Posted on July 10, 2014, by cruisingrunner
We arrived at the very remote atoll of Mopelia yesterday afternoon. Most of the Society Islands are volcanic islands with fringing coral reefs, but this one is a bit later in its island life cycle. There is no central island, and only the fringing reef and bits of land called “motus” are left. While still in Maupiti we actually met a man there who is from Mopelia. He had gotten a ride to Maupiti with another cruising yacht and would be staying in Maupiti for about a week, and then he would get a ride back. I quizzed him about what Mopelia was like, and I learned there are about 20 people who live here mostly harvesting copra, and there are currently no children living here. Bummer. He also told us if we had some tobacco, then one of the guys would take us fishing and lobster diving for sure. It doesn’t even have to be a lot of tobacco, he said. This conversation relied much more on his knowledge of English than my knowledge of French.
This morning I paddle boarded over to the motu to investigate whether or not I’d be able to go for a run, and the only sandy landing spot was in front of someone’s house. I needed a sandy rather than rocky landing spot, since our paddle board is of the blow up variety, and pointy rocks are bad for it. I walked up toward the house and saw a man working outside on his copra harvest. His name is Harry, and he does not speak English, so in my very bad French I asked if it was OK for me to leave my paddle board and if there was a road I could run on. He gave me a little stool so that I could sit down while I changed my shoes, and I told him how I live on a boat with my family. That is about the extent of my small talk ability, so the conversation pretty much stalled after that. I did ask if there were any children on the island, even though I already knew the answer, just to have something to say. He walked me over to where I could see the road, and then I was off. It wasn’t really a road, but more like an offroad trail for jeeps and trucks. Being an atoll, it was perfectly flat so the running was more effortless than on Maupiti. Well, except for the rats that I saw scurry from the path, and oh my, the flies. And the pack of dogs that wouldn’t let me pass one of the houses that they were obviously very protective of. I came across two more men working their copra, and again had a brief conversation using most of the French I know.
Oh, how I wish I spoke French. This is a very deep regret of mine. If you ever do what we are doing and cruise French Polynesia, take the time to learn basic French. I mean, spend a few months to a year studying, take a class, use Rosetta Stone, whatever. Don’t leave it for your on passage to do list, because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard of people intending to study on passage, and for whatever reason they don’t. My reason was that being at sea makes me lethargic. Of course, enough people speak English everywhere we go that we can get by just fine. However, just getting by is a little disappointing when I think of the richer experiences we are missing by not being able to converse with the local people. Today was a very good example.
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 