The different archipelagos
Society Archipelago. Named by Cook in honor of the Royal Society of London, the Society Archipelago is the main archipelago of French Polynesia. It comprises the Windward Islands to the east and the Leeward Islands to the west.
The Windward Islands include the much-coveted Tahiti, Moorea and three other smaller islands. Tahiti is the largest and most populous of the French Polynesian islands. Home to the capital, center of the economy and administration, gateway to the world, it is the main island - the only urbanized one, in fact. While Tahiti may seem a long way from mainland France, its surface area (1,042 km2) and population (around 190,000) make it the true center of Polynesia's archipelagos. From Tahiti, all travelers will radiate out to the five Polynesian archipelagos.
The Leeward Islands include magnificent Bora Bora; Maupiti, its little sister; authentic Huahine; sacred Raiatea; Tahaa, the Vanilla Island, and a few more remote atolls.
Tuamotu Archipelago. To the northeast of Tahiti, the Tuamotu archipelago (meaning "many islands") stretches its string of 76 atolls over 1,500 km from west to east and some 500 km from north to south. Their 15,350 inhabitants are spread across the largest archipelago in Polynesia.
The Tuamotu are made up of 78 atolls or low-lying islands of varying size and shape, stretching 1,500 km from northwest to southeast. The northern part of the archipelago, some 500 km from Tahiti, contains the largest and most densely populated atolls. Rangiroa is the largest, at 75 km long, and the second largest in the world, behind Kwajelein in Indonesia. The smallest, Nukutepipi, is just 4 km long. Some are round, like Tikehau; others are oval, like Manihi, or even rectangular, like Fakarava. The lagoons vary in depth, generally less than 70 m, or even completely filled in; only one is raised: Makatea.
Marquesas Archipelago. In the middle of the Pacific, blocks of lava rise up from the waters to form the most audacious reliefs. These volcanoes with their sharp peaks throw their cliffs to the Pacific's powerful breakers, like a permanent challenge to the force of the ocean. The result is a jagged landscape, jagged by the onslaught of swell and waves, carved by deep gorges and cut by steep valleys. These islands have no coral reefs to protect them, and are directly prey to the onslaught of the elements. They do, however, project basalt spires over 1,000 m into the sky, reserving space for plant and animal life. Overlooking the ocean, vast plateaus stretch out. Herds come here to graze. The calderas of the volcanoes form large basins where villages nestle, and the narrow valleys are home to lush vegetation of banana, orange, grapefruit, mango and countless other tropical plants.
The Land of Men is 500 km from the Tuamotus, 1,400 km from Papeete and 4,000 km from Hawaii. Stretching 300 km from northwest to southeast, the archipelago comprises twelve islands, only six of which are inhabited.
Three islands in the northern group: Nuku-Hiva, Ua Huka, Ua Pou; three islands in the southern group: Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Fatuiva (Fatu Hiva).
Australes archipelago. The Australes archipelago is, as its name suggests, the southernmost of French Polynesia, between 550 km and 1,250 km from Tahiti. The islands of this archipelago stretch for more than 1,300 km, forming an arc from northwest to southwest, in the volcanic extension of the Cook Islands. Seven in number, they are spaced 150 to 200 km apart, except for the remote Rapa, more than 500 km from any inhabited land. Their respective remoteness has contributed to the development of distinctive cultures based on self-sufficiency and the preservation of their natural heritage. Each one is different (there are as many dialects as there are inhabited islands, even if Tubuai has lost its own to Tahitian and French); their diversity speaks of a richness that less hurried travellers will take great pleasure in discovering.
Gambier Archipelago. Located 1,700 km southeast of Tahiti, the Gambier archipelago is the most remote in French Polynesia. The remnant of a gigantic collapsed volcano, it comprises a large diamond-shaped coral ring over 80 km in circumference, in the middle of which are several high islands: Aukena, Taravai, Agakauitai, Akamaru, Makaroa, Manui, Kamaka and Mangareva, the main island. The airport is located on motu Totegegie, the largest in the crown, to the northeast of the lagoon. The rest of the crown is made up of a few small motus and a large submerged barrier reef, making it extremely dangerous.
Geologically speaking, the Gambiers are halfway between Bora Bora and the completely collapsed atoll. Three invisible passes provide access to this small, timeless world of paradise, where the red of the flamboyant trees blends with the green of the pastures and the blue of the infinite azure.
Volcanic islands
The Polynesian islands are formed by the eruption of submarine volcanoes that pierce the surface of the water. With a few millimeters per year, the ocean floor of the Pacific moves from southeast to northwest; underneath, the magma forms hot spots that pierce the submarine floor in dotted lines. Underwater mountains appear on the bottom of the abyssal plains, sometimes rising higher than the ocean and creating islands. Tahiti in particular, the largest volcano in French Polynesia, starts at minus 5,000 m and rises to an altitude of 2,241 m, i.e. a mountain about 7 km high!
Today, French Polynesia only counts volcanoes that have been extinct for tens of thousands of years, and therefore potentially only deadly islands - still living some 100 million years: enough to enjoy the lagoon for a while longer!
After their violent eruptive birth, volcanoes die out and then die, and under the weight of the ages, they begin to subside and sink, until the oceanic drift takes them away. The high, mountainous islands, which can exceed 2,000 m in altitude, are the most recent volcanoes - Tahiti Iti is barely a million years old - while the low islands are the result of older volcanoes. Each island or group of islands being at a different phase of its life, you now understand the reason for such a variety of landscapes between the high islands and the low islands - otherwise called "atolls".
Atolls
When the volcano disappears under the water, it becomes an atoll. Only the reef barrier and its islets (motus) survive, aligned in dotted lines as in the Tuamotus. The atoll is a simple strip of sand a few hundred meters wide, interspersed with channels(hoa) and passes(ava). The motus sometimes merge due to the accumulation of sand: sandbanks stretching for dozens of kilometers, almost lying on the infinite ocean, are flush with the water.
There are 78 atolls in the Tuamotus, and a few in the other archipelagos. These low islands, of various shapes and sizes, can vary from 4 km to 80 km long, and can be round, oval or rectangular, as in Fakarava, or even more romantic, such as Tupai, "the heart island" in the Society Archipelago. The atolls that lose their barrier or the islands that never had one sink irreparably, to give what is called a "guyot": an underwater mountain.
Coral and lagoons
At the same time, a small animal settled in the rich and warm waters around the islands: the coral. It is a tiny primitive animal made up of thousands of polyps, a kind of tiny sea anemone with tentacles and a mouth. By millions, over thousands of years, their calcareous skeletons pile up to form coral barriers around the islands. Surrounded by this reef barrier, the latter are warmly protected. This is the case of the high islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Maiao, Tubuai, Raivavae and Mangareva: a hundred meters from the shore, their barrier is punctuated by a few passes formed by the rivers, and a few motus with coconut trees more or less solitary.
The case of Bora Bora and Maupiti is a little different: here, the motus have joined together and they encircle the lagoon almost entirely. Small mountains of greenery have formed within a huge blue lagoon, surrounded by magical islets pointing just above the surface.
Finally, if there has never been coral or never enough to form a lagoon, as is the case in all the Marquesas islands, as well as in Mehetia in the Society archipelago, and in Rapa and Marotiri, in the extreme southeast of the Australs, the islands are assaulted and beaten by the powerful Pacific waves. Here, there are few beaches but many cliffs with sharp reliefs; these are in principle the wildest islands.
The depth of the lagoons generally varies from 20 to 50 m at the most, forming an immense interior sea. Filled with sediments and rich in fauna, the lagoons are sometimes filled up, offering then a vast surface of territory, like in Nukutavake. Some of them have even experienced a geological phenomenon different from the "classic" subsidence of volcanoes and have risen up. In the Tuamotus, Makatea, which was already filled in, was propelled 80 m high and is now a vast plateau surrounded by cliffs; Rurutu in the Austral Islands, has experienced the same fate and now has countless caves and cliffs.
Gateway to and from the lagoons, the passes form openings in the motus and in the reef barrier. Initially formed by the fresh water of a river weakening the coral, they vary between 2 and 40 m in depth, and extend from 10 m to 1 km maximum. The only points of passage between the interior and exterior of the lagoon, they are real reserves of life and the currents can be very powerful. Sheltered from the swell, boats can also take advantage of this to slip through. Note that some atolls do not have a pass.
Beaches
In Polynesia, the sparkling white sand is so fine that it flows like water through your fingers... On miles of deserted beaches, Robinson is really not far away and the imagination finally meets reality. Why is the sand so fine and so white on the shores? Precisely because it's not sand! Again, coral, composed of limestone, is much more friable than sand and its large grains, made of hard silica.
Fine, clear, clean, the sand of Polynesian beaches is an essential component of the dream. But beware, you will not find these long awaited beaches as soon as you get off the plane! Cruel disappointment, the postcard beaches will require an additional effort: the white sand is found rather on the motus that you will have to reach by pirogue, or in the Tuamotus. But if Tahiti cannot boast of having the most beautiful beaches in the territory, the island still has some nice surprises in store for travelers moving away from the nerve center of Papeete. Some of them have the particularity to offer black sand (volcanic origin)! It is so dark that it sometimes looks like soot when it is dry, and so fine that it looks like a tarred road when it is wet. But it can be lighter and have gray tones, if it is mixed with white sand. Black sand beaches are mostly located on the east coast of Tahiti, and in the Marquesas.
The most photogenic beaches in Polynesia are certainly in the Tuamotus, but is it because they are so extensive or because they are deserted? In the Leeward Islands, they are less intimate, but more lively: you can spend an afternoon playing guitar and ukulele until night. By the way, don't tell a Polynesian that the sunsets are just as beautiful here: it's obviously not true! At this time of the day, beware of the "nono": these devilishly voracious little flies are particularly common in the Marquesas Islands.
Protected natural areas
French Polynesia counts today 51 classified natural sites, a number which evolves from year to year. Among them:
Two integral nature reserves classified as category I according to the environmental code: one in the Tuamotus (including the Taiaro atoll), and one in the Society archipelago (including the Scilly and Bellinghausen atolls).
One territorial park in Tahiti classified as category II: Te Faaiti Park (728 ha). Located in the eponymous valley, it is possible to observe bird species protected in French Polynesia, such as the long-billed sparrow, the venerated kingfisher, the Society salangane, or the Society ptilope; nesting sites of the Tahitian petrel and Audubon's shearwater; a significant number of rare and/or protected native or endemic plant species; ancestral archaeological sites and other landscapes typical of the Tahitian valleys (high peaks, rocky cliffs, plateaus, steep valleys, etc.).).
A mixed space (nature reserve and territorial park): the Vaikivi domain in Ua Huka (Marquesas), with an official surface area of 240.4 ha.
A dozen natural monuments classified as category III, located on the islands of Tahiti and Moorea. Among them, three waterfalls (all in Tahiti, including the Vaipahi waterfall), eight caves (including the Maraa cave in Tahiti, and the Vaitaraa cave in Moorea) and one spring: the Narii Domingo point spring, in Hitiaa on Tahiti.
Five category IVhabitat and species management areas: four in the Marquesas (Eiao, Hatutaa, Motu One and Mohotani) and one in the Society Archipelago in Raiatea (Te Mehani 'Ute 'Ute).
Nine category Vprotected landscapes : six in Tahiti (Hotuarea Point, Venus Point, Tamanu Plateau, Taharaa Lookout, Pari, and Lake Vaihiria), one in Bora-Bora (Motu Tapu), and two in the Marquesas Islands, Fatu Hiva (Bay of Virgins) and Ua Pou (Hohoi Bay).
A category VImanaged natural resource area in the commune of Teahupoo in Tahiti (765 ha): this is the last one to be classified, in June 2014.
Two areas benefiting from international recognition: the lagoon on the island of Moorea ratified by the RAMSAR convention, and the famous Fakarava Biosphere Reserve, established by UNESCO's MAB program. Consisting of seven atolls (Aratika, Fakarava, Kauehi, Niau, Raraka and Taiaro, which is uninhabited), the latter covers a total of 288,877 ha, including 31,022 ha of reef crown, 256,388 ha of lagoon and 8,316 ha of terrestrial surface (motus).
