Everything the Society runs is kept like a field record: numbered, dated, signed, and open. These are the three dossiers currently on the station table.
PLATES II — VIIDossier №1
Honu XR — the instrument
ACTIVE · DEEP WATER
FIG. 1 — The deep-water VR & AR submersible, drawn at the station. Two seats, one lagoon, every classroom invited.
Honu XR carries a pilot, a researcher, and everyone else. Every dive is captured as live VR and AR and streamed to classrooms ashore — so the deep water off Tetiaroa is no longer a rumor, it's a field trip.
DEPTH RATING−120 m
CREW1 pilot · 1 researcher
BROADCASTlive VR/AR to shore
FIRST SEASON2026 — lagoon trials
Dossier №2
The sanctuaries — turtle & lemon shark
PROTECTED WATERS
Nesting beaches on the north motu, a shark nursery in the southern lagoon — the sanctuaries are kept the way the rest of the atlas is kept: every individual logged, every return celebrated in ink.
Green sea turtle
Chelonia mydas— “honu”
HONU №214 — TAGGED 2021 — FIRST NESTED 2023 — RETURNED ×3
HONU №309 — HATCHED TIARAUNU — SAT-TRACKED 2 400 KM
SEASON 25/26 — 410 NESTS LOGGED — STATION RECORD
Sicklefin lemon shark
Negaprion acutidens — lagoon-born
N-23 — JUVENILE — LAGOON NURSERY — 86 CM
N-31 — RE-SIGHTED ×11 — SAME CHANNEL, SAME HOUR
NURSERY ZONE — NO-TAKE WATERS SINCE 2014
“the sharks were here first — we just wrote it down.”
Dossier №3
Digital Twin + Biocode — the appendix
IN SYNC · LIVE
Every observation in this atlas — every nest, sounding, sequence, and sensor ping — lands in one living model of the atoll. The Digital Twin is the page that updates itself; the Biocode is its index of life.
ALL SHEETS DOWN — FULL TWIN
Plate VII. — The Digital Twin, read the old way: a hand-drawn base survey under four acetate sheets. Lift a sheet to see what the model carries; in the field, every layer updates itself.
167species sequenced into the Biocode
12motu carried in one living model
hourlysensor-net refresh, reef to ridge
Part Two — Education & Kids
The Junior Naturalist's pages
Ora Hoa classes, snorkel school, and night patrols with the turtle team — Polynesian students do real science here, and these are their pages of the atlas.
PLATE VIII
STICKER SHEET №3 — “design your own submersible” studies, as voted on by the junior cohort. One of these grows up to be Honu XR.
Printable field notebook12 pages, PDF — rule your own transects
Species bingo — lagoon editionfirst to five sightings calls 'HONU!'
Badge chartnine to earn, ages 6 and up, no exceptions for adults
Part Three — Provenance
Correspondence, 1967—
How a film set became a field station: one actor, twelve motu, and a promise that outlived him.
PLATE IX
TETIAROA — VIA TAHITIc. 1971
— Marlon Brando
From the founding correspondence. Brando came to Polynesia in 1960 to film Mutiny on the Bounty, bought the atoll in 1967, and held it whole. The Tetiaroa Society exists to keep his word for him.
RADIOGRAM — PAPEETE STATION
1967 — BRANDO COMPLETES PURCHASE OF TETIAROA ATOLL = ALL TWELVE MOTU = STATES INTENT = SCIENCE AND TAHITIAN CULTURE = NO RUIN =
TETIAROA SOCIETY ★ EST. 2010 ★ HOLD THE ATOLL INTACT ★
1960 He climbed the rigging of the Bounty and saw a ring of sand.
1967 He bought the whole ring — and set one rule: keep it intact.
2014 The Ecostation opens. Science moves in with the terns.
Today The Society keeps the record — and the promise.
Part Four — Get Involved
Join the expedition roster
The atlas stays open because people keep it open. Pick a line item; we'll do the fieldwork and report back in ink.
PLATE X — LAST
EXPEDITION LOGBOOK — CONTRIBUTIONSVOL. I · P. 38
12 MAY 26$40/MOR. TEHANI — snorkel school kitsENTERED
27 MAY 26$100/MOTHE OPETAYA FAMILY — patrol nightENTERED
02 JUN 26$500/MOANON. — ecostation monthENTERED
TODAY$100/MO____________ — patrol nightPENDING
Monthly, cancel anytime. Every line item is reported back in the annual expedition ledger, posted to all members.
