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Tahiti - the Islands of Love. Where you’ll renew your soul and revitalize your romance, where you’ll honeymoon in exquisite over-water bungalows and sip cocktails as the vanilla scented air lingers. You’ll fall in love with Tahiti’s beauty. You will discover that Tahiti offers many exceptional and unique activities to partake in - shark and ray feeding in the lagoon, ATV biking around remote villages, arts and crafts lessons, horseriding on the beach and hikes to dramatic waterfalls. It’s all here in Tahiti. Down Under Answers offers incredible deals and specials. Ask us to choreograph a special Tahitian interlude for you today.
The Society Islands
The Society Islands include Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine, Raiatea and Tahaa. Each island is known for its crystal clear lagoons, flanked by mountain peaks and idyllic conditions.
Tahiti
Tahiti is a great stopover for a couple of nights. Here you’ll find roadside eateries in typical French style, the eclectic Tahiti markets for pareo’s and other cute souvenirs to take home. To really know Tahiti though, you must venture to the outer islands.
Moorea
Easily accessible from Tahiti, Moorea boasts a wide, shallow lagoon and vertical mountains where poetic threads of waterfalls tumble down fern-softened cliffs. Pastel-painted houses surrounded by gardens of hibiscus and birds of paradise circle the island in a fantasy of happy, simple villages.
Bora Bora
Honeymooners and romantics from around the world have laid claim to Bora Bora, with a lagoon resembling an artist’s palette of blues and greens and the castle-like Mount Otemanu piercing the sky. An overwater bungalow at a Bora Bora resort is a honeymoon dream come true.
Huahine
With its lush forests, untamed landscape, quaint villages and archaeological sites, is one of Polynesia’s best-kept secrets. A deep, crystal-clear lagoon surrounds the two islands while magnificent bays and white-sand beaches add drama and solitude to their virtues. Relatively unchanged by the modern world, Huahine’s few residents welcome visitors with great kindness.
Taha’a
With the rich aroma of vanilla lingering heavily in the air, Taha’a offers a glimpse of the traditional, tranquil life of the Tahitians. The flower-shaped island’s simple beauty is charmed by soft mountain shapes and surrounded by tiny motu with bright sand beaches. In the fertile valleys, local farmers grow watermelon, vanilla and copra.
Raiatea
The second largest Tahitian isle was the center of religion and culture over 1000 years ago and still lends enchantment to ancient legends told to this day. The green-carpeted mountains covering the interior include the celebrated Mt. Temehani, a sort of Polynesian Mt.Olympus.
The Tuamotus offer an untouched paradise with beautiful atolls and pink sand beaches ringed by coral lagoons. The density of fish in the Tikehau lagoon is the main industry for families in this region. Rangiroa is considered one of the greatest dive regions in all of Tahiti.
It’s no wonder that Survivor the TV show went to the Marquesas to film. It’s as far from civilization as you can get in the South Pacific. Here you’ll find an untouched culture isolated from the modern world and traditions still very much in place today. You’ll even notice that they have their own dialect. The Marquesas is for the traveler who wants to explore and discover.
Size
The total land area of French Polynesia’s 118 islands and atolls adds up to only 1,544 square miles. Population is about 300,000.
History
Polynesians are thought to have migrated to Tahiti from southeast Asia between 2000 and 1000AD.
European Settlement
French Polynesia extends over such a large area that it took several explorers and many years to discover and chart all the islands. The Spanish and the Dutch were first, making daring voyages through certain archipelagoes during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1767, English Capt. Samuel Wallis was the first European to discover Tahiti. Bougainville followed in 1768, Capt. Cook in 1769 and Capt. Bligh in 1788. Tahiti was ruled by the Pomare dynasty until 1880, when the islands became a French colony. In 1957, French Polynesia became a French Overseas Territory and has been benefiting from a reinforced internal autonomy statute since April 24, 1996, after already being internally autonomous since 1984.
Climate
Cooled by the gentle breezes of the Pacific, the climate of these islands is sunny and pleasant. Roughly speaking, there are two seasons: from November through May the climate is hot and humid, and from June through October the climate is warm and dry. Most of the rain falls during the hot season, but there are also many lovely sunny days during these months with refreshing trade-winds.
Geography
The islands of French Polynesia are sprinkled over one and a half million square miles of ocean in the eastern South Pacific, and consists of five archipelagoes: the Society Islands, Austral Islands, Marquises Islands, Tuamotu atolls and the Mangareva Islands. Papeete, capital of Tahiti is 4,050 miles from California.
Time Zones
All of the islands of French Polynesia, except for the Marquesas are in the same time zone. The Marquesas are 30 minutes ahead.
Currency
The Euro. Although you can find certain resorts will take US currency and some even take the older currency Pacific French Franc.
Language
French and Tahitian are the main languages and English is spoken by people who work in the travel industry.
