Celebrated as the "island of love" by smitten French explorers, Tahiti is the French territory's administrative and commercial backbone.

BBC: Getting in the Tahitian spirit

France's continuing nuclear tests in the South Pacific have turned the international spotlight, if only briefly, on Tahiti and the other islands in French Polynesia.

CNN: HE BRITISH FORCES LANDED

"Tahiti is a picture of paradise, " said Jeremy Lefore, a French-born surf instructor.

BBC: Getting in the Tahitian spirit