Atolls and Islands

Never really considered myself an "island girl" but come to think of it, I have seen and lived on so many different ones over the years it is actually quite an amazing experience. French Polynesia is divided into five archipelagos consisting of so called "high islands" and "atolls." The high islands, of which Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti are the most well known, are green and extinct volcanic mountains and peaks, rising out of the ocean and surrounded by a coral reef. The atolls (Tuamotu group) are in fact "left-overs" of volcanic islands that have sunk to the bottom of the ocean over millions of years and of which only the reef remains with an inner water called the lagoon.

Rangiroa

Tahiti

Bora Bora

Kaukura