Bora Bora
Salamander
Tue 31 Aug 2010 09:01
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Very pretty island that has not recovered or been
rebuilt since the cyclone last February. Lots of shallow snorkelling and a
somewhat deeper pass. Caroline snorkelled the pass with 12-14 foot sharks. Lots
of turtles, surgeon fish and many others. We've mainly moored at Bora Bora Yacht
Club and used the tender to get about.
We walked up (scrambled, slid and fell down) Mt
Pahia. The walk was recommended by the crews of Artemo and Mojo and is described
in the Lonely Planet guide as difficult. We cancelled one day as we had been
told that mud made it dangerous. Unfortunately there was even more rain before
we did the walk. Caroline wore full walking trousers and boots as her last
millipede bite was quite painful and took a long time to heal. The walking
trousers meant Caroline could slide and rocketed down the muddy parts. Going up
Caroline had her hands on two rocks on a muddy bit and both rocks popped out of
the mud. She managed to stop, but had no foot- or hand-holds. Fortunately we had
brought along a rope which Murray duly deployed and Caz climbed up this.
Murray scraped his knee but a little water made the blood more impressive!
Caroline swung sideways on one of the fixed ropes and spectacularly banged hard
into the rock face. Murray slipped and faced a 20 foot slide, but managed to
hook into a small root to save the day.
We enjoyed the walk and both loved scrambling up
the ropes. The locals were laughing when we walked down as Murray's leg was
covered in blood and we were both coverd in mud. Caroline had to jump into the
sea fully clothed to rinse mud off before getting into the boat.
View of Mt Pahia, we nearly made it to the
top!
  Bora Bora was a US base during WWII and there are
several gun emplacements dotted round the coast.
 Caroline's scald had just healed to only a few
blisters, thanks to the excellent burns dressing Jenny's Andy gave us. Now we
both have just minor cuts and bruises - situation normal.
We've eaten out at Bloody Mary's, where Murray is
standing as close as he is likely to get to Raquel Welch and Paris Hilton
(though he has been close to Hilton, Paris). Best chips so far on this
trip.
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