Dear Family and Friends,

 

27th April 2015

 

We hope to arrive early tomorrow morning so this will be our last full day of this voyage, all 21 days of it. Whilst there are many things I shall be glad to do on terra firma we are not climbing up the walls here, bored yes but adjusted to life within the bounds of 45’ of boat. We continue to make slow progress at 4-5kts, with 64 miles to go. As we enter another country its time to put up the courtesy flags, the French flag, the yellow Q flag for customs and the OCC flying fish roving rear commodores flag. It will be good to meet those boats we have heard on the nets and hopefully there are some OCC members here.

 

Having said that your day can be made by small things like catching a 12-15lb tuna (blue fin) yesterday! We had already discussed taking the line in as the dusk was gathering, but we left it until twilight and then the reel went taught. As mentioned yesterday there is the boat to slow down, sails to put away, by the time we reeled in the fish it was very nearly dark. So there I was on my knees filleting by torch light on a heaving deck with a fish that was sliding around the chopping board, one of life’s easier tasks ?? and moments to remember. Griddled with lemon and garlic it was very pleasant. It will easily do another 4 days. I will have to get inventive by day 5!

 

Once again my research on entry to French Polynesia (from noonsite and cruising accounts), has thrown up a level of bureaucracy that we need to heed. We have a customs declarations prepared which include listing our outboard motors, alcohol, medical supplies and if we had done so, the purchase of any pearls. We may be inspected by customs patrol boats at any time, items not declared will be confiscated and we could face a fine and possibly imprisonment, great! So we are being very careful to comply with all the advice out there. The regulations are less for members of the EU, non EU citizens have to deposit a bond in a local bank to the value of an air ticket home for the duration of their stay. When we land in Atuona we have a 4km hike to the local Gendarmerie which is only open for immigration between 7-11 am so we will have to be on our toes early tomorrow.

 

Really looking forward to exploring these islands!

 

All our best,

 

Lynne and Alan