Adventure Magazine Feb 2020

TAHITI, THE BLACK
PEARL OF WATER SPORTS
By Annabel Anderson
There are many great places to play in or on the water around the world, but
few come close to offering up the salt water playground that is French Polynesia,
composed of 118 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over an
expanse of more than 2,000 kilometres and comprised of five island groups, "Tahiti"
is so much more than a tropical oasis of over water bungalows and mind bending
sunsets .
What the brochures fail to let on, is that it is quite possibly the best warm water
destination in the world for those that like to indulge in all and every kind of water
sport.
From the national sport of Va’a (rudderless outrigger canoes) to all and every
iteration of water sport imaginable, Tahitians literally have saltwater pulsating
through their veins with an aptitude to learn and master anything above and below
the surface.
With many of the islands within the five main island groups being atolls with
lagoons protected by coral reefs it’s this contrasting mix of protected waters and open
ocean that lends these islands to the sheer diversity of water born activities.
Shaped by Mother Nature and moulded by culture, the indigenous Polynesian
people of these islands have a gift of being in tune with their environment that is
seldom seen elsewhere. At one with the patterns of weather that once dictated
their celestial navigation by sailing canoe throughout the South Pacific, their ability
to switch from one sport to another with a display of skill, poise and grace is both
awe-inspiring and inspirational. Once you’ve experienced it first-hand it will leave you
wanting to expand your repertoire of skills ‘just in case’ they may be needed for your
next visit, because once this place gets a grip on you, it’s keeps drawing you back
time and time again.
Previously somewhat ‘unobtainable’ due to language and other ‘perception’
challenges, unless you’ve had an inside connection, it’s been somewhat difficult to
make the most of what lies so close to our doorstep.
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