Ra'iatea & Taha'a
- ISS006-E-39813
- 19 March 2003
- 18:29 UTC
The two mountainous islands of Ra'iatea and Taha'a — located 40 km to the west from Huahine, 14 km southwest from Bora Bora and around 195 km northwest from Tahiti — are enclosed by a single well-developed barrier reef. Ra'iatea is the largest of the Leeward Islands and the second largest island of the Society group with an area of 171 km², measuring 20 km in length and averaging 6 to 11 km in width. Taha'a is the smaller of the pair at 90 km², measuring 11 by 12 km. The entire formation measures 43 km length and has a maximum width of 18 km in the south, narrowing to just 7 km between the two main islands.
The outer reefs are punctuated by numerous passes that allow passage in to the deep interior lagoon — eight on the southern half (Ra'iatea end) and two on the northern half (Taha'a end).
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
