130 miles WSW of Bora Bora is Maupihaa, an atoll made up of one large motu and a few smaller ones , it is a little over four miles long and with a navigable pass and it offers excellent protection from anywhere but the southwest. The pass is daunting but if hold's one nerves it is straight forward, it is narrow and the outflowing current is over 4 knots. Our visit here in 2013 that we shared with 6 other yachts left us with indelible memories of the place. At that time there were 13 residents living here, all engaged in collecting copra. The population has now grown to 20. And by the way, the water is crystal clear and the colours are amazing.

We visited everyone on the island and fitted 7 pairs of spectacles and everyone ended up with a pair of sunglasses. There was one Italian girl now living on the island which rather surprised us. The story was that she had met a guy from the Tuamotus on a dating website and subsequently moved there from Italy. That arrangement had not worked out so the original guy had recommended her to his mate who lived on Maupihaa so here she was living a very simple life with her new male friend on a very remote island in French Polynesia. She gets full marks for being adventurous.

And then there's Hina. We met Hina in 2013 and playing music, together with a group of yachties and locals whose appetite for a good time seemed insatiable, led to night after night of fiesta, with a few days of copra processing thrown in. On walking up to her house she recognized Frances and I straight away, not bad after four years. Hina's English had improved markedly as had my command of French, other than that not much had changed. She was still collecting copra She remembered all of the people on all the other yachts from four years ago, which is pretty impressive. Due to weather considerations we stayed longed than planned, 9 days in all and made the best of the delay in this beautiful spot.

The photo on the top right is when Hina and two friends, Edgar and Oh Poo Poo came out to Monkey Fist for dinner one night, eating coconut crab and watching music videos on the big screen. I suppose one day Frances will grow up....but then I guess I will have to too, so maybe next year.