Beginner French Polynesia
Bora Bora
A turquoise lagoon, mantas inside, and sharks on the other side of the pass
The lagoon is exactly as turquoise as in the photos. What almost no one tells you is that the real diving starts once you leave it, on the other side of the reef's only pass.
In this profile, you'll find out how the island and its lagoon are built, what you see inside and what you see outside, where the mantas and sharks show up, when to go, and how much experience it takes, which isn't much.
It's the world's most recognizable example of an atoll lagoon in the making, and a good place to understand the difference between a protected lagoon and the open ocean that begins two hundred meters away from it.
Geography and access
Bora Bora is a volcanic island in French Polynesia surrounded by an almost continuous barrier reef that encloses a shallow, very sheltered lagoon.
The central island is the eroded remnant of a volcano that is slowly sinking. Over geological time, the peak will disappear and only the ring of reef will remain: an atoll. The island is an atoll halfway made.
That barrier reef is broken by only one pass, on the west coast. All the water exchange between the lagoon and the ocean happens there, which is why the pass concentrates current and life.
Inside the lagoon, depth is shallow, the bottom is clear sand, and there are spots where rays and mantas gather at cleaning stations.
Outside the reef, the wall drops quickly into deep water, and reef sharks and passing pelagics show up.
Access is an international flight to Polynesia's main island followed by a short domestic flight. Logistics are simple, and the destination is expensive.
Keep reading with full access
This article is part of the full Encyclopedia. A donation from USD 10 unlocks every article, every species photo and the downloadable app, and helps sustain the Scuba Sign Paperless Diving Community project.