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Tahiti and her Islands consists of five archipelagos - the Society Islands (Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea/Taaa and Bora Bora), the Tuamotus, the Mangrevas, the Australs and the Marquesas. The
Tuamotus archipelago consists of 76 low islands or coral atolls, scattered over several hundred miles of the eastern Pacific ocean. An atoll is a coraline ring that lies atop an underwater
volcano. The inside of an atoll is a lagoon and the outside is the ocean. Some of the atolls have passes that allow the ocean water to come into the lagoon. The elevation of
the islands ranges from 6 to 20 feet and twenty varieties of plants and shrubs have adapted to the salty soil and dry climate and provide food and shelter for the inhabitants of the
atoll. The climate is hot year-round, but the period from May and October is the coolest and the driest.
Life for the 15,000 residents of the Tuamotus is very simple and the people live in harmony with the sky, the sea, the lagoon and the creatures that reside within the
waters and on the beaches. The lagoons contain many black pearl farms, and fish parks and the favorite mode of transportation is the outrigger canoe or the motor boat. Snorkeling
and scuba diving are a way of life for the Paumotu people in the Tuamotus and a visit to these atolls brings out the Robinson Crusoe in all of us.
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