Pitufa.at

Yesterday I had some appointments in town and did my runs between different locations by thumb – hitchhiking works really well in French Polynesia, especially when you hold up a sign where you want to go.
I got chatting with a very nice Polynesian woman who picked me up, we talked about the Tuamotus, how we cruisers are blamed for pollution, harming nature and then I mentioned how few motu with endemic vegetation and birds are left and what a pity it is that the locals just burn the motu down for copra.

There were a few moments of silence and then she said: “I’ve just come back from Rangiroa and that’s what we did there for a week. With the raising of the subsidies for copra the families are fighting who gets to work which motu…”

She agreed that it would be good and important to protect a few little spots of nature, but the money’s just too good. The government claims that raising the prices for copra is a measure to help people during the covid crisis, but why don’t they give out funding for other projects? If the speed of destruction picks up there will be no nature left in French Polynesia within a short period of time.

It’s not even an argument to protect wild nature for the sake of tourism, because tourists expect coral rubble and rows of palmtrees. That’s the image of the South Sea that we have and not fertile islands with trees and soil…

French Polynesia is doing a good job to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. People generally still wear masks in shops and public places and remain cautious. Vaccinations are going on rapidly, in many places everybody 18+ can get an appointment for a shot.

However, we have noticed that some cruisers think that as soon as they have their two shots they can drop all precautions, they are already kissing again and going back to business as usual. Vaccinations only give a partial protection from experiencing severe symptoms, they are NOT a 100 % protection!

It’s really not so hard to wear a mask, wash your hands regularly and wave a friendly hello instead of kissing cheeks…

Raiatea in the morning is quite often simply magical: the lagoon is glassy calm, the island is mirrored on the surface of the sea and soft, white clouds sit on the soaring peaks. The landbreeze that gently blows down from those mountains is incredibly fragrant–a mixture of flowers and pine scent. We usually use this cool morning air to do exercises on deck before it gets too hot. Today we got the dinghy up on deck, unpacked the sails and prepared the boat for a passage. We’d love to stay, there are still many quiet corners left we’d love to explore, but we have to sail to Tahiti! A steady northeasterly is predicted for the next day and we’ll use it to sail the 110 nm there.

We’ve been hanging out around Raiatea and Tahaa (the two islands share one, big lagoon) for two weeks now. The infrastructure around these islands is very convenient: 4G internet, little supermarkets everywhere that get stuff from the supply ships several times a week, but sell also local produce. The nicest way to get locally grown fruit and veg is to walk down the coastal roads: whenever somebody has too many bananas/pamplemousse/rambutan/avocados/… they just set up a table in front of their property–great to get fresh things and to have a chat.

We’ve anchored in various spots and most locals who go by with their boats give us a friendly wave. Only the NW side of Raiatea (Pr. Mirimiri) is ‘famous’ for disliking cruisers. In the muddy bay there we got chased away a few years ago ‘because we destroy the coral there’ (in mud??) and this year a boat came by out on the shelf to tell us that we were disturbing their spearfishing area (by parking there?). Two years ago a local cut the anchor chain of a cruising boat and according to the verdict of this February he was found guilty and got a fine of 50.000 CPF (approx 500 USD), because he had ‘an understandable reason’…

It’s a hot autumn here, so we’ve spent quite some time in the water. Many reefs are dead and overgrown with algae, but some coral in the shallow areas is in surprisingly good shape, despite temperatures above 30°C. There are not many fish around and the ones we see are small and skittish–there’s too much spearfishing going on. At least we’ve seen a few turtles, and they were rather relaxed, so they don’t seem to get hunted here anymore.

We quite often criticise how little untouched wilderness remains here in French Polynesia and the lack of efforts by the government and other organisations to protect the environment. We complain about locals who still hunt turtles and collect sea bird eggs and blame a lack of education and awareness.

Yesterday we read on the Austrian News that the fishermen and fisherwomen there have finally managed to get the right to shoot cormorants as they do damage to the fishery… We hypocritical Europeans are so good at knowing what other countries have to preserve: there’s a public outcry when the Indians shoot their last tigers or the Brazilians log their rainforests. But beware if a single bear sticks his furry snout over the Austrian border, or if a swan poops in a lake, or the aforementioned cormorants dare to eat fish–they immediately get the death penalty.
What are they supposed to do instead? Order a burger (from a cow that used up incredible resources being fed under quite often horrible circumstances, transported around half the world, etc.) at MacKing?
Wouldn’t it make much more sense to be happy about every wild animal that has somehow managed to adapt to the environment we have made?

The problem with humanity is that we assume that we own the planet and all other creatures are only tolerated if they are of use to us. Why don’t people grasp that we are just one of many species who are supposed to share this beautiful planet in a sustainable way?

Somehow I assumed that everybody has better internet than we and would have no prob just letting a google translator do the translation of our info sheet for them
As people have been asking, I’ll simply put the translation of the link below into this blog here:

Don’t you like sailboats?
You’re not alone, many people would like to chase them out of their lagoons.

But why?
Traditionally the reception in French Polynesia was warm and welcoming, but this has changed recently. We think that lack of information and false information are responsible for that.

As cruisers and visitors we would like to present our point of view here:

Why don’t you go back home?
The sailboats are our floating homes. Many cruisers are retired, others want to give their kids a chance to see the worlds, others (like we) simply live and work on their boats.

Why do you stay in French Polynesia?
Because we love Polynesia! The people are friendly, nature’s gorgeous, the culture is really interesting and the climate pleasant.

Why are there more sailboats here now?
Because of Covid most borders are closed and sailboats have nowhere to go.

Is it true that you destroy the coral?
No, that’s not true. We anchor in sand and put floats on our chain to avoid touching coral.

Are you responsible for pollution?
We would never throw rubbish into the sea or on the beaches. We use the sun and the wind as energy sources. We love and protect nature!

Do you bring rats and other pests to the motu?
Sailboats are small and it’s very unlikely that we would not notice such blind passengers. Big freighters and fishing boats carry such pests…

Don’t you pay for your stay here?
We contribute lots of money to the Polynesian economy. We buy spare parts for our boats, we use the haul-out facilities, we provision on a large scale, we rent cars, go to snacks and restaurants and pay for medical expenses.
Different than other tourists we spend money in local mini-markets and buy local fruit, veg, fish, souvenirs, etc.

Do you consume local resources for free?
Many cruisers take nothing from nature. We don’t hunt or fish in lagoons. We only appreciate nature and hunt with our cameras.

Is it true that sailboats bring Covid?
The passage to French Poly from Mexico/Panama/Chile/etc. takes at least 3 weeks, that’s a long quarantine. Most sailboats have been here for a long time. Our life-style means that we are quite often isolated ‘in quarantine’ on our boats, so we are less exposed and less at risk than other people.
When we sail between islands we keep a voluntary quarantine to avoid spreading the virus.

Why are there so many negative news about sailboats on the television/in newspapers/on facebook?
There are influential people in Tahiti who would like to get rid of sailboats to build a hotel complex in the area of the Marina Taina anchorage. They use the media and social networks for their own means. They also turn away attention from their own faults (sewage in the lagoons, no recycling, polluting industries, herbicides and pesticides in the rivers, etc.) by blaming cruisers for everything that goes wrong. It’s unfair and dangerous to incite fears and aggressions against a minority that’s vulnerable, simply because they have a different life-style. We hope that the Polynesians will look through those lies.

We decided to spend the cyclone season on an quiet, friendly little island to get away from the anti-cruiser hostilities in Tahiti and the Society Islands. Unfortunately it turns out that even here in Raivavae a campaign against cruisers is going on…
Ironically enough it’s the environmental organisation (who should be our friends as fellow protectors of nature) and the protestant priest (who would be supposed to love his fellow humans instead of inciting fears and prejudices) are leading the propaganda which is full of false information and lies.

They claim that sailboats pollute, destroy coral, spread pests and Covid…

In response to this we have composed a little FAQ in French (download pdf) to counter those rumours and to present our point of view. We have put up this sheet at shop windows, talked to the mayor and other influential people.

If you are in a location where cruisers are defamed and attacked you may want to download and spread this info sheet (in French) or write something similar to show your side of the story.