When planning our trip to Bora Bora, a few businesses were constantly in our face on Google Maps. Among them were several excursions, of which the Bora Bora Water World seemed feasible for the family.
To be clear, we weren’t looking for excursions and would have been perfectly fine just hanging out at the resort. This boat tour with under-water glass windows, though, was rather intriguing. We went ahead and booked it because $170 per person for a three-hour excursion sounded so cheap when compared to the hotel’s $150 airport transfer. The context matters because $170 in Australia can get us an 8-hour snorkeling tour at the Great Barrier Reef.
Based on its website, we thought the Water World tour required us to find our way to its base in Vaitape to join a big group. Turned out that the boat would pick us up and drop us off right at the resort. Additionally, only one Chinese couple, who also stayed at the Conrad, joined us on that lovely day. Thus it was a semi-private tour with door-to-door service.
The boat named Nautilus came with a crew of 3 – a captain, a tour guide, and an extra pair of hands. The boat looked unassuming from the dock, but was plentifully spacious for us six guests.
When we began sailing, it seemed no different from the shuttle service… just another boat ride in perfect weather above the world’s prettiest water. We started talking to the younger Chinese couple, who most definitely were more comfortable with Mandarin. They were quite engaging the whole trip and we had a great time, and the French tour guide lady seemed a bit confused to watch us we conversing in a language that she didn’t understand.
Our new friends did not book this trip in advance like we did, but rather used the resort’s concierge to make arrangements. That piqued my interest because everyone knew how hotels could add crazy service surcharges, and Conrad Bora Bora Nui wasn’t among the 99% cheapest places of accommodation. Then I learned that they paid only ~11% more than we did, which was more reasonable than I had assumed.
Once we reached certain more interesting spots within the lagoon, the tour guide showed us downstairs. The boat Nautilus had a specially designed lower deck with glass windows. The experience was exactly like Disneyland’s submarine ride… except the boat was actually moving and there was real fish.
The turquoise water looked surreal beneath the surface. It also wasn’t great for visibility, giving somewhat eerie vibes. As the boat went from reef to reef, we saw some animals. There were a few stingrays, but photos of them didn’t look great. It wasn’t the right season to spot dolphins, and no manta ray was seen at a known cleaning station. The best fish I caught on camera was a napoleon wrasse.
The mere exploration of the shallow ocean floor was neat, though, as we went through various terrains of sand and coral reefs. The captain also took us to a sharp drop off point where we saw the ocean floor descending into the depths.
And then, the Nautilus sailed through Bora Bora’s only passage to the outside of the lagoon. See GPS location on the map below. It was wild that there was 4G data on the outer rim of a barely populated island, 2 miles from land, AND under water. The same phone couldn’t even get signal in our local Target store.
It was here when the climax of the trip took place… lots and lots of black fish and… black tip sharks! There were so many of them, too, swimming back and forth around the boat! It was just like watching Planet Earth, with open ocean and real wild life, but safe behind a glass barrier, and 360-degree panoramic views. It was the most incredible experience for people like us who would never actually get into the open ocean. This view alone made the whole excursion worth it.
Before heading back to the resort, the boat stopped at the inside edge of the coral reef that surrounded Bora Bora. The reef protects the lagoon from ocean currents, and the water here was too shallow for boats or large animals to pass through. The water was calm, clear, and heavenly all the way to the horizon. One member of the crew dived down and fetched some conchs and sea stars for us to see. All of us were too lazy to jump in. Or maybe I should say, the weather and the view from the boat were just too mesmerizing for us to want to move.
PF 2023
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