There seemed to be a lot of disappointment among passengers (as well as some very selfish attitudes revealed, and one particularly rude person actually berating our Captain in a public dining venue) due to the fact that a recent medical emergency on board required missing Bora Bora.

A fellow blogger put it really well (thank you, Sarah https://stramblingchronicles.blogspot.com/): “Although some passengers may grumble, Viking puts the overall wellbeing of its guests first, and medical issues have priority. Besides, if one can’t go with the flow and accept itinerary changes, a person may not belong on a [world] cruise.”

Our original itinerary was Bora Bora, Mo’orea, Tahiti, travelling southeast.

The emergency logically made the most fuel and time-efficient itinerary Tahiti (for medical facilities), Mo’orea, Tahiti again, since Tahiti tomorrow is our refuelling/provisioning stop and absolutely necessary in order for our journey to continue.

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Then, two days ago the Captain and Cruise Director announced that we would now be doing the less efficient Tahiti – Bora Bora – Tahiti. One presumes that was in response to passenger wishes; one also hopes it does not make that rude passenger feel empowered. A look at the map above makes it easy to see why Mo’orea would have been the more logical choice.

So today it’s Bora Bora.

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All around us are smaller islands, like emerald green jewels in a an aquamarine and sapphire blue ocean.

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Once again most of the excursions were focussed in and on the water, so we chose a glass-bottomed boat ride.

After tendering to the island, we had some time to stroll around a bit. Most stores and galleries were closed, since it was Sunday, but since the main offering here, as in Tahiti, is pearls, we weren’t shopping anyway.

We did pass two very different churches though. The first, Ebene Ezera Evangelical, the Protestant church, looked like a traditional island mission church, with a steeple and bell tower. At 10:00 a.m. there was no activity, and the gates were all closed.

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In the other direction from the port was the Paroisse Saint Pierre-Célestin Catholic parish church, with open doors and the sound of utterly joyful singing floating out into the street.

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There were heavily laden breadfruit (top) and mango (bottom) trees along Vaitape’s main street as well.

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Ted is always a bit skeptical about being able to get decent pictures through glass, so our expectations were not high, beyond having 90 minutes on the water surrounded by beauty (almost) unspoiled by rampant tourism (to which we, admittedly, contribute).

We did see a nurse shark, black-tipped sharks, manta rays, blue-lipped oysters, scissor-tail sergeant fish, raccoon butterfly fish, and lots and lots of coral, but really could not get good photos.

What amazed me most was the changing colour of the water, from absolutely crystal clear to aqua to turquoise to azure blue, depending on the depth. At times, when the water seemed perfectly clear, there was only 4 feet of it under our keel. Surprisingly, that was quite far out from shore, where snorkellers were able to simply stand in the water surrounded by black-tipped sharks and rays.

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After being entertained by our ukekele playing guide on our return trip to the port, we tendered back to the Sky for an afternoon of camera resetting and photo sorting (Ted), lunch, conversation, relaxation, and wine (all me), and just soaking in the gorgeous views.

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I have no idea what we missed by not going to Mo’orea, but Bora Bora was the epitome of a French Polynesian island.