GAMBIER ISLANDS: MANGAREVA
Today I am going to the Gambier Islands. The plane will take off at 7:00am and I have to be at the airport one hour before departure. So I need to leave the Pension around 5:45am.
I didn’t sleep very well. I went to bed at 9:00pm, but at 11:15pm the phone of the Pension rang. Daniel went to the airport to pick up a couple of French people. Then the couple came in the bedroom close to mine and made a lot of noise. They even took a shower at midnight!!! I fell asleep again from 01:30 to 04:00am. Then, I preferred not to go back to sleep because I was afraid to miss my flight and not to hear my alarm clock at 5:00. Daniel drove me to the airport at 5:45am.
Jocelyne, my guide at the Marquesas Islands, called me yesterday evening. Her husband, Etienne, told me that he already told the captain of the boat (who was actually his cousin) who does the transfer from the airport to the village Rikitea (the main village) in Mangareva, that I will come today and that my name was Elise. He asked him whether I could go upstairs (usually reserved to the crew) during the transfer to see a beautiful view and to take some pictures. The captain accepted with pleasure. Etienne asked him also to book a day to go and show me the Saint-Michel Cathedral currently closed for renovation.
So, the plane of Air Tahiti took off on time, at 07:00am. After 2 hours 45 of flying time, we stopped at Tureia during 20mn. We arrived at Mangareva at 12:25pm, local time (the time difference between Tahiti and the Gambier is H+1).
When I arrived at the airport, I met the captain of the boat as agreed. I went upstairs and I could take some beautiful pictures. The view was really stunning! But he didn’t say a word about the visit of the Saint-Michel Cathedral. So I will see later...
The Saint-Michel Cathedral in renovation:
Bianca, from the Pension Bianca and Benoit, came to welcome me. She is nice! I will be the only guest at the Pension this week.
In fact, the Gambier Islands are remote and very far from Tahiti. There is only one plane by week to Tahiti on Tuesdays.
Moreover, at the Pension, there will be also the youngest son of Bianca, Manahani (which means “the strength of love” in Tahitian).
Bianca drove me all around the village and then I took a rest.
Tonight, the dinner’s menu was: uru (breadfruit), grilled mahi-mahi (fish), raw tuna marinated in coconut milk, gratin of taro and mango for dessert... A real Polynesian feast!
I was looking at Bianca cooking the uru:
The Pension Bianca and Benoit at a glance : This Pension is located in the heights of Rikitea, at the bottom of the Mount Duff. You can have an unobstructed and beautiful view over the bay, over Aukena and over some pearls farms. It is a big two-story house, with three bedrooms (one double bed and one single bed), a shared bathroom (hot water), a lounge with TV and video. There are also four bungalows well-equipped, with private bathroom. Two bungalows are for three persons and two other bungalows are for five persons. You can do many activities. You can share the dinner all together with the family. It is very comfy and pleasant.
The Gambier Islands: are located at more than 1 600 km at the South-East of Tahiti. There are 14 small islands/islets in the Gambier, and the biggest inhabited island is Mangareva.
Here is the satellite image of Mangareva.
Here is the main map:
Cradle of the Catholicism of Polynesia at the 18th century, this group of islands has more than a hundred of edifices made up of stones: churches, presbyteries, convents, monasteries, education buildings, weaving workshops, bread ovens and watchtowers.
In the main village, Rikitea, there is the very imposing Saint-Michel Cathedral which was built in 1848. In the Cathedral, there is a masterpiece: the altar richly decorated with pearls and mother-of-pearls.
The Magarevan lagoons were in the past exploited for their abundant mother-of-pearls. This activity keeps going on nowadays because the biggest pearls farms are in the Gambier and provide the main resource of the archipelago. These lagoons are well-known to be the most propitious to provide pearls of high quality.