Bora Bora - General Info
Where is Bora Bora?
Bora Bora lies about 160 miles NW of Tahiti (or 26 miles from Raiatea or Maupiti) and is called the most beautiful island of the Pacific. Protected by a circling barrier reef, its lagoon offers a myriad of protected waters.
If Bora Bora is your last stop before heading west, be advised that Raiatea is much better equipped for any boat repairs, laundry, tank-filling, oil disposal and so forth. Bora Bora is adequate for provisioning and has clearance services plus duty-free fuel.
Unfortunately, the intense development on Bora Bora for tourists has meant that much of the island has lost its Polynesian charm, not only under water but on land as well. Many hotels, many tourists and lots of jetskis and helicopters.
Entrance Notes and Cautions for Bora Bora:
There is only one pass on the Island which leads to Vaitape, the main village. Enter the pass at 113.4°, after the second marker, take a course of 70° towards the Baie of Faanui. Entrance can be a bit tricky if there are strong westerly winds or swell from the west.
Once through the pass, the lagoon is busy with dive and tour boats, water taxis, commercial traffic and yachts.
On VHF Channel 13 the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) broadcast a daily weather forecast at 0630, 1200 and 1600 local time. The forecast starts with a BMS or no BMS (Bulletin Marine Special = Foul weather warning).
Cruiser Highlights for Bora Bora:
Between July and October, the waters around Bora Bora are a popular breeding ground for humpback whales.
Position – pass entrance:
16° 29.58’S, 151° 47.20’W
Last updated: June 2024
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Related to following destinations: Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Society Islands
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Things have changed in Bora Bora. Still one of our favorite stops thus far.
Anchoring is limited to two anchorages but only for a maximum of 36 hours.
Moorings are available in 4 mooring areas and are managed by Bora Bora Mooring Services (BMS) at 4,000 XFP per night (no volume discounts). You can stay as long as you like with the exception of the moorings in front of the Yach Club which are limited to 2 consecutive nights. Your mooring fee grants you access to any mooring in any area and you can move among them at will. It also includes twice weekly trash collection at your boat.
In theory you should contact BMS prior to arriving in the lagoon or risk a fine (but they don’t seem to strictly enforce this). Contact Heimana via WhatsApp +689 89440888 or VHF 9 the day before or morning of your arrival. Pick any open mooring and he will come by for payment and paper work. The process is easy and efficient. He’s a nice guy with some good local insights.
All publicly available moorings in Bora Bora are managed by BMS, inculding those off the Yacht Club.
Bloody Marys is not operating and the dingy dock is inaccessible. It is a large construction zone currently. A big, overwater bungalow resort is being built there.
Management of the moorings has been taken over by a new guy, who doesn’t appear to speak much English.
Pricing for the First day is 6,000 cfp, for two days it’s 4,000 cfp per day.
Apparently he has Francis’ old number +689 89 44 08 88 which is set up for WhatsApp, but he doesn’t respond to messages, even written in French.
His customer service skills are somewhat lacking, in perfect English he keeps telling me the Police and going to come out here and impound my boat!
October 2020
Prices for the government moorings have increased. Francis still collects the money, mostly every day.
There are NO discounts for multi-day moorings. It is now 3000 XPF (~$30 US) per day. Francis expects to be paid in cash with French Polynesian bills. He will supply a receipt and collect your garbage. No reason to pay for multiple days with no discount. He doesn’t work on Sundays.
If you purchase a card for water, be sure to get detailed instructions on how to use it. It’s complicated. The faucet at the the Vaitape city dock is automated and your card must be correctly inserted and removed to activate the flow. Any leftover water amounts will be recorded on your card when you finish. There is a $10 deposit for the plastic card. Get your deposit back from the grocery store or Francis when you return the card. So it’s $30 for a card with 600 liters allowed. If you can get your deposit back ($10) then it was still pretty expensive water.
Francis said that in the future yachts may be required to purchase tickets/credit at Bloody Mary’s to use moorings. Anchoring is no longer allowed per local government restrictions.
September 2019
Bora Bora moorings
Francis works for them and is very helpful.
Tel : 89 44 08 88 or call him on channel 9 , he speaks very good English .
These are the costs of moorings
1 night 2000
3 nights 5000
7 nights 10000
This means you can move around the island to different moorings without paying individually at each destination. Francis will also tell you if there is a mooring available on the otherwise of the island . At the time of writing this 17th September 2019 they were in the process of removing the moorings outside Bloody Mary’s, they were going to replace them with 20 new ones. Francis also collects garbage, I think this is every other day ( not on Sundays). Separate glass and other recycling from general rubbish.
There didn’t seem to be any rules in place regarding anchoring and we saw a number of boats anchored, we just found it easier to get a buoy, although maybe not so easy during the earlier months .
Bloody Mary’s, best dinghy dock in a long time. Happy hour ( Mon, Weds, Fri ) BOGOF on cocktails and on a pitcher of beer ! We really liked the atmosphere here, there was a band on there on a weds.
If you walk around the road to the right of Bloody Mary’s ( about 20 minutes) there is a public beach with a couple of restaurants. There is also a local snack bar but it wasn’t open when we went ( on a Monday) . There’s a mini market a short walk to the left of bloody Mary’s.
We took our dinghy to the town ( Vaitape) and put it near to the ferry dock, right in front of the tourist information office. It’s quite protected in here. There’s a Chin Lee supermarket then a hardware store and further on there’s another bank ( ATM), and if you walk further there’s a Super U.
You can still anchor in front of Bloody Mary’s. Although it is not free. Francis (on Channel 9) charges 10,000 xpf per week. He will collect your garbage as well. He also maintains the morning balls for the yacht club. You can call ahead and inquire about availability.
Bora Bora Bora Laverie provides laundry service, pick up/delivery. Call 87 37 74 85 for arrangements. Prices vary. I paid $36 per large bag (creatively stuffed). It was returned in 24 hrs.
My outboarder got stolen while my boat, Faule Haut, was at the dock in Vaitape during the night from 30 to 31st of Dec. 2018.
It was mounted on the yacht. I was on the yacht but did not hear anything.
Skipper Ingo Patalla on sailboat http://www.faule-haut.de
The owner of the Bora Bora Yacht Club, Bekri Sumbul would like to note that his email address is contact.bbyc@gmail.com
This is my Third visit to Bora Bora in the last 12 months and would like to say both Yacht Clubs are great to visit. The Bora Bora Yacht Club does, however, have more of a Yacht Club feel about it in my opinion.
The owner charges a $20,000 XPF fee per day for facilities (Wi-Fi, garbage showers and access etc) Water and Laundry costs extra on demand but it is well worth it for quite good internet connection and all other services. I believe the moorings are Government owned and the mooring I used did seem to be a very good repair.