What will be will be
La Orana!
Hello from the beautiful island of Moorea. We are anchored back in Opunoho Bay - a dramatic place ringed by tree covered peaks that soar above us. Flowers fall from the trees at dusk landing gently on the water below. They drift quietly past the boat in a continuous stream. We love it here.
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It is peaceful place and a complete antidote to the frenetic activity of Papeete that we have finally left behind. No more the sound of containers being unloaded onto the dock at all hours, no more jolting awake at night from the bow wave of arriving cruise ships and finally no more live music ringing across the water from the bar opposite. Who said we were living in a tropical paradise!!
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One of the better bands
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But despite the idyllic surroundings in Moorea we have had some bad news this week. Our application to extend our visas for French Polynesia for another year have been denied. After being assured it would be a formality by the company that was assisting with the paperwork it turns out that thanks to Brexit the original documents, we filled in were probably incorrect for our new non-EU status and as a result have generated 6-month visas that under no circumstances can be extended. It is deeply frustrating. We are hearing of others in the same situation so it seems we are not the only UK citizens to fall foul of the new Brexit regulations but that doesn’t make the news any easier to swallow. 8 months on everybody is probably more on the same page but back then there was so much confusion - not helped by a virtually impenetrable barrier around the French Embassy where questions were concerned. The High Commissioner in Papeete has now forwarded to me the three very comprehensible choices of visa we should have been offered but its all a little too late.
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What it means for us is that we have to leave the country by July 17th 2023 and not return for at least 90 days. We spent most of yesterday processing the news, me ranting at the world and Skipper calmly and logically considering our options. Not surprisingly Skipper’s approach was more constructive. It generated 4 different scenarios which I will now share with you.
- 1 Sell Papillon and call it a day on July 17th. It was wonderful while it lasted.
- 2. Sell Papillon, leave the country for 90 days and reapply for a visa. During our absence a new boat would be purchased in a location more favoured for downwind sailing through French Polynesia such as the west coast of America. Our journey would resume timing our arrival at the most eastern islands of French Polynesia for October.
- 3. Find a marina in the Society Islands (where we are currently) that would take Papillon for 90 days, leave French Polynesia and return with a new visa in October a little older and wiser but still downwind of most of the islands we would have loved to explore.
- 4. Leave French Polynesia as soon as Papillon is ocean ready, head downwind to the Cook Islands, thence onto Tonga, Fiji, finally ending up in New Zealand for their summer in November/December.
What’s to be done? Perhaps not
surprisingly we have ruled out Option 1 – we are not ready to end this all quite yet. Option 2 is very attractive
but depends on us managing to sell and buy boats very quickly which we know
from experience is never easy. Option 3
is the safe option but doesn’t really help with the problem of upwind sailing
in a catamaran…so it looks like its going to be Option 4. For skipper this was
really the only viable option. He has consistently
reminded me of the difficulty of sailing upwind (against the wind) in a
catamaran and the ease of sailing downwind.
As he says the Pacific is a “specifically” big place and there are plenty
more islands to the west of us yet to be explored that have easier visa regulations
and are just as spectacular as French Polynesia. “You just can’t do everything
Anna". He’s right of course. The area covered by French Polynesia is on a par with a very big chunk of Western Europe (skipper's words not mine!) and with the trade-winds largely blowing east to west there is a limit to how much ground a catamaran can cover going against the flow. He’s also right that we have spent a lot of
time and effort making Papillon ready for ocean passages and to potentially have
to start that all over again with a new boat would be painful. He is so wise!
I wish I could be that wise. Instead,
I gnash my teeth, stamp my feet, wail at bureaucracy and get nowhere fast!
As an antidote to all that weeping and wailing, we went for a beautiful hike this morning. Where I fail in dealing with disappointments I excel in planning “grand days out”. Lately my job has been made considerably easier by my current favourite app “All Trails”. Tapping in our location at our anchorage in Moorea revealed several hikes in the Opunohu valley all very close to the boat. This is the main agricultural area on the island and is a veritable garden of Eden with lush green fields fringed with forests and spectacular mountain peaks and ridges.
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Today we were climbing “Trois Pinus” peak and as always it was a treat to get off the boat and explore the land we have been looking at from the water since we arrived a couple of days ago. The walk began easily enough with a wander through yellow pineapple fields basking in the early morning sunshine but it quickly gave way to steeper climbs in the shade of the ever-present rain forest. At times it was hard to believe we would ever come out at the top the growth was so thick, but we did and about an hour later were treated to spectacular views to the east and west.
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We could even see Papillon sitting calmly at
anchor far away below. As an added excitements someone had hung a swing from two
of the three pines at the summit.
Swinging out over the steep edge below admiring the panorama all around –
well it doesn’t come much better than that.
Even my frayed spirits were calmed.
What will be will be.
Keep enjoying the adventure, it looks amazing. Rag ‘n’ Stik xx
ReplyDeleteLoving it all. Glad you’re staying for more. X
ReplyDelete