Has anyone ever been to Bora Bora .... the beaches look quite stunning

[Pumpuynarak]

14 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Sounds like the Maldives some time ago. I was there for 3 weeks. Beautiful!

This is how it looked at that time...

 

 

I have Scuba dived the Maldives many times, 5 different islands for holidays of 2/3 weeks. IMO it can't be beaten for peace and tranquility and the quality of the diving is second to none. One small island, Komando had no more than 60 guests when i holidayed/dived there, it was pure heaven if you were looking for a retreat from a highly stressful job. I would imagine Bora Bora would be similar but a lot busier.

A pic of my accommodation on Komando.....

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

I have Scuba dived the Maldives many times, 5 different islands for holidays of 2/3 weeks. IMO it can't be beaten for peace and tranquility and the quality of the diving is second to none. One small island, Komando had no more than 60 guests when i holidayed/dived there, it was pure heaven if you were looking for a retreat from a highly stressful job. I would imagine Bora Bora would be similar but a lot busier.

A pic of my accommodation on Komando.....

 

 

60 guests sound crowded!

I was there in 1985. Maybe 10 huts on the island. At that time, they didn't have any of those bungalows in the see like now.

And I remember reading in the travel guide: With food you had two choices. Rice with fish or fish with rice. They didn't lie.

 

I loved it.

I would love to visit again under the same conditions. But that was almost 40 years ago, and it is very different today. I better keep my memories. Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures anymore which I made at that time.

 

 

[Pumpuynarak]

14 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

60 guests sound crowded!

I was there in 1985. Maybe 10 huts on the island. At that time, they didn't have any of those bungalows in the see like now.

And I remember reading in the travel guide: With food you had two choices. Rice with fish or fish with rice. They didn't lie.

 

I loved it.

I would love to visit again under the same conditions. But that was almost 40 years ago, and it is very different today. I better keep my memories. Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures anymore which I made at that time.

 

 

I was there for 2 weeks in 1997 and i have to say the restaurant food was brill, plenty of variety, i would suggest they have embarked on a substantial improvement in the 12 years between our visits. I have to say it was a really beautiful island with all facilities/accommodation top drawer. The dive school was probaly the best i've ever used. I would go back there in a flash.....

[save the frogs]

On 6/1/2023 at 2:56 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Make sure you don't confuse nice pictures with reality.

This is a nice example of what is advertised and reality (at least at some time).

 

 

 

so what?

why would you need to have the whole place to yourself?

i get over-crowded, but under-crowded is bad too. 

 

[steven100]

On 6/1/2023 at 8:43 PM, JeffersLos said:

Set the photo as your screensaver.

 

Turn off the aircon.

 

Tell your E-San wife to bring you a glass of Tipco. 

and stick a plastic palm tree pot plant on the desk  ...

[OneMoreFarang]

41 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

so what?

why would you need to have the whole place to yourself?

i get over-crowded, but under-crowded is bad too. 

 

It depends on what you want and expect.

I was in Koh Larn (1h boat from Pattaya) in 1996 and I shared a long beach with maybe 5 other people. I loved it. But we were lucky to get some food at all, no choice of a couple of restaurants.

It all depends on that you want.

 

My comment was mostly about the fact that some places are advertised like pristine beaches with few people, but in reality, it is crowded. Not according to expectations. 

[LaosLover]

On 6/2/2023 at 8:15 AM, bignok said:

Lipe and Kradan have nice beaches. .

 

Unless a foreign spot has great culture not sure why you would go if expensive.

Tell me more. These two have been on my list forever (also, Samui). Ko Kut, Ko Chang remain my favorites and Trat is a lovely old teak-woody town to kill a night in, before and after.

 

'Have Tahiti penciled in for Dec '25, will do a 2-week cruise around all the islands. There's also a one-way cruise between Tahiti and Honolulu where it's straight sea days for a week. For a few thousand more, you can also take in The Easter Islands, which for me would be the ultimate "Why Am I Here?" destination.

 

'Would  love to visit Vanuatu and The Solomon Islands. So many Aussie people rave about Vanuatu and retire there.

 

Toss in an Indonesian Spice Islands Cruise and that would do me (and probably do me for cruising too).