French Polynesia day 8

Bluestreak cleaner wrasse

                It was moving day, but we took advantage of a late checkout to spend the morning snorkeling along the reef across the lagoon.  We took a million photos of the amazing water life, spotting a strange new fish every few minutes for hours.

Triangular butterflyfish

Bird wrasse

 

 Clearfin squirrelfish

Checkerboard wrasse 

Multibarred angelfish

            Kayaking back to our overwater home for the past three days, we bade farewell to the Intercontinental Le Moana, rented a car, and took our bags down the street to the Hotel Maitai.  There, we were upgraded from the cheapest room available to a waterfront bungalow, facing the same beautiful lagoon as before.  It must have been Tricia’s radiance that caught the eye of the cross-dressing clerk.  We forgot to mention that there is cultural acceptance, and even approval, of males taking on female roles in Polynesia; and while I recognized that the lady had a rather deep voice, it had to be pointed out to me that “that weren’t no lady, Charlie!

View from the mountainside

Polynesian greeter at marae site

            We drove around the island looking for historic sites and taking in the beauty.  At one path a Polynesian lady greeted us with a sign announcing the price of admission, indicating she owned the entire property.  We paid the small price because of the glowing recommendation that had been made in our guide book, and it was well worth the price of admission.  Up a long, two-rut trail we passed by a small marae, an ancient religious site that had not been destroyed by the early missionaries.  Beyond that was a massive rock pointing toward the sky that had also been a religious site once upon a time.  Beside it was a concrete platform with two metal bases that had once been used in World War II to support American guns in the defense of Bora Bora.

Gun emplacement on Bora Bora

            It turns out that after Pearl Harbor, fortifications were build all around the Pacific in anticipation of further Japanese attacks.  At one time, several thousand Americans were stationed here, and a huge airfield was built.  That airfield is now used as the local airport, and the amount of paving being reclaimed by grasses alongside the main runway is testament to the huge number of planes that once were able to park here.

Natural marae

            The gun emplacements gave rise to the thought that it might have been a great recruitment tool:  holding out the promise of a tour of duty on Bora Bora in exchange for, say, a four-year military commitment during the way.  I wonder if such an incentive was ever actually used.   I wonder if they had masks and snorkels back then . . .

Charlie and Tricia

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