Tag Archives: society islands

Maupiti to Ilot Tautau (Taha’a)

It was really hard to leave Maupiti, but we needed to start making our way toward Raitea.  We had a great weather window toward Taha’a (Ilot Tautau) which is in the same lagoon as Raiatea.  The day before, we moved to the Maupiti pass anchorage to swim with the manta rays one more time and position ourselves for a quick exit.  On the day of our departure, we had North Easterly winds which were perfect for our short trip.  Up at dawn gave us a beautiful sunrise.

It is only 42nm from Maupiti to Taha’a/Raiatea which is about 8.5 hours.  We left at 0600 to exit the pass in “good conditions.”  We had 2.5 kts of outgoing current which helped us along.  Nice for us as we were exiting, but would be challenging for someone wanting to come into the lagoon.  You can see the large waves breaking on the reef on either side of the red and green markers.

We had a consistent breeze, small swell and pretty skies.  It was an ideal trip that took us 6.5 hours with an average of 6kts.  We arrived at one of our favorite anchorages and dropped the hook in 2 meters of stunning water.  You can see to the bottom and all the way across to the Bora Bora caldera.

Ilot TauTau (Taha’a Resort Island)

We anchored in our favorite spot which is near the Ilot Tautau where the Taha’a Resort is located.  We drop the hook in 2 meters of sandy water and get a beautiful view of the sunset behind Bora Bora.

A few calm days allowed Matt to explore on the SUP.  He left at sunrise and tried to go all the way around Ilot Tautau but the waters got to shallow (2-3”)

Day Run to Raiatea

We made a day trip to Raiatea Carenage.  We will be hauling the boat out to do some work soon and the owner needed to evaluate some fiberglass work.  So, we motored 2 hours from Taha’a to Raiatea.  The owner Dominique said he needed a few hours before we meet so we went to find lunch.  There is nothing around Raitea Carenage except another yard called CNI.  Neither place had a magasin or restaurant.  So, we went to Marina Apooiti where they have several charter companies (Sunsail, Moorings, and Tahiti Charter).  Surely they will have an eatery. 

Lucky for us, they had one restaurant called La Voile d’Or.  There were no customers when we arrived at 1200. We sat down ordered drinks and perused the menu.  Matt’s beer arrived luke warm and he was not pleased.  At 780xpf per bottle it should be ice cold, but nope.  The lunch prices were extremely expensive and they were out of Mahi. So, we finished our drinks and left.  Too bad as it is a really cute place with pretty ambiance.

On the way back we were able to motor sail part of the way and made it back in 1:45. All in all not a bad day trip and we received confirmation that the yard can do the fiberglass repair.

Back to Ilot Tautau to enjoy another gorgeous sunset.

The events on this post occurred in early September 2020.  Blog posts run about 6-8 weeks behind our adventures.

Nounou at the helm, our captain

Maupiti Fishing with Marlin Star

One of the locals, Nounou, offered to take Matt and I offshore fishing. We were told that the locals harpoon mahi, and catch wahoo, tuna, and marlin between Maupiti and Bora Bora.   We met Nounou a few weeks ago, got his number, and scheduled our outing.  Nounou catches a lot of mahi – check out his Marlin Star Facebook page.

Nounou and his mate picked us up at 0900 with our packed lunch, beverages, and smiles.  He did not waste anytime putting the pedal to the metal.  We sped across the lagoon covering the 2.5 miles in 7-8 minutes.  Gesh this is a rocket on water!

We said a prayer before leaving the pass.  I prayed for safety and no sea sickness but I am sure the boys prayed for fish.  It is a fishing trip after all.  We exited the pass at 30-35kts with little effort – ridiculous.  Then we started the bash toward Bora Bora.

The Boat

Nounou came to pick us up in his superfast 35’ speed boat called Lady Kea.  He has one turbo diesel engine with 340 horse power and a top speed of 40kts!  He fishes daily during the week in this boat and takes his family out on this “faster” boat on the weekends.  Lady Kea is a beautiful orange and yellow boat with logos on the side.

Lady Kea

Lady Kea

The Captain

The captain / driver sits inside a well and moves a metal pipe or pvc tube right and left to steer.  The throttle is where is right hand is and his left hand is on the steering mechanism.

Nounou at the helm, our captain

Nounou at the helm, our captain

Shots of our fearless captain, Nounou.

Nounou, our fearless captain

Nounou, our fearless captain

The Equipment

The boat is outfitted with (2) fishing rods each with 130 reels.  These reels are monstrous.  To put it into perspective, we have a 50 reel on our boat and that is huge for us.

There is a large assortment of lures on either side of the boat.  They put the port line out really far and the starboard line closer.

To catch Mahi Mahi they search out the birds.  We found several flocks of birds during the course of our trip.  Our captain and crew would spot the birds several miles out and we would race toward them.  Nounou would circle the mahi which swim near the surface while feeding. Then he would expertly throw the harpoon at the Mahi hoping for a catch.  We unfortunately only had one opportunity to do this and he got away.  Photo of harpoon.

Mahi harpoon

Mahi harpoon

Heading out to sea

We zoomed out about 18-29 miles toward Bora Bora which was into the wind, waves, and sea.  Not a pleasant experience.  Going 35-40kts, top speed, bashing hard while trying to hold on was difficult.  I literally had a volcan death grip with both hands and both feet wedged wherever I could stick them.  After about an hour of holding on we turned and went side to the waves.  Slightly better.

The little bonito (tuna)

The first fish to catch our lure was a small bonito tuna.  It was a relief to catch him as we had been trolling for over an hour and a half with nothing.  He’s small, but will be tasty.

Fishing: Bonito tuna

Fishing: Bonito tuna

We would switch between looking for mahi and fishing for marlin and wahoo.  They used the lures for the marlin and wahoo.  They used the harpoon for the mahi.

The Marlin

After another several hours we landed a beautiful, fat marlin!  With two people, a fast boat, and the perfect execution, they reeled in a 60 kilo (135lb) marlin!

Nounou will clean and cut the fish and give it to the local school to feed the kids!  This baby will feed lots of kids for awhile.

Marlin! Now that is fishing

Marlin! Now that is fishing

We headed back to the boat around 1500. 6 hours later.  Every inch of my body ached.  Holding on, clenching every muscle, falling a time or two and being tossed around the fiberglass boat did a number to my body.  With several bruises, bumps, scrapes and blisters we climbed back onto Sugar Shack.

A quick rinse in the lagoon to get the 20 layers of salt off us and then a fresh water rinse.  Matt cleaned the bonito which Nounou graciously gifted us.  We called it a day, took some advil, made a drink and crashed on the bean bags.

By the way, we never took a sip of our drinks or a nibble of food.  We were too busy holding on, fishing, and looking for fish.

This fishing excursion happened on 31 August.  Our blog posts run 6/8 weeks behind our adventures. 

View from top of Maupiti

Life on Maupiti

Maupiti is an alluring island that places a hold on your heart.  The beautiful blue waters transition from turquoise to dark blue and shimmer from morning until night.  The locals are sweet, generous, and welcoming.  The mountain proves to be challenging and offers unique experiences each time we climb it. And best of all Maupiti life seems to offer the true Polynesian experience.

With that said, it was incredibly difficult to think about departing, so we didn’t.  We completed several boat projects and explored this amazing island, lagoon, and its motus.

Sewing Sweetie’s Skirt “Chaps”

Our dinghy, Sweetie came with the boat.  Which means she and her “skirt” are almost 20 years old.  Her “skirt” are the chaps that cover the tubes.  We have patched her skirt several times over the years, but she has been in need of some big time lovin for a while.  There were several rips, holes, and tears.  The Velcro was off in many places, the pocket needed to be repaired, and several support areas needed help.

Matt whipped out the sewing machine and we went to work.  I must admit that Sweetie looks incredibly sad and frankly (shhhhh, downright ugly).  It took a couple of days, to remove old stitching and glue, then apply new stitching and glue.  Now she is looking so much better.

All fixed up and ready to go

Mt Teurafaatiu

We decided to tackle the 372m mountain called Mt. Teurafaatiu again.  This time we dragged our friends from Venture Lady (Andy and Allison).  Many visitors attack this mountain as it is one of the top 10 things to do in Maupiti. However, I cannot imagine hiking this trail is part of the Maupiti life style.

Mt. Teurafaatiu

Mt. Teurafaatiu

We took the same trail going up which is a steep ascent.  There are four areas where you use ropes to pull yourself up over rocks or areas that are not conducive to climbing. 

We stopped several times, mostly because I was having a hard time breathing and the steep ascent was challenging for me.  About 3/4 of the way up the mountain, we stopped to enjoy the view (and to catch our breath).

The view from the top is still breathtaking.  You just can’t get enough of this sight of the colors!

View from top of Maupiti

View from top of Maupiti

You can see the small air strip on the motu across from the mainland.  It is super small AT 3,135’ long and 75’ wide!

Maupiti Airstrip

Maupiti Airstrip

The various blues of the lagoon

Maupiti Lagoon

Maupiti Lagoon

Getting Lost

Matt decided he wanted to find a new trail.  He was equipped with his handheld GPS and we had Maps.me on my phone and his iPad.  So, you would think we would easily find our way down the mountain, right?  Ha!

We got terribly lost!  Trudging up and down the hillside in thick bush, unstable ground, and among the dead trees.  Every time we grabbed on to something to hold it would fall off in our hands. Not just limbs, but tree trunks!  The solid orange line through the middle of the island is our path.  The dotted line through the middle of the island is the trail we attempted to find and use.  We crossed it several times but never actually “saw” it.

10-mile hike around the island and across the lagoon

Matt and I decided to do long hike.  Our goal was to walk 1/2 around the main island of Maupiti to the NW side, then walk 1/2 mile across the lagoon, then explore the Motu Auira, then cross back over the lagoon, and complete the circumnavigation of Maupiti.  

We started the walk like we have done many others, we turned left from the dinghy dock, headed up and over the mountain and arrived at Chez Mimi.  This is about 1.5 miles.  We had seen a few people walking across the shallows of the lagoon and it looked easy enough.  Before we left, we looked up “low tide” and it was supposed to be at 10am.  We arrived at 0930, just perfect.  However, it was not low tide.  In fact it looked like high tide.  Hmmm, well we forged ahead, because what else do we have to do?

The lagoon we are going to walk across

The lagoon we are going to walk across

Motu Auira

The walk across the lagoon should be knee high during low tide.  However, we found ourselves in water up to our chest.  About 1/4 of the way across we felt the strong current which was about 1.5 kts pushing us further from our destination.  It was a water aerobic work out that is for sure!  A mile and a half later we made it to the other side.

Motu Auira is like most other motus.  In the uninhabited areas there is a lot of over growth, palm fronds, coconuts, crab holes and broken coral on the ground.  The tall, palm trees provide shade and everything grows wild.

This is a rather large motu.  We had not planned on hiking all around it as it is way too big.  However, we did want to hike around the bottom portion of it so off we went.  It was really pretty with sandy beaches and turquoise waters lapping up against our toes.

We made it around the bottom portion of the motu and crossed through the center back to where we started.  Now, we had to cross the lagoon again.  No issues crossing, but it sure was a work out.  You have to take giant steps to push through the current.  You must position your body pushing forward to give you the trajectory you want.  

Back on Maupiti we headed around the island to complete the circumnavigation.  A total of 10 miles and over 24,000 steps!

If you look at this map….we started at the red arrow on the right.  We walked toward the bottom of the island to the 2nd red arrow.  Then we crossed the lagoon to the where the blue arrow is pointing.  Then we walked around the bottom portion of the Motu to the other blue arrow.  From there we crossed across the island (green arrow) back to the starting point.  Crossed the lagoon and walked around the upper part of the island past Fa’ataufi, past Patutarova and back to Vai’ea.

Magasins on Maupiti

Most of the locals make small purchases daily instead of large purchases to last them a week.  Part of the Maupiti life is to go to the market or magasin which are only open 0800-1200 and again 1600-1800.  Strange hours – wouldn’t you love to have a 4 hour lunch break!

At the center of town, Vaiea, you will find the post office, le maire (mayor’s office) and fire station.  In addition, it is where the locals congregate for wifi, camaraderie, and fresh produce.  Typical Maupiti life is to enjoy the company of others. 

Every Monday and Friday, the local farmer (one) will bring what they have to sell.  Items range from cucumbers, bach choi, cabbage, green bell peppers. tomatoes (rarely) and eggplant.  It is a strange assortment, but you take what you can get.

At the busiest time, there are 4 small folding tables selling items.  One table sells pareos (Polynesian cloth to use as clothing), one sells fresh produce, one sells baked items, and one sells random stuff (eggs, cakes).

Maupiti has several magasins in the main town of Vaiea.  Most magasins (small markets) here are counter service.  Meaning you cannot browse through the store and make impulse buys.  You have to tell them what you want which can be challenging when you don’t speak the language.

One magasin is a market, hardware store, and bakery.  Multi-purpose shop.  You can get hair color, bread, nails, and sugar!

Maupiti life is growing on us.

This is an interesting photo I found that shows the different languages in French Polynesia.  The schools teach French because France owns the islands, but there are other spoken languages within each archipelago.

Post written August 2020.