Mount Ohiri is the highest mountain on the island standing at 590 metres (1,940 ft) above sea level.

According to Polynesian legend, Tahaʻa and Raiatea were separated by the wagging tail of an eel, possessed by the spirit of a princess.

[5] In 1863 a Chilean ship[6] that was in search of slaves was shipwrecked near the town of Tiva in the southwest of the island, some of the crew members stayed and adopted local wives, which gave rise to their descendants being called the "Spanish clan".

Its waters are teeming with crabs, barracudas, gray sharks, Napoleon wrasses, dolphins, oysters and corals.

[11] Like most Polynesian islands, Tahaʻa bases its economy essentially on fishing and tourism: on the motu (the thin strips of land rising from the coral reef) that surround it, especially in the north, there are numerous hotels and tourist villages, generally made up of fares or bungalows connected by wooden walkways.

"[12] Another source of income for locals is the harvesting of black pearls, facilitated by the abundance of oysters in the island's bays.

An ancient tradition in Tahaʻa is "rock fishing" (tautai-taora in the local language), which was very popular, especially in the past, in the islands of Oceania.

The fishermen sit in pairs in different canoes, all lined up a few dozen meters from the shore, inside the reef: in each boat, one fisherman stands at the bow and hits the surface of the sea with a large stone tied to a rope, while the other paddles towards the shore.

These fishermen use their legs to prevent them from escaping and, when the fish come close, they catch them with their bare hands and load them into baskets or other canoes.