396: Sailing to Maupiti: The Hardest Entrance We’ve Ever Tackled!vx

Good morning Bora Bora. Goodbye Bora Bora. Sail's up and we are headed to Mapiti. Hopefully. Doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of wind today. Wow this feels so weird. Well the wind is not yet what it has been forecasted. We have none at the moment. Might have to drop the sail just because it's gonna be flapping but we'll figure it out when that happens. It's nice to see the whole mainsail up. We haven't done that in a long time. Our trip today to Mapiti is about 30 miles and with no wind it actually makes entering Mapiti really so much easier for us. It is a very narrow pass and you cannot enter if you have above two meter swells. We would never attempt it at two meter. It's way too dangerous in our opinion. Our friends went in recently with one and a half meter seas and they said it was dicey so you have to watch the swell, you have to watch the wind, you have to watch so many things. So if we have a day where we've got a motor over, we've got a motor, it'll make the pass really really easy which is not a bad thing to start with our three very narrow passes. We've got this, Maupihaha, and Aitutaki. All three of them are very narrow and we're going to need to be watching the weather when we go into them. You can barely see it but there is Maupiti straight out. Our board's getting smaller. The swell is getting bigger. We're getting a little mileage out of our jib here and you can see Maupiti on the horizon. Oh my goodness. That's amazing. What? Trying to get a little detail on Maupiti. Yeah. It's interesting, it's not what I thought it would be. No, me either. Yeah. So far. Of course this angle is going to look different from coming to the pass. What's our uh ETA on pass? ETA 130. Doing a whopping four knots, not bad. I love it. Nine knots of wind. Making water right now, filling up the tanks. Yeah, I got a little wind from behind. We could have flown the parasailor in this but it would have been putting up the parasailor for... And we would have gotten here too quickly. A couple of hours, yeah, and then we would have gotten here way too fast. This is perfect. We're getting pretty close here, 10 miles out. Bora Bora is getting smaller and smaller. You never see this angle in the pictures though. Right, right, right. It's always the pass that we see It's a good point. We just started motoring again. We lost a lot of wind and also the sea state is not as good as it was. Babe, this is the first like big pass. It's pretty epic and all of the passes anywhere in the world that most people go to, of course, they're all these little oddball crazy sketchy places where few people venture. This one has to be one of the epic passes coming in and going out and not only that but it's a launch pad for larger passages so the timing has to be really in sync with your weather window. Well, I feel like we're just locking and loading on the western passage by getting in here. We have started our passage west. I don't think checking out in Bora has been starting. This is the start here. Captain's shutting off the water maker. We're about to make the approach into the pass. It's good to see the lagoon is nice and calm and very much looking forward to getting in there. The captain loves this stuff. I'm not so keen on it so I'll be happy when it's over. He's gonna be loving it. This is definitely the narrowest pass we've ever been in. Yeah, you're good. Good job. Oh man, this would be gnarly on big sea day. Oh, well done, honey. So we lost two knots. Oh, this is like a nine and a half. Wow, look at it. Yeah, it's boiling. This is so narrow. Wow, a lot of current going out. Look at that. So we just came through. So calm today. That could be brutal on a day where there's some big seas. Oh, it is so good to be here. Look at that. Beautiful. Wow. Look at that. First night in Maupiti. Lots of options for which way we look. Wow, this is service. We're getting fresh focaccia delivered by sup. Wow, this is so sweet. Our friends Unlickety, Catherine, and Todd just made homemade focaccia and Todd just brought it over on the paddleboard. An amazing gift to us after just arriving. So good. Maupiti is often described as what Bora Bora used to feel like decades ago. Quiet, authentic, and surrounded by one of the most beautiful lagoons in the South Pacific. But beyond its turquoise water and dramatic mountain backdrop, Maupiti is especially famous for something else. Manta rays. Researchers have identified 97 resident mantas here and an incredible 89% return every year. The highest reciting rate anywhere in French Polynesia. With two cleaning stations inside the lagoon, encounters here are incredibly reliable, happening just below the surface in crystal clear water. Well, we heard mantas are a big thing here and that definitely proves it. Two, four, six, eight, nine boats. We are going to swim with them just this morning to get a feel for where the mantas hang out and then after this we will go out there before all of those crazy tour boats arrive and have a We are at the second manta cleaning station. It's just right off of this beautiful sand spit over here with the mountain there. Well, the plan was this morning to go and climb the mountain but we got some rain last night and now we are a little concerned about the condition of the pass because there are some treacherous parts of it where you need to use ropes to go up so we're trying to figure out if it's still a good idea to go and do that today. But it is a beautiful sunrise. It looks pretty clear. The moon is still up. First stop is to get our friend Todd on lickety. This is the beautiful Tahitian Gardenia and they smell out of this world. Absolutely stunning. We're not a hundred percent sure but from all trails this looks like it could be the path that starts the trek up the mountain so we're going to try it out. Definitely trying to help us find the right trail here. There we go. That was helpful. On the road you didn't see it. It's a mountain. Look at the carving. That's pretty cool. Amazing. That's incredible. Wow this is epic. One last push to the top. Well that viewpoint the first viewpoint was beautiful but the second viewpoint in here is even better. That's one thing about cruising like I actually wanted to do. Not much farther to go. All right we are on the final approach here to the top. Todd's leading the way. Oh look at the pentameter. That's beautiful. Oh my goodness. Oh this is nuts. Go slow. That's incredible. This is definitely a hike that is worth doing. It was about an hour and a half up and it was fantastic. It'll do in a pinch. I mean you know a little free solo action going on too up there right? Yeah exactly. I didn't bring enough band-aids for the crampons. We just came from that hill right there where the girls are and we are headed down the west side. If we can find the trail that's going to be the key. I've heard this way is a little bit of bushwhacking. This is where the the way of the blood-soaked gauze. Have you seen the markers? It started to rain a little bit and conditions have gotten a little rough. This west path is definitely spicy. We've got a nice drop off here. The tree is reliable but just be careful. This west part of the trail I would definitely not recommend. It's pretty rough and you can easily lose the trail you need to have a trail map for sure. We're out of water which is not good. Have a little bit of food but sweating up a storm so we really need water. Definitely bushwhacking. No idea. Oh I see where we are. Good job guys. Yeah yeah oh yeah baby. Wow these guys grow papaya. They grow pomplamoose. It's like the marquesas. It's pretty amazing. This is one of the public stations which gives you free water. Oh so good. Oh it sounds like rain just having these waves come through.