Maupiha’a – A Special Place On Our Way Out Of French Polynesia

On May 1 we pulled anchor and headed west, destination Maupiha’a. This is a small island, still part of French Polynesia, with 8 inhabitants in three homes. The people are mostly involved in copra, the harvesting of coconuts. Every 2 to 4 months a ship comes by, drops off supplies and collects the coconuts that have been split in half and dried. The people also raise chickens, grow a few veggies, harvest papaya, breadfruit, bananas, and, of course, coconuts. They also do a fair amount of fishing and pull clams and other things from the large, sheltered and beautiful lagoon.

Here is an interactive map so you can scroll and zoom if you want to see the details.

Below is a link to a video, looking aft, doing about 8 knots with 2+ meter seas from behind.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6KAgmQmsi6htDkZ79

It was an overnight sail of about 140 nautical miles. A pretty easy sail, winds 15 to 20 from the port quarter with 2 to 3 meter swells from the same direction. Going downwind and with the swell is nice. We arrived outside the pass at 8am. The pass looks kinda scary from the charts and satellite view, but ended up being easy. A bit long and narrow, with 2 knot current exiting, but good visibility and deep enough. We were soon anchored in about 20 ft over sand in a lovely lagoon.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1okKOXRBN3vN8YRn_ruGVtNZHyGRDJB4&usp=sharing

After taking a nap, we went in and met Adrienne, her daughter and grandson. Adrienne is Hio’s mom. Hio is the master mechanic magician in Raiatea, who saved our stbd diesel engine after it was flooded with salt water. His family was expecting us and gave us a warm welcome. We walked around some and met Steven at the next home on the island.

About 20 feet behind Calista was a large baumie with quite a few fish and really nice coral.

One evening we invited Adrienne, her daughter and grandson on board to do a zoom video call with Hio and his 19 month old son. He had arranged for two of his sisters and their families to join as well. The call went on for well over an hour and there was lots of laughter and fun. It was only the second time Adrienne had seen Hio’s son (her grandson) and some of the others she had not seen in over a year. A very easy thing for us to do and it meant so much to them. Hio later emailed us with profuse thanks.

But there comes a time when we need to leave even an idyllic place like Maupiha’a. On May 5 we headed out the pass, leaving French Polynesia, nearly two years after arrival.

We set our course for Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.