Motu Tapu

Motu Tapu is a small islet in the Bora Bora lagoon, off the north-west of the main island, with beach on every side and a stand of coconut palm at its centre. It is perhaps three hundred metres long.

It is the motu in the photographs. The name means sacred island in Tahitian, and it was a royal retreat under the Pōmare line before becoming, in the twentieth century, a private property. Its position in the lagoon puts Mount Otemanu directly behind it from the west, which is the composition that has sold French Polynesia for sixty years — and which almost everyone reproducing it has photographed from a boat rather than from the sand.

The islet sits on the lagoon's shallow shelf, surrounded by water that runs from clear to deep turquoise depending on depth and hour. The sand is white coral, the bottom is sand rather than reef, and the swimming is warm and calm. It is small enough to walk around in a few minutes.

Nothing is open to the public. The motu is private, used for arranged excursions and events rather than as a beach anyone may land on, and access is through operators or hotels that have permission. Boats pass it constantly; almost none stop. Bora Bora's lagoon holds around thirty motu on its reef rim, and several are public or resort-operated; the tours land on those, and pass Tapu on the way, which is how almost everyone experiences it.

Private, and the most photographed islet in French Polynesia by people who were passing in a boat. You may not land without arrangement. Recorded here because a register of beaches should include the famous ones it cannot send you to, and because Matira on the main island is public and ten minutes away. Bora Bora’s lagoon holds around thirty motu and several are public or resort-operated.