Bora Bora is a small South Pacific island northwest of Tahiti in French Polynesia. Surrounded by sand-fringed motus (islets) and a turquoise lagoon protected by a coral reef, it’s known for its scuba diving. It’s also a popular luxury resort destination where some guest bungalows are perched over the water on stilts. At the island’s center rises Mt. Otemanu, a 2385 ft dormant volcano.

For us, Bora Bora was a bust. The day started off socked in with low hanging clouds and rain and promises of much more rain. By the time the tenders started running the clouds had listed some and the rain had slacked off. There was no way that we were going to travel all this far and not go ashore! We got on the tender and headed to shore. When we got to shore there was a line of people already trying to get back to the ship and they looked like drowned rats! But, again, we hadn’t come this far to not see anything. The “main street” was only steps from the dock and there was a sidewalk that looked to be partially covered by awnings above. We made our way to the storefronts and did some “window shopping”” and look at the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. All the while it was raining fairly hard and we quickly became soaked. Just then it really started pouring so hard that you could hardly see the person standing next to you. We decided we would be less miserable back on the ship so we slugged through the pond-sized puddles and headed toward the docks. It looked like just about everyone else had decided the same.

Back onboard we hung up our soaked clothing in hopes that it might dry before we got to Hawaii. Maui was our next stop!