Maui: Chartering in the Tuamotus

Camille is a skipper in French Polynesia and works on different boats. Here she shares her experience of a charter she ran in the Tuamotus, and in particular the surprising Makatea atoll.

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Published 19/09/2019

Issue: 168

Published: nov. / dec. 2019

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Who: Camille

Boat: Catana 50

Where: Tuamotus, French Polynesia

Blog: www.mauicata.blogspot.com

It was direction Rangiroa, and we anchored at Aïa motu, one of my favorite places. My clients weren’t disappointed! It was a little rainy and cool, but some of them still went for a swim. We went ashore where we met Louis, Noëline and Christian who offered me a paumotu coffee. Louis is a serious underwater hunter and has been Polynesian champion several times. This afternoon he came onboard to pick us up and take us on a fishing trip. We headed for the lagoon, looking for the shallows. Our first location is too deep for me. I was only 7 or 8 meters (25’) down but soon had to come up for air. Back on the boat with a big bucket full of fish, we made for Tiputa pass. I went scuba diving with two clients while the others visited the vineyard. It’s the only one in Polynesia which is in a coral zone. In the pass, taken along by the current, which was coming into the lagoon, we saw a small tiger shark in the distance and we even swam with dolphins that were playing not far from us. One of them came over to be stroked. No hammerhead sharks this time unfortunately! The dive boat picked us up in the lagoon and night had fallen when I made the rather stressful journey through the pass at Tiputa. At first light we arrived at Makatea. The vestiges of its industrial past linked to the mining of phosphates mean that the place can seem rather desolate, but thanks to the island tour organized by Heitapu, my clients were able to better understand the island’s history. We ended the visit with a copious meal of kaveu (coconut crab). Upon returning to the catamaran we made the most of the last minutes of daylight to go for a swim, and to listen to the whales singing. Unfortunately, they are playing shy today and we didn’t catch a glimpse of them. As the sun set it offered us the spectacle of the rare green flash. We headed off again in perfect weather speeding past an older model Lagoon 55 which had set off at the same time as us.