When we arrived, there was only one other yacht in the bay - within a couple of days there were 10. The wind had picked up and we were in a beautiful anchorage sheltered by palm trees and of course the outlying reef.
A drone's eye view of our anchorage in Maupihaa, taken by Barry on Jadean, showing most of the Motu surrounding the lagoon. We are the second yacht on the right, with Vega on our left. The darker patches in the shallows are coral bommies.
We entered the atoll through the pass in the north east and anchored down at the south eastern end of the motu - the chart shows the outlying reef in green, and the land in yellow.
We spent over a week in Maupihaa which gave plenty of time to get to walk the length and breadth of the island. There are only a handful of inhabitants, all working in the Copra industry. They can lease a 200 metre strip of land from the Copra Cooperative for a one off payment of approximately US$50 which entitles them to all the coconuts on their section -i it takes several months to collect and dry a ton of Copra which then sells for $1,400. When the island as a whole has collected 35 to 40 tons of Copra a small ship comes to collect it for processing in Tahiti, usually this takes about a year, but even getting the ship to the island is a feat in itself, the pass into the atoll is only 25 metres wide, which gives 1.5 metres each side of the ship.
Walking round the motu - even coconuts washed up on shore grow on the sand.
The outside of the motu, you can see the surf breaking on the outer reef in the distance.
The outer reef - the waves look like icebergs, there is no way we want to be sailing in that!
Maupihaa does not receive many visitors during the course of the year, less than 25 people live on the island, there is no phone signal or internet, and the only communication with the outside world is via a single satellite phone held by the head of the Copra Cooperative. Most of the inhabitants come from nearby Maupiti where they still have family, provisions can be sent across by motor boat when the weather is calm, school age children are sent to stay with relatives for extended periods - life revolves around coconuts and fishing and they were very pleased to be able to chat and pass the time with us.
These two sisters have taken about five months to collect a ton of Copra - one of them has been living on the island with her husband for the last 4 years, and the other sister has just moved in and is setting up her own Copra business with her husband.
Another newcomer on the island, this gentleman is still clearing his plot in order to actually collect the coconuts - he lives with his wife and two year old daughter, as far as we could tell she is the only child on the island.
This lady has been living here with her husband for about 15 years, they have four children, none still live on the island, one is in France, one in the Army, one married and living in Maupiti and the youngest who is 11 lives with grandparents also on Maupiti. As Maupihaa is in the cyclone belt, when a cyclone warning is received (by sat phone) the islands can choose to be evacuated to the safety of Maupiti - they dismantle their houses and bury anything that could be blown away or damaged. Fortunately they have not been hit by a cyclone for some years, but the last one destroyed the majority of the coconut palms when a surge of water covered much of the motu.
Island transport - it must have been quite a challenge getting this Land Rover onto the island - there is a single sandy track that runs the length of the motu, we did see a couple of other vehicles but this seemed to be the only one that still works. Most of the islanders had bicycles.
We played Boules with some locals, and they built a table so we all had a 'pot luck' diner together one evening, but mainly we spent our time walking around the island and chatting to anyone we came across. After a week the weather calmed down sufficiently for us to leave for the three day sail to Aitutaki, the first of the Cook Islands. We motored out of the pass and were met on the other side by two humpback whales - a spectacular sight.
Our next destination will be the Cook Islands - a group of 15 islands with a total population of about 13,000 they are self governing but with a unique relationship to New Zealand described as 'self governing and in free association', the locals hold New Zealand passports and although English is universally spoken they also have their own Maori Language. We will be spending our first ever New Zealand Dollars, and breaking out a new Red Ensign - the current one has done its time!
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