Parting is such sweet sorrow – Saying goodbye to the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

It is time to say farewell to the lovely group of islands and reef motus that make up the Gambier Archipelago. It is time for us to spread our winds (sails in our case) and move onto new adventures.

There are still many places we would have liked to explore here, many hikes we would like to have done, but that gives an incentive to return. The shorter days and cooler nights mean ‘winter’ is coming to this tropical paradise and we are going to chase the warmer, more settled weather, north through the Tuamotus. The Tuamotu atolls are also a sailors play ground for water sports, especially diving. We saw only 3 of the atolls that make up this group the last time we passed through. We have many more to explore and delight in as we make our way back north to Tahiti for Christmas.

HIGH LIGHTS AND LOW LIGHTS OF THE GAMBIER ISLANDS

H. The islands and motu are all very close together once you sail down here. None are more than a couple of hours sail apart. This makes it easy to explore and move anchorages when the weather changes.

L. The months we were visiting the weather varied almost weekly. One week of sun, followed by one week of rain. One week of winds, followed by one week of no wind at all. You just have to go out exploring when the weather is good and get on with boat jobs when the weather is foul.

H. The climate. We left the summer heat and humidity of the Society Islands behind when we sailed 1000nm south east to the Gambiers. The days were still hot and sunny, but the evenings were finally cool enough you did not need a fan to sleep.

L. Stay into the winter and you will find the water temperature starts to drop and you need a thermal top, even a wet suit, if you want to spend a lot of time snorkeling. Also, a fleece in the evenings, when a southeasterly blow brings colder air.

H/L. The pearl industry. Nice to see it flourishing here, but a pain changing your navigation route all the time to circle round the farm buoys. Everyone is pretty affluent, so there is no stealing from cruisers, but also no need to sell their excess fruits and veggies. They just let the fruits fall to the ground. You have to get up the courage and go ask someone if you can pick some of their fruit. There are lots of wild trees and plants once you get a little out of town. Good to learn French before coming any way.

H. There is one relatively large village in the area that has a supply ship once every 3-4 weeks from Tahiti. It has 3 well provisioned shops and a couple of restaurants. It has good phone service, a public phone and phone cards available at the post office. ‘Reasonably’ protected big harbor here, but deep (17m) and a lee shore.

L. The residence of Rikitea are very friendly, but get a lot of cruisers, so you do not get the big Polynesian welcome you get in the smaller villages. Unfortunately the village has one of the slowest internet connections, but the owner of one of the shops lets all the cruisers sit on her door step and use her internet for free.

H. It was nice to have both petrol and propane available at the shops in Rikitea. We bought both while we were here.

L. We had to buy diesel from the supply ship. A little worried about it, at first, because you have to purchase in 200 litre drums. Not so scary in the end. Another boat was happy to split a drum with us and the supply ship lends you a pump. You do need jerry cans to get it back to your boat, but we found we had to jerry can fuel in most of French Polynesia. No one in Rikitea fills foreign propane bottles. Best to buy a local bottle ($30) and valve. Then you can just swap out everywhere.

H. There is some lovely snorkeling to be had in settled weather out on the barrier reef that surrounds this group of islands and the little motus (islandettes) that string along it. Tauna motu was our favourite.

L. Most of the barrier reef is sunken, so ocean swell can sneak over it in places. You have to pick your weather and find little protected places or you will have a rolly night at these anchorages.

H. The bigger islands have rich volcanic soil, a warm climate and a long history of agriculture. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables available and ‘something’ is always in season. We left just as avocado season ended and pumpkin season started. Wild pumpkins were growing on almost every sunny hillside!

H. All the people we met in the Gambier Islands were warm, welcoming and generous to us. There is nothing I can say that could truly describe how ‘at home’ they go out of their way to make you feel. Of course Herve and Valerie, on the island of Taravae, were our favourites. The humans learned loads about Polynesian culture and traditions from them. They have also promised to take them hunting when they return. Fresh goat meat for me. Yum, yum!