Panama To French Polynesia: A Sailing Family Takes On Their Final Ocean

A first hand account of crossing the Pacific Ocean on a cataman from good friends who took off from Panama to cross the Pacific Ocean back to Australia. 

a Orana (yoh-rah-nah)
That’s a Tahitian hello!
As I type this out I’m surrounded by verdant ravines and jagged peaks rising like shark fins out of the ocean. It is majestic the stunning scenery of the Society Islands in French Polynesia.
Turquoise, clear water, a thriving coral reef system and a myriad of marine life is in abundance; all within metres of AraKai’s anchorage. It’s impossible not to be mesmerised by the sheer beauty of this archipelago.
So, as you can probably fathom we did make the 4000+nm passage from Panama to French Polynesia.
Our first landfall after 30 days at sea was at Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas islands. Such was K— exuberance we don’t think he stopped talking for 24 hours.
Our passage was a slow one due to El Niño and the lack of trade winds. Every sailor we have spoken to here has bemoaned the light winds.
The weather forecasts changed daily and we did a lot of sail changes, especially as we slowly made it into the band of hot, humid weather near the Equator.
We were becalmed crossing the doldrums and the sea was so flat that light from the stars was reflected like diamonds on the water. Bioluminescence trickled like confetti in our wake.  We would jump from the bow of the boat and swim to the stern to cool off whilst underway. You could feel the oppressive heat and the only relief we had was when the heavens opened up and torrential downpours pounded the deck; sometimes for hours.
We could see why the ancient sailors deplored the “deadly zone” which could leave their ships becalmed for weeks.
Thank goodness for our diesel engines on A——-I!
We were prudent with our fuel usage, but momentarily we did consider diverting to the Galápagos Islands for an emergency fuel stop.
Many boats had to do this, this year.
As we reached that critical time when a decision had to be made to divert to the Galapagos, the wind finally kicked in; not with vengeance but at least we were seeing double digits as the apparent wind.
We ended up passing 40nm south of the islands.
Our proximity to them though,  saw us having a couple of red footed Booby’s hitch a ride. They of course overstayed their welcome by poohing all over the boat. The birds must have some serious acid in their butts because the pooh could strip off paint and, to add insult, they regurgitated squid onto the decks.
Adding to these woes; Squall our cat would gobble up the squid, run inside the boat and promptly throw them back up! It was a circle – circle of life!
My best memory was seeing a sea lion swim alongside A——-I at 3am one morning. Bioluminescence streamed off its lithe body and I’m sure it’s tiny little fin was waving at me as he porpoised besides the hull. It was one of those moments that’s going to be impregnated in my memory forever. 🤩
We were boosted along by the south equatorial current and the wind speed ranged from 4-14 knots during the passage  from an angle of 80-150 degrees apparent.
S—- kept our freezer topped up with Wahoo and Pacific Skipjack tuna. This delighted Squall no end, as it suited his palate better than the squid. 🙄
We ripped the Code 0 sail 4 times. It’s 6 years old and being made of 1.5 ounce Dacron is pretty flimsy. L— diligently sat on the trampolines for hours doing some insane Frankenstein stitching. We used up all our sail repair tape, which we had been carrying around for years, most of which was useless as the glue had dissipated.😟
When 1300nm from the Marquises we were absolutely gutted when the autopilot died. The pins would no longer engage on the magnetic clutch so for the next 10 days L—, S— and I hand steered doing 2 hours on, 4 hours off. It is a tiring experience especially as squalls were becoming more prevalent and we had to to do sail changes at a minutes  notice.
So I’m sure you can imagine how ecstatic we were when we arrived in Nuka Hiva. We spent 3 days there but quickly realised it was not the place to get autopilots parts sent, nor could we get our sail repaired.
The cost of food on the island was a shock. A small watermelon cost AUD$20.
We could not buy eggs, but on the upside being a French Overseas territory baguettes and butter was cheap as they are subsidised. A baguette cost AUD$0.80. Superb!
We briefly stopped at only 2 atolls in the Tuamoto group of islands. We visited Takaroa & Toau. One of the things we noticed was how clean the villages were, the Polynesian people are super friendly and their standard of living is very high compared to a lot of the island nations we had sailed through in the last 13 years.
Arriving in Papeete, Tahiti we were delighted when our autopilot parts cleared customs that same day. It took DHL only 4 days to get the parts from Sydney to Tahiti. Lach promptly replaced the pins  and springs but he had to bastardise the system with a skewer. We now have to jab at the shuttle so the pins engage. 🤨
Of course Coursemaster no longer makes rotary drive units so if the repair doesn’t last we will have to buy a whole new autopilot. 💰 💰
Tahiti Sail Co. did a great job of repairing our Code O  sail.
We ended up anchoring off the Papeete airport for 6 weeks as L— ended up working (again) for a month. They had a nightmare crossing but it was to our advantage as our cruising kitty got a healthy injection. Even S—- and I worked onboard for a couple of days.
We enjoyed our time in Tahiti but it is outrageously expensive as you can imagine everything must be shipped in. You could tell when the cargo ships had unloaded as the supermarket shelves were stocked with fresh produce (Saturday was the day to go shopping). By the end of the week you usually couldn’t find tomatoes or eggs anywhere and most produce was limited.
My favourite part of French Polynesia is the free range feral roosters & chickens. They are everywhere: down the Main Street, in the playgrounds, parks  and even the 5 star resorts.
We saw that our feathered friends lorded it over the stray cats and dogs. They were king!
We are currently at HuaHine island. Our 90 days visa limit is nearly up and we have yet to explore Raiatea & Bora Bora.
We hope to sail to Aitutaki, Cook Islands next.
Stay happy and well.

We love showcasing family travel and adventure on this website.  And this story definitely brings you that family adventure.  It’s a great read, written by a family who’s been out circumnavigating the globe on the catamaran they built, for the last 13 years.  Through pirates and Covid, this family prospered…finally meeting and befriending the Tulum-5 crew in Panama.

We have a 40ft 2007 BlueBird All American Skoolie for sale right now! Check out this link to see more.