Bora Bora is a bucket list destination that I visited for ten days after Moorea. It’s about 150 miles away from Tahiti and distinctly different from both owing to it being a luxury honeymoon destination. Not surprisingly, Bora Bora is a difficult nomad destination as the entire economy, infrastructure and lifestyle is centered around the tourist industry. Because of this it was hard to live like a local — because every local is deeply entrenched in making money from tourists. I spent seven days on the mainland of Bora Bora, right beneath the summit of its captivating, central mountain, Mt. Otemanu, in an Airbnb. One thing that was surprising is that even though the island is very small, everyone who lives here uses cars to get around from place to place. There is even traffic in the main town of Vaitape during the busy hours. Ironically, the cost of renting a car is over $100 a day. Bicycles are $20 a day. I ended up renting a scooter for a day ($70) to circle the island — which only took an hour, and then renting a bicycle for three days to get into town and to the only sand beach on […]
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I spent 10 days on the island of Moorea after Tahiti and it was an invited change of pace to move from a bigger, busier island, to one that felt more off of the radar. It’s only 20 kilometers north west of Tahiti, and about one-fifth the size but the differences between the two Polynesian islands are striking. Fewer tourists take the 30 minute ferry ride to visit Moorea; fewer visitors equates to fewer locals comparative to Tahiti which is probably because there are fewer jobs. Fewer people means fewer cars, less traffic — in the end it means that this place feels more secluded. When you are in the south pacific on an island, that feeling of seclusion augments the romanticism and mystique of the natural environment and native history. Everything feels more special. Moorea can be circumnavigated in a car in a little over an hour — which is about 1/3 of the time it takes for Tahiti. The mountainous geology, scenic ocean views and variety of beautiful things to see are comparatively more concentrated; I found the destinations more accessible on here. You can hike over the center, mountainous mainland whereas Tahiti’s is largely inaccessible. The best […]
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100 years ago in 1919, my mother’s father, Gage Frick, departed Kansas City at age 21 to live in French Polynesia for an entire year. He took a tramp steamship from California along with a chest of books that he read. He lived in a hut on beach property owned by family acquaintances. My mother and aunt have at least one photo of him on the beach of Tahiti with some topless female locals. He stayed on Tahiti for an entire year. He had family business obligations and was probably eager to start his life and career, so at some point it was necessary for him to return home. 65 years later at age 85 he returned to Tahiti. Apparently he was surprised and somewhat disappointed that the island had changed so much since his departure; he had been accustomed to riding a bicycle, and suddenly cars were everywhere. Throughout my childhood I remembered my grandfather as very old and somewhat of a curmudgeon. He was in his mid 80s when I was old enough to realize who he was. Many of my memories of him involve inadvertently vexing him by crying, taking large bites of my breakfast at the […]
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