Rapa, Austral Islands – 30 March 2019
After another long crossing we finally arrived at our Southern most destination of our voyage around 7:30 am. It was a beautiful sight to arrive at the island of Rapa with it’s towering mountains with tall peaks. The island’s topography reminded be of some of the Marquesas Islands. I went out on deck to get some photos of the island before having breakfast. I just couldn’t resist the view of the pine covered green hillsides. It was so different to the palm tree islands we had been seeing so much of.
As we pulled into the port of Rapa, the Aranui for the first time on this voyage, was able to dock directly to the pier. This made getting on and off very easy.
We were told the population of Rapa was close to 300 but this goes up to close to 600 when children are back home during the holidays. This was a very interesting statistic considering there seemed to be at least 150 to 200 people on the pier to welcome us. Almost the entire island population was there to greet the Aranui 5 passengers.
As we pulled up to the pier close to 7:45 am, islanders greeted us with a show including singing, dancing and music from the island. About 15 islanders were dressed in Ti leaves while the others were in Polynesian floral print clothing. All passengers were looking out from the starboard side deck from balcony cabins or common deck areas to watch the performance as we pulled up alongside the pier. The greeting song was very moving and all passengers were mesmerized by the voices of the islanders as they sang and danced, one song after another n perfect harmony. The singing must have lasted at least 30 minutes before we were able to disembark at which point we were greeted with ti l
eaf lei’s and a kiss on the cheek. Once on the pier we were treated to a follow up performance of songs and dances which seemed to be very unique to the island of Rapa. It also mixed in many of the Maori and other Polynesian influences with combinations of the Haka and Marquesian chanting.
The Mayor then gave a speech and greeted us to the island before we continued on to some of the activities for the day around 8:45 am. Two different hikes were being offered to cruise passengers. Kirsten and I had initially signed up to take the 2 hour and 30 minute hike that started with a barge ride across the harbour to Area. This was the longer of the two hikes and we wanted to get some more exercise after having been on the boat. This hike then continued along the shoreline of the bay to Aniani before wrapping back around to the main village we were spending the day at of Ahurei. I’m glad however that we switched plans at the last minute to do the second hike as the reports we received back were that part way through the hike, the dirt road was very muddy and most people turned back to take the barge back across the bay rather than continue.
We walked 15 to 20 minutes past the main village and then were directed to the trail-head that lead to Morongouta’s Fort. This hike was estimated to be 1 hour and 45 minutes in duration not including any stops at the top of the mountain. Morongouta’s Fort is the largest of the many forts that were built anciently in Rapa as a protective fortification on the peaks of the mountain tops. Stones were carried up to these places and used to build these fortifications.
The hike started along a trail that was a bit muddy due to the water that would collect in the tire tracks. After a short 3 minutes however, there no longer seemed to be any vehicles that took this trail and with perhaps not too much rain in the past few days the trail turned to a nice wide grassy path. It was a steep climb and by the time I got a third of the way up the trail I reached for my bottle of water only to realize that I had forgotten to fill it up before leaving. It was an overcast day with many glimpses of sun and although my wife shared her water with me, I was hesitant to take advantage of her pity on me for having not prepared well for the hike.
As the wide 4×4 road size trail changed to a
small path that wandered along the ridge of the mountain, we could see ocean and valleys to both sides of us. It was a breathtaking view of the iconic finger peaked mountains and steep terrain that dropped down both sides of our trail. It was at this point that we saw red mini plum sized fruit along the side of the trail. They seemed to be everywhere and someone we passed said that they were edible. I tasted one to quench my thirst and it was very similar to guava’s with many seeds inside but was much smaller. The locals call them Chinese guavas, the Hawaiians call them strawberry guavas. They were very juicy and quenched my thirst as I ate over a dozen along the trail. They are a type of weed in the mountains of Rapa and just happened to be in season at this time. A refreshing weed to say the least.
We continued along the ridge of the mountain before arriving at the fort which had 3 levels to its structure. The first level was not much more than a large grassy patch of ground. The second level was the most difficult to navigate with a single file set of stairs on the edge of a cliff. We mounted to this flat area as well where most people by this time had congregated. The third level was not one that people could climb. It was a finger like bump that was the highest point of this particular mountain. Other mountains towered in the near and far distance however. It was a breathtaking view of the mountains and valleys on all sides and we spent at least a 45 minutes taking in the scenery and capturing it in photos and videos.
The hike down the mountain was more leisurely and pointed in the opposite direction gave us some great views of the bay and village below. There were less people on the trail where we were as we descended back to the village of Ahurei around 11:30 am.
We wandered around the artisan centre where the ladies of the island were selling jewellery and the many woven hats they had made. These hats were woven with such detail and each was inspiringly different from one another. You could tell they spent hours and hours perfecting their art of hat making. I saw many cruise passengers packing up multiple bags of treasures and hats back to the ship.
Just before lunch, the young children on the island performed some cultural dances for us. The dances and songs looked fairly similar to the ones that were performed earlier in the day at the pier. This time however, they were kids from about ages 8 to 13. They did an incredible job although I felt bad for them as they were performing in the heat of the noon day sun.
Lunch was served in a downtown building adjacent to the Protestant Church. The community got together and provided us all with the most incredible feast. It included mostly local foods such as raw crabs, raw fish, fafa chicken, fafa pork (taro leaves and coconut cooked in a ground oven), taro, cooked fish, chicken, banana crepes, fresh guava juice and so much more. There was so much food too. I’m certain there was enough food left over to feed the entire community. Throughout the entire meal, they had musicians strumming ukulele’s, beating drums and singing traditional music.
Following lunch Kirsten and I decided that since we had not yet gone to the v
illage at the far side of the harbour, that we would take one of the Aranui barges for an hour long visit. It only took 10 minutes to get across the bay. Once in the village of Area, we walked up and down the main street that skirted the ocean. We went past many small and simple homes of the community. There were many abandoned buildings as well showing that perhaps the population used to be higher than it is today. Currently in order to have land in Rapa, all you need to do is live there. If you leave, then the land you have been given, within a short period of time, no longer belongs to you. Land does not cost anything in Rapa but you can only have it if you are actively living on it.
Whenever we saw people, they greeted us with a smile and were pleased to have us there. I remember one older gentleman sitting down in his front yard waving and saying hello to everyone that went by. I felt like the attraction of the day for this community that rarely gets visitors.
After our visit to this community we took the Aranui barges back to the village of Ahurei and walked the 20 minutes back to the Aranui. We took our time and it was fun to see the local piled in the back of pickup trucks heading home. I also saw three young boys fishing off of the side of the road. They had some very small fish on hooks as bait and were trying to catch the bigger fish. One boy had caught a two foot tall fish doing this and was quite pleased with his catch.
We returned to the boat a little early. At 3 pm we were already exhausted from a long day and so we were onboard well before the last of us were due on the ship at 4:45 pm. 5 pm was the time of our daily orientation for the following day. There was not much to it as we were still going to be in Rapa for a few hours in the morning.
At 7 pm we were treated to one of the most incredible Polynesian evenings I have experienced. As we were tied up to the Rapa dock, the ship was still and stable. It was the perfect time to have a Polynesian party around the pool deck. It was a buffet dinner with staff, crew and guests all doing their part to dress as Polynesian as they could. We found some pareo’s to use as wraps which many others did. Staff of course had their Polynesian floral printed dress shirts.
Tables were set up to the sides of the pool deck as well as on the two levels above that surrounded the pool below. After dinner was served, we were treated to an encore performance by singers and dancers from Rapa. The food buffet area was cleared away and converted into a stage for the performers. The wrap around balconies on the three decks above the pool, were the perfect vantage point for watching their spellbinding performance. It was a fitting end to our first day on the island of Rapa.