Some places enter your life long before you ever arrive there. For me, Moorea was special. Since early childhood, the silhouette of this island has left a deep impression on me. Those sharp volcanic mountains, rising almost unreal from the blue lagoon, looked like something from another world. I first saw them in the Hollywood …
Note: This article recounts an experience from September 2001—24 years ago. Back in September 2001, I found myself on Tetiaroa for the fifth time. By then, my annual visits had made me something of a regular—enough that I’d gotten to know a member of the Brando family, I call him here Tama. We’d fish together, …
Travel has a way of surprising us—sometimes with breathtaking sights, other times with unforgettable encounters. My story from May 1996 is one such memory, a moment that stayed with me long after the plane touched down. The Young Polynesian Girl and Her First Flight It all started at Faa’a Airport in Tahiti. The manager of …
You might think a day on a deserted island sounds like paradise, but let me tell you, it’s a wild adventure! Picture this: I find myself on Tiaraunu, the largest of eleven uninhabited islands on the Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia, armed only with two baguettes and a million coconut palms. From dodging giant birds …
In 1997, during my third trip to the enchanting realm of French Polynesia, I stumbled across a brochure that appeared to be crafted in the 1970s. It advertised Tetiaroa, the exclusive private atoll of the late Marlon Brando, located 50 kilometers north of Tahiti. Until then, I had barely heard of this hidden gem, but …