French Polynesia

Hello to you all once more.

Bastille Day, Nuku Hiva

French Polynesia – A French overseas territory consisting of about 130 tropical islands strewn over some four million square kilometres in the South Eastern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of five main groups.

The Marquesas Islands are the most northerly sitting between 8deg.-11deg. south of the equator. They are high volcanically formed islands of which there are twelve.

The Tuamotu Archipelago is made up of approximately 78 islands, all but two being coral atolls. The atolls are made up of coral reefs and motu (small coral islands on which many have been planted with coconut palms) surrounding beautiful lagoons. Many have one or two navigable passes into these lagoons. They lie around 550 miles south east of the Marquesas and extend almost 1,000 miles in a NW-SE direction.

Tuamotus

The Gambier Islands are located at the south eastern end of the Tuamotu Archipelago, and situated 1,700km east of Tahiti. This group of 5 high islands and 18 motu lie in a lagoon surrounded by a single coral reef. As they are close to the Tropic of Capricorn-25deg. south of the equator, lush vegetation and fruit trees thrive here.

The Society Islands lie approximately 250 miles west of the Tuamotu Archipelago. This group is made up of twelve major islands and divided into the Windward and Leeward Islands. The main islands of the Windwards are Tahiti and Moorea. The main islands of the Leewards are Raiatea and Tahaa, Bora-Bora, and Huahine. The Society group are a mixture of high volcanic islands, and atolls. They extend over 400 miles.

Tuamotus

Lastly, the Austral Islands. This group are spread along the Tropic of Capricorn for over 800miles. There are 5 islands, some surrounded with a reef and lagoon. Again their situation makes for fertile lands where coffee, oranges and tropical fruits are grown.

As for our visit, we are given a three month visa on arrival into French Polynesia. There is no way we can explore this vast area, so time will tell just how much we can see.

Panama and into the Pacific

Panama, then out to the Marquesas-French Polynesia

Hello To You All Again

Our resident croc in the marina

Reluctantly we settle into life in Shelter Bay Marina (Shelter “Pay” Marina as it is known, and yes it is so expensive in here) as we await the arrival of our two replacement rudders. Alec spends hours on the internet sorting out other replacement parts, and spares, for the long crossing across the Pacific. There will be no suppliers till we reach Tahiti, so one needs to be well prepared. He orders a new wind transducer for the top of the mast, plus the wind instrument at the helm. After sitting in the marina without being connected to mains power we also discover it is time for new house batteries. This set has only lasted four years, whereas the first set we had lasted eight years. We replace some of our sheets and halyards keeping the old ones for spares.

When we have done as much as we can with SHAMAL in the water, we make our list of everything to be done when she is lifted. Now with time while we wait for the rudders to arrive, we get out our folding bikes and explore some of the local area. We also go on jungle walks to see the monkeys and whatever else pops out from among the foliage. The bird life here is also amazing, and quite noisy.

Colombia to Panama

Santa Marta
 

 

 

Hello Again

Santa Marta, Colombia. What a delightful stop this was. Once again it was such a pity we could not have stayed longer and really explored the area. For starters the marina there is great. Very clean with a wonderful team of staff to look after you. They took care of all our check in and out paperwork which is really helpful as our Spanish is very limited at best. Anyway one has to have an agent here by law to do your paperwork.

Santa Marta
 

We had arrived into one of the oldest cities in South America. It was founded in 1525 by the Spanish.  Of course there are the more ancient city ruins scattered throughout South America which were built by its indigenous inhabitants. Santa Marta sits along a sandy bay surrounded by the highest coastal mountain range in the world – the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.  Its two highest peaks are 5,775mts. National Parks and lovely beaches are also in close vicinity. We were told that for some days each month a katabatic wind blows off the mountains at up to 50kts at times, creating spray filled waves in the marina. Fortunately for us these winds did not occur during our stay. In fact it was hot and sunny. The temperature was not below 30deg. C. During the day, but in the evenings it dropped somewhat to make going out for dinner and sitting at the outside tables at the restaurants really pleasant.

Santa Marta
 



Santa Marta
 



The city really comes to life in the evenings with people coming out to enjoy the beach front promenade where street vendors set up stalls selling everything imaginable. We found the supermarket had a wonderful selection of foods at very reasonable prices on meats and local produce. We also found fruits which we have in New Zealand and not seen for ages, like feijoas, tree tomatoes, and banana passionfruit, along with another three varieties of passion fruit. Also there are the lovely purple skinned sweet potatoes everywhere.