Tahiti is the largest, most populated landfall in French Polynesia.  Known for the beautiful landscape that has been muse to great painters such as Paul Gauguin, Tahiti and her islands are popular for artists, adventurists, and lovers alike, it’s peaks rising through the mist from the lagoons below.

 Of the more well-known islands of Tahiti, Bora Bora is most popular.  With its renowned beauty, it has tragically grown more popular by the passing years.  Among the other popular spots in Tahiti, Moorea features jagged volcanic peaks and lush jungles.

 Some of the lesser-known islands offer what the more popular ones don’t, that is, they are equal in beauty and charm, but rich with tradition and the romanticism that comes along with the less developed areas.  Hauhine features its ancient ruins, as one of the heartlands of ancient Polynesian culture; it’s so much more than just a spot for endless white sands.  In Hauhine you will find Maeva, the old royal village of this island, where you will find hundreds of black stone ruins scattered along the shores of Lake Fauna Nui.  Several of the palaces and temples have been restored, but you can still see other artifacts that are housed in a thatched-roof museum set on stilts over the lake.  Taha, or “Vanilla Island,” is surrounded by coral gardens and beaches.  About an hour’s flight north of Papeete, The Tuamotus is a chain of coral atolls that is generally untouched.  Only four of them (Rangiroa, Tikehau, Manihi and Fakarava) have hotels, and the rest are ideal for diving with manta rays, kayaking lagoons, or bicycling along the sandy roads.  And Marquesas is where one season of Survivor was filmed.

 When visiting Tahiti, you won’t want to pass up a visit to the James Norman Hall Museum, a Victorian house on Tahiti’s north shore that was transformed into a museum for this man who penned Mutiny on the Bounty and many other classics.  Also visit Cook’s Bay, an inlet on Moorea’s north shore, and one of the most beautiful spots in the South Pacific.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Tahiti, Diving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.