Maupiti and Mopelia; French Polynesia
08/05/2004 - 08/18/2004
A short 25 miles trip from Bora Bora brought us to the island of Maupiti. We left Bora Bora with lots of rain clouds and no wind. Within an hour, the skies cleared, the wind picked up and the sailing was great. Along the way, whales spouted and breached. Two whales got a little too close to Whisper. As they came within 100 yards of the boat, we started the engine and changed course to avoid a close encounter. At 10 yards away, we jammed the engine in reverse as the whales dove right under our bow, their white bellies passing just beneath our keel. Yikes! What it it with Whisper and Whales?
Maupiti
Tiny Maupiti is isolated from the other Society Islands. With population of 1000 and a land mass of 11 square kilometers. Maupiti is a significant site of archeological exploration in the area. Fish hooks and other items found in sites on Maupiti are dated back to 850 AD.
In many aspects, Maupiti is more unaffected than the other Society Islands. The bank exists in a tiny building and is only open when a bank official comes to visit the island. We spotted a single restaurant, but it was not open at the time we passed it. Lodging options are limited to "family style pensions".
Even among the cruising crowd, Maupiti is only visited by a few yachts. The challenging pass can be intimidating in certain conditions. With benign conditions, the pass is no more challenging than other passes. Once inside the lagoon, conditions can change to the point that getting out of the pass can be dangerous. During our stay, we spotted seven other cruising boats. Compared to sharing a lagoon with 50 boats in Bora Bora, Maupiti seems quite isolated.
The cruising guides describe the pass at Maupiti as follows. "Water flows out of the north-south pass constantly, reaching speeds of 8 to 9 knots. This results in very strong breakers and crashing waves across the entrance to the pass rendering it inaccessible and dangerous during these conditions, except for the inhabitants of the island who have a lot of experience and a boat with a powerful engine." On this map, the pass is depicted between the two small islands at the bottom.
As we approached the pass, whales started breaching all around us. Normally, this is something that makes us very happy. With nerves on edge for transiting this challenging pass, we put in a request for the whales to disperse. This photo of the whales breaching right off the reef was taken from the anchorage inside the lagoon.
Having safely transited the pass, we anchored in a beautiful spot right near the town. This beautiful cliff, Mt. Teurafaaitu, stands 380 meters about the water.
Yet another beautiful sunset in the South Pacific. We looked for the "green flash" many nights, but have not yet experienced this fabled phenomenon.
The road around Maupiti is 10 kilometers (approximately 6 miles). We walked around the island -- with a few detours for beautiful vistas. Is that sweat on Duncan's shirt?
One of the detours took us to the sight of several petroglyphs. Here, a turtle is depicted. Really, that's a turtle.
Homes on the island were attractive and well built.
What lies behind this interesting wall of coral? We never did find out.
A local artisan sells jewelry from his home on the island.
The road around the top of Maupiti.
What is a hike without a photo of the Hibiscus?
And another hibiscus.
Encarta tells all about the flowers of bananas. "Flowers spring in great spikes from the center of the crown of leaves and are arranged in whorl-like clusters along the spike; the female flowers occupy the base of the spike, and the male the apex."
And, wah lah - bananas. Big bunches of bananas are everywhere. With so few supplies being delivered to Maupiti, the plentiful bananas are a major staple.
Local vegetable gardens provide some fresh food for the island. Besides fish and bread, these veggies are the only fresh items available.
Yet another hibiscus.
On our walk up the hill to the Farauru vista, this kind gentleman offered us a ride. Robin used bits of French to try to extract some information from him. He showed to a couple of beautiful spots on the island.
One of the vistas delivered this awesome view of the northeast corner of the lagoon.
Kite boarding is popular everywhere. On this windy day, we spotted around 10 kite boarders playing in the lagoon.
The dreaded Maupiti Express carries passengers to Maupiti from Bora Bora and Tahaa. There is a very small airport on the island with approximately 4 flights a week.
As we approached the pass, we spotted the ferry aground on the reef with waves crashing on its stern.
On The Rocks
Remember the part earlier about the tricky pass? When we arrived at the pass, we discovered the Aremiti 2 ferry perched on the rocks at the entrance to the pass. Needless to say, this additional navigation hazard made the pass even more intimidating. In addition to the aground ferry, several local boats wandered around in or near the pass watching the efforts to pull the ferry off the rocks.
Every day during our stay in Maupiti, efforts were made to extract the ferry. Every day, locals went out to the pass in their boats to watch the process. At one point, we even joined in on the spectating. Duncan became extremely frustrated watching as it appeared the "ferry puller offers" were making more progress dragging the ferry further on the reef. The ferry remained on the rocks as of our departure from the pass.
Adding to the challenge of entering this pass were lots of smaller boats with their passengers watching the efforts to save the ferry.
Occasionally, many boats would race from town to the pass with hopes of seeing the ferry move off the rocks.
The 3 boats in this picture were involved in the rescue effort.
At this point, the Aremiti 2 looks like it may become a permanent fixture or navigation hazard on the reef.
Mopelia
Perfect motus of paradise border the lagoon.
Exiting the pass at Maupiti proved to be much more challenging then when we entered the pass. An ocean swell from the south combined with a 3 knot current tested Duncan's driving skills. Robin focused on the range markers to ensure we stayed lined up for a safe exit while Duncan steered Whisper through the eddies and swell. The currents made the steering difficult, but Duncan kept us right on track for a safe exit of the pass. Phew.
The clear water of the Mopelia lagoon made for some interesting tide-pooling and snorkeling.
Upon leaving Maupiti, we hoped to make a 3 or 4 day passage to either Aitutaki or Palmerston in the Cook Islands. As the day progressed, the seas became confused and the weather information indicated the winds would die in the next day, we made the decision to stop in yet another of the more remote Society Islands.
The atoll called Mopelia lies around 100 miles west of Maupiti. As the sun rose, Mopelia appeared on the radar display and we said "Let's stop in Mopelia". The population of Mopelia has dwindled to around 10 since Cyclone Martin in 1998 destroyed 75% of the trees and vegetation on the island. In addition to devastating most of the homes, navigation aids in the pass were destroyed. Oh great, yet another challenging pass.
Charlies Charts of Polynesia states "Passe Taihaaru Vahine (the pass at Mopelia) is one of the trickiest passes in French Polynesia because it is very narrow and the constantly ebbing current can reach 6 knots or more at times making a reliable engine and a good set of nerves necessary".
One other boat, Island Sonata, was in Mopelia while we visited the atoll. We explored the motus and the water with MJ and John.
Even finding the pass proved to be tricky. Once you find this elusive hole in the reef, you stare at the whirlpools and eddies and wonder "How/Why are we going to do this?". Then, Duncan gets that look in his eye that says "Woo Hoo, Let's go for it!".
This pass is only 60 feet wide with jagged coral shelves sticking out into the pass from both sides. Whisper is 13 feet wide. Vroom, Duncan puts the pedal to the metal to counteract the 3 to 6 knot outgoing current. Before you can say "Don't hit that rock" or "Watch out for the coral!", we are in the pass.
The upside is no ferries are dumb enough to try to enter this pass so we did not have to avoid any additional obstacles.
We enjoyed several lazy days in Mopelia waiting for a weather window to head west to the Cook Islands. Duncan loves his picture being taken right after a nap.
The edges of the motus were comprised of fossilized coral.
Beautiful, calm weather provided awesome views.
The atoll of Mopelia has a diameter of eight kilometers (5 miles). Even though the 1997 cyclone destroyed much of the atoll, harvesting pearl oysters to be used in the Tuamotu pearl farming industry continues in Mopelia. During our stay in Mopelia, we did not meet any people living on the atoll.
The coral inside the atoll appeared to be trying to recover from the cyclone. Lots of palm trees littered the floor of the lagoon. The snorkeling near the pass allowed us to see lots of sharks and fish. One day with MJ and John of Island Sonata, we tried to dingy thru the pass to snorkel outside the pass. The outgoing current was so strong, we decided to turn around with the concern that we would not be able to get back thru the pass. There were times when the 8 hp engine was at full throttle and the dinghy appeared to be standing still.
While Mopelia proved to be a lovely, isolated place, we were anxious to move on to the Cook Islands. Looking for the proverbial weather window to head west took top priority ever day. In the mean time, we enjoyed relaxing in Mopelia.
Robin loves to take pictures of Duncan working on the engine and genset. With all the genset issues, we have lots of pictures of Duncan in this position. He must lay over the main engine (under the gray towel) to reach the generator.
Systems Update
Duncan finally rolled up his sleeves (what sleeves), and performed some much needed engine and genset work. The air-intake manifold on the genset had shaken loose, and would not stay tight. Duncan removed it, cleaned it, fabricated a new gasket, and re-tightened it as tight as he could. Hopefully, it will hold and the engine will now burn cleaner.
He tried to discover the reason for the variable and low generator output, but could not discover an electrical cause. He suspects it is a fuel problem and is chasing that avenue with Fischer Panda service via email. It turns out the fuel pump is failing, and we discover later (in Niue) that the fuel pump has failed electrically.
The re-fabricated stainless steel exhaust elbow is "hanging in there" and will make it to New Zealand. There is an oil screen that needs to be cleaned, but the generator must be lifted off its mounts to get at it. Dumb design.
The Spectra watermaker is chugging along and behaving well since replacing the feed pumps, Clark Pump, and membrane in Tahiti.