Bora Bora, French Polynesia: lagoon and Mount Otemanu

The short answer

Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. It has a land area of 30.55 square kilometres and had 10,605 people in 2017; its main village is Vaitape. The island is what remains of an extinct volcano, active between about 3.45 and 3.1 million years ago, whose highest points are Mount Otemanu, 727 metres, and Mount Pahia. Around it lies a lagoon, and around the lagoon a barrier reef crowned by flat islets, motu, with a single navigable pass, Teavanui, on the west. The island was an independent kingdom until France annexed it in 1888. Today it is best known for resorts built out over the lagoon.

From Tally’s diary

Landed on a thin strip of sand and palms in the middle of the water, and was taken the rest of the way by boat. Across the lagoon, bands of blue from glass to ink, and one dark tooth of a mountain standing over it all. Up the hill, under ferns, an iron gun was still staring out to sea. I sat beside it and kept it company.

A wide green volcanic mountain with a flat-topped summit across a blue lagoon, two yachts at anchor, a leaning palm and a mown lawn in the foreground — December 2017Mount Otemanu from the west shore, with yachts at anchor in the lagoon.

Photograph: Balou46, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

Why it's worth knowing

Most visitors to Bora Bora arrive through a Second World War base. Early in 1942 the United States Navy needed a fuelling station in the South Pacific to support the ships and aircraft keeping the sea lanes to Australia open, and chose Bora Bora, codenamed BOBCAT. The Naval History and Heritage Command records that the first naval construction unit ever to deploy from the United States, the First Construction Detachment of 296 men, left Rhode Island on 17 January 1942 and reached Bora Bora on 17 February; they called themselves the Bobcats, and they left on 11 September 1943, by which time the war had moved west.

An aerial view of a long runway on a narrow reef islet between a pale turquoise lagoon and the deep blue ocean, a line of surf on the reef — October 2008The runway laid along Motu Mute, the reef islet where US forces built the airstrip in 1943, from an arriving plane, October 2008.

Photograph: Kyprianos Biris, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

How many came in all depends on who is counting: 3,500 US military personnel in one count, nine ships and nearly 7,000 soldiers in another. The attraction was the deep-water bay at Faanui and a lagoon with only one easily controlled pass. Roads, a quay and a fuel depot were built, coastal guns were set on the hills, and an airstrip was laid on one of the motu. The island saw no combat, and the base closed on 2 June 1946.

The airstrip outlived the war. It was rebuilt for commercial service in 1958 and was French Polynesia’s only international airport until Faa’a International Airport opened on Tahiti in 1960; before then a French airline flew from Bora Bora to Los Angeles, by way of Honolulu, once a week. Tahiti Tourisme gives the end of the strip’s international role as 1963. The two dates are given here as each party gives them.

The island in section

The page’s ideas are spatial: a reef, a ring of islets, a lagoon with one door, a mountain in the middle. Cut through it, west to east, and they line up.

1The barrier reef. The reef is more than two kilometres wide in places.
2A motu. An airstrip was laid on one of the motu.
3The lagoon. Pale blue and green over the sand.
4The deep channel. They must keep to the channel because much of the lagoon is shallow.
5Vaitape. Teavanui, on the west side opposite Vaitape.
6Mount Otemanu, 727 m. The island is what remains of an extinct volcano.

A diagram, not a survey: heights are exaggerated and widths are not to scale.

The field notes

The guns on the ridge

The coastal guns are still there. At least eight 7-inch naval guns were set at points around the island, and all eight remain. Tahiti Tourisme describes a walk of about two kilometres from the village of Faanui to a viewpoint, continuing along a ridge where two of the American guns still point out to sea. It lists the Motu Mute airstrip and the Faanui and Motu Mute docks among the island’s wartime heritage.

Older than the war

Long before the Americans, Bora Bora was a Polynesian island with its own sacred places. There were once more than 40 marae, ceremonial stone platforms, of which remains of 13 survive, with many petroglyphs; the best preserved is Marae Fare Opu, on the shore of Faanui Bay. James Cook sighted the island on 29 July 1769, guided by the Tahitian navigator Tupaia. The kingdom’s last queen, Teriimaevarua III, was made to abdicate when France annexed it in 1888.

Upright slabs and a low wall of dark coral stone under trees at the edge of a pale lagoon, steep green peaks rising behind — March 2000The marae Fare Opu at Faanui, on the shore of Bora Bora’s lagoon.

Photograph: Makemake, BoraBora Marae1, CC BY-SA 3.0, colour-corrected

A lagoon with one door

The lagoon’s single pass shapes the island’s life. Teavanui, on the west side opposite Vaitape, lets most cargo ships and cruise ships in, but they must keep to the channel because much of the lagoon is shallow; the reef is more than two kilometres wide in places. The same shallowness gives the lagoon its colours, from indigo in the deep channel and bays to pale blue and green over the sand.

A view from orbit of a ring-shaped reef around a green island and pale lagoon, scattered clouds and their shadows on dark blue sea — October 2019Bora Bora from the International Space Station: the island, its wide lagoon and the ring of reef islets (astronaut photograph).

Astronaut photograph: NASA (ISS Expedition 61 crew), Public domain

Tally’s list

Sit outside on the boat from the airstrip and let the lagoon introduce itself.
Climb to the old guns while the shade lasts, and take water. (Sat by the gun to write this, and the page came away sunburnt on one side.)
Do not climb on the old stone platforms by the shore. They were built for something, and it was not sitting.
Do not stand on the coral. It was there first, and it is alive.
Take the boat back at the end without looking round, if you can. Nobody can.

A relic from Bora Bora

Relic, entry 109Built 1943Rebuilt for commercial flights 1958

The airstrip on Motu Mute. A runway laid along a flat islet of coral sand on Bora Bora’s barrier reef, built by United States forces in 1943 for the wartime fuel base codenamed Bobcat. It was rebuilt for commercial flights in 1958 and until the early 1960s was French Polynesia’s only international airport. Visitors still land on it, walk off the plane beside the lagoon, and take a boat to the island they came to see.

Tally, in the marginA runway on a sliver of sand, and at the end of it a boat instead of a road. I have been met at the bottom of many aeroplane steps, and never before by a lagoon.

Getting there

1
First, Tahiti
International flights land at Faa’a International Airport on Tahiti.
2
On to Bora Bora
Air Tahiti flies on to Bora Bora in from 50 minutes.
3
Across the lagoon by boat
The airport is on Motu Mute, so the last stage is by boat: Air Tahiti’s shuttle to Vaitape takes about 15 minutes and is included in the air fare.
The stamp
Mark this place, at the end of the story.

Rain through the year
J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
January: wettest					June: dry season	July: driest	August: driest	September: driest	October: dry season		December: wettest

Dry season, June to October
Driest, July to September
Wettest, December and January

As this page gives them. Rainfall: Météo-France 1991–2020 averages, as Wikipedia tabulates them.

How to get there. International flights land at Faa’a International Airport on Tahiti. From there Air Tahiti flies to Bora Bora, in from 50 minutes, with anywhere from five or six to more than ten flights a day. Cruise ships enter the lagoon through the Teavanui pass.

When to go. The climate is tropical and warm all year. The dry season runs from about June to October, though some rain falls then too, and some reckonings start it in April. December and January are the wettest months at the airport, with about 250 mm each, and July to September the driest.

How to be there. The marae are sacred sites: look, and do not climb on them. In the lagoon, do not stand on coral. The walk to the wartime guns from Faanui is short, with little shade.

Safety. The United States has French Polynesia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions.

Mark this place

The passport stamp for this place.

Oceania and the Pacific

Common questions

Why is Bora Bora’s airport on a separate island?

Bora Bora’s airport is on Motu Mute, a flat islet on the barrier reef, because that is where United States forces built an airstrip in 1943 during the Second World War, for the fuel base codenamed Bobcat. It is still the island’s airport. Air Tahiti runs a shuttle boat across the lagoon to the main village, Vaitape, in about 15 minutes.

What was Operation Bobcat?

Operation Bobcat was the United States’ wartime base on Bora Bora, in French Polynesia, codenamed BOBCAT: a fuelling station for ships and aircraft keeping the sea lanes to Australia open. The US Navy’s First Construction Detachment, 296 men, arrived on 17 February 1942 and left on 11 September 1943. The island saw no combat, and the base closed in 1946.

Was Bora Bora’s airport the first international airport in French Polynesia?

Bora Bora’s wartime airstrip on Motu Mute was French Polynesia’s only international airport until Faa’a International Airport on Tahiti took over. Wikipedia gives Faa’a’s opening as 1960, before which a weekly service ran from Bora Bora to Los Angeles via Honolulu; Tahiti Tourisme says the Bora Bora strip remained the only international airport until 1963.

Are there Second World War guns on Bora Bora?

Yes. Wikipedia’s account says at least eight 7-inch naval guns were placed around Bora Bora by US forces during the Second World War and that all eight remain. Tahiti Tourisme describes a walk of about two kilometres from the village of Faanui to a viewpoint and a ridge where two of the guns still point out to sea.

How high is Mount Otemanu?

Mount Otemanu, the highest point of Bora Bora in French Polynesia, is 727 metres high. It and the neighbouring Mount Pahia are remnants of the extinct volcano that formed the island, which by Wikipedia’s account was active between about 3.45 and 3.1 million years ago.

How do you get to Bora Bora?

International flights to French Polynesia land at Faa’a International Airport on Tahiti. Air Tahiti flies on to Bora Bora in about 50 minutes, with more than ten flights a day by its own account (Wikipedia’s account gives five or six), landing at the airstrip on Motu Mute; its shuttle boat to Vaitape, included in the fare, takes about 15 minutes. Cruise ships enter the lagoon through the Teavanui pass.

What are the marae on Bora Bora?

Marae are Polynesian ceremonial stone platforms, sacred sites. Wikipedia’s account says Bora Bora once had more than 40, of which remains of 13 survive, along with many petroglyphs; the best preserved is Marae Fare Opu on the shore of Faanui Bay. Visitors should look at them without climbing on them.

When is the best time to visit Bora Bora?

Bora Bora in French Polynesia is warm all year. Wikipedia gives its dry season as June to October, with some rain even then, and Météo-France’s 1991–2020 averages for the airport make December and January the wettest months, with about 250 mm each. The United States has French Polynesia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions.