Pitufa.at » Photo Galleries » Maupihaa

In May 2016 we spent 3 weeks in the tiny atoll of Maupihaa (only 4 miles long). People from Maupiti come and live here to collect copra, currently 15 people live on the island. The hospitality of the islanders and the bird colonies of the western and northern motus made our last stop in French Polynesia a special experience.

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1/60: The tiny lagoon of Maupihaa
2/60: Fab anchorage in the SE corner (2.5 m deep...)
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4/60: Leeloo loves calm lagoons
5/60: 2 local dogs took us for a walk
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8/60: Jaklien (SY Jakker) baked a birthday cake for Christian
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10/60: Kevin lives alone on Maupihaa, but stays in touch with his family via satellite phone
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12/60: He invited us for a lobster dinner the first day.
13/60: 2 days later his neighbours Salome and Ferdinand invited us for dinner.
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15/60: Harry und Norma gave us papayas from their garden
16/60: Collecting copra is hard work
17/60: Walking along the motu we got green coconuts as refreshment at every other house
18/60: Accodomations here are basic
19/60: Faimano comes every year to Maupihaa with her family to collect Kopra
20/60: Antonio wanted to give us some coco germ buds, as he didn't have a bag he quickly wove one.
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22/60: There are even a few cars on the island
23/60: A veg garden on a motu needs lots of effort
24/60: Only Adrienne's und Marcello's house has solar panels and a fridge.
25/60: The people might not have many amenities, but they are happy in their little paradise.
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27/60: Sewing machine days on Pitufa: the covers of the hatches are falling apart and the sofa needs refurbishing.
28/60: The family who lives up north organised a potluck for all cruisers. Hio, the son, welcomed the visitors.
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30/60: Adrienne and Marcello regularly organise such gatherings.
31/60: Their daughters, Buatiti and Faimano.
32/60: Snorkeling in the pass
33/60: The pass of Maupihaa is only 20 m wide and has a strong current.
34/60: There are lots of sharks...
35/60: ...and tons of parrotfish.
36/60: Whenever we anchored blacktip reef sharks came to check out the boat.
37/60: Blacktip reef shark
38/60: Within the lagoon the coral doesn't look bad and there's lots of swarm fish.
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40/60: New anchorage at the western motu which is a huge bird colony
41/60: Red footed boobies
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43/60: Red tailed tropic bird
44/60: Nesting tropic bird
45/60: Nesting brown booby
46/60: White tern are rare here
47/60: Nesting frigate bird
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49/60: Frigate birds
50/60: Male frigate bird
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53/60: Weißbauchtölpel
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55/60: Booby eggs
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59/60: Young coconut crab
60/60: Booby baby