Beaches in Windward Islands
2 beaches · 2 beach worlds
The eastern group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia — Tahiti and Moʻorea. These are high volcanic islands rather than atolls, which means their sand is black basalt and their beaches are short, with the white coral sand reserved for the motu on the reef rim. Almost all shoreline is either built on or privately held, so the few substantial public beaches carry a weight they would not elsewhere. The lagoon inside the reef is calm on every island; the ocean outside it is not. Practicalities differ sharply from the atoll islands further east. Public beaches are few and the good sand is on the motu, reached by boat. Tahiti is a working island with traffic and a city, not a resort, and most visitors transit through it. The lagoon is calm everywhere and the reef pass is where the surf and the current are. Rain falls heavily from November to April and the dry season from May to October is the settled one.
The two are different kinds of shore. Both are reached by road, and both are locally built. Together they account for 2.4 km of shore. · computed from the 2 records below
