Ahe, Coral atoll in Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia.
Ahe is a coral atoll in the northern Tuamotu Archipelago, 14 km west of Manihi. Its ring of reef and islets is broken by a single small passage into the lagoon, located on the west side. The atoll measures 23.5 km long and 12.2 km wide, with a land area of about 12 km² and a lagoon of 138 km². The only village, Tenukupara, sits on an island on the south side.
Dutch mariners Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire first recorded Ahe in 1616. Charles Wilkes visited twice during the United States Exploring Expedition, on 6 September 1839 and 11 December 1840, and named it Peacock Island after one of his ships. In 1997 the French army built a 1,200 m airstrip in the north of the atoll.
Ahe's economy rests on subsistence fishing and pearl farming, with farms holding permits to collect spat in the south-western part of the lagoon. The atoll also shelters an endemic population of Tuamotu sandpipers (Ptilopes des Tuamotu). Sailor Bernard Moitessier built a fare on the motu Poro-Poro and lived there until 1978.
The location is primarily accessible by air through a landing strip that connects to other Polynesian islands on a regular basis. Visitors should prepare for limited supplies and modest infrastructure, as the remote setting offers few commercial amenities.
Pearl farms hold permits to collect spat in zones mainly toward the atoll's southwestern point, and the lagoon also supports a population of Tuamotu sandpipers found nowhere else. Sailor Bernard Moitessier built a fare on Motu Poro-Poro and lived there for several years, leaving in 1978 for Moorea.
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