Pitufa.at

Rapa’s a somewhat tricky place: difficult to get here, difficult to find a weather window to leave again, strong gusts in between, hardly any internet and the supply boat only calls every month or sometimes every two. We still enjoyed the wonderful mountains, the beautiful coral, snorkelling with the numerous galapagos sharks and the wonderful generosity of the islanders. Tongia maitaki Rapa (thank you in Reo Rapa). Today we leave with a weather window that’s not ideal, but we have to go to Tahiti, do some medical check-ups and prepare to leave French Polynesia. 660 nm to go!

Whenever we stay longer in a place I try to visit the schools and do a little presentation about sustainability and environmental issues. At primary schools this means mainly presenting some local wildlife and its “function” for eco-systems to explain why they are worth protecting. E.g. bird droppings are fertilizers for the soil and the lagoon, parrot fish are important as they clean the reef, sharks prevent diseases as they eat sick fish, turtles are worth protecting as they eat jellyfish and are getting rare, etc.
Quite often I feel like fighting windmills, when the little ones assure me that turtles taste delicious (even though stressed looking teachers then explain that nobody actually hunts them–as this is strictly forbidden) and the fish are there for humans to eat.
In Rapa things are different: the local environmental protection group Raumatariki is very active, sweets and everything wrapped in plastic is forbidden at school and even the youngest ones know that littering is a dreadful thing to do. Therefore the visit to the two classes here (the young ones from 6 on and the older ones up to 10 years) was a real pleasure. Katsumi and Jacqueline are doing a great job!

The main bay of Rapa is protected from the long swell that comes up from the S and SW most of the time, but the other bays around the island are open to it. Last week the swell was down, so we took Pitufa exploring. We were rewarded with stunning mountain views, sheer cliffs and beautiful underwater landscapes. Anchoring turned out to be quite tricky, but we managed to manoeuvre into this tight spot between table coral.

Toilet troubles are a cruisers’s nightmare. The plastic base plate of our Jabsco was cracked and we were worried that it would turn into an ejector seat on passage (just imagine the mess, YUCK!). Fortunately the part was on stock in Tahiti (at Ocean2000) and we spent a fun day dismounting and remounting the whole thing (disgusting, but fortunately not quite as bad as expected). As we were already at it we installed a new pump. All good now!

One of the old plexi windows of our sprayhood got smashed in on the rough trip to Rapa. We ordered a roll from Tahiti and spent three days replacing the windows. Not an easy task to stuff so much material underneath Miss Pfaff (our sturdy sewing machine). They turned out surprisingly wrinkle-free and now we have a panorama view again! At least partially–the garden’s back in place and blocking some of it…

The main bay of Rapa with its two villages is a windy place when it’s blowing from the east, in all other directions we don’t see steady winds, but strong gusts whirling down the mountains. This pictures shows Pitufa testing the new mooring in 45 knots… Local boats were still buzzing across the bay on that day, fishermen going out on the ocean–the people of Rapa are used to rough weather and considered this ‘blow’ a breezy summerday

Only about 400 people live on Rapa. There is no airport and the supply ship calls only once a month, so the people rely mainly on their own resources and skills. When something needs to be done or fixed, everyone helps out. This generosity is also extended to visiting strangers. So far sailboats are still welcome here, but I suppose a single negative experience might also change the atmosphere here. We just hope that sailors following in our wake will also be respectful of the traditions and won’t take advantage of the generosity the locals show visitors.

Three years ago we built a mooring for sailboats with the municipality of Rapa, so visiting sailboats don’t have to anchor in the infamously difficult bay and will neither damage their gear not the beautiful staghorn coral. When we got back this year, we were happy to pick up our sturdy mooring and then we asked the mayor and community workers whether they wanted to do a second one. We brought out the two blocks with Pitufa and placed them on a 6 m spot in the bay, where it’s easy to check!!

Thanks a lot to…
…the commune of Rapa Iti for their approval and for donating the blocks and chain
…Alex (chief of the firefighters here in Rapa) for all the welding and bending and for spending all Saturday on the project
…our friends on SY Garulfo for their hard work and donated gear
…and last but not least to Pitufa for being such a sturdy and strong lady–she nonchalantly crossed the bay with the huge mooring blocks dangling from her bow.

The new mooring consists of two 750 kg blocks, 14 mm chain and 25 mm rope. It is located at S 27°36.700′ W 144°19.870′

We got a few concerned emails, because there was a Tsunami in the Pacific (after an eruption in Tonga) and a depression over French Polynesia (with seriously bad weather in the Northern Austral Islands and in Tahiti and the Societies). Neither of those affected us down here in our protected bay in Rapa Iti.