Page 161 - Pacific Paradises 2019
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— Islands of Tahiti —
Nuku Hiva Ua Huka
Ua Pou Hiva Oa
MARQUESAS ISLANDS Fatu Hiva
Manihi
Rangiroa
Tikehau TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO
Tupai
Maupiti Bora Bora Fakarava
Taha’a Huahine Tetiaroa WINDWARD
LEEWARD ISLANDS Raiatea Moorea Papeete ISLANDS
Tahiti
SOCIETY ISLANDS
ACTAEON ISLANDS
Maria
Rimatara Rurutu
AUSTRAL ISLANDS Tubua’i Raivavae GAMBIER ISLANDS
Rapa
ISLANDS OF TAHITI
Officially known as French tranquil waters of Cooks Bay and are noted for their hospitality, friendliness
Polynesia, Tahiti is made up of 118 Opunohu Bay. and easy-going nature. French and
islands spread over four million The Society Islands also include Tahitian are the two official languages
square kilometres of ocean in the legendary Bora Bora, 240 kilometres on the islands, however English is widely
eastern South Pacific. The islands northwest of Tahiti, as well as Huahine, spoken in hotels and shops.
are further grouped into five comprised of two islands joined by History
archipelagos: the Society Islands, a narrow isthmus and enclosed by a Hundreds of years after the ancient
Austral Islands, Marquesas protective necklace of coral. Polynesians made the Tahitian islands
Islands, Tuamotu Islands and their home, explorers like Mendana,
Gambier Islands. Rangiroa and Tikehau are the best Quiros, Le Maire, Schouten, Roggeveen
known islands in the Tuamotu
Capital and major centres archipelago. Rangiroa is the largest and Byron made brief and unplanned
Papeete is the capital of Tahiti, the atoll in the Tuamotus, encircling a 67– visits to the Tuamotu Islands and the
Marquesas islands in the 16th, 17th and
largest island within French Polynesia, kilometre turquoise lagoon famed for its 18th centuries. Later in the 18th century
dubbed ‘the island of love’. The country’s rich diversity of marine life. explorers such as Bougainville, Wallis,
only international airport, Tahiti-Faa’a, Tikehau has an almost perfectly circular Vancouver and Cook ‘discovered’ Tahiti
is located on the island, making it the shape, with its many atolls surrounding a and called it ‘La Nouvelle Cythère’.
first stop in every itinerary. Moorea is lagoon that extends 26 kilometres across.
Tahiti’s closest neighbouring island, Captain Cook returned three times to
some 17 kilometres north-west of The people study the transition of Venus, Captain
Papeete. Heart-shaped Moorea is Tahiti’s population is a multicultural Bligh came to collect seedlings from the
home to soaring volcanic peaks and mix of Polynesians of Maohi (Maori) wondrous ‘Uru’ or breadfruit tree, and
magnificent views overlooking the extraction, Europeans and Asians. They the insubordinate Fletcher Christian
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