Vagabond Voyagesvideo
Bora Bora as you’ve never seen it before… thanks to him! Vlog 85
25 July 2025 · 24 min · 9K views
What this video covers
Tom and Anissia sail roughly 30 nautical miles to Bora Bora aboard their sailboat Vagabond, arriving under squalls with a confused swell and a contrary current that holds boat speed to 2–3 knots. At the pass entrance they reef the genoa and stow the spinnaker before entering. Anchoring is no longer permitted in the lagoon; mooring buoys are mandatory at 4,000 CFP (Pacific francs) per night, with garbage collection twice a week. A local guide named Grégory — who once bought the crew's previous yellow sailboat and stayed on to become a Bora Bora photographer — takes them on a private tour of the lagoon aboard his restored Polynesian pirogue, named Va Vagabond, fitted with a carved tiki called Ki. Stops include a blacktip reef shark and stingray feeding site (shark feeding is officially banned in French Polynesia but still tolerated in some spots), and two encounters with leopard rays, the second entirely private. Grégory argues that Bora Bora's value lies entirely in the lagoon: budget visitors who skip lagoon tours and stay only on the main island miss the island's core experience. He rates Maupiti's beach above Matira beach. Luxury overwater villas at the resort shown run to 12,000 euros per night.
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