The longer Mark and I stayed in Maupiti, the more this
little atoll in the Society Islands captured our hearts. We can’t quite point a
finger at what it is that enchanted us so much, but it just did. Being there
felt “right”; the vibe of the island and the people, the quiet way of life, the
remoteness and lack of visitors and French cruisers, the availability of
underutilized and working internet, the abundance of local tomatoes, lettuce,
cucumbers and eggplants, the space, the peace, all of it. In my
previous blog,
I wrote about certain aspects of Maupiti, and in this one, I continue with that
theme.
The motus
In Belgium we have the expression “Beautiful from afar, but
far from beautiful!” which is often used in regards to describing a woman. It
comes to mind when you look at most motus (low and flat barrier islands) in
French Polynesia. From the boat or across the channel, you spot what you think
are beautiful white sand beaches, framed by palm trees. Upon closer inspection,
the color white resembles broken coral on which it is impossible to walk
barefoot or sit, and the palm trees are growing in a thick underbrush or
prickly vegetation. We were fooled by it in Maupiti, just like in many of the
Tuamotus. Bora Bora seems to be the exception, but there the nice beaches on
the motus “belong” to the high end resorts or are privately “claimed”, bearing
“tabu” signs. Coral or no coral, these small islands look very pretty from
afar. That being said, there sometimes are sandy stretches to be found and in
Maupiti’s case, we particularly enjoyed hanging out for sundowners on motu
Tiapaa’s northern sand spit with our friends Monique and Garth (SV Heartbeat).
The other motu beaches required flip flops.
The snorkeling
On a sunny day, our friends joined us to brave the strong
outgoing current near the pass and see what the underwater world had to offer.
We swam on both sides of the channel and crossed it twice, finding the eastern
side more interesting, because of the bigger fish population. Most of the coral
was dead, but there was enough to see to keep us busy and in shape for a few
hours. In the lagoon, I took some short snorkeling excursions, but
unfortunately, the water was very cloudy and the visibility poor. When swimming
from the boat towards shallower water, I would basically run into the sand bank
before realizing I was on top of it. Once, a big fish startled me, while I
scared him; neither of us had noticed that we were only two feet apart!
A few times, we set out in the dinghy to try and find the
manta rays, said to frequent the lagoon, but we were never quite sure where to
look and the water was too cloudy to spot them from the dinghy. On the last day
of our stay, our local friend John called us and shared the location of their
usual hangout. At the same time, I saw a little tourist boat hovering in that
area, so we buzzed over to one of the white floats, donned our snorkel gear and
jumped in. Soon, we were floating above three of these giant, gentle creatures,
and enjoyed observing them in their natural habitat. It reminded us of the
unique experience we had with mantas
last year in Tahuata.
The people
It seems the smaller the communities, the friendlier the
people. While the Marquesas still rank number 1 with a big margin, the people
in Maupiti (1200) score high compared to many other Society Islands. Like in the
Gambier Islands, locals greet each other and send friendly waves from cars and
boats. After a week of staying near the village, our faces became recognizable
and the “Ia Orana” greetings sounded more genuine. One day, I went ashore with
two empty jerry cans and a small bag of garbage. A fit-looking man awaited me
and suggested to take the rubbish. I preferred to toss it myself, to make sure
the recyclables went in the right bin. So, he took the 6 gallon jerry cans,
helped me fill them with potable water and carried them back to the dinghy for
me - a very nice and welcome gesture in the heat of the day. When the produce
lady found out I was looking for a frozen chicken and some juice, and had not been
able to locate any, she ordered her husband to drive me around to all the different
stores, until we discovered that all the chicken on the island had sold out. It
would be another week before the monthly cargo ship from Tahiti would pull into
Vai’ea. Then, the nice man drove me to relatives to pick up a breadfruit, so
we’d have something substantial to eat, since potatoes had been unavailable for
weeks, if not months. Another day, we were ready to leave motu Tiapaa by
dinghy, when the long haired Polynesian man who lives on the beach called us
over and gave us two green coconuts and a bunch of bananas! Yes, the people are
friendly here.
One of the highlights during our stay in Maupiti, was
meeting the American Johnny Coconut. In 1989 he had read an article about
Maupiti (probably one of the first ones ever written about this atoll) in the
sailing magazine Cruising World. He was so enthralled by what he read about
this remote and then undeveloped South Pacific island, that he decided to move
here part time. We became friends and he invited us over for a delicious lunch
at his house one afternoon. He also told us about Maud and Louis, an
interesting French-Tahitian couple, who we visited and later joined for lunch
as well. Maud and Louis have been living on Maupiti, on motu Pitihahei to be
precise, since 1996. They built an amazing house – round, open and airy - out
of natural materials, with a coral floor. The interior design is very creative,
authentic, and practical. Their “million dollar view” looks out over the pass
and the reefs, with Bora Bora and Raiatea in the distance on a clear day. We
had a wonderful afternoon with them.
Although Maupiti had us in its grip, the cyclone season is
upon us (there is no hiding and being safe in this lagoon if a named storm
hits) and Mark and I needed to get back to civilization. So, sadly, we said our
goodbyes to new made friends and to a place that will evoke fond memories.
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| Windward side of motu Tuanai |
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| Irie and Heartbeat at anchor near the southern motus |
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| Picture window, looking out to the pass, in Maud and Louis' house |
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| View from the balcony of Maud and Louis' house on the point |
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| Upstairs |
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| Part of the kitchen downstairs |
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| Louis in his living room |
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| Coral along the channel near the pass |
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| View from motu Pitihahei |
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| Motu Tiapaa |
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| Delicious and extensive lunch at John's place |
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| Nanu, John, Mark and Jennifer in John's yard |
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| Full moon over Maupiti |
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| Maud and Louis' extraordinary house |
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| One of the new residents of the house |
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| Louis cooked a wonderful lunch in an amazing setting |
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| One of the guest bedrooms in a separate fare (house/hut): the bed rests on a va'a. Creativity galore on this property! |
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| Even the "vacuum cleaner" is part of nature! |
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| Friendly company on motu Tiapaa |
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| Sundowners with Monique and Garth on motu Tiapaa's sand spit |
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| Monique playing with her "poi" at sunset |
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| Monique putting on a show for us! |
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| Getting ready to snorkel Maupiti's pass |
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| Some kind of sea snake |
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| Blackspotted sole (kind of flounder) |
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| Particular butterflyfish |
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| Two manta rays underneath us in the lagoon |
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| And the third one - this one is huge! |
