Tahiti and Moorea (where 56 cases of covid-19 have been recorded so far, with only very few severe cases) are still in lock-down until the end of April, but the outer covid-free islands have been allowed to ease the restrictions. Now alcohol is sold again (only wine and beer in limited amounts though) and people are officially able to do ‘water activities’ again. Only large gatherings are still banned.
It looks like French Polynesia will have to self-isolate for a long time still without international or inter-island flights. For a country that relies on tourism as a main income that’s of course tough. So far the shelves here and in Tahiti are still full and we hope that supplies will keep coming in.
The volcanic islands of the Gambier are very fertile, but only few people grow vegetables and there’s hardly any local produce for sale. We always felt it was a shame that locals prefer to buy French fries from the store (instead of eating local breadfruit, maniok, taro or sweet potatoes) and lather them with Ketchup (instead of growing tomatoes). We hope that this crisis will raise awareness for the importance of local produce and that more people will start growing things. So far unfortunately the only change we see is that foraging has become more popular with people going out to the motus more often to hunt for crabs, lobsters, fish, etc.
