Leaving French Polynesia

Sadly, we are nearing the end of our welcome in French Polynesia.

Long before we set out on this Pacific crossing, Bill warned me that the usual visitor visa to French Polynesia is maximum 90 days, and he suggested we could apply for a long-stay visa for up to a year – not difficult to get but the intensely bureaucratic process needs to be tackled well in advance.  I thought it was a crazy idea – surely 90 days is more than enough time to visit any country or territory.  But many sailors from Canada, US, Australia and New Zealand do get the long visa and spend a full year cruising in French Polynesia.  Europeans have no visa restrictions, and they often stay for several years.   

The 121 islands in French Polynesia are so spread out and so different from each other – physically, culturally, economically.  Turns out, we could happily use another month here in these islands.  But instead we’re sprinting to do all that we can before we leave French Polynesia behind.

Heading out from Tahiti to the leeward Island group – les Iles Sous le Vent – we arrived here in Huahine after a somewhat challenging overnight passage.  No tumultuous seas or anything like that.  Nothing dangerous or exciting.  It was just a little frustrating to keep up with the changing winds. 

We left Papeete mid-day in very nice sailing conditions – lots of wind, broad reach, calm seas – really gorgeous sparkling day.  After nightfall, we pulled in some sail to slow ourselves down, lest we arrive too early in the dark.  We expected the windspeed to remain steady overnight and the direction to change from northeast to north.  In a rare display of unanimity, all five weather models agreed about that.  On our westward passage, that would’ve put the wind at 90°, “on the beam” as sailors say.  And Turtlebones loves that. 

Instead, the wind moved around and kept on moving around until it was practically on our nose.   And windspeed became erratic, 6 to 18 kts and everything in between.  My night watches were spent adjusting our course and fretting, resisting the urge to wake Bill, until it was time for him to get up and decide.  Put out more sail.  Take some in.  Tack.  Repeat.

We had planned for a leisurely 15-hour “rum line” passage from Tahiti to Huahine – I thought I’d spend my night watches reading the latest ebook I’d borrowed from the Toronto Public Library, and surely I’d get to the end before it expires and poof! disappears from my Kobo.  But Boreus, god of the north wind, had other plans for us.  Instead, it was a 22-hour passage and a sleepless night for me, and I still don’t know if Armand Gamache found the killer! 

What a terrific visit we had with Sarah.  We all wished she could have stayed longer, wished she could have visited more islands, done some longer passages.  But it was lovely to explore Tahiti and Moorea with her. 

We squeezed in a nice mountain hike on Moorea – very nearly aborted by the pounding rainstorm that greeted us as we approached the trailhead.  In her research about hiking on Moorea, Sarah learned the trail guide’s advice – don’t hike on Moorea after a rainstorm.  Some trails are more slippery than others, but all are slippery after the rain, and some are dangerously slippery.  It rained unusually hard for the middle of the dry season, but the deluge was mercifully short-lived – so we decided to set out on the Trois Pinus via Tiki trail.  Although ready to abort if need be, we easily finished the pleasant 7-km loop.   

Interesting trees, a bit of elevation, some great viewpoints and many marae.  And chickens, mountain chickens, hundreds of chickens roaming around the mountain forests. Bill even had a stand-off with a rooster. After he tossed a stone into the woods, the rooster became quite angry, furious really, yelling in his chicken voice at Bill. Forest chickens, quite weird.

Inocarpus fagifer, aka Tahitian Chestnut or Polynesian Chestnut.  These architectural trees filled the forest on our mountain trail.  Distinctively buttressed at the base and fluted around the trunk, they are lively-looking cartoon-like trees.  They stand there waiting. You expect the forest to suddenly spring to life. You imagine these tall slim creatures becoming animated, taking giant steps on their big buttress legs.  You can’t help but smile when you see these trees.    

Marae are the communal or sacred places used for religious, social or ceremonial purposes in Polynesian culture – large cleared spaces, rectangular platforms made up of large flat basalt rocks.  Still actively used in daily life of the Ma’ori in New Zealand, the marae of tropical Polynesia are ancient ruins as they were destroyed or abandoned with the arrival of Christianity in the 1800s. 

Unlike some of the large and important excavations we visited elsewhere where the marae were reserved for the worship of great warriors and tribal ancestors, the marae on our Tiki trail were smaller and numerous and probably used as ceremonial places by families or sub-tribes. 

In Moorea today, the population is mostly sprinkled along the shore. Contrast that with the early Polynesians who came to these islands – clearly, they were brave seafarers and unmatched navigators, people of the Pacific – but we find the ruins of their communities mostly in the mountains.

Throughout her stay, it was great to see how comfortable Sarah was on Turtlebones – at anchor, underway, at the marina.  She acclimatized easily to our little galley kitchen and made some great food for us – even entertained our boat neighbours who visited us on Turtlebones one fine evening.

The day before Sarah’s 7 am flight home, we sailed back to Papeete. We fully expected to be at anchor, as near to town as we could comfortably get, and we planned to be up before 4 am to take her ashore by dinghy and get her into a taxi for what was bound to be a long ride to the airport.  Instead, we got lucky.  We were already well into the harbour and resigned to searching for an anchorage, when we finally got through to the marina office.  I think it helps to have a name like Turtlebones, because it’s memorable.  He knew exactly who was calling and he squeezed us in.  The empty slip was already taken but that boat had gone out for just a couple of days.  Hallelujah! 

What a difference to our morning shuttle.  And better yet, it meant we could go out on the town for Sarah’s last night in Tahiti.  We had drinks at a little cocktail bar overlooking the harbour – really just a big wharf with tables and chairs – and live Tahitian music.  Managed to meet up there with boat neighbours we’d met earlier in the Marquesas and again in the Tuamotus – lots of fun.  And then out for a suitably festive dinner with Sarah.

With just a few days left on our 90-day visa, we decided to sail over here to Huahine – regrettably taking a pass on Raiatea, Bora Bora and the rest of the Society Islands.  We will check out of French Polynesia from here tomorrow, after provisioning for our long passage to the Kingdom of Tonga. 

Tonga is 1,300 nms west of here, as the crow flies.  We’re planning for 7 to 10 days at sea, with no plans to stop en route in the Cook Islands, Niue, Suwarrow or Samoa.  Itself comprised of 170 islands, 36 of them inhabited, Tonga will challenge us once again to choose our spots from all it has to offer.