On May 17 2013, exactly seven years ago we arrived in French Polynesia for the first time after a 24 day passage from Galapagos. Misled by popular sailing guides we had thought it prudent to wait until the end of the cyclone season, not knowing that this meant the end of summery weather here in the Gambier Islands. We stuck around until August and then fled from the cold, rainy and stormy weather up into the heat of the Marquesas.
We never thought then that we’d stay in FP for such a long time. Even though we explored westwards (Cooks and Tonga) twice, we always came back to the Gambier, our ‘cyclone season base’.
Now it’s getting colder again and usually we’d already be in the Tuamotus at this time of the year, but this year sailboats are not allowed to leave the archipelago they were in when the Covid-19 crisis started. We hope that these restrictions will be lifted before the weather gets nasty. Winter is coming…
