I, along with my lover Kelly, have been lucky enough to have traveled through and lived in some of the most beautiful places on this wonderful earth, but none of them have matched the exquisite, almost aching, beauty of Bora Bora. We’ve been on the jungle beaches southern Mexico and the Yucatan, the island jewels of the Caribbean and the lush rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula. We’ve lived in that paradise called the Hawaii Islands. We’ve been to Nepal and Kashmir where every morning you awaken to the splendor of the majestic Himalayas. We’ve traveled the glorious islands of south Thailand and the superb islands of the northern Philippines. We stayed in southern France where it looks as charming as a painting and on the picturesque isles of Greece. We’ve lived on the lush volcanic island Java and even on the magnificent Bali, which is said to be the most beautiful place on the planet.
But none of them can touch the stunning splendor of Bora Bora, not even any of the other beautiful islands of Tahiti. It is the most gorgeous spot on the earth. Bora Bora is quite simply, perfect. There is nothing you could either add to it or take away from it to make it more lovely. It’s a small lush tropical island with a cindercone rising up to the sky out of its center. It’s surrounded by a clear shallow lagoon which itself is encircled by smaller islands called motu’s. Outside the motu’s is the coral reef with the waves of the mighty blue Pacific breaking upon it. Kelly and I were fortunate enough to spend an entire month on Bora Bora and for the entire stay, we were totally enchanted.
Kelly and I flew into Papetee from New Zealand and were floored not only by Tahiti’s beauty but by the prices as well. And we thought Kiwiland was expensive! Man O Man, it was going to cost us $50 a day to simply camp and eat. Fruit, fish and pork were about the only things locally grown or produced, everything else was imported and most of that came all the way from France. Camping was $10 a day per person just to put up a tent and have use of the bathrooms. We headed over to the dock the very next day and that night caught a freighter for Bora Bora. Next morning we had arrived and we were astounded by Bora Bora’s splendor. But first things first. Where’s a cheap place to camp? As we got off the boat all the other tourists, almost all of whom were from Europe, headed straight for the islands only campground. After they’d left I started asking some of the locals if they knew of anyone who, for a small fee, who let us camp on their property. I was directed to one of the island’s bus drivers.
When I found him he told me that he had a house right on the beach on the back side of the island and we could camp in his backyard for only $10 a day for the both of us, he even had an outside shower and toilet. Plus, since he was the bus driver he would let us ride in the bus for free anytime he was driving. What a deal! We accepted and got on the bus. We were the only one to camp at his house for the entire month that we stayed with him and his family. His wife let us use their kitchen and a few times we even had meals together. Much better than camping and sharing a bathroom with a bunch of arrogant eurotrash who all know they are much better than anyone else.
During our time there Kelly and I, using the bus driver’s bicycles, rode around the entire island, then a little at a time, we walked around it. Whenever we got tired, we’d simply stop and wait for the bus to come by. I even hiked through the jungle up to the cindercone to check it, and the view, out. Also, a couple times a week the bus driver and his family would take a boat trip across the lagoon to one of the motu’s where they had a large garden to tend. When ever they went Kelly and I would tag along. While they were farming, we would lay on the beach and swim in the sea. The beach was covered with debris and if you disturbed any of it, hermit crabs would come scurrying out, each wearing a different type of shell that they had appropriated. There must have been thousands of them.
Swimming in the ocean was unbelievable. The water was the clearest I’ve ever seem. It was so transparent and clean that if it weren’t for the sun glinting off its surface, you wouldn’t have known it was there. It was just like looking through pure glass crystal. Plus, the air and water temperature are about the same so it hardly mattered if you were in the sea or on the beach. Also, this is where the reef started, and the sea life was both abundant and varied. I’d take a mask and snorkel with me, dive in then spend hours cursing the reef looking in wonder at the myriad of life in all it’s many shapes and sizes. From tiny fish, who were almost totally transparent to large parrotfish that shimmered all the colors of the rainbow. There were clams as small as a dime to ones as big as a dinner plate. Coral that looked like a brain and coral that looked like a delicate fan waving in the breeze. Octopus and eel, crab and sea urchin, starfish and cowry all inhibited the reef. But the most impressive were the giant manta rays. Huge bat like things that silently swam by me. I’ve swum in a lot of tropical seas and this was one of the best. I loved every second of it. When it was time to leave, Kelly and I would help the family load their boat with the produce they’d harvested that day and back across the lagoon we’d all travel.
Kelly and I loved the whole time we spent on Bora Bora. We were sorry when our funds finally ran out and we had to take the big silver bird back to the US. Bora Bora is truly a Paradise. Some people I’ve talked to who’ve visited there have told me, “Yeah, it is really beautiful, but it’s so dull there. Once you’ve seen the island there nothing else to do. After a couple days I was ready to leave. I don’t see how you stood it for a month. As far as I’m concerned, it ought to be called Boring Boring.”
I have never understood this type of thinking. What more could these people want from life? Nothing to do! My God, you exist. You’re alive! Just look around you. The sun up in the sky shining down on you in the day warming your body. A gentle breeze is blowing past you caressing your skin. At night there’s the moon and stars circling over your head. There’s the sea to swim in and under, to frolic and to fish in. Plus the land itself to live on and play on, including all the interesting people, animals, places and things to interact with. Nothing to do. There’s so much to do and, with our short lives, we have so little time to experience even a fraction of the extraordinary miracle of our life on this wonderful earth.
Bora Bora is the most exquisite place I’ve ever been. And if it’s not the most beautiful location in the entire world then I’d sure like to know where it is, because where ever it is it must be killer!