Sunday, September 9, 2001.  7pm
Sitting in bed.

            What an uneventful day on Bora Bora.  We didn’t know that Sunday on the island meant that everything is closed.  Everything.  We wasted money on renting the car because we really couldn’t go do anything… The weather was pretty bad here for most of the morning, so snorkeling or anything to do with water was out.  It wasn’t raining or anything, but it was (and is) very windy and cold.  The sun poked through a few times, but not enough to warm everything up until around 11 or 12.  We left the hotel early to drive around.  We hit Vaitape – the largest village on the island, but there was nothing really to do.  In all, Bora Bora is much prettier as an island than Moorea (when taking the clear water into consideration), but it appears a little dirtier – and the people are not as personable.  The terrain of Moorea is much more varied and larger in size.  It is strange that it seems more crowded here when Moorea has over 12,000 people… and Bora Bora has less than 5,000.  Not that it is horrible or anything, but I just wanted to note the difference.  (The lagoon of Bora Bora is three TIMES larger than the actual land mass!)  We started back and stopped at “Ben’s” for lunch.  Most of the “snack shops” are people working right out of their homes.  He had a great selection of stuff to eat: from tacos to pizza to hot dogs.  I ordered a “Sizzler” steak, and Tami once again settled for a pizza.  It took almost 40 minutes to get our food – and it was just “Ok”.  Ben was a really nice guy – once again displaying the Tahitian charisma.  When we went to wash our hands, we ran into his wife.  She spoke perfect English because she was originally from the states.  I asked her about land ownership.  On Moorea, the guide had mentioned something about government ownership of the land – Tami and I took that as meaning that the government owned much of it.  He had said that if you want to grow food to sell, that you only have to ask the government and they will give you a plot of land.  All you have to do is pay them $12 a year to grow on it.  That is all.  Everything else is yours to keep.  He said that equaled about four pineapples.  Anyway, Ben’s wife said that 85% of the land on Bora Bora is privately owned by Tahitians.  She said it was possible for anyone to buy here.  She also said something pretty interesting.  She said that about the only crime they DO have here revolves around land disputes.  It seldom becomes physical, but occasionally does.  She said that the families here are SO large that most land is kept within the family – and it is sometimes difficult to get. 

            The weather had finally repaired itself somewhat, and we chose a nice area to snorkel in.  The water was crystal blue – the clearest we have ever seen... like pool water.  

            The current was EXTREMELY fast, and we had to kick at right angles to where we wanted to go in order to get there.  We were at least 300-400 yards from shore and still only on waist-deep water.  It was unbelievable.  There wasn’t much to see in the way of fish life, but we gathered a few shells and turned back.  A few yards from shore I found the biggest shell that I have ever found.  It was as big as my hand.  I checked it out a bit, and then took it with us.  This is the third time that we’ve had to throw back a beautiful shell because of a frustrating reoccurrence.  Tenancy.  Inside was a huge hermit crab.  On the two previous shelling attempts on Moorea I had a shell that I THOUGHT was empty scare the hell out of me.  I had them sitting in the bathroom… and one night I picked one up before going to bed and a hug hairy crab was hanging out in my hand.  I literally screamed.  I threw it on the counter and tried regain my masculine composure – Tami asked me what happened, and I told her that there was something inside of it.  It had been sitting on the shelf all day!  I tried to get it out… with hot water, time, and a hair dryer – nothing.  I don’t know of any way to force vacancy on a shell.  So, instead of killing the poor thing, we threw them back into the ocean.  Damn.  I REALLY liked those shells… they truly were the best I have ever found anywhere.  However, someone else had found them first.

            We went back to our room for a while, and then took the car back to the rental place at 5:30 following a failed attempt at finding anything open on the Southern part of the island.  We snacked in our room, watched another movie (Mosquito Coast), and then went to bed.  During this time, we took a small break to go out and watch the Polynesian dancing show at 9pm.  This is obviously why they are in such good shape.  They can really move!  We also failed miserably at trying to attract any fish to the opening beneath our bungalow.  After prying up the glass cover with a butter knife, we threw bread and canned mackerels down without any luck.  A single stingray did swim by, but didn’t stay interested for very long.  We covered the hole with the glass again – perhaps another day.  Tomorrow are our first dives on this island.  We are doing two.  One shark dive outside the reef and another one inside the lagoon somewhere – hopefully to catch a glimpse of Manta Rays.  Who knows… every day is different here.  They saw whales at the last island on the dive AFTER ours.  (Of course!)