French Polynesia

Our choice of arrival destination in the Marquesas was determined by Hiva-Oa being one of only three ports of entry.  We did not want to risk non-compliance with entry formalities having had a brush with French Authorities over the registration of Bagatel when we were living in France.  We had discovered that once you get on the wrong side of their bureaucracy it is not easy (or cheap) to escape.

However, our arrival marked the start of my (our) difficulty in describing where we were.  In particular I found the pronunciation of so many vowels in juxtaposition real tongue twisters.  

We had anchored in the harbour, such as it was, of the small town of Atuora at the top of Baie Tahanka.  However, when we went ashore the following morning to present ourselves at the Gendarmerie it was immediately apparent that we had arrived in an outpost of France.  It was much like we had found the French Caribbean islands.  This first impression would be confirmed and reinforced throughout our time in French Polynesia, but for now it was sufficient to marvel at the genuine friendliness of the local islanders.

We had no sooner landed and were setting off on the mile or so walk to the town when we were given a lift together with instructions of where to go and how to get there.  We were dropped outside the Gendarmerie and filled out the appropriate forms.  Our official entry would not be completed until we arrived in Tahiti so whilst the forms were duly stamped, we had to send a copy to Papeete.  This cost us the grand sum of 55cents for a postage stamp and would be the only charge for our stay in French Polynesia for up to three months.  What a nice change from the Galapagos!

Being citizens from the EU had the advantage that unlike any other citizens we did not have to post a bond for each crew member.  This was the equivalent to a one-way air ticket back to the country of origin and apparently arose because too many crew arriving in Paradise jumped ship and decided to stay but ended up depending on French Social Security.

Of course, to buy a stamp, we needed local currency, namely the Coloniale Franc Pacifique.  Needless to say the ATM was not working so I went inside the bank to change $200US.  Flush with 1000s of francs (119CFP=1euro approx) we made our way to the mini supermarche for some supplies.   Now we had read that French Polynesia was expensive.  In fact in one of our cruising guides it recommended that the area should be avoided because of the high prices.  Nevertheless it came as a bit of a shock to part with £20 for a bottle of cheap (and corked as it turned out) wine and local beer was not a lot less.

Laden with a few supplies and nearly franc-less we were given a lift back to the harbour almost as soon as we had set foot out side the supermarket.  Whilst we had been waiting at the Gendarmerie we had been chatting to an American couple who advised us that the expected southerly change would make the harbour very uncomfortable, if not dangerous.  With that in mind, as soon as we got back to the boat we slipped anchor and proceeded to Tahuata, an island just 10 miles away and found a beautiful spot in Ainse Ivaina Ai



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Battery charging, refrigeration, and water-making meant that the generator ran for approximately 4 hours each day.  There is no doubt that the generator is the life-blood of Moonbeam because she uses 15 to 20 amps an hour with the autopilot driving the boat, the instruments and computer all running and (at night) the radar on.  We used the radar at night routinely – not so much for collision avoidance as for early warning of a rain squall so that we could reduce sail as necessary.  Squalls were easy to see by day and if they were isolated on a moonlit night, but with any cloud cover or before the moon was up they could creep up on you unawares.

We retarded the ship’s clock every 15 degrees of longitude at 1200 local time but otherwise watched the sunset get ‘earlier’ as our daily fixes marked on the chart walked westwards towards Hiva-Oa.

Day 16 arrived with the wind easing and a major decision to be made.  We had had the worst day’s run (132nms) since day 4 and it was time to gybe the boat!!  This involved furling the yankee, stowing one spinnaker pole and setting the other and then flying the yankee again.  This was a good half hour’s work for the two of us if all went well which it did until we found that the halyard had parted.  So now we had to lower the yankee, attach the spare halyard and raise it again.  Because these problems never occur singly, the block on the toe rail for the preventer for the main which was now to port also failed.  To cap it all the wind died!  This led to our worst day’s run this passage of just 115nms.

However the wind recovered and we made a more respectable 133nms the following day and we decided to gybe the boat again as the winds were forecast to remain ESE.  This resulted in the second halyard parting and the yankee was raised on one of the spinnaker halyards (with only one left before I had to ascend the mast).

We started the engine to help push us along to ensure a daylight arrival and just after midnight we clocked up 3000nms with less than 100nms to go.  At 0930 we saw land and we anchored in the harbour of Hiva-Oa at 1300 on the 7th April.  It had taken us 19 days 8 hours to sail 3077nms at an average speed of 6.63kts.  We had changed tack only twice in all that time.  What an incredible sail!

But the strange thing that marked us for ever changed is that in spite of the euphoria of a safe arrival after sailing so far on our own, we nevertheless almost resented it intruding into our world of empty horizons.  How odd!

 

 


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