A Survival Guide to French Polynesia |
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| (Disclaimer!
These tips reflect our experience in the 2000 cruising season. You may find many things
have changed by now.) When we left Puerto Vallarta for French
Polynesia, in March 2000, about the only information we were able to glean from other
cruisers who had been there in recent years was that cabbage was $10 a head, everything
else was even more expensive but both propane and diesel were available in the Marquesas.
That wasn’t an awful lot to go on so we did our best and we did not starve to death.
But we wish we had had better information, so this article is for those who intend
travelling through French Polynesia next year in the hopes that it will help. |
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| Money The currency of French Polynesia is Pacific Francs (CPF) which are fixed against the French Franc (FF). We took with us enough US dollars in cash to pay our bonds and some French Franc travellers cheques, assuming that, as we had been told by several sources, we could get money via ATM in Tahiti using a Canadian bank debit card. This turned out not to be true as no banks in French Polynesia seem to subscribe to the Plus or Interac systems. In the Marquesas there is a branch of the Socredo bank in both Atuona, Hiva Oa and in Nuku Hiva. There are no ATMs. You can obtain a cash advance using Visa or MasterCard at the bank or they will exchange travellers cheques, but you cannot get a cash withdrawal using a Canadian or American bank debit card. If you take travellers cheques you might consider carrying French Francs as the banks don’t charge the standard $5 commission on exchanges for FF. Incidentally, it’s a good idea to do a few large exchanges or cash advances rather than several small ones as the commissions add up. In the Tuamotus we did not find any banks as the locals seem to do their day to day banking at the Post Office. The only exception is Rangiroa – where our guide books say there are bank branches in the two main villages. ATM's - In Papeete, Tahiti there are lots of banks and many ATMs. American and Canadian debit cards do not work in them and it was often not even possible to obtain a Visa or MasterCard cash advance from an ATM, you had to go into a bank branch instead. We obtained cash in CPF from the American Express office at Tahiti Tours on rue Jeanne D’Arc by writing a cheque for the equivalent in Canadian dollars on our Canadian bank account. We were not charged a transaction fee as there is no American Express ATM in Tahiti but that may change. You need an American Express card for this and it’s a good idea to check your limit before leaving Canada. (The limit is much higher for cashing a cheque than for getting a cash advance and, of course, there are no interest charges.) Credit cards are accepted in most stores including the larger grocery stores (both for food and other purchases). Visa seemed to be the most common credit card but MasterCard is also accepted. American Express is less popular in local stores. We did most of our provisioning in Tahiti using Visa which meant less risk of either running out of cash or having too many CPF left over at the end of our stay here. Effectively what this all means is that whether you do it via cash, credit card advances or travellers cheques, you need to obtain enough CPF in the Marquesas to pay your bond and fees (about $1,000 per person) plus cash to carry you through the Tuamotus until you arrive in Tahiti. Once in Tahiti your options are a bit wider as you can get cash from Amex or use your credit card for many purchases. |
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| Customs There was no agriculture inspection on arrival in any of the islands of French Polynesia although cruisers are asked not to take fruit into Nuku Hiva which is free of the fruit flies which infest the other islands. Those cruisers lucky enough still to have meat or vegetables left from Mexico were able to keep them. When we arrived in Atuona we had to make a customs declaration which is then mailed to Tahiti. We were not boarded ourselves but several boats reported being boarded by customs (very polite and friendly) and some who had liquour and beer in very large quantities in excess of their declarations were fined and the goods were confiscated. Lots of boats had more alcohol than the official limit (2L wine, 2L liquour) would allow but at least this year customs did not seem to have any problem with reasonable quantities. |
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| Repatriation Bond, (excerpt from
the Marquesas letter to BCA). Clearing into French Polynesia starts at the Gendarmerie in Hiva Oa or Nuku Hiva. After getting the proper papers filled out and a one month (free for Canadians and Americans) visa stamp it is necessary to stop at the bank to pay the bond. The bank is usually crowded and we were asked to come back in the afternoon. It took us an hour to get the bond and cash dollars and travelers cheques. (In Nuku Hiva, the bank will only do bonds on certain days of the week, between certain hours.) The bond, assorted commissions and fees for North Americans is 91,559 CPF per person. Our total for two persons was 183,119 CPF that converted to 1537 $US. You can also pay your bond via credit card advance. The bond money was returned to us in CPF which we then had to convert back to US dollars, or another convenient currency, at the current exchange rate. As it turned out, we decided to convert to New Zealand dollars which can be used in the Cook Islands and Niue as well as New Zealand, which is our destination for Hurricane season. (Cruisers holding EU passports should note that they are not required to pay a repatriation bond. We believe Australia and New Zealand are also exempt.) |
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| Visa Extension When you first get to the Marquesas, assuming you want to stay in French Polynesia for more than 30 days, you can get a 90 day visa for which you are charged 3,000 CPF per person (about $35). If you want to stay longer than three months, you should obtain a form from the gendarmes which is a request for visa extension (Demande de prorogation de visa touristique). Fill out the form and write a letter (in French) addressed to the Direction de la Reglementation Et du Controle de la Legalité, B.P. 115 – Papeete, Tahiti requesting the extension and giving a reason. We simply said that we wished to spend additional time in Tahiti to see the Fete de Juillet celebrations. You have to give them a mailing address in French Polynesia and we used American Express (see Mail below) while other cruisers used the address of the Port Director. Some cruisers, following instructions in an SSCA Bulletin, got the local gendarmes to stamp their visa request form, but we were told that was not necessary and did not do so. You should mail your request as soon as possible because it must be received in Papeete at least thirty days before your initial three month visa expires. Also, the earlier you mail it in, the less likely that you will have to wait in Tahiti. Although the approval of the visas is almost a foregone conclusion, the committee which does the approval only meets once a month and if, as happened to us, your visa approval falls in the middle of the Fete, it may take longer than usual. We had waited until the Tuamotus to make our request and were stuck for two weeks waiting for the visa while cruisers who arrived at the same time as us in the Marquesas and made their request from there found their extensions ready when they got to Papeete. Request the visa extension even if you are not sure you want to stay longer than three months. It does not cost anything to apply – you pay an additional 3,000 CPF per person when you actually get the extension entered into your passport. At that time, you also have to provide an identity picture (the same size as a passport photo) so it’s a good idea to bring some with you, if you have them. |
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| Fuel – Diesel and Gas As we were advised, diesel (gazole in French) is available in the Marquesas both at Atuona on Hiva Oa and at Nuku Hiva in Taiohae Bay. Sometimes you might have to wait for the next supply ship but since most machinery in the islands operates on diesel, it’s generally available. Gasoline (essence) is also available. The price of diesel and gasoline is regulated so don’t bother shopping around. However, be aware that once in Tahiti, as a foreign flagged vessel, you can obtain a form from Customs which entitles you to buy duty free diesel (you have to ask for this form when you check in at Papeete). When we were there it worked out to about $0.60 a litre which is half the normal local price. So don’t buy more than you absolutely need to in the Marquesas. When buying duty free diesel be aware that some stations want to keep a copy of your customs documents while others just want to see them (and some stations will not sell fuel duty free at all). Check ahead of the time, because if they want a copy, they won’t start fuelling until they get it. Gasoline is not available duty free and cost us about $1.50/litre. You can get engine oil for both outboards and inboards at most grocery stores for about $5 a quart. In Hiva Oa, diesel is obtained from the fuel station right on the harbour. You can either jerry jug or, if you need a lot, put your boat stern to the wharf and fill up there. This option is probably only for very large vessels especially if there is a swell running in the harbour. The situation is similar in Nuku Hiva and most people jerry jugged. In the Tuamotus, diesel is sometimes available in small quantities (i.e. 5 or 10 gallons) in the larger villages, but you should not count on it. Gasoline is more readily available in small quantities as it is used by the local fishermen. In Papeete there are two fuel stations in Maeva Beach. A TOTAL station is in Marina Taina. They would not sell duty free diesel on weekends but they took credit cards. The MOBIL gas station further south from the marina did not take credit cards. Diesel is also available in Cook’s Bay on Moorea, in Fare on Huahine, and in Uturoa on Raiatea but, at least in August 2000, not duty free. The TOTAL dock in Vaitape on Bora Bora has duty free diesel and you can sidetie to the dock. |
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| Fuel – Propane Propane as such is not available in French Polynesia, instead they sell butane (gaz in French). We had no difficulty having our 20lb and 10lb tanks filled and found that the butane worked fine in our Force 10 stove. It does provide less heat than propane which means that we needed to fill up a bit more often than we were used to. Butane is not available in Hiva Oa but can be obtained in Nuku Hiva. It is a long walk up the hill to the butane place but in the cruising season a truck will pick up gas bottles from the dinghy dock in the morning and bring them back in the afternoon. Like gas and diesel, the price is regulated and is the same at Tahiti as in the Marquesas. We paid about $16 to fill a 10lb bottle. Bottles cannot be filled in the Tuamotus to our knowledge. In Papeete you take your propane bottle to the station in Fare Ute and in the Iles Sous le Vent, butane is available at Raiatea Carenage. |
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| Water We do not have a watermaker aboard and we also have somewhat limited tank capacity, so water is a big consideration for us. We obtained water (via jerry jug right at the harbour) in Atuona on Hiva Oa, Hakahau on Ua Pou and Taiohaie Bay in Nuku Hiva. You can catch water fairly easily in the Marquesas (especially in Nuku Hiva) and the water is generally good quality although we treated it anyway. In the Tuamotus water is not readily available as almost all water is caught in cisterns and used very carefully. We did not wish to ask for water from the local inhabitants and obtained water there only once, when (after asking permission) we used water from an abandoned stone cistern to wash clothes. Our stay in the Tuamotus would have been considerably shorter if not for the generosity of friends on ALLONS’Y and TRIUMPH who gave us water from their watermakers. Catching water in the Tuamotus is possible but only in small quantities as rain squalls are usually fairly short-lived. In Tahiti we obtained water at the town quai and at the marina in Maeva Beach. In Moorea, water was available at the fuel dock in Cooks Bay and at the village in Opunohu Bay. Fare dock in Huahine has a water tap and on Raiatea water is available at Raiatea Carenage and in Uturoa. We also obtained water on Tahaa at Baie Tapuamu. As Bora Bora is likely to suffer from water shortages we topped off our water before heading there but we did find water available at the dock at Bloody Marys restaurant. |
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| Mail We received mail at American Express in Papeete. Their mailing address is: c/o Tahiti Tours, B.P. 627, Papeete, Tahiti. You need an Amex card but there is no fee. Other options are the office of the port director (Directeur du Port) or Poste Restante at the Central Post Office (Poste Centrale) in Papeete. FedEx has good service from Canada to Tahiti and we heard that DHL is good to and from the US. Mail to Tahiti from Canada seemed to be very efficient. Flat mail sent to us from Vancouver Island on May 29 was received at American Express on June 6. Both here and in Mexico, my Dad sent me several small envelopes rather than one large one as we thought that would be less likely to interest Customs and also would spread the risk in case one envelope went missing. At $1.50 for a letter air mail stamp we found mail expensive from French Polynesia to North America.. |
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| Telephones The telephone system is pretty good and there are telephones in all but the uninhabited islands. Since most local people don’t have their own phones, there are lots of telephone kiosks around and these almost always have their phone number written on them. You need a phone card (carte de telephone) to make a telephone call: they are sold at post offices and other stores in various denominations. We found that a four or five minute call to Canada would cost us about $6. A common practice was for cruisers to call home using a phone card, give the phone number of the booth they were in and then hang up so the other party could call them at the much cheaper North American overseas rates. We found phoning from the Marquesas and Tuamotus more difficult than from Tahiti simply because our families found the satellite-induced time lag and simplex transmission confusing and both parties would start speaking at the same time. You almost have to use radio format, and say "over" when you are finished speaking. |
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| Internet Access We use a Yahoo account for email and do everything at internet cafes as we do not have HF email onboard. Generally, we do all our writing onboard on the laptop, using Notepad to create text documents which we save on a diskette. We take the diskette with us to the Internet café, copy the text from the Notepad file to our Email window, then address and send. We don’t use attachments because the recipient may not be able to open the attachment and also the risk of viruses is much greater. We use Notepad instead of a word processor because every Windows computer has Notepad that can be loaded at the START RUN button. If we get long emails from friends we copy the text to Notepad and then save it to our diskette so we can read and reply at leisure when we get back aboard. This system has worked well for us through Mexico and French Polynesia. Interestingly, it was much tougher in the US where, unless you went to Kinkos (US$12 an hour), you often were not permitted to use a diskette due to fear of viruses. Some cruisers tried using their own computers to dial into Internet email accounts such as America Online. Most seemed to find this an unsatisfactory solution mainly due to local telephone system peculiarities. When we were in the Marquesas, internet access was not available on Hiva Oa but you could get access at the hotel in Nuku Hiva (very expensive) or at lunchtime in the Town Hall (free). This was supposed to be changing as the post office was to install internet access in the near future. We were astonished, on arrival in Makemo atoll, in the Tuamotus, to find that the post office there had internet access available for $12 an hour. They had two terminals but one was not working when we were there. Response time was not great, but definitely acceptable. In Papeete, Tahiti as one might expect, there are several options for internet access. Most North Americans used the E-Six Cyber café near the post office as they have English language keyboards available and have both PCs and Macs. Internet access is available on Moorea in Cooks Bay at two places one of which was a Cyber Bodega where you could get tapas and beer while checking your email. There is internet access on Huahine in Fare, on Raiatea at Marina Apooiti (very expensive) and just west of Uturoa in a small strip mall next to the Do It Centre. In Bora Bora the only internet access we could find was at two small cyber cafes in Vaitape. One had only a Mac which was out of order, the other had an IBM PC but you could not use a diskette. Our advice is to do all your internet stuff in Raiatea or Huahine before getting to Bora Bora. Prices were generally about $6 a half hour (still less than Kinkos). |
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| Photo finishing Film developing is expensive, running around $20 for a roll of 24. You have to shop around for the best price and make sure you tell the clerk that you do NOT want one hour or 24 hour service, which are considerably more expensive. Most shops have their price lists posted. Film itself is about $5 a roll if you buy it at the supermarkets. |
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| Food It is definitely a fact that food in French Polynesia is far more expensive than in Mexico (or Galapagos according to cruisers who came that way) but not quite as expensive as the ‘$10 a cabbage’ stories would suggest. Some items seem to be subsidized - potatoes, carrots, onions and bread are available almost everywhere (even in the Tuamotus) and are inexpensive. Cabbage worked out to about $4 a kilo. Even in the small stores in the Tuamotus we found we could usually get the basics like processed cheese, rice, couscous, eggs, canned butter, UHT or powdered milk, flour (self raising is avec levure, plain is sans levure ), cookies etc. Whole wheat flour we found only in Tahiti where you can also get all kinds of pasta and dried or canned beans. Coffee beans and tea bags were hard to find and expensive. Corn meal was not available. Fruits and vegetables were harder to buy with fruit being almost unobtainable in the Tuamotus. In Atuona in the Marquesas there was a vegetable truck which had a good assortment of fresh products including local beans, avocados, tomatoes and cucumbers. On Ua Pou and in Nuku Hiva, the small local stores often had local vegetables but for fruit in the Marquesas it was usually best if you could make contact with a local person and obtain fruits from their garden. In Ua Pou we were given bananas, papayas and pamplemousse by the gendarme! We generally caught fish on our passages between the islands and while in the Tuamotus fished in the lagoons (after asking the local fishermen what was safe to eat as ciguatera is a real threat). You can get fresh ginger almost everywhere and soy sauce and wasabi are also readily available if you like to eat sushi or sashimi. In the Tuamotus we found stores in most of the villages but if an island did not have a store then goods could be ordered directly from the trading boats when they came in. You place your order at the dock and then wait until the order is delivered. Most villages also had a bakery although it was quite often necessary to order bread in advance as they try not to have too much left over. Some atolls have begun experimenting with hydroponic farming which uses much less water than conventional gardening. On Makemo there is a hydroponic vegetable farm which may have produce for sale. After the privations of the Tuamotus we thought we had died and gone to heaven when we got to the big Continent supermarket at Maeva Beach in Papeete. They had all kinds of fruit and vegetables ranging from reasonably priced local salad (four kinds of lettuce!) and tomatoes to imported cherries from the USA (at $30 a kilo). Meats included beef and lamb from New Zealand, pork and chicken from France or the US. Imported frozen chicken was about $5 a kilo for thighs and legs. Almost any kind of French cheese is available for about the same price we would pay in Canada. There were several other supermarkets in Papeete and also good stores in Vaiare on Moorea, Fare on Huahine and in Uturoa on Raiatea. It is easier to provision for your next leg in either Uturoa or Fare than in Vaitape on Bora Bora where good anchorage close to the village is limited and also (based on our experience in August 2000) there is less selection. Beer is expensive in the Marquesas and Tuamotus (about $2.50 a can) but cheaper in Tahiti (you can get specials for as little as $1.25 a can). Wine is also very expensive until you get to Tahiti when you can often get specials for around $6 a bottle. Liquour prices are very high even by Canadian standards. If you are headed for Rarotonga from French Polynesia, you will not want to stock up much anyway as from what we heard from cruisers who made the trip, Rarotonga is much cheaper than Tahiti and (at least in 2000) duty free liquour could be bought on departure. |
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| Medicines and drugs While doctors visits are inexpensive (one cruiser we know was charged US$15 for an office visit), the drugs they prescribe are not. Even non prescription drug costs are far higher in French Polynesia than in Canada or Mexico. While in Canada you can walk into any supermarket and buy 500 acetaminophen for $5 or less, here you will pay the same amount for 30 tablets. Ten cold tablets are $10. Bring all the medications and drugs you think you will need with you. A list of your onboard medications, giving the generic name, can be shown it to the doctor and he can tell you what to take. Filiaria (which can cause elephantiasis) is endemic in French Polynesia but the government is trying to eradicate it. Like malaria, the disease is spread through contact between humans and mosquitoes. We were advised that, if we were staying for more than three months, we should take the free medication which is given to prevent the disease. We obtained the tablets at the clinic pharmacy in Nuku Hiva. Neither of us had any adverse reaction to the pills which are given to anyone except pregnant women or nursing mothers. |
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| Supplies - Paper Products All paper products are very expensive (a box of Kleenex or 2 rolls of paper towels or 12 rolls of toilet paper are about $4 for the cheapest brands – more in the Tuamotus). To add insult to injury, the quality of toilet paper is poor and the quantity of sheets per roll is about half what we are used to in Canada. Since Mexican paper products aren’t much of an improvement (although a little cheaper), bring as much as you think you will need (or can carry) from San Diego! Cruisers here are so cheap with paper towels that giving someone a whole sheet for a napkin instead of just a half sheet is considered a sign of great extravagance. For women, Tampax are about $10 for 24. It's a good idea to bring these from the US as they are expensive and difficult to find in Mexico as well. |
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| Supplies – Boat parts There are a couple of fairly good chandleries in Papeete and a small one on Raiatea but most large villages in the outer islands have a hardware store (quincaillerie). As you might expect, boat parts are very expensive (typically three times the price they would be in Canada). However when we were in Papeete, cruisers bringing in replacement parts from the US or Canada said that Customs was generally very lenient about parts for boats in transit and far fewer problems with bureaucracy were reported here than in Mexico. Options for getting parts included having a guest bring them, having them sent by DHL or FedEx or even returning to North America and bringing them back yourself. (A more popular solution than one might think as flights from French Polynesia to the US and return can be fairly inexpensive and cruisers were often ready for a break from cruising when they got here.) We had to replace our freshwater pump ($420), a leaking diesel container ($32) and our backup GPS. As the GPS would be about three times West Marine’s price, and for a less capable model, we opted to ask another cruiser to bring one back from the US. We also had computer parts sent to us via FedEx using Raiatea Carenage as the address in French Polynesia. The parcel got to us even though the sender had not put either our name or our boat name on the address label! |
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| Pets We do not have any pets on board ourselves and would strongly advise anyone thinking of travelling with pets in the South Pacific not to. In French Polynesia, while there is no quarantine as such, dogs and cats have to be kept on the boat at all times, at least until Papeete, where it may be possible to obtain papers to allow an animal ashore. Friends with two dogs aboard their boat were told that if found off the boat, the dogs would be shot. Other cruisers we have met have found that their cruising plans are often limited by the places where they can take their pets, with some vessels bypassing countries altogether because of quarantine regulations. |
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| Trading French Polynesians are extremely sophisticated in their use of modern technology and trade items usually have to reflect this. On Makemo for instance, one cruiser was amazed when a local carver, with whom he was bartering, accepted several DVDs in an exchange and then pulled out a portable DVD player on which to test them. CDs or tapes are good for trade or gifts – local favourites are reggae, rap and Celine Dion. For upmarket trades, portable electronics (VHF and GPS) are good and binoculars are also in demand. |
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| Anchoring In the Marquesas the anchorages are not very deep (45 feet is standard) but in most anchorages both a fore and stern anchor are necessary to keep the bow into the swell or just to reduce swinging room in very small harbours (like Ua Pou and Hiva Oa). It’s nice to have an easy way to set and retrieve a stern anchor when you do it so often. Bottoms tend to be mud or sand with little coral. In the Tuamotus by contrast, anchorage is most frequently in coral sand with coral heads around. Anchorages range from 30 to 60 feet deep and because of the coral heads you don’t want too much scope because it will just get tangled. Definitely no rode anywhere near the coral heads. We tried to anchor in 35 feet maximum because that is the deepest Vlad can free dive to disentangle our chain from around a coral knob. In the Societies, except for Maeva Beach and the reef anchorages in Moorea, we were mostly anchoring very deep. Anchoring in 60 feet is standard and 80 or 90 feet might be necessary in the deeper bays of Raiatea and Tahaa. These deep bays are often mud with good holding but you need enough chain or chain and rode to have good scope and an easy way to retrieve it all. |
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| Weather Information We have weather fax aboard using our HF radio and the laptop. It was very useful even though, especially when we first started, we found the Pacific weather maps rather confusing (particularly Hawaii which marks highs and lows in the Southern Hemisphere with A for Anticyclone and C for Cyclone). We got weather faxes mainly out of Hawaii between Mexico and the Societies then were able to start picking up New Zealand weather fax out of Auckland. For a schedule and frequencies for NZ weather fax visit the internet site www.met.co.nz. A fellow cruiser lent us a book called Metservice Yacht Pack which is from the organization which issues public weather for New Zealand. We found it very useful, especially since the weather charts and descriptions are all oriented to the Southern Hemisphere and geared to sailors. You can obtain a copy of this book by writing to: MetService Yacht Pack, Weather Ambassador, PO Box 68429, Newton, Auckland, NZ Fax (64 9) 307 5993 or email to: mcdavitt@met.co.nz (you can pay by Visa). We are told that in 1999 copies of this book were available at the Armchair Sailor in Sausalito, CA for US$40. |
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| Personal Safety In the Marquesas and particularly in the Tuamotus, we were rather careless. We left stuff all over the decks overnight, we often did not lock the dinghy when we went ashore (although we always locked the motor onto the dinghy) and we felt perfectly safe at all times. In Tahiti, in Papeete and in Maeva Beach, there were reports of thefts of dinghies and outboards so we were much more careful and had no problems. Since Papeete is a city, normal precautions for any city should be taken. Women generally did not ride the buses at night alone and when we took the dinghy into Papeete we usually tried to leave it locked to the transom of a friendly cruisers boat which was tied to the quai. People everywhere in French Polynesia were friendly and helpful but particularly so in the Marquesas and Tuamotus. |
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| Charts and Guidebooks We used Charlies Charts of Polynesia which was excellent for the Marquesas and Tuamotus. In the Societies we found Warwick Clay’s South Pacific Anchorages was a useful addition. At the monthly library sale in Morro Bay we were lucky enough to find copies of the Moorings charts of the Iles Sous le Vent and we used them extensively. Most cruisers had either the Lonely Planets or Moon guidebooks for the South Pacific aboard especially since these guides tend to be more geared to budget travel. Tropical fish and coral books were also in great demand. Birdwatchers should get a copy of Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific by Pratt, Bruner and Berrett. Published by Princeton University Press. Although books on local flora and fauna are available in Tahiti, they are expensive and often only available in French. In Nuku Hiva, check with the Gendarmes for a copy of the "Yacht Guide to Papeete, Tahiti" which gives information about immigration, customs, marinas and boatyards, radio frequencies and weather broadcasts. This booklet is in both English and French. |
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