Monthly Archives: October 2020

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.

The Beautiful Manta Ray

The Manta Ray Frenzy

Maupiti has a popular snorkeling and diving spot where you can see manta rays.  There is a “cleaning station” where the manta rays go each day between 0900-1100.  We were blessed enough to visit several times during our stay in Maupiti. 

Did you know there are two types of manta rays?  The larger species (biostris) reaches 7 meters (23’) in width while the smaller (M. Alfredis) reaches 5.5 meters (18’).  Both have triangular pectoral fins and large cephalic lobes, and forward-facing mouths.  They can be found in warm, temperate, tropical waters. 

The photos aren’t the best as I’m 10 meters above them and it was cloudy, but you can still tell they are amazing creatures.

How and What they Eat

Mantas are filter feeders and eat large quantities of plankton which they gather with their mouths open as they swim.  The large cephalic lobes help funnel food into its mouth while it swims.  The photos below show you their cephalic lobes in front of their mouth

Manta Rays and their cephalic lobes

Manta Rays and their cephalic lobes

Cleaning Stations

Mantas visit “cleaning stations” for the removal of parasites. A cleaning station is a large coral head populated with a variety of fish and coral.  The manta will visit the cleaning station to have the fish swim in and out of its gills and mouth collecting parasites.

When we visited, we were able to watch several mantas come and go in an orderly fashion.  It was fascinating and beautiful.

The unfortunate thing is that not all visitors know how to act around manta rays.  We watched several tourists do horrifying things like climbing on the cleaning station, chasing the mantas, and trying to touch them.  The manta rays have been scared away before and frequent the cleaning station less and less.  So, I partnered with the Maupiti Dive Center and Manta Trust in French Polynesia  to help spread the word on how to swim with mantas.

Mating

Female mantas are not considered mature (breeding age) until they are 8-10 years old.  Manta Rays give birth to 1-2 “live pups” (as opposed to laying their eggs), once every two to five years check out mantaray-world.com for more information on manta reproduction.

The male will casually wander around the cleaning stations looking for a willing female.  The females will omit sex hormones in the water to communicate its willingness to mate.  Courting can take up to several weeks and can create “train mating.” A train mating is when up to 25-30 males, arranged one behind the other, follow the female’s movements as she leads them all.  At the end of this test, the female chooses a male and it bites its partner’s left pectoral fin to hold her. Then it positions itself so that bellies of both are bonded, and inserts one of its claspers in the female cloaca. The coupling lasts several seconds and usually the female stands still. After mating the male goes away and never returns to take part in parental care

Fun Facts:

  1. Giant manta rays are the largest rays in the world with wingspans up to 29 feet (8.8 m) wide and weights up to 5,300 pounds (2,404 kg).
  2. Manta rays are the only vertebrate animals with three paired appendages: two wing-like pectoral fins; two sets of gills; and two lobes that extend from the mouth and funnel in water.
  3. A manta ray will sometimes do somersaults (barrel rolls) while feeding to maximize their prey intake.
  4. Giant manta rays can dive more than 3,280 feet (1,000 m) underwater, but typically feed only 33 feet (10 m) deep.
  5. The life span of a manta ray is upt 40 years.
  6. Giant manta rays have the biggest brains of any fish studied so far. They use that brain power to learn, exercise their memory, distinguish between objects and even recognize themselves in the mirror.

It is hard to show just how big and magical these creatures are, but here is a photo with a diver just below the manta on the right.  It is hard to see because I am snorkeling 12 meters above them and the water clarity was pretty bad, but you get the idea.

Photos from our manta ray encounter in Tahanea while swimming in the pass.

Manta Rays in Tahanea

Manta Rays in Tahanea

Come back, I am not done playing with you

Come back, I am not done playing with you

Looks like they want to eat me, but they just like plankton

Looks like they want to eat me, but they just like plankton

A spotted ray playing with the manta rays.  He looks like a bird under water.

This post was written in August 2020.  Our blog posts are usually 6 to 7 weeks behind are true adventures.