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38 Welcome to Tahiti and Her Islands Thatched-roof bungalows float on stilts in seas so clear that you can wave to your curious shadow on its sandy floor. The front door opens; you jump right into the water, laughing as you startle colorful fish who dazzle you in turn with their brilliance. Dry off in a hammock, facing mountains that appear like magic on the horizon, past alabaster sand and palms angled toward a perpetual sun. Resist the urge to pinch yourself—this paradise does, indeed, exist, and it's more incredible than you'd even imagined. Sprinkled across two million square miles of ocean are 118 miniscule islands and atolls. Of these, the Society Islands archipelago is perhaps the most well-known. It's here that you'll find Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, and Taha'a seamlessly interconnected by fast ferries, short flights, and thousands of years of Polynesian history. Javelin throwing, surfing, and the 122-year-old Heiva i Tahiti festival remain time-honored traditions, as permanently etched into the Maohi people as their gorgeous tattoos. Tahitian tiare flowers perfume every graceful move their famous dancers make, and black pearls, vanilla beans, wood carvings, and hand-dyed pareo fabrics help you prove that your days of 80-degree water, hikes, massages, diving, Uturoa Papeete Tahiti Rangiroa Tikehau Mataiva Moorea Raiatea Tetiaroa Maiao Huahine Taha'a Bora Bora Tupuai Maupiti P A C I F I C O C E A N W I N D W A R D I S L A N D S L E E W A R D I S L A N D S S O C I E T Y I S L A N D S T U A M O T U I S L A N D S 0 50 miles 0 50 km welcome to tahiti and her islands canoeing, deep sea fishing, hand-feeding sharks, yachting, dining, dancing, and picnicking in the epitome of utopia were not just a blissful dream, but a memory.

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