When I was tidying up my spreadsheet recently and updating all the MS hand done airports, I noticed NTTB was one of the ones I hadn't added to my list before. And coincidentally, I spotted cli4d's Bora Bora improvement project addon on sale on my next visit to Orbx, so off I went.

I have to say this was possibly one of the very best explorations I've ever had in any sim. I generally don't hang around islands much. I certainly never travel to them or from them as there's really nothing quite as boring as open ocean as far as I'm concerned. But I spent about an hour just doing a couple of circuits in the Ka-10 (Touching Cloud) and recording the flight, and so far I've probably spent a couple of days just playing the flight back and exploring with the drone cam. This is exactly what I want from a sim - the ability to go and "visit" places I am never going to get to for real. At this point in my life, you couldn't pay me enough to go through all the hassle to actually travel to somewhere like this - if I could just beam in and stay for a few weeks that would be one thing, but getting there? No way. But MSFS and all it's various addons and features are now feeling close enough to the real thing to be a more than adequate substitute. I have got loads of little scenic gems that I haven't really explored fully yet, and I'm a long way off being finished with this one recorded flight - I shall be back to play with the weather and times and grab yet more shots. And I will visit the place in a variety of other slow moving vehicles and see how it looks then as well.

I must have grabbed a couple of hundred shots already, and most of them would probably only appeal to me, but here's a few to try and do my bit for the Bora Bora Virtual Tourist Board.

Setting off shortly after the sun rises

On my big HDR screen this is breathtaking

The level of detail in the improvement package is pretty stunning

A few glitches with the boats, but I can live with that

This is a really fun thing to buzz around in

Wonder what this costs in real life?

Yep, if you can beam me here, I'll take it

off to explore the peak next

And back down to the airport again

And just for a bit of different effect - my ET moment

and a random evening shot

I definitely recommend a visit there, and the improvement project pack is only around 10 bucks even at full price, I think, so grab that too! Like the song said "the future's so bright I gotta wear shades"

 

 

I think you've taken your immersion quest to a whole new level here. And communicated your excitement about it quite well. Hardly any reason to climb back into an aircraft and fly anymore. 🙂

Nice shots Andy and a nice place to be !

cheers 😉

Edited February 17, 20242 yr by pmplayer

Really nice shots!! man this looks like so much fun I will definitely grab this scenery thank you for sharing! 

Looks like a amazing add-on, shame there is no sign of life anywhere

Excellent screenies, Andy. This guy Clifford is an artist, go check out his latest creation El Nido, also available from ORBX (on the island of Palawan in the Philippines). I have been there a few times in rl. This scenery add-on looks word not allowed convincing.

Nice shots, in real life a place for the wealthy.

19 hours ago, John F said:

Hardly any reason to climb back into an aircraft and fly anymore

Thanks John! And make that "no reason", for me at least!

15 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Nice shots Andy and a nice place to be !

cheers 😉

Cheers PMP, it does look mighty fine, doesn't it?

13 hours ago, Silverbird said:

Really nice shots!! man this looks like so much fun I will definitely grab this scenery thank you for sharing! 

Thanks Cesar, and enjoy your visit!

10 hours ago, mallio said:

Looks like a amazing add-on, shame there is no sign of life anywhere

Thanks, and yes, a bit of animated hoo-mans would be good. But on the other hand, it does mean I've got the place to myself and there's no danger of finding a bunch of loud drunks in the next hut.

8 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

Excellent screenies, Andy. This guy Clifford is an artist, go check out his latest creation El Nido, also available from ORBX (on the island of Palawan in the Philippines). I have been there a few times in rl. This scenery add-on looks word not allowed convincing.

Cheers Bernd! I actually bought his two Philippines addons first before I saw this one. Haven't tried those yet but I will. Very impressive stuff. My only slight issue would be that lots of the stuff has hard boundaries, so you can't get inside some of those cafes and suchlike. Shame, as I'd like to get a few shots as if sat at one of the tables looking out at the beach. But still gotta be one of the best addons I've seen so far.

12 minutes ago, helberger said:

Nice shots, in real life a place for the wealthy.

Cheers Helmut! And that's the beauty of the sim - I'm the richest man in this particular version of the world! Even Elongated Muskman doesn't have his own fleet of personal A380s, 777s, F35s and all the other hundred or so aircraft in my hangar, let alone my collection of aircraft carriers and other ships. But yep, in real life I dread to think what a couple of weeks there would cost, and presumaby there are luxury condos actually owned as well. How the other 0.000005% live, eh?

Just wonderful series, Andy...The color, mood, and content of these pictures are really outstanding...

Thanks for the commentary too. Have fun...with the world at your fingertips...🙂....

Wow, absolute incredible 👏

wow, cool series, I love pic #2 for the atmosphere, and the close up of the rocks for the realism. I'm a geologist, and this looks real to me, outstanding.

On 2/18/2024 at 6:13 AM, P_7878 said:

Just wonderful series, Andy...The color, mood, and content of these pictures are really outstanding...

Thanks for the commentary too. Have fun...with the world at your fingertips...🙂....

 

On 2/18/2024 at 9:31 PM, efis007 said:

Wow, absolute incredible 👏

Cheers guys, this is some seriously impressive scenery. He's done two other packs for the same sort of thing in the Philippines - got them, but haven't been there yet. Planning to take a trip later this week.

3 hours ago, jankees said:

wow, cool series, I love pic #2 for the atmosphere, and the close up of the rocks for the realism. I'm a geologist, and this looks real to me, outstanding.

Cheers JanKees, and yes #2 was one of my favs, and I think those are the best rocks I've seen in any sim and any location. The default Bora Bora has some ugly stuff going on with the central peak, or at least it did on my system, but now it really does look tremendous. What I need for here is a little animated climber, I really could waste days then! Actually, that's given me an idea, I might go back there and try some eyeball shots from the rockface from a climber's POV. I'll post them if it works out.

Wonderful shots Andy! 🙂