#flathal #borabora #tahiti #frenchpolynesia
The Flat Friends really enjoyed walking around Vaitape (the community around the tender port where a small boat brought us ashore from our anchored cruise ship) on our own last time we came to Bora Bora. We strolled at our own pace, stopping anywhere we wanted, as often as we wished to take photos.
For this visit we decided to take a structured tour that offered a chance to see more of the island. Bora Bora Island Discovery circled the entire island!
The island is almost completely surrounded by a barrier reef — a coral reef that parallels the islands outer edge. Snorkeling is a popular activity for tourists, which is part of the appeal of the overwater bungalows.
Flat Hal and Flat Halena were amazed by the colors of the water! Our guide said the color can be a clue about how shallow, or deep, the water is, among other things.
A beautiful day in Bora Bora offered the opportunity to get pictures of our ship, MS Volendam, and the incredibly blue waters of the South Pacific.
We also photographed some really pretty flowers including the yellow Ramgoat Dashalong and white with pink Plumeria also known as temple tree.
The Flat Friends could have spent another few days looking at the shades of blue they found among the waters of the lagoon in Bora Bora.
When we returned to the ship we experimented with turning some of our photos into paintings.
One of the first things we looked for in each painting was the shades of blue!
Did they capture what we had just seen? Was the variety of shades visible? From the light, vibrant turquoise to the deeper, darker blues, we wanted every shade in a single image.
One of the things that amazes Flat Hal the most is all the unexpected things we learn just by looking out the window!
He told Flat Halena about the cacao being dried in the sun in Costa Rica. Who knew coconut meat (the white stuff inside the hard brown shell that drops off the tree) is also dried in the sun! It is then pressed for coconut oil, mostly to make moisturizers and skin care products.
And look at how they park their boats to protect them from damage! They just lift them a foot out of the water — similar to what some people do on the lakes in Texas… but, no boat house required!
