Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island was settled by Tongan people about the 4th century. While the island was sighted by earlier explorers, James Cook led the first group of Europeans to visit the island in 1777. In 1842, Bora Bora was officially made a protectorate of France. The original name in the Tahitian language might be better rendered as Pora Pora, meaning “First Born.” The island, located about 162 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of Papeete, Tahiti is surrounded by a lagoon and a fringing reef. In the center of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia, and the highest point, Mount Otemanu, reaching 2385 feet (727 meters). Over the last few years seven high-end resorts have been built on motus (small islands) surrounding the lagoon. Thirty years ago, Hotel Bora Bora built the first over-the-water bungalows on stilts in the lagoon and today, over-the-water bungalows are a standard feature of most resorts. Bora Bora's main attraction is its calm and crystal-clear lagoon offering the full array of nautical and land activities, such as off-roading up the hills to see the old World War II cannons or to get a bird’s-eye-view of the multicolored lagoon. The waters are said to be some of the most beautiful in the world.
From the navigator
We expect to arrive off Bora Bora at
8:00 am. After we have dropped anchor we will commence our tender operations. The last tender will leave shoreside at 5:30 pm and we will set sail shortly thereafter for Apia, Samoa.
The Society Islands
The Society Islands, one of the five major island groups that make up French Polynesia, are geographically, politically and administratively divided into two groups: the Windward Islands (which include Tahiti and Moorea among three others) and the Leeward Islands, to which Bora Bora belongs. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands; however, Cook states in his personal journal that he called the islands ‘Society’ “as they lay contiguous to one another.”
posted by Hills @ 7:05 PM
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