Bora Bora - 在波拉波拉岛上
Day 12
After another sea day, we anchored at Bora Bora at around 9 o’clock on the morning of Feb 1, 2020. The weather was rainy with very high winds. We canceled the shore excursion on the first day. As the first tendered boat was leaving, the weather got worse. It was raining heavily with wind gusts so strong that our anchored ship shifted. The tendered boat was struggling to sail towards the shore as we watched it. We were really worried. There was no way we would get on the boat under this condition. Instead of going to the shore, we went to the Hollywood Theater to watch a movie called “Going In Style”. The movie, which was about a retiree struggling financially, had the “perfect” audiences. After lunch, we went to shore. The boat was docked at Vaitape, a small town with many shopping art galleries and stores selling black pearl jewelries. Black Pearl is famous in French Polynesia. By all means, the town is not like what is shown in the pictures or postcards we saw. A paved road goes through the town, but even with nicely decorated stores selling expensive black pearls, the front parking spaces were muddy and not well maintained. Some houses along the road were flooded due to recent rain.
We paid $5 each to go to Marita Beach about 10 km away from the dock. The beach is beautiful, white sands with crystal clean water. One of us got into water with Osmo camera. We were enjoying the warm south Pacific Ocean. Then suddenly, the black cloud moved in from the west and everyone jumped out of the water to find a place to hide. The rain came down with gusty winds. Our good time was over. As the sky cleared up a little, we rode on the bed of a modified truck for tourists back to the dock. We walked around the town for a while and then headed back to the ship. We have two shore excursions tomorrow. Hope the weather will be better.
Brazil BBQ was our dinner. Tonight's show was another energetic piano performance by an Australian pianist, Ashley Carruthers. It was fun and energetic.
