The Lagoon Race

Temae lagoon hosts The Lagoon Race, an open water swimming event set on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia. Moorea Natation launched the event on the sands of Temae Beach, designing a course that stays entirely within the protected lagoon. The competition features distances of 100 metres, 500 metres, and 1,000 metres laid out along compact 250-metre loops marked by turning buoys. In past editions, around sixty competitors have gathered on the sand, bringing together seasoned island athletes alongside young swimmers from the local club in an unhurried, community-rooted morning.

The Lagoon Race at Temae: first edition and the lagoon

The first Lagoon Race was held on Temae beach on Moorea on 8 November 2025. The programme listed three races, 1 km/1 km relay, 500 m and 100 m, plus an activity for children. After the races the beach made way for the swimmers of the Tahiti–Moorea crossing, and the first to arrive was a Moorea team. Temae beach is edged by a shallow, sandy lagoon, and about 30 to 40 yards from the beach the seabed starts to be covered with scattered coral. A snorkelling guide to Temae notes that the lagoon is, most of the time, crossed by a north/south current, running left to right when you stand on the beach facing the ocean. A Moorea travel guide gives the lagoon water a constant temperature of around 26°C (79 °F).

Moorea's volcanic shield and the coral barrier reef

Moorea is a high volcanic island formed between 1.5 and 2.5 million years ago by an active mantle hotspot, rising alongside volcanic neighbors like Tahiti. A continuous coral reef wraps around the volcanic core, sheltering a narrow strip of turquoise water along the entire perimeter. When Charles Darwin looked across from the high peaks of Tahiti, he noted the outer breaker line and famously described the encircling reef as looking like a picture in a frame. Today, the Moorea lagoon is protected as a designated wetland site under the Ramsar Convention. The marine life thrives in these warm channels, where researchers even discovered Patagurus rex, an unusual shell-less hermit crab.

Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay: deep waters and anchorages

Around the northern coast, two deep marine inlets cut into the volcanic relief: Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay, separated by the steep central spine of Mount Rotui. Cook's Bay stretches three kilometres inland beneath the green ridges, while Opunohu Bay carves its own three-kilometre fjord four kilometres farther west. Opunohu plunges to a water depth of 80 metres at its mouth. Strong winds channel through the mountain gap, driving surface currents and local upwellings through the middle of the bay. On September 30, 1777, Captain James Cook brought his ships into Opunohu Bay. An escalating dispute over a stolen goat led Cook's landing parties to burn local houses and war canoes along the water's edge. Two centuries later, marine research took root on these same banks; the University of California, Berkeley operates on the western shore of Cook's Bay.

The beaches of Moorea from Temae to Ta'ahiamanu

Moorea stands apart from Tahiti's dark volcanic coast thanks to broad ribbons of white coral sand, none more striking than Temae Beach. Here on the east side of the island, the public shore drops gently into translucent shallows where you can wade out straight from the sand with a mask to watch the reef life before race morning. On the north coast between Cook's Bay and Opunohu, Ta'ahiamanu public beach offers deep white sand, shady trees, and food trucks right along the roadside. Farther west, the Tiahura area draws paddleboarders and swimmers to a long beach and a wide, shallow sandbar. The water shifts across different shades of cyan, where inquisitive stingrays glide regularly across the rippled sand beneath you.

For an easy evening after swimming, Cook's Bay offers a lively scene around the village of Pao Pao, where seaside hotels and small dining tables sit right over the water. Just past Mount Rotui, Opunohu Bay trades restaurants for a quieter valley wrapped in pineapple fields. High above the inner shore, the Tropical Garden juice bar serves fresh fruit drinks on an open terrace looking out across the quiet blue of the bay.