Pitufa.at

After wonderful nine years year we are on our way to new adventures–Fiji, we are coming!
Watch video here on www.pitufa.at
winken_drohne

We just did our check-out from Tahiti and had some hiccups along the way. It seems the different offices that deal with pleasure crafts don’t talk to each other
Even though it the Capitainerie sent us an info sheet claiming that we had to send the check-out application to traffic maritime AND we got an email from them replying that we were free to pick up our clearance papers from immigration at the airport, immigration did NOT have our clearance ready.
They told us that clearance had to be obtained via DPAM instead, so we had to start the whole process all over again. DPAM were very helpful and granted the exit permission within 2 hours–instead of the usual 72…

So here’s what we learned: Clearing out from Tahiti you have to:
- write to DPAM and fill out the application for clearance permission 72 hours ahead of departure
accueil.dpam@administration.gov.pf, escales.dpam@administration.gov.pf, affmar@affaires-maritimes.pf, remi.quilliot@affaires-maritimes.pf
- go to immigration (Police aux frontieres) at the airport and customs in Fare Ute at the day of departure

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So please UPDATE the info below that we gave you a few days ago. It’s no longer traffic maritime you have to write to, but DPAM…

Outdated info 31.3. 2022: There’s been some confusion among cruisers about clearance formalities. As we are about to clear out we have first-hand info to share with you:
Clearing out of French Poly can be done from any port of entry again (no more restrictions like during Covid).
- If you clear out from any other port than Tahiti you just have to write an email to the harbour master trafficmaritime@portppt.pf 72 hours before to ask for the “permis de sortie”. At the day of your departure you go to the local gendarmerie office for the rest of the paperwork and to get your exit clearance.
- If you clear out straight from Tahiti things are more complicated. Again you have to write an email to the harbour master trafficmaritime@portppt.pf 72 hours before to ask for the “permis de sortie”, phone no. (+689) 40 47 48 82. But at the day of your departure you have to personally visit the immigration office at the airport +689 40 80 06 05 and the customs office +689 40 50 55 87 on Motu Uta (island off Fare Ute, same where you get tax-free diesel form). It does not matter whether you go to immigration or customs first.

Just as we were patching up the dinghy yesterday, the watermaker suddenly quit. Horror scenario. We carry a spare pump head and installed it today–fortunately the pump is running now again! A more serious issue would have been a big problem before a long passage.

We’ve had our dinghy for one and a half years and it’s been leaking from day one, that’s why it’s called “Wobbly”. It arrived with a transport damage: a hole was punched through the hypalon on the bottom, so the first thing we had to do was glue the damn thing in a very tricky spot. It continued leaking just a little bit (enough to pump it up every two weeks or so), but recently considerably faster.
Yesterday we started another attempt at a repair–this time with three layers of patches to seal off the bent area and to add a chafe-protection on top. We couldn’t help laughing when we read the instructions on the glue: only do the repair out of direct sunlight (yeah sure, on deck) and away from water (no problem on a boat), ideally with less than 60 % humidity (hello, we’re in the tropics??) and let the glue cure for 6 days (and be stuck on the boat in the meantime???)
Well, we did our best and we’ll see how long Wobbly stays plump and tight this time…

Before a long passage the boat needs to be thoroughly checked and prepared:
We have checked the rigg and changed the headsails to have the big genoa downwind (and repaired some seams as we were at it). Then the Yanmar got some attention: we cleaned the sea strainers, changed the engine oil, new coolant and yesterday a new impeller. Some engineer at Yanmar thought it was a fun idea to have the impeller on the hidden backside of the engine. Christian already cut an inspection hole to be able to reach it all after we bought Pitufa, but you can still either look in to see the damn thing, OR get a hand in. Only one hand at a time of course… Well, we managed somehow and cleaning the bilge afterwards was of course also a messy business

We arrived this morning on the southern side of Tahiti Nui, where we’ll do a stop-over in a quiet area before braving the big city. Last year we perceived the anchorage as quiet (in comparison to Punaauia), today we find the constant droning of traffic on the coastal road deafening