Explained
Ten things
explained.
Ten short articles, each about one thing you will see or hear about and may want explained. Each one links to the islands where you can see it.
Motu Farakau, Fakarava
The colour of the water, the shape of an atoll, pink sand, a flower, an eel, a wall of sharks, a chart, a bungalow, a pod of dolphins and a fort. Each article takes a few minutes to read.
The articles
The ten.
Explained
Why the lagoon is blue
White coral sand, shallow water and the way seawater absorbs red light.
Explained
How an atoll forms
A volcano, a reef, and millions of years of subsidence. Darwin described it in 1842.
Explained
Why some sand is pink
The shells of foraminifera, single-celled organisms, ground into coral sand by the surf.
Explained
The flower that grows on one mountain
The tiare 'apetahi grows only on the Temehani plateau of Raiatea.
Explained
The blue-eyed eels of Faie
Freshwater eels up to two metres long, with pale blue eyes, in a village stream on Huahine.
Explained
The wall of sharks
Several hundred grey reef sharks in Fakarava's south pass, and the grouper spawning that feeds them.
Explained
Tupaia's chart
A navigator from Raiatea drew a chart of more than seventy islands for Captain Cook in 1769.
Explained
The first overwater bungalow
Built on Raiatea in 1967 by three Californians whose hotel had no beach.
Explained
The dolphins of Tiputa pass
A resident pod of bottlenose dolphins on Rangiroa surfs the standing waves of the outgoing tide.
Explained
The mutineers' fort
In 1789 Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers built a fort on Tubuai. They left within months.
The islands
Where to see
these things.
Tuamotu
Fakarava
A UNESCO biosphere reserve with several hundred grey reef sharks in its south pass.
Open the island guide
Society Islands
Raiatea
Taputapuātea, the World Heritage marae, and the base for most sailing charters.
Open the island guide
Tuamotu
Rangiroa
One of the largest atolls in the world. Pass diving, resident dolphins, a pearl farm and a vineyard.
Open the island guide
Society Islands
Huahine
Two islands inside one reef, restored marae beside a lake, and family pensions instead of resorts.
Open the island guide