Pitcairn to The Gambier Islands

Some of our fabulous Pitcairn produce

The forecast was correct, the wind increased and went round to the NW, so we were beating into it.  The stalk of Pitcairn bananas which was tied in several places to the stern arch started to shed a trail of bananas in the ever increasing swells.  It just got worse and worse, waves crashing over the boat, squalls with torrential rain, and every now & then the boat felt as if it was picked up and dropped into a hole with a huge shudder.  In the 50 knot squalls we just hove to, almost stopping the boat and though it was still heeled over with water rushing down the side deck it felt far more comfortable than sailing and gives everyone a break as well as time to cook some food in comparative safely.

 I just managed to take this photo of us hove-to! 

So we had 3 horrible days at sea with a huge swell and strong winds making the seas so rough that we couldn’t see the breakers on the extensive reefs around the Gambier Islands until we were very close.  With the sails up and dipping into the troughs between the swell waves we scooted in through the gap in the outer reef and found a safe place to get the sails down.  It was lovely to arrive to the hails from other boats as we came into the anchorage off Rikitea on the island of Mangareva, just into the tropics once more at 23 degrees south.  Unlike the coral atolls of the Tuamotos the Gambier Islands are rocky hills enclosed by 65 miles of coral reef & coral islets.  It took us days to recover from the 6 weeks of sailing and exploring since we left the Galapagos as it has been fantastic but often stressful and exhausting. 

Sara Jane safely anchored off Rikitea, Mangareva with the cathedral in the background

Catching up with friends on board Irie

There are no customs officers here so we cleared in at the Gendarmerie (2 French policemen & 2 Polynesian) and posted our clearance forms to Tahiti.  We have to fly our yellow flag until the Customs have boarded us in Tahiti.

The wind just kept on blowing, our wind generator often had to be turned off to prevent the batteries overcharging and we enjoyed having far more power on board than usual! The strong wind makes for choppy seas causing dinghy journeys to result in everyone getting soaked.  After arriving on board with soggy baguettes one too many times I used some of the old sail to make baguette bags for us and Gallivanter! 

The cathedral of St. Michael, built of coral and larger than the one in Tahiti

Like so many of the south Pacific islands these really beautiful islands have a torrid history.  The original Polynesian inhabitants arrived in around 1100AD, and from here some of them populated Pitcairn Island.  Then a fanatical French priest, Father Laval, heard the tales of cannibalism and of the fabulous black pearls on these islands and left Chile with another priest reaching the Gambiers in 1834.  Unfortunately the Mangarevans had an old prophesy that foretold the coming of two magicians whose god was all-powerful.  Laval imposed a ruthless moral code on the islanders, using them as virtual slaves to build a cathedral, convents and churches. 

The exuberant mother-of-pearl altar

37 years later he had almost wiped out the entire culture and the population of 9,000 was down to 500.  In 1871 he was taken to Tahiti to be tried for murder and was declared insane. 

The mausoleum of the last King, in the peaceful grounds of a convent on the hill

More recently a huge nuclear fallout shelter was built and used during all the nuclear tests (44 atmospheric and well over 100 under water) the French did on Mururoa atoll, 250 miles away, and the islands are still suffering from many side effects of the tests.  All the Navy ships were washed down in the Gambiers, so a huge amount of radioactive dust from the tests was washed into the lagoon causing it to become the most badly affected place in the world for poisoned fish.   Worse still, Mururoa atoll is leaking radioactive ground water and scientists believe this will be a huge disaster when it spreads to the rest of the ocean in the next few years.  The French will not allow any independent investigations or testing in the area.

Birthday lunch at Jo-Jo's before returning for cake on board

We have caught up with the family on Gallivanter and it has been lovely for the 3 kids to be together.  We have celebrated our wedding anniversary and Harry his 13^th birthday and enjoyed exploring this truly gorgeous island on foot, bikes and by kayak.  Sharing meals with friends at ‘Jo-Jo’s’ which is 6 tables by one of the tiny shops, has been wonderful.  John and Harry got chased by dogs when cycling round Mangareva, a scary experience, but all is well.

The 2 supply ships that ply between the islands of French Polynesia and Tahiti.

The baker is a huge, tattooed Polynesian man who bakes excellent baguettes twice a day (and nothing else), as long as he has flour – which runs out, together with all fresh produce, a few days before the fortnightly supply ship comes in.  When the supply ship is in the jetty is buzzing with people collecting their ordered goods including fuel as there is no petrol station.  Cars race in and out, boats laden with goods potter off to outlying islands, the cranes and derricks are in constant motion unloading everything from building materials to freezers to food and loading crates of empty beer bottles,  fuel and gas containers to be returned to Tahiti.  Buying fuel has been a challenge because everyone has their own supply.  We bought 5 litres of petrol from a local lady and then the Pitcairn supply ship, Claymore 2, came in with some spare diesel in a deck container so we were able to buy some and cart it back in the dinghy.  

 The pretty ship, Claymore 2, built in 1967 and still working between New Zealand and Pitcairn

 The Chief Engineer

Getting some much needed diesel

With the financial support from France (compensation for all those bombs) and a thriving black pearl industry the people here are well off so almost no-one wants to be a farmer and grow vegetables in this perfect climate and fertile soil!    We walked up the hill to a local vegetable grower but chickens had eaten all of his crop (they turn up at 4pm daily he told us) so he was waiting for seedlings to grow.  Even after the ship has been the tiny shops only have garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes & cabbage plus a tiny amount of fruit that goes in the first day.

The black pearl farms are out on the bay 

The sounds of Panama were the howler monkeys, of Galapagos the barking sealions and here it is the drumming for 3 hours every evening as the drummers and dancers rehearse for the big cultural Heiva festival in July.  The drumming with sticks and hands is extraordinary and the Polynesian dancing, even with dancers in their jeans and T-shirts, is beautiful & exiting.  We hope to see more groups in other islands and to be in Tahiti before it finishes.

The view from Mount Duff, above Rikitea, looking towards Taravai

Boy! We have had our fair share of things going wrong on the boat – with the boat in constant motion, often being thrown around in the ocean, everything is under stress.   The latest was the main loo, luckily taking it apart is not my job! Major things have gone wrong over the past couple of months on board many other boats too.  One catamaran hit a semi-submerged object at night and damaged both of its rudders.  They ended up using the sails and drogues to steer 2400 miles to Tahiti, the nearest place to get repairs.

 This Russian boat had rigging failure and lost half their mast - they have got a wooden jury-rig plus lots of extra diesel in containers to get them to Tahiti and repairs

  Several have lost their auto-pilot steering and others have had major rigging, engine, generator or fridge failures, often combined with flooding.  The worst thing is that a 46 foot boat was found drifting, unlit, off the Gambier Islands, which is a big hazard to other vessels.  The French Navy have just been out to tow it in and it seems that the chap on board was on his own and had a heart attack, very sad.

We spent our last week exploring remote & beautiful anchorages, weaving through the coral and around the hundreds of buoys marking the black pearl oysters to get into the bays. 

It's a hard life being a teenager

We had a great few days with the Gallivanter family exploring Taravai and unsuccessfully trying out our lobster traps. 

 John and Adam used their spear-guns for the first time and though they managed to miss all the fish they had a lot of fun.  If you want to visit this lovely place there are 2 flights a week from Tahiti to the airstrip on one of the nearby coral atolls.  4 times a year the Pitcairn supply ship comes from New Zealand and you can have a few days visiting that island too.

Farewell Gambier Islands

We were waiting for the right weather to leave and finally set sail on the 25^th June, a really calm day in contrast to our arrival, and headed northwards to the Tuamotos.