You'll arrive at the airport on the reef that surrounds Bora Bora and take a scenic, relaxing boat trip to the island.

As soon as you land, you'll know why Bora Bora is considered one of the most romantic places anywhere; what novelist James Michener called "the most beautiful island in the world."

With seeing this aerial picture of Bora Bora who wouldn't like to clean out
his/her bank account and board the next plane to paradise?

Dominant from the moment you arrive are majestic Mount Otemanu and Mount Pahia, two towering volcanic peaks of black rock that jut out of the center of the emerald-green island. Often shrouded in clouds, these landmarks take on mysterious and mythical qualities.

Hundreds of brilliantly-colored fish, intricate gardens, and clear water also create some of the very best undersea worlds you'll ever find. For an exhilarating expedition, you can even swim with and watch local divers feed the small, non-dangerous lagoon sharks.

But, first some basic things....

Click the red rectangle for a closer look!

As you can see above, Tahiti and Bora Bora - both a part of French Polynesia - are about halfway between Australia and South America. When coming from the western hemisphere, you normally will come in by plane via Los Angeles and/or Honululu. Air France and Air New Zealand fly that route frequently.

But, Tahiti is only one link in a gleaming chain of five archipelagos with 118 islands scattered like jewels over an area the size of Europe:  the Society Islands, Austral Islands, Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu atolls and the Gambier Islands.

The Tuamotu Archipelago to the east of Society archipelago is the largest of all with a surface of 1.800 sq. km. It consists of 80 atolls which are ring shaped coral islands surrounding a lagoon. Rangiroa is the widest atoll of this archipelago and those of Manihi , Fakarava, Anaa, Kaukura, Taaroa and Tikehau are the main ones.

The Austral Archipelago consist of 5 high islands south of Tahiti with a distance of 160 to 230 km separating them. These high islands with a sharp mountainous relief are surrounded by a coral reef either at the coast level itself (fringing reef) or at the ocean level (barrier reef). The farthest island from Tahiti, Rapa is 1500 km from Papeete.

The Marquesas Archipelago is located 1500 km north-east from Tahiti and consists of 9 islands with hilly relief.

The Gambier Archipelago extends towards the southwest of the Tuamotu archipelago and has about ten small high islands.

The finally the Society Archipelago is itself divided up in 2 parts:

- the "Windward Islands", consisting of 4 high islands including Tahiti or "Love Island" ( itself divided into 2 islands,Tahiti Nui the large one, and Tahiti Iti, the small one), Moorea and Tetiaora.

- the "Leeward Islands", 200 km from Tahiti, include Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Maupiti and Bora Bora.

Satellite view (click to enlarge),
Bora Bora in the north and Raiatea in the south
with Tahaa in the middle.

Together the 35 islands and 83 atolls of French Polynesia total only 3,543 square km in land area, yet they're scattered over 5,030,000 square km of the southeastern Pacific, from the Cook Is. in the west to Pitcairn in the east.

There's a wonderful geological diversity to these islands. From the dramatic, jagged volcanic outlines of the Society and Marquesas islands to the 400-meter-high hills of the Australs and Gambiers and the low coral atolls of the Tuamotus.

All of the Marquesas are volcanic islands, while the Tuamotus are all coral islands or atolls. The Societies and Gambiers include both volcanic and coral types.

Tahiti, just over 4,000 km from both Auckland and Honolulu, is not only the best known and most populous of the islands, but also the largest (1,045 square km) and highest (2,241 meters). Bora Bora and Maupiti are noted for their combination of high volcanic peaks within low coral rings. Rangiroa is one of the world's largest coral atolls while Makatea is an uplifted atoll. In the Marquesas, precipitous and sharply crenelated mountains rise hundreds of meters, with craggy peaks, razor-back ridges, plummeting waterfalls, deep fertile valleys, and dark broken coastlines pounded by surf. Compare them to the pencil-thin strips of yellow reefs, green vegetation, and white beaches enclosing the transparent Tuamotu lagoons.

In all, French Polynesia offers some of the most varied and spectacular scenery of the entire Pacific islands region.