Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

It’s hard to believe that it’s been one month since we departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Today we arrived in the Society Island of Bora Bora. This stunning Island is made up of a barrier reef of islets, each one connected to the next depending on the tides, and surrounded by a deep lagoon that is the most beautiful turquoise color. This is the second time that Kully and I have visited Bora Bora, and even though it was a little overcast today we found the island was every bit as stunning as we remembered it. American Novelist James Michener called Bora Bora “the South Pacific at its unforgettable best”, and we couldn’t agree more.

It is believed that Bora Bora was first inhabited by early Polynesians in the third century. The first recorded European siting to the island was in 1722 and followed by Captain James Cook in 1769. In the early 1800’s the London Missionary Society arrived and founded the first Protistan church and began converting the native population. Bora Bora was an independent kingdom until it was annexed as an island colony by the French in 1888. During WW II the US Navy established a military supply base on the island and constructed an oil-depot, airfield, seaplane base and defensive fortification. At least eight 7-inch costal artillery guns were emplaced at strategic sites around the island to defend against potential Japanese attacks, which fortunately never occurred. After the war the airstrip served as the first international airport in French Polynesia until a new larger facility was built in Tahiti in 1961. The airfield is still in use for inter-island flights. The residents of Bora Bora are still grateful to the USA, as most of the island’s infrastructure was built by the US military during the war.

We were excited to see that we were sharing the harbor today with the Windstar, Wind Spirit which is the ship we sailed on when we came to Tahiti in 2022. We decided to take the La Truck tour around the island today so we could just relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. After the tour Kully found a gorgeous Polynesian Black Pearl Necklace.

It was great to be off the ship for a few hours after spending five days at sea. The scenery was absolutely breath taking and the people were very welcoming, but all good things must come to an end. We returned to the ship to get ready to sail on to our next port of call in Moorea, French Polynesia scheduled for early tomorrow morning.

 

“Life is short and the world is wide”   Unknown