Sailing Bear and Seal

9º48’11″S / 139º2’23″W

Fairbanks is 64º50’37” N / 147º43’23” W, so physically, we are very close in longitude (west-east) and 5,037 miles south. So close to home, but so very, very far away.

The eastern-most bay for checking into the country is Baie Ta’aoa adjacent to the town of Atouna on the island of Hiva Oa. There is a more picturesque Marquesan landing point on Fatu Hiva’s Bay of Virgins but it is forbidden to land somewhere without checking in. Not wanting to run afoul with the Marquesan authorities, we chose to do the legal thing and sail to Hiva Oa.

We paid for an agent to assist us with check-in and after experiencing her bullshit, we marched ourselves into town to go about the process ourselves. This was going to be “fun” because we don’t speak French and the Gendarmerie usually doesn’t speak a whole lot of English. Well, our agent had time for another boat and ran across both us and another boat that paid for Tahiti Yacht Agents services and experienced her lack of assistance as well. When facing us in the government offices, she had nothing left to do BUT assist us both, and then her customer that she drove into town. S/V Deja Vu was first and then we were checked in within another five minutes leaving us free to explore town. It is nice checking into French Polynesia, because we won’t be checking out for over a year, if not two. We do not have to check out of the territorial islands of Marquesas to check into the Tuomotus and again the same to the Society Islands. We are free to sail the French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia. We applied and received a French Polynesian long-stay visa in Panama. We completed the online check-in form prior to arrival here, and now we must apply for our carte de sejour which will allow us, if approved, to stay past our one-year allowance with our long-stay visa which expires in March. We will need to apply for extending beyond March because we cannot exit French Polynesia until the South Pacific cyclone season is over. The season officially starts on November 1 and will end on April 30. We can start moving south in May 2025 but more safely in June. But for now we are checked in and free to roam.

Town was immaculately landscaped with absolutely no litter anywhere.

First stop is the supermarket to see what food and supplies are available. I love running into new things, like this great big tin of butter. I have never seen shelf stable butter. And it is nice to be in the land of decent beer. The beer in Panama and Colombia was rough. Hinano is the King of Beers here in French Polynesia. I haven’t enjoyed good beer since I drank my last Leatherback from St. Thomas, USVI.

We walked around the town of Atouna and then headed back toward the anchorage. It was almost a two mile walk into town and it was a near run to get to the Gendamerie (French authorities) for check-in before they took lunch, so after our walkaround, we were starving. There is one restaurant on the walk back so we stopped in and enjoyed lunch.

Within minutes of sitting down in Relais Moehau restaurant, we had ice cold Hinanos in hand and were reading the menu. Since this is French Polynesia, we thought to have local food so we split a salad and ordered Poisson Cru and Tuna Tartare. With our fresh fruits and vegetables being used up during week 2 of the Pacific Crossing, the fresh salad was the highlight of the lunch. I would have never made it as a pioneer. I need fresh produce to feel good. Nothing is more Polynesian than poisson cru. In French, “poisson cru” literally means “raw fish.” It consists of raw tuna marinated in lime juice and mixed with a delicious blend of diced vegetables and coconut milk. Not a fan of raw fish? Well, the acid from the lime juice actually cooks the fish just slightly. Plus, the fish in French Polynesia is so incredibly fresh and tender that it’s much tastier than you might be thinking. Like Alaska, your dinner might just have been swimming while you were enjoying your coffee this morning.

At the far end of the anchorage is a truck rental. We stopped in to see the prices and it was a reasonable $90/24hr so we booked a rental for the next day. We had planned on taking a guided tour, but at $120 per person the reviews were saying that the tour guide spoke mostly to the French speakers and then would translate a bit to English. There are only a few roads so we felt very comfortable planning to use Google Maps to guide us around.

The highlight of the afternoon post-lunch land embrace was running across the roadside produce stands.

The produce was grown in the land owners yard and placed in makeshift displays with a “PAY HERE” box. We have found these during our previous visits to French Polynesia so I was on the lookout for them again. From tree to stand in minutes. If you see a person in the yard, they will most likely take you around their property and cut the fruit right off the trees for you. Nothing is better than produce cut right at the source.

And if the grocery store in Atouna wasn’t enough, the gas station by the dinghy dock has quite a convenience store as well. There is no way to buy chocolate in town and not have it melt on the walk back to the boat, so I stocked up on a half dozen chocolate bars to last me for a couple weeks.

If Hinano is the King of Beers, than Bundaberg is the King of Sodas. They sell the ginger beer at Costco back home, so I was excited to see the brand here in FP. I was looking for my favorite flavor, Pink Grapefruit, but to no avail. We bought Guava, Pineapple, and Peach sodas. I didn’t think I would like the peach soda, but mixed like an Arnold Palmer with sun tea, it was delicious. We went back for more the next day.

As soon as we got back to Nanook, the rain decided to stop and we were gifted with a full rainbow. Exhausted from walking on land for the first time in over three weeks, we fell asleep at sunset, 5:30pm and didnt wake until the sun rose just after 5am the next morning. It is going to take me weeks to catch up on my sleep.