Tahiti's "modern day" history, so to speak, starts in 1525 when Europeans and the natives on the Tahitian islands made contact with each other through the travels of daring, sea-faring European explorers. And while no official landing on the isle of Tahiti is recorded for us, the native Tahitians belonged to a vast group of islands in which they regularly traveled to and fro, thus encountering Europeans which had landed in other parts of the Archipelagos.

Skipping ahead in Tahitian history to June 17, 1767 brings us to the official date given as to when Tahiti itself as an island was discovered by European ocean-going merchants. The English Captain Samuel Wallis anchored his ship, the Dolphin, on the southern tip of Tahiti.

The historical account of his landing on Tahiti was that of an unfriendly encounter between Captain Wallis and the Tahitian natives. Upon landing, his ship was surrounded by hundreds of canoes and thousands of Tahitians.

While the Tahitians had sporadic encounters with Europeans prior to Captain Wallis' arrival, this was the first "official landing" on the isle of Tahiti. Since they had had trade dealings, as well as, hostile encounters with Europeans before, at first they were unsure what they wanted to do with the now-landed Dolphin. However, seemingly without provocation, the natives began throwing rocks and such at the ship. Captain Wallis was obliged to show his superior fire-power and fired his cannons. This held them at bay for the rest of the day.

The next day Captain Wallis moved his ship to the northern tip of Tahiti, no doubt looking for more hospitable islanders with which he could proceed with bartering and the like. Yet again, he found himself surrounded by Tahitians who didn't want any dealings with the ship. Again, Captain Wallis was obliged to repel the native Tahitians by firing his ship's cannons.

The next day Captain Wallis sent armed men onto Tahiti so that he could take official possession, and he called the island "King George III's Island." However the Tahitians weren't giving in so quickly and continued to resist the Captain's advances to claim the island.

This time the Captain made no quips about directly firing his cannons on the Tahitian natives on land and in their canoes. After completely routing the natives of Tahiti, on land and in water, the Tahitians became subservient to the English captain.

A few months later two French ships landed on Tahiti. Under the command of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who would go on to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe during this very trip that now brought him to Tahiti, his ten day stay proved to be quite different than his predecessor. Bougainville had a reputation of being quite a bit more cultured and friendly.

He set up camp on the eastern side of Tahiti for about thirty of his men whom had come down with scurvy that they could use the native plants of Tahiti to help alleviate the pain of the condition.

Although the stay was short, it would go on to prove to be most influential. As did his predecessor before him, Bougainville claimed Tahiti for France. And Tahiti is still called today, one of the main islands, if not the main-island, of the "French" Polynesian Archipelagos.

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Adventure Eagle Tours will take you around the coastal road that encircles the island. Yes if you only speak English, this one is for you. Proper English-speaking William Leteeg grew up on the island of Tahiti and is glad to tell you all about his experiences and adventures when growing up there. His International number is 77.20.23.

A couple more companies based in Tahiti which offer tours are Tahiti Tours, telephone number 42.78.70, and their website is Tahiti-tours dot com. Tahiti Nui Travel is another. The telephone number is 42.68.03, and the website address is Tahiti-nui dot com.

You should also check out Marama Tours. Their telephone number is 82.08.42, and their website is maramatours dot com. Marama Tours charges $50 for a half day tour and $75 for the full day. Expect to pay entrance fees to any museums and any other attractions you may stop at. They also stop at Restaurant du Musee Gaugin for lunch and you are expected to cover your own food expenses should you choose to eat there.

What about a spectacular helicopter tour of Tahiti? Most any hotel's activities desk will assist you in booking a helicopter tour. No, they are not cheap-after all we're talking about helicopters here. Expect to pay about $160 per person, per 20 minutes. If you want to fly on over the neighboring island of Moorea then expect about $250 per person for a 35 minute flight. The helicopter will not go up without a minimum of four paid passengers, either.

If you'd rather stay on the ground and enjoy an adventure into the inner parts of the island, as most of Tahiti's 150,000 plus population lives on the outer edges of the island, then a Safari Expedition is right up your alley.

The best of the few companies that offer Safari Expeditions is the Tahiti Safari Expedition. But if you're not up to riding in the back of open, four-wheel drive vehicles, than this is not for you. But if you're on the fence about whether or not this is for you, just think about the truly spectacular views you will get to see that simply aren't possible from the beaches and such around the rest of Tahiti.

The usual paths the four-wheel vehicles take are through the breathtakingly beautiful Papenoo Valley. Tahiti, as you may already know is an island as a result of two ancient, inactive volcanoes. So the higher up you go, or the farther you go inland and up, the cooler the temperatures get, very refreshing. One thing to bear in mind when planning your Safari Expedition is to make sure to do so on a clear day, or else the expedition will be limited in all of the places the company will go. It's simply a matter of safety. The usual cost for any of the Tahiti Safari Expedition companies is about $55 per person, per half day trip.

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There will be two banks to your immediate left and right. One is called Banque de Polynesie and the other is Banque Socredo. Bank Socredo will more readily exchange your American dollars. Both have ATMs you can use for your convenience.

Now to get to your hotel, if you don't already have arrangements for transportation, you will need to take a taxi as there isn't any public transportation that passes in front of the airport. The official fare from 8 pm to 6 am to the west coast of the island is $15 and $25 if you are going downtown. You will need an obligatory $1 for each bag you have. If you arrive in Tahiti between 10 pm and 6 am the only choice you have if you don't have pre-arranged transportation plans, is a taxi. The public transportation doesn't run during those hours.

As I've said that there isn't any public transportation that passes in front of the airport, if you want you can trek across the parking lot and up the set of stairs you see to the main road and flag down the first public bus you will see, again if it's not between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am.

If you are driving a rental car, you will see the major rental car signage readily in front of you. If you have trouble or need to ask the whereabouts for anything, just ask anybody. Tahitians are very friendly and most often will be able to direct you where you are trying to go. Of course there is the information desk as well.

After getting your rental car and you are ready to drive Tahiti, if you are in one of the largest of resort hotels such as the InterContinental Tahiti, the Sofitel, or the Le Meridein Tahiti, you take Route 1 west all the way, and just follow the signage.

If you are in the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti, take Route 1 east all the way until you see the signage. If you are going downtown, watch for the Route 5 sign directing you to the expressway that connecting Papeete to the west coast. If you go too far, just remember to pull over when you have the chance.

Tahiti is not that hard to get around. And it's not much to backtrack if you actually feel you've lost your way. But do remember that the island essentially goes 'round in a circle.

If for some reason you need to store your baggage, every hotel on the island will store your baggage for free.

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Musee Gauguin (Gauguin Museum)

Far and away the one attraction you do not want to miss while in Tahiti is the Gauguin Museum. This museum or memorial to the French artist who made his home in Tahiti from 1891 to 1893 is worth the visit for sure.

The museum owns some of his creative works, including wood carvings, engravings, a ceramic vase he crafted, and a few of his sculptures. Additionally, the museum is privy to borrowing some of his other creative works from other museums, particularly from France. Be sure to check ahead if you are a Gauguin enthusiast and you would like to plan your trip to Tahiti around what may be on loan to the museum while you are there.

Otherwise the exhibits at the museum are dedicated to his life while living in Tahiti. The last gallery exhibition, shows who owns his works today. Furthermore, the museum also has a restaurant nestled next to a lagoon, but you may want to eat at the nearby Restaurant du Musee Gauguin.

Harrison W. Smith Botanical Gardens

Next to the museum is the Harrison W. Smith Jardin Botanique, or Botanical Gardens. Harrison Smith was a professor at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He chose to leave his career at the Institute teaching physics to students and move to Tahiti. He started the Botanical Gardens in 1919. He lived out the rest of his life in Tahiti, dying in 1947. The beautiful, lush Botanical Gardens which he started belong to the public-at-large. Growing in the garden are tropical plants from all around the world.

Point Venus

Point Venus was named so because the infamous Captain James Cook observed the transit of the planet Venus across the sun in 1769 at Point Venus. He traveled to the northernmost point on Tahiti to do so, and thus naming it Point Venus. What is more, is that on this northernmost point lays the velvety black sand beach resultant of one of the now inactive volcanoes which are the island Tahiti. Bring a picnic basket and your camera. This point in the world is very scenic, including the white lighthouse which was built in 1868. If you do not want to pack a picnic there is a snack bar there, as well as, restroom facilities.

Arahurahu Temple

Maybe you're into ancient temples. Arahurahu is the only temple in all of Polynesia that has been fully restored. Get a load of the stone pens just at the entrance of the temple that were used to pen the pigs the ancient people of Tahiti used to sacrifice to their gods. The temple is used for reenactments of old Polynesian ceremonies during the month of July.

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Of course Tahiti has numerous public beaches, but the best ones are located on the western side of the island. On Tahiti's west coast, particularly between Mahana Park, or Paea-PK-19, and Le Meridien Tahiti hotel, or Punaauia-PK15, you will find the best. Just remember that these particular beaches get somewhat crowded on the weekends. So for the best use of these beaches you may want to take advantage of them during the week.

At PK18, you will see a small bridge. This nice little beach is a great one as it provides really nice and safe snorkeling if you want to get off the white sand and enjoy some time in the water.

Just a few hundred meters beyond that little beach by the bridge is Mahana Park, PK18.5. This is the beach many of the native Tahitians like to go to. So of you want to kick around a soccer ball, and play volleyball with Tahitians, this is the beach you want to go to. There is also a nice restaurant on this beach, and a snack hut in the parking area to the beach. And of course, the always nice and safe snorkeling found all around the island can be found here as well.

Probably the best beach on the western coast of Tahiti is the one on which the Le Meridien Tahiti hotel is built. This beautiful white sand beach, with the inviting clear turquoise waters, offers something more in the way of the luxuries afforded by the hotel overlooking the beach. Restaurant Le Carre has a wooden deck over looking the beach and the food is to die for. Throw in the sound of the crashing waves and the sounds of the tropical birds all around you when you decide to hop up from the beach and dine here, and what you have is one of the best spots to eat on any of the Tahitian beaches.

This list of the best beaches wouldn't be complete without taking a trip around Tahiti to it's east side, and it's all black sand beaches. The island itself is really there because of tow ancient, inactive volcanoes. Both make up the greater and minor portions of the island, and come together to create the rest of the lay of the island. The ancient volcanoes have given the island magnificent all black sand beaches.

The location on the island of these popular and mesmerizing beaches is Venus Point, apropos when you consider the island's name means "Isle of Big Love," anyway. If you are staying in the Tahiti's capital city Papeete, it's a straight shot down the coast on Le Truck, Tahiti's public transportation, to Venus Point.

Not to forget the largest sand-bottom swimming pool of the South Pacific where you will be able to fully relax in the middle of a tropical garden.

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The restaurant offers fresh Tahitian cuisine from around the island and by extension the traditional Polynesian cuisine from around the other 117 islands in the archipelagos, as well as, Asian delicacies. Add to the food-fare the mesmerizing Tahitian dance shows and what you have is a restaurant that is doing everything to make your dining experience a memorable one.

Auberge du Pacifique is one of the best restaurants, if not the best restaurant on Tahiti and has been rated as one of the tops since 1974, so you can expect that they have making your dining experience down pat. The restaurant is located next to a beautiful lagoon for an even better aesthetic experience. The owner of the restaurant is Master Chef Jean Galopin, and yes he's from France. Chef Galopin blends traditional French style cooking with the Tahitian style of cooking. A prime example of this is his dish fafa, chicken and taro leaves steamed in coconut milk. The restaurant boasts the island's only air-conditioned wine cellar allowing patrons to select from a vey nice selection of excellent French vintages.

One of the most unusual restaurants on Tahiti is Captain Bligh Restaurant and Bar. What makes it so unusual isn't the food, but rather the structure itself. The building has a rather large thatched-roof that looks very much at home on the island. However, the building itself also extends out over the lagoon it skirts. Add to that the fish feeding that goes on at this restaurant, folks feed the swimming fish in the lagoon bread crumbs which they eagerly have come to expect over the years.

Another special attraction of Captain Bligh is the tiny island you access from the main dining area of the restaurant by the wooden pier extending out to it. You choose to eat alfresco out on the tiny island, and the service doesn't suffer since they built the pier out to it for that very reason. One of the house specialties is the Whiskey Shrimp. Just as good, if not better is the Mahi-Mahi topped with a creamed pepper sauce. The restaurant puts on a traditional Tahitian dance show on Friday and Saturday nights.

So you want to pinch a few pennies and find some good food that isn't going to cost you as much as what most full-service restaurants ask for their fare, where do you go? You should then go to the open-air snack bar called Le Cignalon just a few paces away from the Le Meridien Tahiti Resort hotel.

But don't think that you are giving up quality when deciding not to give up as much money to pay for your food. Le Cignalon offers some really great food, such as pizzas from a wood-fired oven, grilled rib-eye steaks, poisson cru, sashimi, and a host of other great selections from the other side of the fast-food styled food counter. This is a great place to stop if you are doing a 'round Tahiti day trip.

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One Frenchman in Bougainville's time era, Denis Diderot, whom had never had a desire to leave his country prior to reading Bougainville's account about Tahiti, had this to say, "This is the first time my reading has tempted me to visit a country other than my own."

Far and away different from that first "camp" Bougainville setup for his men on Tahiti, nowadays, the hotels on Tahiti are ready to accommodate the world traveler with a bit more comfort than that first camp. The list of hotels is plenty long enough too, to satisfy most everybody's budgets and preferences.

The island's newest and most luxurious hotel is the Le Meridien Tahiti. It's a beautiful hotel that emphasizes the local traditions in Polynesian decorations in the hotel's décor. If you'd like to stay in a bungalow that is literally over the top of the water, Le Meridien has 12 of them to accommodate you.

It's also located on one of Tahiti's best white sand beaches. Add to that, two outstanding restaurants, one of which also has a wooden deck that overlooks the beach, and what you have is the best possible place to stay in Tahiti from a luxury standpoint.

On the other hand, if you want a big name hotel, but without all of the hustle and bustle, then the Tahitian Sheraton Resort hotel may be what you're looking for. The Tahitian Sheraton is located on a tranquil lagoon that spills over to the atmosphere of the resort. This resort hotel is very beautiful in that many of the Tahitian styled rooms also are made with woods from around the world. Be careful though, this hotel, while on a tranquil lagoon and seemingly just as peaceful as the lagoon, is quickly becoming the most popular of hotels on the island.

The Sofitel Tahiti Resort offers quite a bit more than the previously mentioned hotels, if only in that it is set up to give you a few different views from different points of the hotel. Then too, each room is decorated in the vivid colors some expect from a tropical destination. However this Tahitian hotel still uses traditional Polynesian/Tahiti furnishings when decorating the beautiful rooms.

Now to those beautiful views the Sofitel Tahiti Resort offers through each of its'rooms. There is the Superior Mountain View, the Garden View, and the Lagoon View to choose from when booking your resort room.

The Superior Mountain View rooms are located at the front of the hotel. Each room comes with a private balcony so that you can further enjoy the view of Tahiti and its' mountains and hillsides.

The Superior Garden View rooms are located on the first floor, getting you right into the gardens. They open up to the resort's patio, gardens and pool.

Last but not least, are the Superior Lagoon View rooms. These upper floor rooms give you a fantabulous view of, yes the beautiful lagoon. By all means these rooms also have private balconies to further your enjoyment of the lagoon and the island of Moorea.

This resort is one of the best in Tahiti because of its' beautiful location, and all that it has to offer in the way of views and modern conveniences.

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Start your walking tour at Tahiti Manava visitors' bureau. This visitor's bureau is located in Tahua Vaiete, which is the park by the cruise ship dock-not very difficult to find. Now go ahead and start strolling west on Boulevard Pomare. The first major landmark you want to encounter is the Centre Vaima.

The Centre Vaima is full of great shops and very much the center of shopping for the European and French communities living in Papeete. The center takes its name from the restaurant that everybody used to eat at, which is now replaced by the square itself.

If you look across the four lane boulevard you should a wooden boardwalk that borders the Quay. Get on over there.

If you're in Tahiti between April and September you'll be privy to all of the yachts that sail from all around the world to this place. Just across the harbour is Fare Ute. This is where you will see boats that carry cargoes of copra, or dried coconut meat. They take their cargo to the mill here, where the coconut oil is extracted and then shipped overseas to be used in cosmetics production.

Keep walking west along the waterfront past the post office. You should now see Park Bouganville. This park is named after the first French explorer to discover Tahiti in 1767. A likeness of him is in the park between the two naval cannons.

Now keep walking west to the traffic circle at Burat Ave.

This traffic circle is a testament to the great road improvements Tahiti has made throughout the island. Now get a look at the Pacific Battalion Monument. This is a tribute to the French Polynesians who fought alongside General Charles de Gaulle during WWII. Because of the help the French Polynesians gave during the war, the Allies were eventually able to build the all-important air strip on Bora Bora in 1942.

Again, keep walking west along the waterfront. Next you will see the big beige church in the distance.

The Eglise Evangelique is the largest Protestant church in all of French Polynesia. The pastors that minister to the church's active congregation are Tahitian. Be sure to get a look at the racing canoes across the boulevard. These are the canoes used in Tahiti's national sport, canoe racing.

As you keep walking west you will see some of the old colonial homes along the way. Soon you should be able to see an outdoor amphitheatre, and on the banks of the river Tipaerui you will see Tahiti's cultural center and library.

After walking through the amphitheatre and cultural centre, and getting a snack from one of the many snackshops in this area, which many, many Tahitians enjoy, and maybe using the very clean restroom facilities, go ahead and turn back at this point and make your way back east, back in the direction you came from on boulevard Pomare back to your starting point and enjoying all of the details of the sites you missed on the way up. You should easily find your way back to the Tahiti Manava visitors' bureau.

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