Located 1600 km from Tahiti, the Gambier archipelago, also known as the -islands at the end of the world-, is the most easterly populated area of French Polynesia. The archipelago is made up of fourteen high islands, four of which are very small, and several motus anchored on the reef that encloses a deep lagoon. Famous for its pearl culture, traders and jewelers come from the ends of the earth to stock up in the Gambiers. Its largest island, and the only one permanently inhabited with the exception of a few isolated homes, is Mangareva, with Rikitea as its capital. It has a population of around 1240 spread over an area of just under 10 km2. According to Polynesian mythology, Mangareva was raised from the ocean floor by the demigod Maui. A center of Catholicism in Polynesia, its impressive mountains rise above a luminous lagoon. To the east lies Pitcairn Island, famous for having sheltered the Bounty mutineers at the end of the 18th century. There are no diving centers in the Gambiers, making this a real paradise for self-divers.