Rangiroa and Bora Bora



Over the past two days we have visited two French Polynesian Islands, Rangiroa and Bora Bora.  Rangiroa is the biggest atoll of French Polynesia – it could contain the entire island of Tahiti in its center.  From the air, the atoll appears to be a large pearl necklace laid upon the water.  It contains 3,467 residents – about four times as many as Fakarava. 

Rangiroa is known for the production of Black Pearls (even though they actual are gray).  We toured a Pearl farm where we were told about how cultured pearls are produced, observed the process and of course, went to the shop where the pearls are sold.

Cultured pearls are cultivated using a process developed in Japan many years ago.  The process starts most of the time with the slight opening of black lip pearl oyster shells, and the grafting of small pearls into the shell.  They are then put back into the ocean where they are tied together and protected from predators and allowed to grow.  Once mature, they are brought back to the farm and the pearls are extracted.  Some black lip pearl oyster shells can be used multiple times to produce pearls.

The “Lagoon of Bora Bora” has a well deserved reputation of being one of the most beautiful places in the world.  The white beaches, volcanic peaks, coconut trees and over-water bungalows are a wonderful sight.  The atoll has 9,600 residents.
We circumnavigated Bora Bora on a jet ski. It is a great way to see the wonderful sights, We did a complete tour around the island and stopped  along the way to learn how to open a coconut.  Between the two of us we were able to get it open and retrieve the large “nut”.  Our guides then opened it so we could drink the natural water it contains, cut into it to taste the raw fruit, shave the fruit and squeeze it to get coconut milk and coconut oil.

We then re-boarded our jet ski and completed our round trip of the island.

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