Crap Bars of the World : Bloody Mary's

During our recent visit to Bora Bora, we had the opportunity to call in at one of the world's most famous bars, Bloody Mary's.

Responsible for inventing the world famous drink of the same name, it was established in 1979 and gained it's fame by patronage from the likes of Marlon Brando who was particularly fond of the place and had a house on the island. Our tour included a drink here, so it would have been churlish to refuse.

The first thing you notice when you pull up outside is two bloody great (excuse the pun) noticeboards with the names of all the famous people who have visited the place. Then you go in past a counter selling T-shirts into the main bar.

To be fair, we did drop 90+ people into the bar in one go, so that might have accounted for the feeling of darkness and claustrophobia, but I have a feeling that was probably just the same with 10 people! Anyway, the aforementioned and much hyped drinks were duly doled out and consumed.

Disappointingly, mine contained enough Tabasco sauce to take the skin off my throat as it went down. The cynical amongst us might think that this was perhaps to cover up the lack of vodka? Surely not! (I don't want to get sued.)

However, to check out this theory, I asked for a second one without the Tabasco. Eventually, after much difficulty with the language - which was odd as we were both speaking English - one was duly delivered. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding as mine seemed devoid of any taste of vodka as far as I could tell.

And the cost of this? Our cruise director doled out 69,000 Pacific francs - which is about £600 to you or around £6 a glass.

And,  if after all that, you felt inclined by buy one of their T-shirt advertising the place, they were a very reasonable US$ 39 each!

So my advice to you if you are looking for a bloody Mary on Bora Bora? Buy a carton of tomato juice and a bottle of vodka, go to Bloody Mary's and take a picture, sit across the road and look at it while you drink your own.

It'll taste better, cost less and you still get a look at the outside - which is actually a lot nicer than the inside...