Staying on a motu (a lagoon islet)

Flora picked us up at Franky’s Fare to take us to her pension on the islet of Motu Mahare. We had booked two nights on the motu and three at her place ‘Tifaifai et Café’. On the way, she had news for us: as she was overbooked due to a big birthday party, we’d be staying on the Motu for five nights. For our inconvenience, we’d be paying only four nights though. We were fine with the change in plan – it would not be the first time that the new plan is actually better than our original one.
John picked us up with the motorboat and took us over to the motu where his wife Poe and the three kids waited already to welcome us. They showed us the four little thatched huts we’d be able to use for the next days: a kitchen, a fully screened room that doubles as dining and living room, our bedroom and the bathroom.

There was just enough time to stroll the 200m through the forest of coconut palms to the beach that faces the outer reef, before the heavy rain started and we retreated to the bench underneath the kitchen roof. Sitting outside watching the rain had a somewhat relaxing effect. The mosquitoes did not – we were constantly swatting them and it was a rather painful experience.
Once Poe, John and the kids had to leave, hunched underneath some rain ponchos on the motorboat, we searched for our mosquito repellent and with that it got a bit better. Retreating into the screened room also helped – there we were safe! That night we gladly appreciated the fact that our beds were fitted with mosquito nets.
But we soon found out that it's not only mosquitoes inhabiting the island. At night, we had to be very careful not to step on one of the many crabs. I was happy not to see the spider myself, except on the picture that Sam took. And as everywhere in French Polynesia where we'd been so far, there were lots of geckos around.

After a good night’s sleep – enhanced by the constant sound of the waves breaking on the nearby reef – we leisurely explored our surroundings without the risk of a downpour waiting for us. At least there were only tiny clouds dotted on the blue sky. At the beach we were lucky to even spot the fountain and subsequent back of a whale just beyond the reef. The main season for the whales seems to be over, but there are a few whales still around.

For our next exploration, we used the sea kayaks and paddled around our little motu. The most notable occurrence was a jumping manta in the quiet waters of the lagoon. Other than that, we got an impression of the dimensions of the motu, saw the pass out into the open see with its waves (some of which also filled our kayaks) and noticed where the other few inhabitants of the island live.
After lunch we kept Max entertained with throwing coconuts, playing baseball and hide and seek. Eventually Sam took Max out on the kayak once more – just for getting a bit of exercise. After so much excitement Max slept earlier than usual and had a movie night watching ‘Mother’s Day’.

The next day, Sam and I enjoyed a very nice and quiet day. Max was busy all day with the other kids in the shallow water of the lagoon. We’d wish to have other kids around more often – that makes life much easier.

We had been the only guests of the pension until that afternoon Lucie and Jeffery arrived – a very nice Czech / Kiwi couple. And as so often, it was just interesting to see how they are organizing their lives: both being therapists / coaches they do their coaching sessions via telephone and Skype, which allows them to travel and to be in a completely different time zone vs. their client base – the advantage being that they work mornings and evening and have the day off.
On Sunday afternoon, we decided to paddle to Flora’s other pension ‘Tifaifai et Café’. It was just 20 min away on another, but much larger motu. It was a nice outing through crystal clear waters above beautiful corals with lots of fish. And by using the internet there, we knew that there was nothing urgent going on that needed our attention. After a recent Airbnb cancellation, we were more cautious than usual.

We had one more full day on our motu, which we used to paddle and swim. That was about all we did – after all the intense heat and humidity combined with the ubiquitous mosquitoes did limit our interest in other activities significantly. There was one more place where we had shade and no mosquitoes: the fully screened hut. That’s where we spent most of the other time and that was also the location for our evening game night with Lucie and Jeffrey.

The next day it was time to say good bye to Lucie and Jeffrey. John and Poe treated us to fresh coconut water before loading the motorboat with our heaps of baggage and taking us to the airport. While we were sad to leave Lucie and Jeffrey with whom we had great chats and lots of fun, none of us was really sad to leave the motu. The five days there had been largely sufficient to explore everything that there was to explore. And the five days had also been long enough to get uncountable mosquito bites. We did count Max’ bites: at 140 we stopped counting…

The flight to Tahiti with a stopover in neighboring Moorea was quick and soon enough we sat in a taxi on our way to our ‘Fare Rea Rea’ in Papeete.
We went to bed early, as we all were very tired. During the night, it started raining and we continued having episodes of torrential rain all of the next morning. So, on our trip to the supermarket, it was key to get the timing right. In the early afternoon, we were lucky to have a longer period without rain and used that to eat at a snack bar just around the corner from our apartment and to have a stroll into downtown and back. And once more we loved the street art we came across along the way. We had been lucky: only during a short spell of 5min rain, we had to wait in an area protected from the rain. And we were back home just in time before the clouds opened up again.

Given the weather, we stayed inside for the rest of the day, played games and enjoyed our dinner: it would be a while before we’d get nice French baguette, Camembert cheese and the excellent Tahitian Hinano beer again.
The next morning, we took a taxi to the airport and were wondering if / when we’ll be back and if by then the islands will still governed by France or might potentially be independent.