora soon have no more secrets for him. Patrick loves the mountain and this passion becomes as strong as the one he feels for the lagoon.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the idea of having his own enterprise is stronger than ever, and finally becomes reality at the end of the year 2001. How to make a choice between the lagoon and the mountain? Impossible! The outrigger canoe is built, and the 4X4 Land Rover arrives a few months later. Between the land and the sea, Patrick travels from one world to another. Limits? For what reason?!
It is with great passion that he, today, pursues his career spreading his love of Bora Bora to all visitors that cross his path.
Maohi nui - Patrick's Tour - Lagoon boat ride, Bora Bora
Boat Tour of the Island - we boarded Patrick's boat for a cruise inside the atoll. Beautiful skies aand amazaing color of the water! Our group had such a great time enjoying Patrick and Rapa's hospitality and experiencing the beautiful island of Bora Bora.
Patrick driving the boat-- Rapa handing out beer - This is going to be a fun afternoon!
my video of the boat ride inside the atoll:
Our tour for the day: Lagoon Tour & 4X4 Safari with Polynesian Feast"Patrick's website: http://www.maohinui.net/en/ | |
The day starts with a 4X4 Safari Tour, about 2 1/2 hours long. After the excursion, the guide takes the visitors to the outrigger canoe, for a ride to the private island (motu), where the Polynesian Feast takes place. The feast is prepared by two cooks in a traditional earth oven made with volcanic rocks, and covered by banana leaves.
The guests watch the opening of the oven and listen to the explanations of the guide. The table is set in the lagoon, with an umbrella to protect guests from the sun. On the menu: suckling pig, chicken with local spinach, manioc, plantain bananas, bread fruit, raw fish salad with coconut milk, and finally a traditional dessert made with bananas and vanilla, as well as fresh tropical fruits.
The lunch comes with a good bottle of Moët and Chandon champagne, or red/white wine depending on the guests’ preference.
The afternoon is spent doing a Lagoon Excursion including snorkeling in a coral garden, a visit to the sting rays in shallow water, the observation of black tip reef sharks outside the lagoon, and finally the complete circle island tour of Bora Bora.
Snorkeling equipment is provided, as well as drinks: mineral water, fruit juice, soft drinks, and beer.
Bora Bora 4x4 Island Tour 2
Fun day tours the beautiful island of Bora Bora - David and Linda, Darrell and Elaine, Patricia and Steve! Fantastic views from the top of the mountains! But the roads are very very steep and lots of ruts - so we were bouncing around and laughing all day!
Random views of the island.
World War II History, Bora Bora
World War II on Bora Bora
Following the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, the United States entered World War II. The U.S. chose Bora Bora as a South Pacific military supply base, and an oil depot, airstrip, seaplane base, and defensive fortifications were constructed. Known as "Operation Bobcat", it maintained a supply force of nine ships, 20,000 tons of equipment and nearly 7,000 men. Seven massive naval cannons were set up at strategic points around the island to protect it against potential military attack.However, the island saw no combat as the American presence on Bora Bora went uncontested over the course of the war. Although the base was officially closed on 2 June 1946, many American personnel chose to remain on the island.[citation needed] The World War II airstrip, which was never able to accommodate large aircraft, was French Polynesia's only international airport until Faa'a International Airport was opened in Papeete, Tahiti in 1960.[2]
What are 7 giant cannons doing on a tiny tropical island in the middle of the pacific ocean, one might ask? For those of you who are WWII history buffs, the answer might be obvious, but for most, its a mystery that needs tobe answered.
These cannons are remnants of a time gone by when America didn't always have the military confidence it now enjoys. They are, of course, perched on various different strategic points throughout the island as military defense outposts... guarding the island of Bora bora from "capture or control" from our WW II arch-enemies, the Japanese, while protecting the island that the United States had chosen as a supply base for material en route to the Solomon Islands. (Remember Guadalcanal...)
Operation Bobcat, as it was called, transformed the island of Bora Bora into a stronghold of the US, chosen for its strategic location in the Pacific... Leaving South Carolina in late January, 1942, only a few weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a supply force of nine ships, 20,000 tons of equipment, and nearly 5,000 men travelled to Bora bora. From early 1942 to mid 1946, Operation Bobcat remained in action, and at its high point, utilized the military services of nearly 6,000 men.
In their prime, these massive seven inch naval cannons over 20 feet long on their swivel bases were quite capable of protecting the important lagoon passes from any possibility of military takeover with powerful explosive blasts...
Nowadays, they aren't used for such things... (and in fact never had to be fired in an actual military conflict situation) They are rusty now, but still impressive. Tourists from all over the world now regularly walk, climb, balance, sit, and take pictures on them and try and imagine the past and their purpose... while locals sometimes hang out and party on them at sunset.
Vaitape - arrival at port of Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Arriving at Bora Bora
Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island, located about 230 km (140 mi) northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the centre of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 m (2,385 ft).
We are at tender - transfering into the very small village of Viatape
Mount Otemanu
Lower the tender boats
view of the port Viatape
views from the island of the atoll
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