Page 100 - French Polynesia

here are also hiking trails in the mountains. The Vai’are Bay is a bag and hands it out to hungry sharks. Lemon sharks, whitetip
reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks and schools of bluestripe snappers
T another small inlet, smaller than the two main bays, on the
east shore. This bay has been settled a lot and has a lot of busi- all compete for the food. Taotoi is another favorite site with excel-

ness. The main village is located just south of the bay. The island lent visibility. Known for sharks and moray eels. At Stingray World,

was formed by a volcano 1.5 to 2.5 million years ago, the result divers can touch, play with and even feed as many as 10 stingrays

of a geologic hotspot in the mantle under the oceanic plate that during a dive. The Dolphin Quest program at the Beachcomber

formed the whole of the Society Archipelago. It is theorized that Hotel offers a dolphin show and an “in-water” encounter program

the current bays were formerly river basins that filled during the guided by marine mammal experts. Moorea is internationally

Holocene searise. Like many of the other islands, Mo’orea was first known for its shark-feeding and migratory humpback whales.

settled by Polynesians from the islands west of Mo’orea. They ar- K nown as Aimeho or Eimeo in olden times, Moorea had a long
rived on canoes coming down from South Asia looking for islands and rich history of Polynesians rulers before the Europeans
to settle. It is estimated that they arrived on Mo’orea roughly 1000

years ago. There are some ancient landmarks on Mo’orea known as arrived here. Sighted by Samuel Wallis in 1767, Moorea was also

marae, which consists of ancient stone rocks shaped like pyramids. visited by explorers Louis Bougainville and James Cook on their

On the rocks are carvings that tell when sacrifices occasionally visits to this region. A base for missionaries in the 1800’s, much of

took place. Charles Darwin found inspiration for his theory regard- the indigenous population of this island was killed off by disease

ing the formation of coral atolls when looking down upon Mo’orea in the early 19th century. The island has great beaches and the

while standing on a peak on Tahiti. He described it as a “picture in interior regions of the island are covered by mape and giant chest-

a frame”, referring to the barrier reef encircling the island. nut trees.

A t Tiki Point blacktip reef sharks greet divers the minute the
boat arrives. A single divemaster carries fresh or frozen fish in