Land Of The Second Sky

An island-hopping journey through Tahiti reveals the incredible tones and traditions of French Polynesia.

- Stephen Smith

Most of the reading I did before I travelled to Tahiti involved barques and frigates named Endeavour and La Boudeuse, vessels bearing the 18th-century European visitors who thought they’d found paradise. They hadn’t, of course, though that didn’t stop their arrival from changing everything in a civilization that had been in place for nearly 2,000 years. I see now that I should have concentrated on studying more everyday vocabulary to help me through my visit, maybe delved deeper into French Polynesia’s modern colonial history.

Instead, I spend much of the eighthour Air Tahiti Nui flight from Los Angeles catching up on Captain William Bligh and his 1787-89 mission aboard HMS Bounty to secure breadfruit seedlings for export to England’s Caribbean colonies. Maybe you remember the story, or one of the movies, but it didn’t go so well: every version leads to infamous mutiny.

Eventually, I extract myself from the history of early European intrusions to prepare for my imminent own. I don’t pick up much, in the end. By the time I land at Faa’a International Airport on French Polynesia’s busy main island, Tahiti, the only local phrases I’ve locked down are ia ora na (good morning) and mauruuru (thank you).

Whether you come better prepared, this is your starting line, the centre of business and commerce, home to the capital city, Pape’ete. While the whole assemblage is often informally referred to as Tahiti, French Polynesia is the approved designation for this scattering of 118 islands and atolls, about half of them inhabited.