Tahiti & French Polynesia
Bora Bora's reef, Moorea's twin bays and the shark-thick passes of the Tuamotus — a Pacific circuit as wide as Europe, built for weeks, not days.
French Polynesia is not one cruising ground but three: the volcanic Society Islands around Tahiti and Bora Bora, the low coral atolls of the Tuamotus, and the sheer green spires of the Marquesas, roughly 750 nautical miles further north-east. Marina Taina, five miles from Papeete's international airport, is the natural hub — from there the Leeward Islands unfold in a week's arc of reef, marae and vanilla-scented bay, while longer-range charters push on to Fakarava's wall of sharks or the hillside graves of Gauguin and Jacques Brel on Hiva Oa. It is cruising on a different scale: island-hopping measured in days, not hours, with lagoons that empty out the moment you're past the resort shuttle routes.
“Marlon Brando bought an entire atoll in 1966; you can still anchor off it for lunch at The Brando.”
The gallery
Signature anchorages
The Society Islands loop: Moorea's twin bays, Taha'a's vanilla anchorages, and Bora Bora's reef-locked lagoon, with the shark-thick Tuamotu passes and volcanic Marquesas beyond for longer range.
- Cook's Bay & Opunohu Bay, MooreaTwin fjord-like bays cut into Moorea's north coast beneath the volcanic teeth of Mount Rotui, sheltered from all but northerly swell; Captain Cook, confusingly, anchored in the bay that doesn't bear his name.
- Bora Bora Lagoon off Motu ToopuaDeep water tucked behind the barrier reef in Mount Otemanu's shadow, the classic superyacht hold; snorkel straight off the transom with manta rays and blacktip reef sharks.
- Ha'amene Bay, Taha'aFrench Polynesia's deepest bay, running five kilometres inland through vanilla plantations to a village at its head; good holding in 30-50ft, dead calm.
- Tumakohua Pass (South Pass), FakaravaThe channel into a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve atoll; drift the incoming tide through a genuine wall of several hundred grey reef sharks stacked in the current.
- Tiputa Pass, RangiroaA fast, deep drift dive at the world's second-largest atoll, worked daily by a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins alongside grey sharks and eagle rays.
- Taiohae Bay, Nuku HivaThe Marquesas' port of entry — a vast, cliff-walled natural harbour with room for a hundred boats and the archipelago's only real fuel dock.
- Atuona Bay, Hiva OaA steep volcanic anchorage below the hillside cemetery where Gauguin and Jacques Brel are buried a few metres apart; more visitors climb for Brel.
The scene
Heiva i Tahiti
French Polynesia's largest cultural festival: chant, traditional sport and 'ori Tahiti dance troupes of up to 150 dancers competing at Papeete's To'atā amphitheatre; podium finals run the closing weekend, 17-18 July.
Hawaiki Nui Va'a
The Pacific's great outrigger-canoe marathon: three days of open-ocean racing between Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora, finishing with the Aere procession into Bora Bora's lagoon on 1 November.
Operation Bobcat
Close to 7,000 US troops and Seabees garrisoned Bora Bora through the Pacific War, laying the airstrip that is now the island's airport; the base saw no combat, and eight of its coastal guns still stand on the hillsides.
Brando's Atoll
Marlon Brando spotted Tetiaroa while filming Mutiny on the Bounty and secured the lease in 1966, building a thatch-and-coconut-wood village that has since become The Brando, the region's most exclusive resort.
Matava'a o te Henua Enana
The Marquesas Islands Arts Festival gathers dance, tattoo and carving traditions from across the archipelago; the 2025 edition ran on Fatu Hiva, with the next due in Hiva Oa.
Table & stay ashore
La Villa Mahana, Bora Bora
Chef Damien Rinaldi Dovio trained under Paul Bocuse before opening this eight-table villa in 2003; two five-course tasting menus, French and Polynesian, for fourteen guests a night — book months out.
Lagoon by Jean-Georges, St Regis Bora Bora
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's overwater dining room, a glass floor set into the lagoon and Mount Otemanu on the skyline; French technique built on Taha'a vanilla and reef-caught fish.
Le Lotus, InterContinental Tahiti
Two stilted, thatch-roofed rooms over the lagoon at Faa'a, ten minutes from the airport; chef Bruno Oger, of France's two-Michelin-starred Villa Archange, has advised the kitchen since 2020.
Bora Bora Yacht Club
Despite the name, an open lagoon-front restaurant north of Vaitape with moorings laid on for visiting yachts; fish-forward menu, and a Tuesday/Saturday fire show on the sand.
The Brando, Tetiaroa
Thirty-five villas on Marlon Brando's private atoll, solar- and seawater-cooled, tender or aircraft access only; anchor off the reef for lunch or a night ashore.
St Regis Bora Bora
The largest overwater villas in the South Pacific, from 1,550 sq ft, spread across a private motu below Mount Otemanu.
A week, sketched
Papeete
Clear in at Marina Taina, five miles from Faa'a International; provision at Le Marché de Papeete and walk out to Point Venus, where Cook logged the transit of Venus and the Bounty loaded her breadfruit.
Moorea
A short crossing of the Sea of the Moon to Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay, the twin fjords beneath Mount Rotui; snorkel the bay mouths or climb to the Belvedere lookout for the classic panorama.
Tetiaroa
Anchor off Marlon Brando's atoll and tender in to The Brando for lunch, spa or a walk through its seabird sanctuary and coral nursery.
Passage to Raiatea
An overnight run west into the Leeward Islands; go ashore at Taputapuatea, the UNESCO-listed marae that was once the religious and political capital of eastern Polynesia.
Taha'a
Round the reef the two islands share to the Vanilla Island; anchor in Ha'amene Bay and walk a working vanilla plantation before a motu picnic on the barrier reef.
Bora Bora
Cross to the most photographed lagoon on the water; anchor off Motu Toopua under Mount Otemanu and dive the coral gardens with manta rays and reef sharks.
Bora Bora — Matira & ashore
A slow morning off Matira Point for the water toys, then dinner at La Villa Mahana or Lagoon by Jean-Georges before flying out via Bora Bora Airport, BOB.
Pair with
Plan this water
Tahiti & French Polynesia
Bora Bora's reef, Moorea's twin bays, Taha'a's vanilla and the shark-thick Tuamotu passes — a Pacific circuit built for weeks, not days, from Papeete's Marina Taina.