Any tips for diving / relaxing in Bora Bora?

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hotshoe

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Messages
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Location
Aliso Viejo, CA
# of dives
50 - 99
My fiance and I are going to Bora Bora in August for our honeymoon. I have booked 7 dives for each of us with Bora Diving Center, including a night dive. From what little I could learn on the internet, they seemed quite friendly and professional. My question is...do any of you have any "must see/do" recommendations (in water or on land) while in Bora Bora?
Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I have never been to Bora Bora however my friend recently returned from there.
Wreck diving is awesome and the reefs are spectacular considering the problem with crown of thorns starfish. These pesty sea stars eat hard corals and they can be found everywhere in the pacific. The starfish have 7-21 legs and their body is covered with thorns thus their name. The thorns possess toxic chemicals and the sting is very painful. Please be careful not to accidently step or grab the pest! I wish I was going too and hope you will have a GREAT dive! You may get to see some giant clams some weighing more than 500 pounds careful they bite! Sam Dollins www.reefsavers.org
 
Must do in Bora Bora diving is definitely diving with the Mantas. This is a 1st dive in the morning for greatest chance of seeing them. They're absolutely beautiful. There's a resident population within the lagoon, so you have high probability of seeing them at least once.

For more touristy things on land, definitely head over to Bloody Mary's for drinks/food. Be sure to read the celebrity board out front to see the well known who have visited.

If you're into history, there are still some gun emplacements from WWII on the island. Interesting to see. Remember, this was the island where James Mitchener was based during WWII and upon which he loosely based his book "Tales of the South Pacific" which was adapted to the musical and movie "South Pacific." The mythical "Bali Hai" of the movie is about 20 miles away the sacred island of Raiatea.

Bora Dive Center is good, no complaints about them at all. However, if you're there a day the Tahitian Princess is in port (email them in advance to ask), I believe they're the TP's dive operator. Either make sure you're on another boat for continued personal service, or consider checking out TopDive for the day, who is my favorite.

It's a beautiful island/lagoon, and August is the perfect time to be there. I'm envious! Let me know if you have other questions.

-Amber
 
Thanks for the info.
I'm not quite sure what you meant by the Tahitian Princess comment however.
Are you saying to stay away from the TP or Bora Dive Center the days that the TP is in port? If so, why is that? I'm just curious because I'm planning to take advantage of their 10 dive special to save a couple bucks. So I would like to stick with Bora Dive Center throughout unless strongly advised not to. What do you think?



BurBunny:
Must do in Bora Bora diving is definitely diving with the Mantas. This is a 1st dive in the morning for greatest chance of seeing them. They're absolutely beautiful. There's a resident population within the lagoon, so you have high probability of seeing them at least once.

For more touristy things on land, definitely head over to Bloody Mary's for drinks/food. Be sure to read the celebrity board out front to see the well known who have visited.

If you're into history, there are still some gun emplacements from WWII on the island. Interesting to see. Remember, this was the island where James Mitchener was based during WWII and upon which he loosely based his book "Tales of the South Pacific" which was adapted to the musical and movie "South Pacific." The mythical "Bali Hai" of the movie is about 20 miles away the sacred island of Raiatea.

Bora Dive Center is good, no complaints about them at all. However, if you're there a day the Tahitian Princess is in port (email them in advance to ask), I believe they're the TP's dive operator. Either make sure you're on another boat for continued personal service, or consider checking out TopDive for the day, who is my favorite.

It's a beautiful island/lagoon, and August is the perfect time to be there. I'm envious! Let me know if you have other questions.

-Amber
 
hotshoe:
Thanks for the info.
I'm not quite sure what you meant by the Tahitian Princess comment however.
Are you saying to stay away from the TP or Bora Dive Center the days that the TP is in port? If so, why is that? I'm just curious because I'm planning to take advantage of their 10 dive special to save a couple bucks. So I would like to stick with Bora Dive Center throughout unless strongly advised not to. What do you think?

What I meant is that the Bora Dive Center is, I believe, the dive operator for the Tahitian Princess. So the days she's in port, you may not enjoy the same level of service and attention as on the other days if you're sharing a boat with the cruise divers. But if they have you on another boat, no problem!

If they're putting you with the crew divers, also no problem - they're a bunch of fun on that ship overall.

Just wanted you to know they may have their attention taken up a bit when the TP is in port. Not sure how they handle their regular divers that day, but better you know up front and have it taken care of than get a surprise. Likely they'll take care of you :)
 
aaahhhhhh sooooooo...
OK, I'll check with them, thanks for the good advice!



BurBunny:
What I meant is that the Bora Dive Center is, I believe, the dive operator for the Tahitian Princess. So the days she's in port, you may not enjoy the same level of service and attention as on the other days if you're sharing a boat with the cruise divers. But if they have you on another boat, no problem!

If they're putting you with the crew divers, also no problem - they're a bunch of fun on that ship overall.

Just wanted you to know they may have their attention taken up a bit when the TP is in port. Not sure how they handle their regular divers that day, but better you know up front and have it taken care of than get a surprise. Likely they'll take care of you :)
 
Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to see everything on Bora Bora. No worry about setting everything up in advance either, except your dive shop. If going to a resort, a must for a honeymoon, they'll have it all. When I was there in '99, they only had a single bank on the main island and it didn't take my ATM card. They'll happily take American dollars because you get ripped off on their exchange rate. Make sure to try to use your ATM card at the airport in Papeete, and get foreign currency. The larger stores take VISA but the smaller are cash only but do take dollars as I mentioned.

I highly recommend the overwater bungalows. They are the ultimate for water lovers. You just go straight in the water and snorkel around. No walking through the sand, no walking on coral, the breeze is nice and cool on the water, rather than the heat stuck in the palms on land, the whole wall slides back to reveal the view. Forget something in the room, just swim over and get it. Drink your drink on the deck. The showers are big with plenty of room to wash off your gear. At night, there's unobstructed views of the Southern Hemisphere stars. Unobstructed views of the sunsets. It's destroyed our value/price opinions of any hotel room in the world. Nothing compares. Lots of fish swim around the deck. They immediately come over when you enter the water and follow you around. Don't feed them. Oh yeah, NO MOSQUITOS. On the water, you get no mosquitos. You relax and lay out on the deck at night with no worry. In the restaurant on land, they started eating us up. Also, no worry about strolling around the room in your birthday suit because only boats see you. We stayed at Pearl Beach which had a nice view of the island. It was nice because it was quiet out on the motu, but we had free boat service back to the main island. Pay the money for the overwaters, they were worth every cent. This is your honeymoon, there is no bigger event.

The only thing we bought in particular was a black pearl but we went to Rangiroa where they raise them and bought directly from the pearl farm.


hotshoe:
My fiance and I are going to Bora Bora in August for our honeymoon. I have booked 7 dives for each of us with Bora Diving Center, including a night dive. From what little I could learn on the internet, they seemed quite friendly and professional. My question is...do any of you have any "must see/do" recommendations (in water or on land) while in Bora Bora?
Thanks in advance for your help.
 
We honeymooned in Bora Bora in May 2000 and stayed at the Hotel Bora Bora in an overwater bungalow. It was definitely worth the money! We weren't divers at the time but did enjoy snorkeling with the sharks and sting rays. Bloody Mary's is by far the best deal on the island for dinner and drinks. We tried most of the restaurants and found them to be overpriced and felt underfed, except for Bloody Mary's where you can sit barefooted enjoying the sandy floor while eating fresh fish. Also worth experiencing is the parasailing. In Bora Bora they'll take you up as high as 1000 feet! You can do this in tandem with your spouse and take great pictures of the island at the same time. We look forward to going back to go diving the next time! Congratulations and enjoy!!!
 
thanks for all the great info.
it sounds like we are going to have a blast!
 

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