A Picturesque Escape Bora Bora – Matira Beach
Posted On January 5, 2010
The Bora Bora Island is home to many exotic beaches, ideal for a tranquil as well as fun filled holiday. The Matira Beach on this Island is, however, is supposed to be the best beach here.
Location
On the leeward group of the Society Islands Archipelago of French Polynesia, in the South Pacific Ocean is the Bora Bora Island. The Island stretches to about 18 miles and is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef.
On the south end of this Island is the Matira Beach, a mile long beach that is among the best beaches of o f this Island. The starting point of this beach is the well known resort of Hotel Bora Bora from where it goes around the south of the Island to the Matira Point and extends 3 kilometers ahead to the Club Med. Lined up along the beach are a number of resorts where you can stay.
When to go
The Bora Bora Island has a tropical climate that favours tourism all through the year. The Polynesian summer is the wet season here, in the months from November to March. The months of February and March are the hottest months which also record a high amount of rainfall. The Polynesian winter or the dry season comes in the months from May to October.
The dry season is also the peak tourist season here with a number of tourists coming in at that time.
How to go
The Island of Bora Bora has a small airport on the Motu Mute. The airstrip at Motu Mute was built during the World War II, by US marines as a refueling stop on the America to Australia supply line.
You need to take a connecting one hour flight from Papeete in Tahiti Island to get here. Papeete is about 8 hours away by flight from Los Angeles.
Air Tahiti serves a 20 minute flight to Tahiti from Huahine and Raiatea, has regular flights to the Tuamotu Atolls as well as weekly flights to the Marquesas.
From the Motu Mute airstrip, you need to take a short ferry trip to get to the village of Vaitape and then take a shuttle or other means of transport to explore the Island.
While in the Bora Bora Island, you can ask your hotel to arrange a shuttle service for you or you can rent a car, scooter or a bicycle to explore the Island at your own leisure. These rental services are available at the Vaitape Village.
Other wise, there are plenty of buses that you can hop on to that will take you to the Matira Hotel district.
There are two daily, expensive flights from/to ghastly Papeete [Tahiti].
What to do at Matira beach
Your trip to the Island of Bora Bora remains incomplete without going to Matira Beach. The Matira point on the southern part of Bora Bora is the main centre of tourism here. Both to the east and the west sides of this beach are long stretches of sandy beaches. On Pofai Bay, to the east of the Matira Beach are hotels with great views of the beach. Hills and mountains like Mount Otemanu that can be seen from this beach make the scene just picture perfect.
The shallow sand bottom lagoon, off Matira Beach make for one of the best snorkeling spots in the Island of Bora Bora. The Island has a rich marine life that includes manta rays, eagle rays, sharks and over one thousand species of tropical fishes.
Off the Matira Point, you can enjoy the swimming with the spotted ray and the gray ray, while diving or snorkeling during one of those enchanting ray feeding excursions.
The Matira beach leaves you with memories of moments that you wish would last forever, whether you are simply strolling by the beach or opting for a guided hike on the trail from the village of Vaitape to the summit of Mount Pahia.
Whether you want to simply relax by doing nothing or you want to have an active holiday beach with water sports like snorkeling, or sailing, kayaking and diving, or you simply want to marvel at the beauty of sunrise and sunset by a white sandy beach, you are bound to leave Matira Beach happy and wanting to come back again. It definitely is a paradise of The Bora Bora Island.
