Maupiti... "Little Bora Bora" Amazing.

Hello Everyone,

Well, we are anchored here in Maupiti.  This is an amazing little stop and is named the Little Bora Bora of long ago.  It is like stepping back in time here.  The waters are amazing hues of turquoise, greens and crystal clear.  There is a rugged cliff that over hangs the small village of people with 3 churches, three stores, a post office, a snack shack and one gas station.  There are a number of artisants that live along the road side selling there necklaces, bracelets and wind chimes made out of shells and little seeds.  

Our Anchorage.. The bakery is at the bottom of the rock

We have been playing here for a few days now and our all time favorite has been diving with the giant manta rays.  They average 12 feet across and are the most graceful creatures to watch gliding below you.  The often just hover in one space and you can get pretty close to them without bothering them.  We can’t touch them because the bacteria on our hands can infect them but to get close to them is just amazing.  

The kids have also been wake boarding around the lagoon and practicing flying the kites for the kite surfing in the shallow waters off our anchorage.  The wind hasn’t been strong enough to get anyone up and out of the water for long but they have been having fun being pulled around with these big kites.

The island is so clean and immaculate... They even decorate their fish for sale... 

A mailbox... so cute with just their names on it.  With only 1000 inhabitants not much else is needed.

While the boys were off playing with the kites, Anna (From our friends on Shine) Alina and I took a walk around the island.  It is 10k around and a really beautiful walk.  We were on the search for Chez MiMi.  It was suppose to be a lovely place to hang out and have a snack while playing on the beach and wading through the shallow waters all the way across to the other lagoon.  The entire time we walked we were greeted with many hellos, waves and smiles from the villagers.  Even a few stopped to see if they could help us.  There was a section that we had to climb up and over a hill and the views from above were tremendous.  It really shows you the splendor and contrasts of the green lush of the islands with the gradients of the blues go out towards the reef of the lagoon surrounding the islands.  After about 2 hours we found Chez Mimi, funny enough it is not signed from the road so after many of waves from the neighbors to keep walking and a few wrong turns down random driveways we finally found it.  It was nice to have a stop and get a little reenergized after walking in the heat of the day (half carrying Alina around the island).  It was a beautiful little stop with a palm leaf grass hut on the white sand beach.  We are hoping to go back today with everyone for lunch if the weather holds out.  We hear you can rent bikes and it would be fun to do another excursion around the island on bikes this time.

When we got back we were rushed to another boat were the kids were having a bake off.  While we were gone the girls Xesca on Shine, Alexia and Hailey on Miss Behaving, all had baked cakes and were having a cake competition.  They were all made from scratch and were amazing.  The judges were from our boats plus Por Dos (another cruising catamaran with twin boys that are about 16.  It is really nice to see what the girls can accomplish, not to mention a really nice treat as well for all the families.  

This morning we woke up and decided to do the local climb to the top of the mountain.  It looked great from our vantage point we could see the flag at the top our destination and some people told us it was just a 40 minute climb to the top.  Well we started our venture up.  There were about 16 of us from our 4 boats that are anchored here with all the kids.... Including Amaia and Alina.  Let’s just say that they should put a sign at the beginning of the trail it is for mountain goats and mountain climbers.  This trail was anything but easy... it is amazing, picturesque, lush, dense forest with many roots to use as the stair case to climb or should I say ladder.  This trail is for the most part straight up and at point there are repelling lines to help you get over sections.  We had run into a few people on our way up and they looked at us like we were crazy with all these kids and for the most part the circus was in flip flops or barefoot.  To add to the drama, when we got to the steepest part we were drenched with a squall for about 30 minutes... the kids thought it was fun until we began our trek down... it was so slippery with mud and rock that I felt like we were in a scene from Romancing the Stone where they go flying down the mud slide... It was a little sketchy and I had to help Amaia repel down this side of a mountain (actually you couldn’t see me when I went down if you were above) in the rain.  I think I finally stopped shaking when 1 hour later when Amaia and I reached the actual steps that marked the beginning of the trail.  The view was spectacular... Alexia, Chris, Tristan made it to the top... Amaia and I almost made it... the last 30 feet were just to much and then Mykaela stayed with Alina and turned around before the really sketchy part... I am so glad they did.

Right now on our path we have quite a bit of cruising boats with kids.  We have all seemed to meet in Bora Bora and are taking a similar trail to Tonga.  Por Dos (2 boys 16), Shine (3 kids 17, 15, 12) Miss Behaving (12, 10) Family Circus (21, 13, 12, 8, 6) SkyUs (12 and 8) are the ones that I know of that should all be surging onto Suwarrow next week.  It will be a really fun anchorage for about 4 days while we explore that little island in the middle of no where.  

Today we are leaving for Mopelia because a local guy named Ringo came to the boat last night and asked if we were going and if so could we take some boxes and gas to his brother Alfred on Mopelia... so we decided to definitely help these people out as much as we could.. they are ever so generous and warm... Mopelia is very isolated with only 20 inhabitants living on the island and they only get a supply ship once every 8 months... I cant even imagine their resourcefulness..   so with that said we are going to the next island Mopelia which is about 100 miles away and that would only give us 3 days to Suwarrow.  We will stop over there for a day or so and then make our way to Suwarrow.  Suwarrow is our next stop after Mopelia and one of the stops that Chris is really looking forward to on our trip.  It is an island that you can not get to unless you have your own boat or you are one of the two rangers that inhabit it for six months of the year.  The island is completely uninhabited except for the stop of cruisers on their way to Tonga.  It is a well protected lagoon and a good anchorage to catch up on sleep.   It is suppose to be stunning with the white sandy beach and crystal clear waters... lots of black tip reef sharks and good snorkeling so we hear.  Sometimes the rangers will have a beach barb-e-que with the coconut crabs they catch.  We are really looking forward to the next stage of our adventure and are hoping for smooth sails for the next 4 to 5 days.

Hugs and love to everyone,

Heath