We entered the protected lagoon surrounding the island by way of Passe Maire au Iriru (try saying that three times quickly), then cruised up to the head of scenic Baie Faaroa and anchored there. This is one of the very few bays anywhere in the islands that is the drainage basin for a navigable inland river. […]
Though we were anchored in this island’s immense lagoon for just two days it was one of my and the crews’ favorites. Entering the lagoon from the ocean was no easy task. The reef break at the pass is not a whole lot wider than Indigo. Midway through it’s necessary to make a hard turn to starboard, […]
When the U.S. Navy abandoned Bora Bora at the conclusion of World War II it left behind a fine airstrip, now the island’s commercial airport, several batteries of shore artillery, a variety of bunkers, Quonset huts and the like, and 116 babies. Its personnel also took home memories of this Eden-like island and its attractive and eager young ladies. As young men will do, they talked up their memories and deeds, the word spread […]
This is perhaps the strangest of all the island groups in the South Pacific. Lying east of the Society Islands, they are arranged, as are all the islands in this part of the world, along a northwest to southeast axis. Also like all the other islands, they are formed from ancient volcanoes. […]
On the morning of Friday, the Ides of March, in the quaint village of Fare on the island of Huahine, all was peaceful and languorous, the essence of bucolic perfection. Birds chirped in the trees, bees buzzed about the flowers, fish schooled in the shallows. […]
As our departure was timed for late afternoon, several of us, though still in the grip of the miseries, took the tender and went exploring the circumference of Huahine Iti, the small southern end of the island (and, yes, it means small pussy in Tahitian lingo, and the larger northern end, Huahine Nui, means…). […]
The Cooks are an independent country consisting of fifteen islands of varying size loosely affiliated with New Zealand. Rarotonga, the largest and most economically dominant of the group, is our chosen destination. […]
Nuie, at forty miles around and 162 square miles, is said to be the world’s smallest sovereign democracy. Monaco, at just a single square mile, is by far the smallest country but a principality. Though self-governing, this tiny island has a defense pact with New Zealand, but what might be gained from invading the place is not apparent to the casual observer. […]
The Kingdom of Tonga is one of the world’s last constitutional monarchies, having declared its independence from the English in 1970. Its population of 120,000 are mostly native Tongans spread over an archipelago of 171 islands, only 36 of which are inhabited, divided into three main groups. […]
If you were to count every scrap of soil or rock above high tide, these islands would number in the thousands and you would have one of life’s more boring preoccupations. But of these only 322 are large enough for human habitation and just 106 actually have people living on them. […]