Apataki Coast

Apataki is a coral atoll in the western Tuamotus, northeast of Tahiti. Its narrow land surrounds a broad lagoon, which has two navigable passes to the open Pacific. The atoll belongs to the Palliser Islands, close to Arutua and Kaukura.

Dutch navigator Jakob Roggeveen sighted Apataki in 1722, and James Cook visited in 1774. These recorded voyages entered a seascape already inhabited by Polynesian communities, where reefs and passes shaped movement between the lagoon and the ocean.