September 29, 2007 - Saturday
Our three months in the South Pacific Islands has been a refreshing change. We wish we spoke French or Tahitian, as the language barrier prohibits us from really getting to relate with the locals, as we would like. However even with this barrier, we have many stories of the kindness and generosity of these people. Everywhere we go there is some one saying "Bonjour" or "Onorana" with a smile. We feel very safe here. No one has had any issues with stealing or even an ounce of rudeness…well, that's not quite true, one salesperson in a trinket store was not helpful, but hey, it was our only moment of discomfort in three months!
One might think that the South Pacific would be just like Hawaii. It is true, that the Hawaiian people are descendents of the Polynesian's and the geologic development of the islands are coral reefs or volcanic and there are coconut palms swaying in both places. However beyond this, we feel a huge difference in their development and cultural attitudes. Perhaps, this is because the South Pacific islanders retained their cultural heritage even under the colonial influence of France. It will be interesting to go where there were no colonial influence by the French, New Zealanders or the Americans, the dominant colonialist in the South Pacific Islands, to see if the native people are any different in their attitudes.
The French have been present in the South Pacific since the late 18th Century. We were expecting to find lots of French bureaucracy and "stuffy" structure, but we have been pleasantly surprised to find that the officials have been efficient and friendly. We have not had, nor have we heard of other cruisers having problems with officialdoms or any aggressive treatment of cruisers. In addition, we have been fortunate to benefit from a little of the French subsides of these islands. Baguettes are only .47 at every island. Other items, like rice, salt, flour, and sugar are also subsidized. However, everything else is outrageously expensive: Cabbage $5, a banana ring (15 bananas) $5, Tofu $4, cheap rum $60, and on and on. We have to eat and we like our fresh foods, so we pay the price. The locals pay the same as we do, so it is just the price paid for living on an island society with limited resources. Supply ships come and go weekly. Airplanes deliver the rest.
We understand the French support with subsidies every person on the islands, no one is starving or begging, although we have seen some mere shacks and poor living conditions. Yesterday, a woman drove into the grocery store parking lot with a brand new Hummer. So, there is money some place. For a while we couldn't understand how the people could be driving so many brand new SUVs on all the major islands. Now, we understand that the government will pay half the expenses of a start up business. Thus, a number of people have figured out that they will start taxi services, get a new SUV and use it whenever a cruise ship comes in town. Part time personal and part time business use makes capitalistic sense.
There is a high sales tax on nearly everything (16% VAT). There is no income tax and may not be property tax. It is the sales tax that gets cruisers to the islands. Duty-free doesn't help us, we are in that state of limbo, being part tourist and part resident. The paper work to reclaim the VAT is enormous, clumsy and difficult. Even Polynesian Yacht Services tells us they don't do it or want to do it for even a fee. We can only assume it is too much of a hassle for them.
Diesel fuel costs are about $.95/liter with our discount and gasoline $1.25/liter, no discount. We use gasoline in our "car", the dinghy so that price can be significant to us. We've been very good about not using the engine while underway so we have only needed to refuel the boat once in the three months we've been here. Our diesel tank takes about 180 gallons.
Being so close to New Zealand, we are enjoying products from New Zealand including Queen, Fuji and Rose red apples, cheeses, Red Anchor canned butter, Arnott crackers, cookies, and best of all, LAMB! Not, Hotel Mac, rack of lamb (yum), but still good quality lamb. We must eat lamb chops at least once a week. Five small lamb chops for $7 usd.
The Chinese labors came here as immigrants at the turn of the century and stayed. Eventually, shifted from laborers to businessmen; the typical pattern of Chinese people around the world. They came and opened the grocery shops. They were notorious for opening shops and letting the local people shop "on credit". The trusting and naïve Polynesian's didn't even venture to keep track of the grocery tabs, they had no clue what "on credit" meant. It was a very new and foreign concept. Until a year or more had passed, then the Chinese owners called on the local Polynesians to pay their debts. Obviously, a year's worth of food and goods grew to a very high tab. This was a shock to the Polynesians who had no cash saved but only their land available to pay and settle their debts. Forfeiting their lands became so prevalent, that a court order had to be issued to stop the use of credit sheets. Currently, the Chinese own most of the island lands and the Polynesians work for the Chinese. The Chinese still own most of the grocery stores. We've been warned to count our change when in the stores. I neglected to do this several times and I've been out a few dollars here and there. It is difficult to argue back when receipts are not freely given out and when you don't speak French.
Obviously, tourism is the major economic lifeblood of the islands. Resources are limited.
Pearl farming is a more recent economic base for the islands. It is less than forty years in its development. Some local families have done well with the pearl farming and tales tell of entire families becoming very wealthy from the long and arduous endeavor. Like growing grapes for wine, the pearl industry takes a while for the harvest and subject to the woes and bliss of nature.
Pearl farming can be tricky; the oysters can be destroyed by a storm or contamination. And the flux of the market is only becoming well established, so the gems value varies from year to year. The pearl market isn't monopolized like the diamond market, but like all gems, it's based on supply and demand and lots of marketing. One Chinese Tahitian, Robert Wan (75), has spent his life bringing a quality standard to the Tahitian pearl market and taking the gem to the global market. He has shops at every major island and he opened a museum to educate the public on black pearls.
We had fun visiting a pearl farm in the Tuamotus of Fakarava. We picked the oyster, and then watched the local man open it and reveal the pearl. Moments later he removed the pearl, tossed the excess muscle parts, except the delicious scallop like center (which with a little lemon juice, we ate. Yum!). The black pearls aren't top, top, top, quality, but still they have luster and unique shapes. They are beautiful to us. We had holes punched in them so we could enjoy wearing them on a leather string.
John has been especially pleased with the clean environment on these islands. After years of living in Latin America where garbage litters the roadways and people unconsciously toss litter from buses with what seems like no remorse. We pleasantly were surprised how that is not permitted among the people here. It isn't a law, but a peer pressure, cultural norm. We watch as mothers scold children for tossing a soda can under a bush. We watch as sweeping is vigilant and dumpster bins are everywhere.
The garbage is collected in large trucks and taken to another side of the island where it is burned and buried. Burning is prevalent in the backyards and in huge heaps so the smell and sight can distort our normal bliss with living in paradise. It is no worst than elsewhere, but the contrast with the natural beauty is a reality of human's presence. Humans make garbage, lots of garbage. And all around the world, it is a problem what to do with our cast offs.
Recycling is encouraged, but we haven't discovered where it goes or what becomes of it. On an island with little soil, the need for soil and clean (non-salty sand for making concrete), means many resources are imported. There is a concerted effort to try and encourage local agriculture and construction, but still it is difficult on volcanic islands. Most homes are made of pre-fabricated materials and only a few are of concrete block or wood. Pre-fabricated materials means, trailer park homes scattered in the landscape. It is tastefully disguised, but it is still a doublewide trailer. There are few forests for lumber. Most of the hard wood is used for carvings or to build outrigger canoes.
Rowing your outrigger canoes is the national pass time. However, if you are French it remains rugby. But the canoes produce, "hunks" of men with fine and tone bodies. Every day whether it be solo or in teams, there are men rowing in the lagoons. They rise early on these islands and row throughout the lagoon. Caught sight of our first guy with a thong on, as he drove his skiff by our boat; luckily he had gorgeous butt cheeks "oooh lala". Men wear pareos instead of shorts. The comfort of no underwear and a light piece of fabric is all they need.
On Bora Bora as throughout the South Pacific, life begins at 4 AM. They close all shops from 11:45 to 2 PM for lunch. And then they reopen from 2 PM to 5:30 PM. On Saturday's most places close by 12:30 PM., everything is closed on Sundays, even the boutiques and trinket shops. Sometimes, it is inconvenient to not shop 24/7, no such thing as a "convenience store", but most times we find their ways quite civilized. Sundays is a true, day of rest and family time when they pull together the weekly family feast. As the saying goes, "They work to live, not live to work".
Most atolls and motus, have a single two-lane ring road that encircles it, and almost all roads are paved. The asphalt roads keep the dust down and the dirt out of the open aired homes of the tropics; possibly a decision made to make the place more tidy and livable as well as survive the rains and the erosion that must come with the wet season.
Least I forget to mention it, but we've mentioned in the website entries, Bora Bora's lagoon waters are gorgeous. We have never seen such clear, clean blue and green waters and they are warm waters. We even see green clouds, a reflection of the island and the waters. But the pink and salmon orange clouds are also outstanding. The brilliance of the landscape color is extremely difficult to reproduce in any painting, postcard, photo or drawing. Luckily, we have them embedded in our memories. Sometimes from our small dinghy, we can see down 15' or more. We watch the eagle rays swim off the sandy bottom. Possibly the only disappointing aspect of the natural habitat is that the coral life seems to be mostly a mustard yellow, sometimes blue and occasionally a pink coral. We expected more colorful stands of coral, but it could easily be that all around the globe the coral reefs are dying. The marine environment is suffering from the global warming and pollution. It is really sad to watch the change.
Our girls teasingly wonder why our generation has not done more to protect the environment. What can we say? We are consuming more resources than the planet can support? We are not yet smart enough to respond to the decline or if we have solutions, the populace isn't ready to integrate them into our daily lives? We need to be smarter with resource management and improve our diplomacy with the global management of the planet. What does one say to the next generation? What have we left them as our legacy?
When I lived in the Caribbean in 1980, there were abundant fish and coral reefs. I took it for granted what I saw every Saturday when I snorkeled in the Virgin Islands. Cruisers tell me that most of that has changed. Cruisers having been there recently tell us that the coral reefs are dead. We wonder if the Great Barrier reefs of Australia are also suffering decline?
The last of the family cruise boats will leave today. Most are heading to Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. It is a La Nina years so the weather will be different than in most years, colder and more rain, 15° S. We think many who are leaving for New Zealand may not be happy with this predicted La Nina condition. It could be a tough passage for our friends. We pray for their safe passage.
On the other hand, tomorrow, we head northwest to the atoll of Suvarrow (also spelled: Suvorov). It will be about a five-day passage. Suvarrow is part of a set of the Cooks Islands, colonized by New Zealand. Suvarrow is a Nature Preserve, so we are anxious to spend a few days and see the bird life and beauty of this island. And then, too soon, it will be time to move onward. Time is running out. We are on a very tight timeline to move along and across the equator by November; we need to get far away from any bad weather or hurricanes. The hurricane season is upon us and we don't want to tempt fate.
After Suvarrow we will sail another five or six days to American Samoa where we will go to the anchorage at Pago Pago. We will be there until the early November. This will be our chance to do a major restocking of provisions. We will try to attend to the annual check-ups (e.g. dentist, dermatologist, ear doctor, and optometrist). As well as renew our medical insurance policy, get our mail sent to us, and get any major supplies sent to us from the USA. We are anticipating being very busy when we are in American Samoa.
Daily we are heaving large, "sighs", as we bid "Adiu" and wave goodbye to cruisers heading to New Zealand. Lingering thought… "Last one out be sure to turn the lights out."