The second stop on our French Polynesia cruise was Makatea, the only raised coral atoll in the Tuamotu archipelago.
The soaring cliffs surrounding the island are drawing increasing numbers of climbers, but it’s difficult to access the atoll, as there is no airstrip.
It was a very different story to the previous century when Makatea became an economic epicentre of the Pacific.
The island was previously home to a massive phosphate mining operation that ran for 60 years before finally coming to a halt in the 1960s. I can’t say I was super excited to visit a former phosphate mine, but Makatea under-promised and over-delivered.
We went ashore at the former phosphate mine’s dock, where we were greeted by locals strumming guitars and presenting passengers with colourful leis, then we hiked up the hill to see the mine’s rusting locomotives and other equipment being slowly reclaimed by the jungle.
Then it was a sweaty but pretty walk to the tiny village (the atoll only has a population of around 80 people), where we were greeted with homemade lemonade and a local sweets that looked and featured the texture of pork belly bites, but were delicious.
A local showed us one of the island’s famed coconut crabs, which have claws so strong they can sever your finger. I made sure to keep my distance, but DD took this awesome snap …
Then we jumped onto the back of utes and jeeps and explored a stretch of land in the middle of the island known as The Sahara. It received the name because none of the land can be used, due to being pockmarked with thousands of deep mining pits.
Aerial pic above from Tahiti Tourism.
We negotiated a narrow path between the pits to a spectacular lookout before clambering back into the jeeps and returning to the ship.
In the afternoon we were hoping to be ferried by zodiacs to the local reef for a spot of snorkelling, but the sea was too wild.
So I went to a stretch class instead, held on the sun deck with this view …
In the evening we enjoyed a gala dinner, including a lobster course that I can give you no details about because I forgot to photograph the menu (talking too much to a couple from Moonee Ponds).
After dinner there was a can-can show, followed by intense pressure from the dancers to hit the floor and boogie.
But we retired early as the Captain suggested the possibility of dolphin sightings this morning at 6.25am as we enter the world’s second largest lagoon, Raingiroa.
Will advise!
Song of the day: Moulin Rouge “Can, can, can”
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