Exploring French Polynesia by boat: The call of the South Seas

What is the call of the South Seas? The Hoiland family were curious to find out, so they set off west to explore. This is the story of their year sailing through the islands and atolls of French Polynesia

Friday’s dinner topic in late September, 2022: ‘I don’t want to go to French school. I don’t even speak French.’

‘You will make friends,’ I argued, but the hoped for enthusiasm did not shine in his eyes. ‘It will soon be your birthday,’ Theresa broke into the conversation. ‘Shall we prepare a big beach party this year?’

Vetle’s eyes sparkled immediately and he started to talk about games, food, bonfire and all the good things that come with a big beach party. ‘Who shall we invite?’ Theresa asked. A huge question mark hovered over our dinner table. Silence fell.

On Monday morning, Vetle gave each of us a hug under the mango tree outside École primaire publique de Taioha’e before straightening his cap and with firm determination entered the gate to make friends on his first day at French school.

We were curious. What was the call of the South Seas that inspired writers like Jack London to write his short stories in South Sea Tales? ‘The visions of Tahiti were coming to him more frequently. And there were the low Paumotus, and the high Marquesas…. The South Seas were calling, and he knew that sooner or later he would answer the call…’

There were other writers too. Classic American writer Herman Melville wrote Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life and Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas after arriving as a young sailor.

Our curiosity began with reading. We wanted to learn what was the call of French Polynesia, beyond the hiking, corals, waterfalls and beautiful seas. What was our call to the South Seas?

Our year of exploration in French Polynesia started when we passed through the south-west pass into the lagoon of the Gambier Islands on 10 May, 2022. It took us 30 days to cover the 4,000 miles from Panama. With Easter Island still closed due to Covid, we hoped for Pitcairn but aimed for the Gambier Islands archipelago as a first stopover.

Remote and unique

The Gambier history and culture is unique due to its remoteness from the Marquesas and Society islands. We read fascinating stories of pre-colonisation, inter-island tribal wars followed by colonisation and christening at the time when Herman Melville wrote Typee.

Sadly, colonisation effectively wiped out most of the remnants of the historic places and cultural carriers. In the 1970s-90s, Rikitea was a hub for the French navy nuclear testing in Mururoa and Fangataufa. Now it is the world hub for pristine pearl farming which dominates all activities on the islands.

We walked on lush paths on Aukena, Taravai and Akamaru. We hiked up Mount Mokoto on Mangareva. We visited depopulated villages and sat with the few people who still lived on the islands.

The repeated story we heard is that teenagers go to Tahiti for education and do not return.

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We stayed in the Gambier Islands for three months and loved it. The anchorages are great, water is clear and reefs teem with life. People are welcoming but keep a distance. Supplies are limited, internet practically non-existent (before Starlink) and there are few cruisers in the harbour. It is a destination to be discovered but not explored.

The Bastille Day festivities on 14 July gave a snapshot of some traditions carried through music and dancing, but we did not find the call of the South Seas in the Gambier. It was time to push north for warmer weather.

The 800-mile crossing to the Marquesas Islands was dominated by a north-east 20-25-knot wind.

We passed west of Marutea Sud, Rapuarava and Pukaruha, before we tightened up and set course straight for Fatu Hiva. We arrived at Hanavave Bay (Bay of Virgins) on 17 August, 2022.

As Norwegians, we turned to the history of the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl. For him, the call of the South Seas was a ‘return to nature’, and together with Liv – his first wife – they ran away to the South Pacific, spending their honeymoon year in Fatu Hiva in 1937. They published their experiences in In Search of Paradise (1938). Sadly, his concluding remark is that paradise was not found and his call of the South Seas evaded him in Fatu Hiva.

We visited the Tiki Park in Omoa, spoke to local bone carver artists about their designs and did the hikes in Hanavave. The Heyerdahl name still has a standing in Fatu Hiva but even the local elderly could neither shed more light on the history nor help with our search for the call of the South Seas.

Heyerdahl and any explorer of the Marquesas will find a strong proud culture carried by their tattoos, carvings, tikis, dancing, drumming, language and well-preserved archaeological sites, but not in Fatu Hiva. We lifted anchor and had a beautiful 40-mile day sail in a gentle easterly breeze to Tahuata and anchored in Vaitahu village.

The village is nice and the daily bingo at Jimmy’s café is the meeting place. However, 50-knot gusts due to the venturi effect of the picturesque mountain valley forced us to move to Hanamoenoa Bay a little further north on Tahuata. Beautiful, quiet, no swell, sandy bottom and beach made it probably the nicest anchorage we visited in the Marquesas, where we had time to enjoy the sunsets and to reflect.

After learning about the tight anchorage in Atuona, Hiva Oa we decided to skip the obligatory visits to the final resting places of Jacques Brel and Paul Gaugin. We headed straight for Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva where we arrived in mid-September.

We were to spend the hurricane season there so we settled in. Vetle started school and drumming classes. Theresa joined a dancing class and started learning Tahitian dances and I settled into work in the local library, taking advantage of their internet connection.

What’s in a name

‘Everybody keeps asking my name over and over again,’ Vetle complained after his first day at school. The second day was the same, so I had to ask at the library. We were told that names in Polynesia carry culture, history and personality, a trait that we have forgotten in our western world.

‘Your name is a Norse Viking name,’ we told him at dinner. ‘Tell your friends at school it means ‘one that travels in winter’ and ‘bear cub’. Armed with this knowledge his Marquesan friends easily placed and understood his heritage and history – the polar bear. He was in and without noticing – it was his first brush with Marquesan culture.

On weekends and during school vacations, we explored nearby anchorages and islands.

We loved Anaho Bay for its calm anchorage, hospitable people, nice beach and readily available fruits and vegetables. We enjoyed hiking through ‘mango valley’ to the neighbouring bay, Hatiheu, which we found more scenic than Fatu Hiva.

We did the short hike up the well-kept Hakaui valley (Daniels Bay) to the Vaipo waterfalls; a hike that told a tale of former rich settlements. Taipivai (Controllers Bay) is a must after reading Typee by Melville. The island of Ua Pou is a nice weekend getaway to swim in clear waters, stock up on fruits, buy figures made from the unique flower stone and visit waterfalls.

We explored the numerous archaeological sites, with Koueva only a short hike from Taiohae and the Hikokua site only a short hike from Hatiheu.

Finally, the hurricane season ended and in mid-March we sailed away from the Marquesas for Raroia in the Tuamotus. Entering the sheltered atoll we finally found an anchorage with no swell and crystal-clear waters.
After some days talking to people in the village, Ohuhe Teu, we crossed the lagoon to anchor where Thor Heyerdahl and five Scandinavian comrades landed on Raroia after crossing from Peru on the Kon-Tiki raft. They spent 101 days at sea enacting the Inca crossing of the Pacific Ocean. We stayed a week, swam with sharks, walked the beach and rode the incoming current through the pass.

Sailing on, we visited Tahanea and Fakarava before entering the harbour of Papeete on Tahiti. Papeete was our first ‘big’ city in 12 months and we kept our promise of a Big Mac and a soft ice to Vetle.

After two weeks in Papeete, we crossed to Huahine and then to Bora Bora where we checked out of French Polynesia. Our tour through the Tuamotus and the Societies islands changed us into South Seas tourists rather than South Seas explorers.

Gentle goodbye

On 5 May, 2023 we lifted anchor for the final time in French Polynesia only six days shy of one year. All three of us sat quietly in the cockpit as the evening breeze gently pushed us out through the reef in Bora Bora.
‘What was the best of French Polynesia?’ I asked, interested to hear everyone’s thoughts as we were leaving. ‘The Marquesas was the best part,’ said Theresa. ‘The anchorages?’ I asked with a smile. ‘No, the people. We met so many people.

‘There were never any problems and we got help when we needed it: the municipality filled in our school papers, the librarian enrolled us with a family membership, there were yacht services and the local goat meat is fantastic. The cruising community in the bay was nice also.’

‘Did it answer our call to the South Seas?’ I asked, curious to hear. ‘I don’t know,’ Theresa said. ‘Perhaps we will understand this in a while.’

Vetle had been remarkably quiet throughout the conversation. ‘I miss French school,’ he said suddenly. ‘Can we stay another year? Please?’ Theresa looked at me, amazed. ‘I have friends there now. I can come back and visit again. I will bring the class picture and visit Nuku Hiva again.’

And there it was. The call of the South Seas. We had not noticed before now. Perhaps it was because we had been too busy exploring waterfalls, anchorages, valleys and archaeological sites – playing tourists or busy cruisers.

It is the people. The people that carry their proud culture on their tattooed bodies, with bone carvings around their neck, with painstakingly personalised decorated oar for their evening paddle and with time to talk, time to listen and time to engage.

Therein lies the intangible call of the South Seas, the call from French Polynesia. It only reveals itself with time. It is this that has inspired Gaugin, Jack London, Herman Melville and other writers.

We only needed a little help to see it. Now we will continue, exploring further west.

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