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Bora Bora Private Beach?


Kamfish642
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There is a lot of information on private Motu, but not much on Bora Bora private beach excursion. Are restrooms available? Are water or other beverages offered? Finally, how long of a boat ride is it from where the ship moors?

 

Thank you in advance for any information.

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In addition to Motu Mahana, brochure (pg.30) refers to a private beach of the coast of Bora Bora. However, few details are given.

 

 

I guess you confused me when you referred to this as an excursion!

 

This is the Motu that we all refer to ie Motu Tevairoa.

PG has leased a good sized beach here and the tender brings you here from around 10.30 am on the hour. Another tender drops and picks up people from Vaitape ie the island.

This beach has no facilities, no chairs, tables or food. There is water, beer and rum punch available along with chips and peanuts.

There are kayaks here and sometimes people play beach volleyball or have crab races!

 

It's my favourite place in the world.

 

If you google by its name you can find a you tube video on this. It's called Bora Bora Motu with Paul Gauguin Cruises.

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I guess you confused me when you referred to this as an excursion!

 

This is the Motu that we all refer to ie Motu Tevairoa.

PG has leased a good sized beach here and the tender brings you here from around 10.30 am on the hour. Another tender drops and picks up people from Vaitape ie the island.

This beach has no facilities, no chairs, tables or food. There is water, beer and rum punch available along with chips and peanuts.

There are kayaks here and sometimes people play beach volleyball or have crab races!

 

It's my favourite place in the world.

 

If you google by its name you can find a you tube video on this. It's called Bora Bora Motu with Paul Gauguin Cruises.

 

Sounds heavenly...so you are saying the tenders come hourly...if we wanted to stay only an hour we could..or two hours...

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Sounds heavenly...so you are saying the tenders come hourly...if we wanted to stay only an hour we could..or two hours...

 

 

We usually stay for a couple of hours then go back for lunch and return for another two or three hours.

 

It was so heavenly this year that we didn't want to return to the ship and finally returned on the last tender then had to rush back and shower as we were invited to watch the exiting of the lagoon from the Bridge....so I could say a last goodbye to the BB Motu which we kind of pass on the way out.

 

Thankfully we will be there again in July!

 

If you give me your email I can send you some recent pictures.

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We were there last week, on our first PG cruise. It was our first cruise ever, but we had spent a week at an OWB at the Sofitel on Bora Bora 20 years ago. After the PG motu off Taha'a (which was a fantastic day), we were looking forward to the motu beach off of Bora Bora. We were, however, very disappointed that it was right in the harbour entrance, and while snorkeling we had to watch out for small boats and SUPs trying to come ashore on the private beach. We only stayed an hour, and enjoyed the boat ride from the ship to the motu more than the beach since much of the water was crystal clear and there were fish, rays and sharks swimming close to the boat. We were hoping to see the beautiful waters of Bora Bora's lagoon, but we didn't see it from our anchorage. We also had a cruise ship anchored on each side of us, and cruisemates that went into town said it was the most crowded they had ever seen. Next time (which we booked on board) we'll go to the IC for the day.

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We were there last week, on our first PG cruise. It was our first cruise ever, but we had spent a week at an OWB at the Sofitel on Bora Bora 20 years ago. After the PG motu off Taha'a (which was a fantastic day), we were looking forward to the motu beach off of Bora Bora. We were, however, very disappointed that it was right in the harbour entrance, and while snorkeling we had to watch out for small boats and SUPs trying to come ashore on the private beach. We only stayed an hour, and enjoyed the boat ride from the ship to the motu more than the beach since much of the water was crystal clear and there were fish, rays and sharks swimming close to the boat. We were hoping to see the beautiful waters of Bora Bora's lagoon, but we didn't see it from our anchorage. We also had a cruise ship anchored on each side of us, and cruisemates that went into town said it was the most crowded they had ever seen. Next time (which we booked on board) we'll go to the IC for the day.

 

I think you may have had bad luck when you went to the Motu. We were on board for the last two weeks in January and visited the Motu three times for a very different experience. I always recommend that people take the half day circumnavigation trip to see the entire island and the other side of the lagoon. Anyone whom I have recommended loved that excursion. I am sure the Thalasso will also be great!

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We were there last week, on our first PG cruise. It was our first cruise ever, but we had spent a week at an OWB at the Sofitel on Bora Bora 20 years ago. After the PG motu off Taha'a (which was a fantastic day), we were looking forward to the motu beach off of Bora Bora. We were, however, very disappointed that it was right in the harbour entrance, and while snorkeling we had to watch out for small boats and SUPs trying to come ashore on the private beach. We only stayed an hour, and enjoyed the boat ride from the ship to the motu more than the beach since much of the water was crystal clear and there were fish, rays and sharks swimming close to the boat. We were hoping to see the beautiful waters of Bora Bora's lagoon, but we didn't see it from our anchorage. We also had a cruise ship anchored on each side of us, and cruisemates that went into town said it was the most crowded they had ever seen. Next time (which we booked on board) we'll go to the IC for the day.

 

 

Very rare other ships are in the lagoon at the same time. Would agree Vitape does not have the infrastructure to handle larger ships or multi ships. To really see the lagoon one must take an excursion private/ship that circumnavigates the lagoon. You then will see all the incredible different hues of blue and green. The PG has a contract with Patrick so even if there are large ships there at the same time a good way to go is the ships excursion with Patrick. IC Resorts have day use excursions for the PG cruisers, a great way to get away from the crowds if there are other ships (especially large ones) on Bora Bora at the same time.

 

Did you ask questions from the seasoned PG cruisers on this forum? Did you check to see if other ships would be on Bora Bora at the time you were there? Yes there are ways to find out on the internet. Many cruise lines hit the South Pacific in the Northern Hemisphere winter clearing out of the Alaska market. Weather if a bit more tricky in January ......... guess I'm trying to say there are better times of the year to visit FP, of course you pay more.

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I think you may have had bad luck when you went to the Motu. We were on board for the last two weeks in January and visited the Motu three times for a very different experience. I always recommend that people take the half day circumnavigation trip to see the entire island and the other side of the lagoon. Anyone whom I have recommended loved that excursion. I am sure the Thalasso will also be great!

We had taken a circumnavigation of Bora Bora when we stayed there previously so we thought we would try something different this time. What we didn't think about was that the ship needs deep water to anchor in, and the only place to do that is an area that doesn't look like the view from the Sofitel. I think we have 2 days in Bora Bora on our next cruise so maybe we'll give the motu another try.

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We had taken a circumnavigation of Bora Bora when we stayed there previously so we thought we would try something different this time. What we didn't think about was that the ship needs deep water to anchor in, and the only place to do that is an area that doesn't look like the view from the Sofitel. I think we have 2 days in Bora Bora on our next cruise so maybe we'll give the motu another try.

I am happy that you posted your perspective and while my experience was great it gives future cruisers both sides. Also for all my visits to BB I had never really circumnavigated the lagoon until 2014. As you know it's really beautiful on the other side and I was quite bowled over.

 

But for all that I still love the PG Motu especially first thing when there are few guests there! It's still a few years ago but I want to have my 40 th anniversary vow renewal there.

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Very rare other ships are in the lagoon at the same time. Would agree Vitape does not have the infrastructure to handle larger ships or multi ships. To really see the lagoon one must take an excursion private/ship that circumnavigates the lagoon. You then will see all the incredible different hues of blue and green. The PG has a contract with Patrick so even if there are large ships there at the same time a good way to go is the ships excursion with Patrick. IC Resorts have day use excursions for the PG cruisers, a great way to get away from the crowds if there are other ships (especially large ones) on Bora Bora at the same time.

 

Did you ask questions from the seasoned PG cruisers on this forum? Did you check to see if other ships would be on Bora Bora at the time you were there? Yes there are ways to find out on the internet. Many cruise lines hit the South Pacific in the Northern Hemisphere winter clearing out of the Alaska market. Weather if a bit more tricky in January ......... guess I'm trying to say there are better times of the year to visit FP, of course you pay more.

One of the other ships was the Aranui 5. I think it stops at Bora Bora every other Thursday. Our 1/28 to 2/11 PG cruise also stopped at Bora Bora on Thursday. Looking at other sailing dates for the PG cruises, it looks like they don't normally stop at Bora Bora on Thursday. The other Marquesas sailings stop there on Wednesday and at Taha'a on Thursday. For some reason, our itinerary was in the opposite order. PG had rearranged the order of our ports in the Marquesas due to a large cruise ship coming through. They notified us a month or so ahead of time about that. The other ship in port was the CMV Magellan, which is on an around the world cruise.

 

We prefer to vacation during the winter to avoid the congestion caused by snowbirds here in south Florida. And we don't need to worry about tropical systems in Florida preventing us from getting to our destination. We wanted to do the Marquesas cruise, and because of the relocation of the ship this spring, we would have had to wait until November for the next sailing.

 

I did a lot of reading on the forum during our planning process and it was helpful. We had a great time on the cruise. While we were disappointed by the anchorage at Bora Bora, watching the full moon rise over Mount Otemanu, while enjoying perfectly cooked lobster at L'Etoile, is something I'll never forget.

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One of the other ships was the Aranui 5. I think it stops at Bora Bora every other Thursday. Our 1/28 to 2/11 PG cruise also stopped at Bora Bora on Thursday. Looking at other sailing dates for the PG cruises, it looks like they don't normally stop at Bora Bora on Thursday. The other Marquesas sailings stop there on Wednesday and at Taha'a on Thursday. For some reason, our itinerary was in the opposite order. PG had rearranged the order of our ports in the Marquesas due to a large cruise ship coming through. They notified us a month or so ahead of time about that. The other ship in port was the CMV Magellan, which is on an around the world cruise.

 

We prefer to vacation during the winter to avoid the congestion caused by snowbirds here in south Florida. And we don't need to worry about tropical systems in Florida preventing us from getting to our destination. We wanted to do the Marquesas cruise, and because of the relocation of the ship this spring, we would have had to wait until November for the next sailing.

 

I did a lot of reading on the forum during our planning process and it was helpful. We had a great time on the cruise. While we were disappointed by the anchorage at Bora Bora, watching the full moon rise over Mount Otemanu, while enjoying perfectly cooked lobster at L'Etoile, is something I'll never forget.

 

Speaking of the Sofitel Bora Bora .......... My view for lunch while visiting the Sofitel Motu ...

 

Bora%20Bora%20instagram%20%281%20of%202%29.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
I think you may have had bad luck when you went to the Motu. We were on board for the last two weeks in January and visited the Motu three times for a very different experience. I always recommend that people take the half day circumnavigation trip to see the entire island and the other side of the lagoon. Anyone whom I have recommended loved that excursion. I am sure the Thalasso will also be great!

I will be there the very 1st time in FP, witn PG (excited). Please advise: whether PG charges any $ on both its Motu BoraBora and IC Thalasso excursions? Thank you

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I think you may have had bad luck when you went to the Motu. We were on board for the last two weeks in January and visited the Motu three times for a very different experience. I always recommend that people take the half day circumnavigation trip to see the entire island and the other side of the lagoon. Anyone whom I have recommended loved that excursion. I am sure the Thalasso will also be great!
I will be there the very 1st time in FP, witn PG (excited). Please advise: whether PG charges any $ on both its MotuBoraBora and IC Thalasso excursions? Thank you
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I will be there the very 1st time in FP, witn PG (excited). Please advise: whether PG charges any $ on both its MotuBoraBora and IC Thalasso excursions? Thank you

 

No charge for the Bora Bora PG Motu ..........

 

There is a charge for 'a day at the beach' at the IC Thalasso

 

http://www.pgcruises.com/shore-excursions?field_port_target_id=3&field_excursion_category_tid=34

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No charge for the Bora Bora PG Motu ..........

 

There is a charge for 'a day at the beach' at the IC Thalasso

 

http://www.pgcruises.com/shore-excursions?field_port_target_id=3&field_excursion_category_tid=34

Thank you Jerry. I like that you attached the link to the IC Th. excursion. The Bo/Bo Motu does not have the restroom (one concern) and PG provided food for Motu day (?), am I right?

Besides the pool at IC Th. is there nice calm beach in the area? Thank you for your time.

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Thank you Jerry. I like that you attached the link to the IC Th. excursion. The Bo/Bo Motu does not have the restroom (one concern) and PG provided food for Motu day (?), am I right?

Besides the pool at IC Th. is there nice calm beach in the area? Thank you for your time.

 

one motu mahana the food is included with all the trimmings and full bar

on bora bora motu you jave water and rum punch with the chips

 

Beach at the Thalasso

Thalasso%20ex%20%281%20of%206%29-XL.jpg

 

Thalasso%20Resort%20%288%20of%2018%29-XL.jpg

 

Outrigger%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

 

Notice the canopys with recliners on the beach of the inner lagoon.

Thalasso%20Chapel%20%281%20of%201%29-XL.jpg

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Hi Jerry, the pictures of the beach at Th. are just heaven on earth. I hope the IC Th keeps the beach cleaned like that at all time.

Motu Mahana? is it also in BoraBora? is it considered a one of the excursions of PG? Thankyou for your time again.

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Hi Jerry, the pictures of the beach at Th. are just heaven on earth. I hope the IC Th keeps the beach cleaned like that at all time.

Motu Mahana? is it also in BoraBora? is it considered a one of the excursions of PG? Thankyou for your time again.

 

Motu Mahana is on Tahaa .... and it's very nice.

 

The IC Bora Bora is well kept, clean clean clean

 

I took the pictures in December 2015 while I was there on the ships excursion.

 

Here is motu mahana on Tahaa, a free excursion of the PG including lunch. That is my BH snorkeling but you can see the beach area and lots of shade with lounge chairs

Motu%20Mahana%20snorkeling%20%281%20of%201%29%20%282%29-X2.jpg

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