How do you say “Landlubber” en Francais?

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Alright, well, before Tiffany’s mom arrives and we do the bungalows / hi-life thing, we have a few days to stretch our legs and explore Papeete on our own. It’s been quite some time since our last big city experience, so we were interested in what there was to do in Papeete. First thing: there are no mid-range hotels in this city, at least not any that we could find. You are either rolling big or living in a hostel. Being as we were going to spend time in the 5 star secluded resorts when Tiffany’s mom gets here, we decided to spend our days “in the city.”

After a night’s rest and a typical French Polynesian breakfast of half a fresh baguette (heaven!) jam, tea and orange juice, off we went to see what we could find out.

Oh hey, see that giant gouge on Greg’s left thumb? Important note: Boats bite. Watch your digits.

Speaking of boats, you are not going to believe what we ran into in downtown Papeete. Continue reading “How do you say “Landlubber” en Francais?”

April 11, 2011

The Little Boat That DID!

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Tahiti is also the place where we part ways with FLY AWEIGH. A few months and about 5000 nautical miles ago, two friends asked us to come with them on an amazing adventure. To do what many dream about but few actually accomplish: to sail a 44 foot sailboat from Mexico to Tahiti. Along the way we’ve faced thousands of miles of open ocean and become shellbacks, combated air pirates, opened coconuts with dull machetes, swam with 250 sharks and had a dozen other adventures. What was promised was the trip of a lifetime. It did not fail to meet that lofty mark.

Now we are here, in a place we talked about as if it would take an eternity to get to and really it only took a couple of months. Our time together has come to an end. Since we already have our next boat out of Tahiti lined up in a few weeks and Tiffany’s mom is coming out by plane (wuss 😉 we will become “normal tourists” for a time. It should be interesting. Don’t worry, we’ll keep the blog going with our adventures in Tahiti & Bora Bora just like we did in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. Allan & Alison will continue on their cruise and we will very likely see them again on this trip. From now on though, it will be as friends passing in a port.

“Shipmate” is a term that people throw around a lot without understanding what it means. Most seagoing military types understand what it means to serve on a ship with another person: when it comes right down to it, it’s just you and your crew against Continue reading “The Little Boat That DID!”

April 7, 2011

We’ve Reached Civilization Indeed!

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Located in the Society Island chain, Tahiti is the best known and main island of French Polynesia. With a massive population of 131,695, Papeete is the capital of both the island and the colony. Scoffing at that number? In case you haven’t been keeping track, about 49% of the entirety of the population of French Polynesia lives in this city. Not this island, this city. The next largest town we’ve encountered consisted of about 1700 people. The only university in French Polynesia is here along with actual shopping malls, supermarkets, (…finally!) restaurants that don’t double as family rooms and all the modern conveniences. Welcome to the big city.

Papeete is most assuredly Continue reading “We’ve Reached Civilization Indeed!”

April 4, 2011

The First Place You Can Actually Name!

Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Holy cow we actually sailed to Tahiti!

Tahiti is 4,067 miles from San Diego and that’s as the crow flies. Well, actually at that point it would probably be an albatross but we digress. Continue reading “The First Place You Can Actually Name!”

March 31, 2011

When white people mangle Polynesian traditions

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At sea, enroute Tahiti, French Polynesia

Getting an actual French Polynesian tattoo created by a real, genuine French Polynesian on an honest to goodness island in the middle of the ocean is MAJOR nerd cred in the sailing community. No mere skull and crossbones at the local ink shop here people! Take the source of hundreds of years of sailor tradition and possibly thousands of years of Polynesian culture, put it at the immediate end of the longest single sailing transit you will likely ever do in your entire life and tie it up all in one piece of very well done personalized custom art that can be tastefully placed wherever you want on your body! Though they are even more conservative than even the modern tattoos for the locals, cruiser tattoos manage to be really nice while maintaining some of their original elements.

Not to mention the bragging rights! Holy cow for the rest of your natural life people will point and ask you questions about your tattoo which is the perfect segway into you telling the crowd-enthralling tales of nautical daring-do that you had to go though in order to get that inkjob!

The result is that everyone was getting tattoos. The people you would least expect, the people who swore they wouldn’t, were coming to the cruiser diners sporting their newly minted badges. The number kept growing and, though people didn’t push, there was a taste of peer pressure in the air mixed with the hint of a limited time only offer. “We’re pulling out tomorrow and what are the odds we’ll make it out here again? Last chance!”

So, the big question, did we get tattooed?

It was very tempting and no, no we did not.

Ok, well it was very tempting for Greg. There was no way Tiffany was going to pay actual money to have someone “stab me with a needle a few thousand times!” Also, it’s a permanent mark on her skin and if she commemorated everything notable she did with permanent ink, well, she’d probably look like that guy from the last post!

For Greg, well, gosh. Remembering this trip is what this whole blogging project is for. He didn’t have an intention to get a tattoo when he left Mexico and he hasn’t really gotten any new reasons since arriving on the islands. A tattoo is something that is difficult, if not impossible to get rid of and he thinks anyone making an irrevocable decision should have darn good and specific reasons to do it. He figures he can always get a tattoo later but would have a much harder time “un-getting” one. Sides, he learned to play the ukulele and improved his French, which in his humble opinion, is both way more useful and much cooler.

… and since when did Greg need a good excuse to start telling a story?

Still, a turtle would have been pretty sweet, since we crossed the equator and all.

What would you have done?

March 28, 2011

The Art and History of Tattoos

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What’s with the obsession with Sharktopi? Guess who’s in it!

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At sea, enroute Tahiti, French Polynesia

Know how sailors have this reputation for getting tattoos?

You may not realize this but that pretty much started here. When the European sailors arrived in the islands they were so impressed with the Polynesian tattoo that many of the ships’ crew got tattoos themselves and brought the idea back to their home countries.

The Polynesian people have a rich and diverse tradition of tattooing. Each island group had their own extremely intricate traditions and remember, there are a LOT of islands out here!

Unfortunately, like the hula dance, music (they used a flute with their nose!) and many of the other pieces of Polynesian culture, a great deal of the knowledge was lost when the Europeans arrived. The new arrivals completely banned parts of Polynesian culture that were deemed “inappropriate.” Just one more setback these people have born with incredible grace. Since the Polynesian people did not have a written language and their cultural practices fell into disuse for long enough that most, if not all, of the practitioners died off, many of the secrets and details and meanings of their culture have been irretrievably lost. However, unlike the other pieces of Polynesian culture, tattoo has some form of record. Modern Polynesian artists have recreated their unique arts using what few oral traditions remain and the diaries and drawings of the original European explorers who were so amazed with the drastic artwork etched all over the native islanders’ bodies.

As the drawing suggested, the ancient islanders covered their entire bodies with tattoo that they applied with a bone blade and a hammer. Yeah, that would be extremely hard core! Every single piece had a distinct meaning. The first marking was made when the child was 12 and it periodically grew after that according to your wealth and station in society.

Ow. A lot.

Girls got off easy, they just got their lips, jawbones arms & legs done. (AH! Who tattoos their lips!?)

The modern adaptation is slightly more conservative though no less impressive and it is not unusual to see someone with a whole leg or shoulder done in traditional designs. It’s rarer, and some people still do facial tattoos.

Next time we’ll look at the cruiser community and Polynesian tattoos…

Can anyone guess what this is leading up to?

March 24, 2011

Traveler or Tourist?

And the winners of their own special copies of Sharktopus on DVD are…

Mike Berndt with this comment

and

Michael Lockridge with this comment!

Congratulations guys, we’ll be shipping it out to you shortly and awaiting your reviews 😉

You can still buy Sharktopus on Amazon!

What’s with the obsession with Sharktopi? Guess who’s in it!

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Tikehau, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

We prepare to leave this little island paradise and head for the Society Islands with a little hesitation. Not only is Papeete, Tahiti the capital and ONLY major city in this “colony” the size of Europe and consisting of a conglomeration of over 100 islands it is also a known location. Translation: Tourist town and more importantly, normal tourists. Unlike us. We’re different.

No, seriously, we are. The nature of cruising on a sailboat makes us a significantly different “type” of tourist than the typical one. For example, we live on our boat so we don’t worry about living in a hotel. Which means we don’t have to make every day worth the daily hotel rate. It actually relieves a great deal of stress from the traveling equation. Instead of telling you about tourist attractions for gringos in Mexico, I can actually tell you what it means to really live in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle for over a month. I can tell you about a city that when we arrived there, most of the tourists were actually other Mexicans!

We don’t have a flight home to catch and that alleviates the rush of most travelers. Met a new friend and want to stay an extra few days to have them over for dinner? Heck, why not? We even have a “home” to invite them to! Fall in love with a place and don’t want to leave yet? Sure, we can tack on a few days. The main concern we have is the expiration of our tourist visas.

Also, since leaving Mexico we have pretty much been in places where the locals outnumber the tourists. If you have never been a tourist in a non-tourism location let us tell you, it makes a HUGE difference in the way people treat you and your overall experience. We actually got to meet real Polynesians, not just the smiling people at the fancy hotel and we found out how genuinely friendly most of them are. Also, because there were so few travelers in their towns, we were a novelty to the local people instead of a constant nuisance or just a source of income.

We are exaggerating to a small degree because we are subject to the movements of our ship & the desires of our captain & co-captain (when airline pilots run ships they have funny names for things…) but that really doesn’t interfere as most of us are ready to move on each time that we do.

We also experienced lots of other “non-tourist” things, like grocery shopping in a foreign language, and buying spare parts. Fortunately for us, in both Mexico and French Polynesia we had the use of specialized-for-traveling-sailors Spanish and French dictionaries, for things like the port side of the boat and the head gasket of your engine. Try to explain those with a basic high school or even university level language class!

We’re not saying that we are somehow “better” than the typical tourist; just that what we are looking for and our overall experiences are vastly different. We also put up with more headaches. Like a lack of air conditioning, slow travel and small living conditions. Our movements are restricted by weather windows and if our boat breaks or we lose something overboard we can’t just call someone like for a rental car; we have to deal with it. (There are no boat yards and shipping parts out here is not cheap.)

We also don’t get the benefits of personal service, which means we mostly do our own dishes. Oh yes, and we are sailing a 44 foot boat though the middle of the ocean hundreds of miles from any form of rescue…but to us that’s kind of awesome 😉

We prefer this style of travel. It’s cheaper, more self-reliant and you get to see what we think are the “cool” stuff. You get to connect with people…and get your butt handed to you in ping-pong.

Tahiti will be interesting as we will become tourists in a tourist town for the first time in several months.

Would you be willing to take on a few discomforts and a couple of manageable risks in order to sail the world?

March 21, 2011

It’s only $520 per night in the off season!

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or just win it for free by checking our last blog entry!

What’s with the obsession with sharktopi? Just check out who’s staring in it!

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Tikehau, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Due to their unique design, Coral atolls are ideal for watersports where you want lots of wind and little waves. As this was our last real chance to play in a wide-open lagoon without a lot of traffic or other people around, both Allan and Greg made it a point to enjoy themselves to the fullest. Allan, being obsessive about the whole wind-power thing, went windsurfing. Greg was more…unorthodox…in his choice of recreation.

Perhaps you noticed the pier and what appeared to be bungalows in the background of the video? That is in fact a resort hotel that you can stay at on the island of Tikehau. Pretty easy to find, just Google “Tikehau + hotel.” It’s not as if there are a lot of choices on the island. Just a little caveat that off season prices for their cheapest room start at $520 US per night. That does not include airfare or transport to the hotel, mind you. With the nearest airport being on the next island over, you may want to plan ahead on your connection. Drinks also are extra and about $20 US at the bar.

When we see things like that it gives us pause for a moment to appreciate what we are doing. Right now we are on an island that people pay thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars just to spend a few days on. It’s just one of the places we’ve seen and that you have enjoyed along with us on this blog. We are very grateful to have this opportunity and we are now convinced that sailing is, without a doubt the best way to see the South Pacific islands.

When starting at $520 a night you expect a seriously awesome experience and being as this atoll has no major attractions aside from the sun, ocean, motu and the lagoon, well, needless to say the snorkeling and diving should be spectacular. It was:

March 7, 2011

Tipping – should we or shouldn’t we?

“In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked. “50¢,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

“Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient. “35¢!” she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left.

When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn’t have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.”

– Source unknown

…and the moral of this story is: you must tip, even when you receive bad service.

We hate the American practice of tipping. Now do we mind leaving a 15% gratuity when we receive good-to-excellent service? Heck no, that’s great. We believe in rewarding people for doing well and often tip very well when someone goes out of their way for us. Both of us have worked in food service jobs before and we know how much it’s appreciated. What we do mind is when wait staff are paid below the minimum wage because it is expected that we will pick up the slack for the employer’s stinginess and if we don’t leave a tip, we are actually taking away from someone’s paycheck. What we do mind is when a cabbie is rude to us the entire trip, we get our own bags, they get lost and make us late (also adding to the meter) and then when we pay our fare without complaint they say “what, no tip?” …Or when we have to decide whether or not a service we are receiving is “supposed to” receive a tip …Or when people are so concerned about leaving the “right tip” that they have to carry tip calculator cards in their wallets or spend 10 minutes splitting a bill and computing it. Seriously, one of our friends carried one of these card things because she was often in a rush and always wanted to make sure she left the right amount of change.

Really, we have to carry this? Is this necessary?

In short, we hate it when tipping is expected and/or required because at that point, it isn’t a tip; it’s a fee. Let’s just be honest here and put it on the bill instead of creating some clandestine social stigma that people constantly argue over day to day.

We bring this up because despite the huge cost of a burger and beer in French Polynesia, tips are not even expected and in fact people look at you weird if you give them. You get your food, you pay what’s on your bill and oddly enough, you get excellent service anyway because that’s just the way these people are. They don’t require a quasi-federally mandated and taxed (what the heck? People get TAXED on a tip?!?) bribe to put a good foot forward on the hospitality front. They just do it anyway as part of their daily life. Also, they receive an actual wage from their employer vice having to enter some awkward social dance with each and every customer. I think everyone on both sides of the tipping equation could learn something from this.

For you diners out there, do you prefer the current policy of tipping in America or would you prefer to just have the entire amount on your bill like they do it out here?

And for you all out there in the service industry, which would you prefer? Larger base checks and no tips or the current system?

March 3, 2011

So where do you get a pizza?

Avatoru, Rangiroa, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

The quest for sustenance is more complex than you might imagine.

First off, you may not recall that Greg is the ship’s only French speaker (and by “speaker” we mean a vocab of about 100 words…and about 7 verbs.) So when he’s not around and often even when he is, obtaining food requires our fellow crewmembers to overcome certain linguistic hurdles. Even on the few occasions where there is some level of reasonable verbal communications, cultural obstacles also seek to derail us. Our attempts to surmount these challenges are met with varying degrees of success:

When repeated communications attempts fail or what happens more often is that our wallets can not bear the strain of eating out more than once a week without mortgaging a first born child (which, oddly enough, no one on this ship actually has) we must instead resort to our own dwindling Mexican shipboard supplies to sustain our appetites. Which, after months of isolation from the necessities of life (like Trader Joe’s) those precious stores are beginning to run “a little thin” by our fellow crewmember’s standards.

Ok, you know, we have no idea how many cartons of rice milk they had onboard when we left Mexico. We also never actually even saw where they stored all of this milk on the 44 foot boat that we have all been living on together for several months now. Think about that for a second, we never saw the rice milk on the boat, and it’s not like it doesn’t take up some space. This ship has more secret storage compartments than the Millennium Falcon.

We do alright though. Mostly based on these meager and vastly depleted supplies we manage to cobble together rudimentary meals that we share with our fellow cruisers:

Alright, in all seriousness, for those of you planning on plying the seas of the South Pacific, cheap Mexican beer (Pacifico mostly) is a viable form of forex currency out here and the exchange rate is through the roof! Those yellow cans are greeted with sighs of satisfaction and envious looks when a captain brings out a drink at dinner. A sign of true friendship between cruisers is to share one’s “Mexican beer stash.” Being as Hinano, the local brew, comes in at least $5 US per can at the grocery store, spending a few pesos on some Mexican beer is one of the smartest investments in ensuring popularity with your fellow cruisers that you can make before departing.

As for us? Suppose we’ll just have to muddle through on Tahitian wine and French baguette pizza.

Category: Pacific Puddle Jump

How do you say “Landlubber” en Francais?

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The Little Boat That DID!

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We’ve Reached Civilization Indeed!

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The First Place You Can Actually Name!

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When white people mangle Polynesian traditions

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The Art and History of Tattoos

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It’s only $520 per night in the off season!

Click Here to Buy Sharktopus on Amazon!

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Tipping – should we or shouldn’t we?

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So where do you get a pizza?

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