Location and Appearance

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, in the south of the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Islands of the Wind in the archipelago of the Society. Tahiti has an area of 1043 km², situated on 132 km of coasts, has a population of 169 674 inhabitants. Its density is 163 inhabitants per km².

45 km long in its most distant points, it covers about 1 045 km² amongst which one in only 150 are lived in and developed. Its highest summit, the mount Orohena, is 2 241 m high. It is located at 17 degrees south and 150 degrees west. Its capital is Papeete, situated on the northwest coast of the island. The island is made up of two central parts on volcanos put out and linked by a short stretch of land called the isthme is Taravao.

Tahiti is the most populated island of French Polynesia, with 70% of the complete population. The official language is french.

The dance in Tahiti

Dance in Tahiti is known across the world.It is linked to the myth of "Nouvelle Cythère" (another name for Tahiti). In effect who can ignore the hip shaking of "vahine" with long hair adorned with odorous flowers or else virile dances of "tane" in impressive tattoos?

If one not misread therefore more these aspects of tahitian dance, its origin and the way of witch they played her before the arriving of the first Europeans is unfortunately never recalled, reducing dance to these some exotic plates.

The motives of this lacuna are various and notably linked to the ban of dance in Tahiti by the missionaries, ratified by Code Pomare in 1842. These condemned the sensual character of the choreography.

And, today this art is undergoing a renaissance in Polynesia. It seems interesting to try to reconstruct traditional dance, to go back to its true origin, to reinvigorate this art in the Tahitian society from which i comes and thereabouts of has dances it traditional.

Tahiti's Beaches

The main island of Tahiti has few nice beaches. The only white sand beaches on the island are on the west coast, south of Papeete Town and Faa'a Airport where most of the resorts are located. But even here, the beaches are not what you expect from such tropical paradise and the lagoon is often washed with seaweed making swimming not great. The nicest beach is at Punaauia which has public access and a parking area just south of Le Meridien Hotel.

Papenoo on the north coast and Papara on the south coast are attractive black sand beaches but the swimming is usually rough and best for surfing and body surfing. There's a nice sandy beach at Toahotu on remote Tahiti Iti which is popular with locals and several beaches on the north coast of French Polynesia Iti, particularly at Tautira which is good for strolling and beachcombing with stunning coastal and mountain views.

So The beaches of Tahiti have rather poor reputation compared to those of Moorea, Bora Bora or Tuamotu islands.

It is true that the beaches of Tahiti are not the splendid beaches of white sand which you saw in the booklets of the agencies of trips, but it is not a reason to ignore them, and if you spend some days in Tahiti, why not to take an open bus and to go to relax on one of them.

The favouite beaches of most tourists are those of the west coast, between Meridien and Mahana park