By Vicki Seymore
“I can’t even see the pass, can you?”
“Nope,” I shouted back from my lookout on the bow.
He turned to port to get a better look. And there it was – a very narrow, very doglegged pass with a couple of pole markers as guides. I zipped back to the cockpit as we circled round ready to take the ‘leap.’ It would have been easy enough if there was either some room or a straight run. I realized, as Matt gunned the engines, I was inadvertently holding my breath – as if somehow that would get us in unscathed.
The Society Islands are probably the most cruised in French Polynesia given that Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora are sitting in amongst them along with their yacht charter companies and superyacht visitors, but for a bit of local magic away from these madding crowds, the little visited Maupiti is the proverbial ‘gem.’
Just under 30nm west of Bora Bora, it sits in isolated splendour, not least because getting into the surrounding lagoon takes the right wind and sea conditions and a skipper happy to take on the gnarly little entry passage through the reef. It is important to have the right conditions when heading over to the island, and as there is only one entry passage, you also have to be prepared to get stuck there if conditions are not right to get out again. Trust me on this though – once you are there, worry about being stuck there is the farthest thing from your mind. Maupiti is what Bora Bora must have been in Michener’s day – a cruiser’s dream, where the chances of seeing a superyacht are very low to zero!
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