The Society Islands
The Society Islands are made up of twelve major islands divided into a Windward cluster of five and a Leeward cluster of seven islands.
The Windward cluster consist of Tahiti, Moorea, Mejetia and Maiao which are high volcanic types and Tetiaroa which is a small atoll. The Leeward group includes the high islands of Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Bora-Bora and Maupiti.
Tahiti is the largest and best known of this group and has been the source of many novels and adventure stories associated with the South Seas island paradise. It was a favourite subject of the French artist Paul Gauguin – his paintings of the island people and island life made him famous.
Tahiti has an area of about 400 miles and is formed of volcanoes connected by an isthmus, its main peak Mt Orohena has an elevation of 7,321 feet. The interior consists of uninhabited jagged peaks and gorges covered with lush tropical vegetation. Its capital city, Papeete, is a modern city of more than 128,000 people built around a coastal lagoon with a busy harbour. All the islands are populated and have rich soils producing copra, pineapples, vanilla beans and tropical fruits. Papeete is the distribution centre for supplies to all the islands of French Polynesia, it’s small interisland freighters having now replaced the romantic trading schooners. Papeete is also home to the French fleet, which consist mainly of outer island supply ships.
As well as Tahiti, we will also be visiting Moorea which is its nearest neighbour 12 miles to the west, in the Windward cluster of islands Rich in natural beauty with its sharp peaks, deep valleys, emerald lagoon and two splendid bays, Cook’s and Opunohu, it is rich in Christian history and the HQ for the London Missionary Society in the Pacific. For tourists, it is most famous for the Bali Hai Hotel operation in French Polynesia.
We’re also planning to visit Raiatea, Huahine and Bora-Bora in the Leeward cluster of islands. Raiatea is the second largest island of the Society Islands, Huahine the least spoiled and Bora-Bora said to be the most beautiful island in the Pacific with its high, sculptured, twin peaked central mountain, surrounded by a deep lagoon inside a magnificent barrier reef upon which the ocean swells break into plumes of white spray – sounds magnificent! During World War 2, it was a US Air and Navy base with up to 6,000 armed forces stationed on the island. Some evidence of this still remains in the form of ruins of seaplane ramps, scattered aging quonset huts and the island’s airport runway built on the reef. Spread around the island are more than forty marae, but unlike the ones built of volcanic rock on the other Society Islands, these are built from slabs of coral.