Rimatara Island
Its 8km make Rimatara the smallest of the Austral Islands. You need to be close by in order to see the top of Mount Vahu with its flat slopes above the long ocean swell, a bare 83 meters high! With no lagoon, it is ringed by a tight rim of coral that makes it impossible for boats to come ashore. Rimatara is the least known of the islands and rare are the travelers who have heard of Amaru, its main village, where the mayor’s office is located. As for Anapoto and Mutuaura, settlements that are reached only after a grueling walk, they are a complete throw-back in time and yet a mere 538 kms from Tahiti !
Some 929 easygoing people inhabit this happy island. Every two to three weeks they await, with a bemused impatience, the arrival of the freighter Tuhaa Pae III and her cargo of goods and supplies ferried in by longboats that use the ocean swell to wash them over the coral reef and in to the beach. At times there are passengers also to disembark.
They visit on a homestay basis where they enjoy the warmth and relaxed company of their hosts. Here can be found the happiness of a healthy convivial lifestyle and a chance to do some walking, as the island has no hotels, no bars, no restaurants and no transport for hire.
