When we got back to Bora Bora from Maupiti I wrote a blog post about how average this 'tropical paradise' is compared to Maupiti. It's supposed to be everybody's ideal holiday location, one of the most talked up island destinations in the world. But after an uncomfortable day sailing back in chaotic seas, no protection from the sun and me with my head over the side every ten minutes, it felt like we were returning to a dirty, bustling city after a relaxing holiday. Which is kind of ridiculous considering it doesn't take long to drive around this whole island and there's only two supermarkets here. But after Maupiti it felt like going back to the city after a stay in the country.
We arrived at Mai Kai Marina in the afternoon and pulled up a mooring. I was feeling so ill that all I wanted was food, solid land and sleep. But we had no food, I was too hungry to sleep and the northerly winds were causing us to rock around relentlessly. Not fun.
It was definitely nice to be back near supermarkets and Internet but it just felt like another island. It's not as beautiful as the last one we saw, there's tourists everywhere and the roads turn into mud pits after it rains. And it always rains. It's just not as incredibly amazing as people make it out to be.
Rain...
I can't vouch for what goes on in the fancy hotels and over water villas - maybe they have activities lined up forever. But there isn't really anything to do here. The snorkelling is average at best, there's only one public beach, and there's no walks or hikes. Granted, we haven't explored over ground much. But the main town is small and touristy and there aren't really many locals to socialize with.
We arrived at Mai Kai Marina in the afternoon and pulled up a mooring. I was feeling so ill that all I wanted was food, solid land and sleep. But we had no food, I was too hungry to sleep and the northerly winds were causing us to rock around relentlessly. Not fun.
It was definitely nice to be back near supermarkets and Internet but it just felt like another island. It's not as beautiful as the last one we saw, there's tourists everywhere and the roads turn into mud pits after it rains. And it always rains. It's just not as incredibly amazing as people make it out to be.
I can't vouch for what goes on in the fancy hotels and over water villas - maybe they have activities lined up forever. But there isn't really anything to do here. The snorkelling is average at best, there's only one public beach, and there's no walks or hikes. Granted, we haven't explored over ground much. But the main town is small and touristy and there aren't really many locals to socialize with.
I still don't really understand what people do here as tourists. It's beautiful. It's really nice sitting around and taking in all the beauty. But how long can you relax for? I found myself craving the cheap, greasy burger place outside our anchorage in Rarotonga that was always a bustling hub of activity and excitement. I missed the crazy kids jumping off the dock and playing around our boat. And I missed the quiet women in Vanuatu washing their clothes in the stream. The kids swimming fully clothed in Tonga, begging us to join them. But there aren't really any locals here to socialise with. Mothers aren't swimming with their kids, there's no people bringing their produce to the markets, and nobody is interested in coming over and trying to chat like they are in Fiji. Everybody is friendly and they say hello with a smile. But they're all either working or just standing around, uninterested in trying to converse. It's a beautiful place but it's the locals that make beautiful places interesting and memorable. The locals here are friendly but they're not very interesting, which has become blatantly obvious after visiting Maupiti. I still blame the cruise ships. The locals are just exposed to wave after wave of tourists, so they're obviously not going to go out of their way to chat with us.
But over the last week we've been building a dinghy and my opinion of this place has completely changed. I guess people staying in the resorts only come to town a few times, because they have everything they need at their resort. There's a constant stream of tourists coming through but there's always new faces. After just living here, unconcerned with activities or sightseeing, it was different. I bought lunch from the same place every day - chicken and chip baguettes for $3.50 each. The girl at the counter became friendlier every day. People started to recognise me. The lady in the hardware store certainly saw me coming, and would ask all the customers if they spoke English as soon as I walked in, in case they could better help me find scrapers to apply epoxy with, or a tom thumb Robertson Screwdriver. Try saying that in French! (My best attempt was to mime screwing something in along with the word 'petite')
Not having a dinghy has made life hard. We've tried both kayaking and swimming, neither of which works very well for long distances or with kite gear and push bikes. We need a dinghy. So we had a few wines before we left for Maupiti and decided to just get some wood and build one. An idea that still seemed to be our best option in the light of day long after the effects of the wine had worn off. So we drew up plans. We researched. We drew up more plans. We discussed it endlessly, sometimes over more wine. We decided to make a wooden Waka Ama canoe, which was very complicated and not so clever in the light of day. And we finally decided on what we were going to do.
The locals saw me trudging back and forth along the road through the mud and rain. They saw me carrying a heavy load of wooden battens the wrong way, and together showed me how I should have them over my shoulder instead of under my arm. I went shopping nearly every day, dragging my ass the long way home with a bag of food in one hand and baguettes in the other. I guess tourists don't do that. Everyone became friendlier.
Teiva, who runs the Mai Kai Marina, was amazing. He let us work on his dock right in front of the restaurant. People would come out for pictures in front of the setting sun and we'd be sitting there in a pile of glue, covered in sawdust, wearing clothes that hadn't been washed in a week. We got up at 6 am every day and kept going until sunset. It was continually raining, so if we slept in through the only sunshine of the day we'd have kicked ourselves.
One evening we had collapsed on the outside couch to use the marina wifi. It was getting late and we were too tired and hungry to move. Teiva (who is also the chef there) sent us out a plate of tapas - warm bread, chicken mousse and patè, among other delicious things. We almost teared up we were so exhausted and grateful. Afterwards I took the plate back in and thanked him profusely, when he asked if we'd had enough. I laughed and said we couldn't keep eating his food... to which he responded by sending out another plate. We just couldn't believe how generous and nice he was (I should point out that we spent $50 for the mooring for the week and that was it. He was definitely losing money by having us there, considering how much we used the wifi and bummed up the place).
He also came down every day to see how we were going, offering advice and support. He even suggested a few things that made the boat a lot better, which was invaluable considering we had no idea what we were doing. Our original plan had been to knock together something dodgy on the beach that would last until we got a new one. Thanks to Teiva, our boat is beautiful and should last a long time.
There was also a really lovely guy living on a yacht there who worked at the dive shop by the marina. His name was Thierry. He walked past on our first day, saw our rusty saw and said 'non non, this is not good.' (Garth was off looking for WD40, because we had already discovered it was no good. It refused to cut through anything cleanly, and we had a lot of cutting to do). Thierry returned with a brand new saw from his own boat, and told me it would cut through like butter. It did. He kept fetching us things throughout the week, even loaning us a drill when our batteries died and we didn't have enough power onboard to charge them. When he found out we were looking for epoxy he didn't even try to explain, just got his keys and said 'come, come.' He loaded us into his car, drove us to his girlfriends house where he had boat things stored and dug through everything until he produced resin and fibreglass. It was the wrong type of resin, but we were just blown away by his generosity (I should mention that both Teiva and Thierry are French, so please ignore all stereotypes about arrogant French men. They obviously don't apply to everyone).
We were even given a ride into town when we bought all the wood, because the shop owner was also a lovely guy. I had to go back a few days later to get more, but Garth needed to keep working so I went alone this time. When the owner found out that I was going to try and carry home a giant piece of plywood, he went nuts. He started running around knocking on the neighbours doors trying to help me out. I couldn't believe how distressed this poor little Asian guy was at the thought of me dragging a sheet of plywood home. Eventually he sent his daughter and her boyfriend into town to do the grocery shopping, taking me and the wood along with them.
So we were just blown away by how nice everybody was being. Various charter boats tied up to the dock while we were there, offering us free beer, fresh fish and support. A local speedboat tied up there for a few days, island music blaring so loudly from their impressive speakers that they drowned out the chilled out tunes in the restaurant. One of the guys onboard was so impressed with our efforts that he insisted on shaking my epoxy covered hand. I tried to explain that I was sticky, but he just stood there with his hand outstretched, hell bent on showing his respect regardless.
So I'm not going to publish the original post I wrote. Theres a lot more to Bora Bora once you scratch through the surface. I still don't think there's much to do here as a tourist, but once you start living here its a wonderful place. It doesn't live up to all the hype. But it's beautiful and the people here have big hearts. I wouldn't come here to stay in a resort and I think anybody wanting to holiday in Bora Bora should charter a yacht with a group of friends. See the islands. Meet the people. Come back to the Mai Kai Marina in between, because this ex-resort really makes you feel like you're in paradise with it's infinity pool and happy hour by the water.
Xxx Monique
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