On this weeks Passion Blog, I am going to talk about a place deep in the French Polynesian Islands known as Tahiti. Whether you spend your time swimming with sharks or meshing with the unique Tahitian culture, or surfing the beautifully vicious wave, the Tahitian Islands are a paradise for many diverse species of plant and animal life. The main village on the island of Tahiti is called Teahupo’o which is well known for being the home to the world’s heaviest and thickest wave. When the right swell hits, storm surges will cause massive swell around the entire island. Aside from the epic waves located on this island comes a strong tied culture of family, religion, music, and love for the land. The people on this island take strong pride in their people and land.
While the above photo depicts a rare and scary swell, the island also produces some more manageable swell. One of the most iconic surf contests known as the Billabong Pro Tahiti takes place at this wave where the best surfers in the world go head to head and battle for the trophy. This is one of the eleven stops on the World Surf League Championship Tour. This is essentially the “NFL” or “NBA” of the surf world.
The Island of Tahiti is home to the largest shark sanctuary in the world. In 2012, more than 1.5 million square miles of sea across the Tahitian islands were designated as a shark preserve. This provided a prohibition on shark fishing and finning, protecting more than 20 shark specie ins including lemon, tiger, gray reef, blacktip, whitetip, black fin, and mako. Sharks are important to the environment and also have a cultural significance in French Polynesia, often representing the souls of ancestors in mythology.
During the first week of my Passion Blogging for the seamster I talked about Palmyra and how it acts as the model for what the ideal marine system should look like. Similarly to Palmyra, Tahiti’s marine life is so healthy is due to the abundance of coral which serves as a vital source of life in the oceans. Tahiti corals are invertebrates that build calcium carbonate around their colonies to create the colorful structures that are protective spaces for many types or fish and sea creatures. These reefs serve as an essential part of the ecosystem, generating oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. The reefs in the Tahitian islands are overall healthy, but with 10% of the world’s coral dead and more than 60% of the world’s reefs at risk, restorative and rehabilitation groups are underway to protect the coral and ensure it remains healthy.
There are so many more aspects to Tahiti that I could talk about such as the volcanic structures, origins of the language, and crazy weather patterns. For now, my talk about Teahupo’o is over. If you guys have any suggestions on other places to write about I am all ears… its pretty clear at this point that I like writing about islands…
See you next week!
it is so crazy that to us, that giant wave would terrify us and have us fearing for our lives, but to me it seems as if the people in the picture are locals to the island as they are very calm and you can see they are still fishing and continuing on with their day.
The Billabong Pro Tahiti event is always my favorite to watch of the WSL. It’s crazy to watch as the surfer disappears into the barrel then reappearing as the wave spits out. It’s incredible how they ride these massive waves over such a shallow sharp reef. It was interesting to learn about the shark reserve. I didn’t know Tahiti had one before reading.