Arriving in French Polynesia after three weeks at sea felt like such an accomplishment. We tucked into the bay at Hiva Oa and there was enough room for us to stern tie near the beach. It was so nice to celebrate a little bit and tidy up and then have a good rest. The next few days consisted of us putting the boat back in order , walking, back-and-forth to town, checking into the country and getting all sorts of other ducks in a row.
We had a bit of an experience with the customs officer as they came onto our boat from their dinghy, somewhat as a surprise. We weren’t really expecting it as it’s not very common, but they were keen to look through every single cupboard on the boat. For a while, it was four fully outfitted customs officers on our (relatively cozy) boat, all of them getting sweaty looking through our cupboards. Our boat has a lot of storage options, so there are a ton of cupboards, and they looked through nearly every single one. They were mostly looking for alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, and we could only surprise them with the number of beers we had stashed all over inside the boat. They even found things we forgot we had stowed away, like those chocolate covered marshmallows we fell in love with in Mexico (mmmmmm… Malvaviscos).
Anyways, it was not our favourite experience, but they didn’t charge us anything extra. It just slowed our day down a bit.
Otherwise, we enjoyed the small town of Hiva Oa as we would pick up baguettes every day and enjoy the lush green scenery, and all the chicken-lined streets. We learned quickly that the French Polynesian people are incredibly warm and welcoming, and are keen to be helpful.
As soon as we had all of our paperwork done, we were feeling ready to go explore somewhere a little more scenic. Luckily, we had touched base with a teen boat that we had made connections with while we were both crossing the Pacific (us from Mexico, them from Panama), and we were both eager to go and check out the nearby island of Tahuata.
Tahuata is such a gorgeous place and has you playing the Moana soundtrack on repeat. There are palm trees everywhere and lush greenery, the streets as well as have sorts of flowers in perfect bloom amongst the fruit trees, literally dripping fruit in the streets. The Marquesan islands are very much off the beaten track, so there aren’t many groceries to be found, but there is a lot of fruit available locally. We were able to make a random connection with a man named Jimmy. He piled our family in his jeep and trundled us up the mountain to his property where he helped us fill our bags with mangoes, bread, fruit, key limes, pamplemousse, papaya, and mint and lemon grass and a nice big “régime” of bananas. He wasn’t interested in cash, but knowing that we were sailors, he was interested in rope. So we traded all the fruit we could carry for around 20 m of rope. (Luckily Matt has an affinity for collecting rope, so we have plenty of extra on the boat)
We loved exploring this little town with it’s beautiful Church, but there wasn’t any restaurants open that day (all two of them). We’ve been eager to sit down and eat something special, but alas, it’s hard to come by!
It had been a little cloudy, and so our solar wasn’t producing as much as we were used to, so Matt followed another sailor to shore to get some extra water from the tap. While he was at the dinghy dock with Digory, there were some local kids around who seemed to show interest in our dinghy. Through a mix of hand gestures, and English and French translations, somehow a pile of six or seven Polynesian kids jumped in our dinghy with Digory and he drove him around the anchorage a few times. It was quite the sight to see our dinghy filled to the brim with kids, smiling ear to ear and hooting and hollering amongst the boats. Digory was like a rockstar.
I was waving from the boat, thinking it was such a fun sight to see, and soon enough Digory had brought the kids near to our boat to say hello. Immediately, the kids bolted into the the cockpit and down into our living space, dripping wet from their salty sea swim earlier. They were so kind and excited and had so many questions about who slept where and where is the bathroom, etc.
Luckily for them, we had just made some fresh cookies in our Omnia oven and we were ready to share. The kids were so excited and gobbled them up quick as anything. Our kids were super friendly and welcoming, but were somewhat flabbergasted by how comfortable and confident these local kids were. We were able to ask them some questions about their day-to-day life, but it was a pretty busy cockpit for a while.
Soon enough, it was time for them to get back, and just like that they were all back in the dinghy getting a ride to shore from Digory. We call it a kid-nado, and the memory of it kept us all smiling the rest of the day.
We were able to explore some other beautiful beaches on Tahuata and enjoy the sandy beach and spying black tipped reef sharks from our boat. It’s something we have to learn to get used to while we’re in French Polynesia, as reef sharks are very common here. We are doing our best to educate ourselves on their behaviours and how we should behave around them, but it’s still a shark in the water pretty close to you and it’s hard to keep your cool.
The wind said it was time to go explore another island and off we sailed to see the “crown jewel of the Marquesas“, Fatu Hiva. It was about a day sail away, and our first big sail after our Pacific Crossing. I’m not gonna lie, there was a little bit of trauma as we set off for the day. It was quite a lumpy and bumpy sail with plenty of squalls to dodge. But it was only about seven hours on the water, not three weeks. We were happy to arrive to the beautiful anchorage and it really was stunning. The photos won’t do it any justice, but the landscape was top-notch.
Fatu Hiva was a fun little town to explore with lots of locals approaching you in the street as we headed towards the local waterfall. It was a great hike to do with a number of friends we’ve made in the anchorage, and we were well rewarded after our uphill, sweaty hike to a really tall and beautiful waterfall. The boys immediately jumped in and kept trying to find the highest place they could jump from and we were all able to cool down a bit before we headed back.
We had been approached by a few locals on our way in and out of town and one of them mentioned possibly making a dinner for a number of us. Now, we are trying to fumble a meaning together while both of us talk in our second language, which is French. The locals have a very good grasp on the language, and I would say that I also have good fluency, but it’s sometimes a little difficult to decipher different accents. So I was the social coordinator for us and three or four other boats as we tried to figure out how many people and how much to make and when this local dinner would happen.
It was a bit of an endeavor, but it all worked out and on Friday there was a group of about 20 sailors who walked up the hill from the dinghy dock, following the smell of local Marquesan food wafting in the streets.
Simon was the chef, along with his son and they presented us with local pork, goat, chicken, and octopus that had all been cooked in the ground, or “étouffée“. It was really neat to see, and the food was delicious and it was quite the spread as well (caramelized bananas and breadfruit, raw fish/poisson cru ceviche, avocado salad with mangos and freshly squeezed pamplemousse juice). I kept reminding all of our friends that I really didn’t know what to expect for this dinner and to set our expectations low just in case there was a huge miscommunication on my part. It turned out that everything went off without a hitch and Simon was well prepared for a group like ours. There were two big tables set with forks and knives and plates and there was enough food for all. It was a really beautiful experience, one that I’ve never had before, and I was so grateful to share it with so many people. Simon and his friends reiterated that dinners like this poured some very much needed cash into their community, so it felt great to be helping at a local level and to have our bellies full.
With another bunch of bananas tied to the back of the boat, and all the pamplemousse we could fit in our fruit net, we were off again this time headed to the Tuomotus. This was a 400 nautical mile journey, which would take us about three days and three nights. Three days is the magical number to truly get into a rhythm on a long passage so a three day passage is almost annoying in its brevity. Just as you’ve gotten into the swing of things, boom! You’re there. It’s a good thing: It’s short, but also it feels long.
This passage wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t too easy either. We’re finding this area to have somewhat spicy sailing, but mostly it’s the squalls and the lightning that we were dodging which makes the passage tiresome. Luckily, it felt like no big deal to have a bit of a bumpy ride for a few days and sure enough by day 2 1/2 or so, we were all in the groove again and the kids were even able to help with night watches again. It was on their shift that a really beefy squall snuck up on them and they had just enough time to quickly wake up Mat to call him into the cockpit while the boat got a good 35 knot gust and we heeled over probably the most we ever had (probably 45 degrees). Couch cushions fell off the couch, things fell over and in general, a bit of hasty mayhem in the dark. Of course there was also rain which always makes things interesting, but we were able to handle it and just as soon as it started, it was over. It was quite the team-building experience for everyone, but we were all able to change shifts after that and get some rest again. Every time the kids have an experience like this, their confidence builds and our trust in them builds alongside.
We arrived at our first Tuomotu in the morning and we could just make out small little bumps on the horizon. These motus you have to approach with a lot of stars lined up for a perfect entrance. You want to enter, preferably just after a slack tide, but also with the sun not in your face as you need to be able to see in the water to make sure you’re not hitting any coral heads, or “bommies”. We did our best to time our entrance, and though the tide was with us, the wind was not. Of course, the wind was directly on our nose and blowing over 20 knots for the entire entrance into Raroia.
We were all on high alert as we are making our entrance, with Digory on the Ratline and me on the bow and Piper on the starboard side, all looking for bommies. It was so windy and loud, but also pretty beautiful. Eventually, Matt called us back into the cockpit for a break as he was finding navigating with his navigation software quite clear and easy. Luckily, all those coral heads are well marked and can be seen with satellite imagery. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the northern end of the anchorage where we were able to drop our anchor in about 8 feet of crystal clear turquoise water near another teen boat. Though it was windy, the waves stay really low as they are protected from the atoll surrounding us. This landscape is quite a sight to behold and like none other we’ve seen. This is the stuff that postcards are made of.
We will be exploring these different atolls for the next few weeks, slowly making our way to Tahiti.
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Vyonne (Saturday, 12 April 2025 18:30)
Wow, your travels look amazing � Happy to know all is well.