In our last blog post we shared the mining of phosphate and some of the amazing history of Makatea.  We had so much to share that it just would not fit in one blog.  So, here is the rest of our spectacular tour.

Open Air Museum

Deep in the center of Makatea is an old building that used to be the bakery, ice storage, and magasin (market or store) for the workers.  It is now a hollow reminder of what once was.  However, Julien has plans to turn this into an open-air museum for tourists.

The pastor of the Protestant Church grows organic vanilla beans. We were super pleased to meet him and check out his crop.  He gave each of us 3 vanilla beans as a welcome!  Sweet.  It doesn’t sound like much, but he could have sold each bean for $8-12 and he gave away 12!

The largest hole that dug on the island is over 75 meters deep.  It was and still is a source for fresh water.  Julien had 5 men work for 11 days to clear out the debris on the bottom with the hopes of using it as a fresh water source in the future.  The pulley still stands proud on the edge of the immense hole.

You can still see the pipe that brought up water from the depth of the hole and then made a sharp 90 degree turn.  The hole is slightly covered by vegetation, but nobody can see 75 meters down.

Belvedere Lookout

We discovered a magnificent view after a small walk down a narrow path.  It overlooked the eastern beach and provided a fabulous photo opportunity.  Yves and Martha (Break Away) and Matt and I.

Eastern Side of Makatea

Julien drove us to the eastern side of Makatea to explore the beach and a few caves.  What a breathtaking experience.  Matt holding up the rock with his fingers – he is so strong!

You could climb up the rock and use a rope to walk across the ledge.  Martha is walking across the ledge in top photo when she discovers the rope just ends.  Bottom left photo is of me on the beach.

Fresh Water Cave

Julien had his friend Asu take us into a cave where we clambered down the rocks.  At the bottom was a fresh water pool below the looming stalactites.   We greedily jumped in to cool off and enjoy this rare opportunity to swim in fresh water at the bottom of the cave.  Imagine my surprise when Asu swims towards the back where the ceiling drops to less than 6″ above the water.  Using flashlights, we followed.  Ducking our heads and sucking in our bellies as we swam over stalagmites and under stalactites.  We went deeper into the cave until we came to a second pool even more awe inspiring than the first.  It had dozens of curtains and chandeliers hanging from the roof top.  Unfortunately, I did not bring the underwater camera so the only photo I could take was at the entry point.

Museum

Next to Le Maire is a small museum with old photos.  It was great to see what the island looked like in its heyday.  This first set of photos is of the port and the massive transport system they set up to deliver the phosphate to the ships

This is what the port looks like today:

Below: In the top photo shows the destruction of the port in the early 1990’s after they cleaned up the debris.  The lower photo is the same area. You can see the semi-circle in both photos (lower photo between Sugar Shack and trees).  The French government blew up the port in 1988 to protect the locals from injury (diving off the top and fallen debris).

After our amazing tour, we went back to Julien’s place for lunch.  He served us coconut crab, poision de cru (fresh raw fish) and a chicken stew with rice.  It included water, beer and a lovely fruit cocktail for dessert.  Our entire day, including lunch was only $50/pp!  Money well spent. Julien is next to me in the black shirt and Asu is next to Matt.