Pitufa.at

Sunny days have been rare so far, so whenever the sun comes out we try to use the nice weather as actively as possible.
On Monday we went ashore to see the freighter arrive. It was a big spectacle as it didn’t only bring new provisions, but also the island’s kids who attend school in Tahiti or Tubuai and only come home during the longer holidays, so it was quite an emotional event with all those family reunions. Everybody was wearing beautifully woven flower wreaths on their heads and the arrivals (loaded with bags, christmas presents) were greeted with more wreaths over their shoulders.

For today the weather forecast had predicted sunny skies again, so we started the day at 6, had the washing done by 7, were ashore at 8, up on the summit of Morongo Uta (one of the higher mountains with some remnants of an ancient fortress on top) at 10 and at 11.30 we were back in the village to see the Christmas celebration of the primary school kids who had prepared songs and dances for this event.

I know we’re always praising the friendliness of the Polynesians, but the people of Rapa take this hospitality to yet a new level. It seems everybody we meet gives us fruit, invites us to their homes, offers the use of internet and even washing machines… If it wasn’t for the weather we might easily be tempted to build a mooring here and stay

Rapa Iti is the remotest island of French Polynesia. There is no airport, the cargo ship only comes once a month (sometimes it skips a visit…) and Raivavae, the nearest neighbouring island, lies 290 nm away. The anchorage inside the huge main bay of Rapa is well protected from waves, but gusts howl down from the mountains whenever there are strong winds–and that seems to be most of the time

The only two villages of the island lie on the sides of the bay and we used a brief break in the rain to visit both of them yesterday. We are anchored next to Area which is just a cluster of houses (a bit more than 100 people live here) and the main village Haurei (about 400 people) is about half a mile away. That’s where the primary school, the medical centre, the townhall and 3 minimarkets are located. We went to check in with the (only) policeman who opened his office on a Saturday for us. He told us that 2017 only 11 sailboats stopped in Rapa Iti (at the moment Pitufa’s the only boat here), so visitors get an extra-warm welcome here, which makes up for the cool climate: in winter the temperature goes down to 10 degrees and even now in summer we’re wearing long sleeves and socks while the cold front that still lingers brings howling winds and heavy rain to the island.

We met a French catamaran in Raivavae who had been in Rapa before and the friendly couple loaded Pitufa with pineapples for their friends here in Rapa. As they all got ripe during the passage we had to deliver them yesterday despite the rainy weather, so we’ve already made friends in both villages and returned to Pitufa loaded with peaches, bananas, fresh bread, popoi (a paste made from taro roots) and guava syrup

The weather’s still nasty, we’ve managed to do a short hike during a sunny spell on Saturday, but apart from that we’ve been at home working on boat projects, while it’s pouring down outside.
Fortunately we’ve already explored the island thoroughly during our first visit here 2 years ago, so we’re not missing out on anything new.

The Austral Islands are the southernmost island group of French Polynesia. Raivavae is just below the tropic of Capricorn, Rapa Iti even further down at the latitude of 27°35′. The Southern summer is the most pleasant time to visit these remote islands.

We’re just getting ready to set sails again. Actually we haven’t quite finished all jobs, we’re quite stressed out, but we’re still leaving, because the hot, rainy season is just starting in Tahiti and we don’t want to miss our weather window. 390 nm to Raivavae, or 600 to Rapa–whether we’ll stop in Raivavae will depend on the wind.

We had to do some repairs on the mast last week, not a big deal, but the mast had to be pulled for that. The preparations alone took two days (getting the sails down, taking the boom off, disconnecting all cables, taking the instruments off the mast, removing the mast collar, etc.).
Everything went well with the repair, but now we’re busy getting everything back in place again. Additionally we got black marks from the bumper tyres in the harbour all over one side of the hull and the fenders, so some cleaning is also needed.

It looks like a weather window towards the Australes might come up at the beginning of next week, so we’re in a hurry to get Pitufa back into sailing mode.