Originally Posted by
obscure2k
The Brando looks the way Bora Bora looked when we first went there in 1975. At that time we had a reservation for Tetiaroa. I think we were scheduled for 5 days at Hotel Bora Bora and 3 days in Tetiaroa. We were so enamored of our over water bungalow at Hotel BB, that we cancelled our Tetiaroa plans. Of interest, is when we checked in for our UTA flight to Tahiti, Marlon Brando was in the same line, also connecting in Papeete. If the Brando has even the suggestion of Bora Bora in the '70's, it should be quite wonderful.
I think you might be confusing Tetiaroa with Rangiroa . . . ??? Apologies if I'm wrong. But in 1975 Marlon Brando was the sole owner of Tetiaroa and it wasn't functioning as a hotel at all. Rangiroa had the Kia Ora hotel, still in operation with several changes of ownership since the 1970s.
Both Tetiaroa and Rangiroa are enormous circular or ovate atolls, flat islands, sometimes 20-30 miles across, that are the remains of the rim of a long-sunken volcano. Tetiaroa is close to Tahiti while Rangiroa is further away, part of the Tuamotu group.
Bora Bora is a high island, with jagged parts of the volcano still standing, surrounded by motu, little islands, enclosing the lagoon. In 1975 there was the Hotel Bora Bora and little else. I think maybe Dino De Laurentiis had built La Marara. And there might have been the Club Med. Nothing out on the motus. The French airline called UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens) seemed amazingly exotic and linked France with its overseas territories. It was possible to board in Paris and travel to Tahiti, Wallis & Futuna, New Caledonia and across to Reunion and back to Paris.
Those were the days!
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/up70mm/7092838975/in/album-72157624606803281/" title="Bora Bora, French Polynesia"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7075/7092838975_78cae340cc_z.jpg" width="640" height="421" alt="Bora Bora, French Polynesia"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And
MacMyDay, so pleased to learn you are going to try out Lympstone Manor. I expect to get down there myself before the big summer season kicks in. And as far as French Polynesia is concerned, I've been there at various times of year and only once ran into seriously bad weather - an endless depression hanging over Rangiroa in September. I've been in the wet season and while it's crushingly humid you get fabulous skies for your camera!