Sunset over Bora Bora

Hopefully someone reads this who is planning to leave the US, Mexico or Panama for French Polynesia.

Everyone told us there was nothing in French Polynesia... Nothing. So we loaded the boat with spares and food and fishing lures and extra line and.... and... and...

All that data is 25 years old.

Food: No, there is no Costco here, but, there is lots of food. The Marquesas, on the more populated islands had nice grocery stores and venders who sold good vegetables. There is a lot of local fresh fruit available. In the Tuamotus the stores are very basic in the less traveled atolls, I have heard that the more traveled atolls have better stores. Those atolls that are served by boats such as the Cobia, you can order food from Tahiti to be delivered to the Atoll if you are hanging out there. I wrote a blog post about doing this in Apataki. Once you are in the Society Islands, there is anything you want. In Tahiti you can even get Gluten Free flours and other products.

Marine Parts: Tahiti has lots... you might have to poke around. Raiatea has lots. Don't forget that you can have things shipped by air from Tahiti to any of the French Polynesian islands and Atolls. I did this for a refrigeration part that was in Tahiti. the cost to deliver to the airport and the shipping was $10 US...

We are still eating out of our supplies we bought in Panama... and, since much of what one buys in Panama is close to its expiration date, we have eaten a bunch of old stuff and thrown out some too.

So, save your money, have a lighter boat, sail the Pacific with what you need to get to Tahiti.

Gifts. We were told all sorts of things about gifts. "bring cigarettes and alcohol," "bring paper and pencils," "bring old hats and T-shirts..."

My experience is that the Polynesians aren't looking for anything. They are interested in making friends. Most of them are as well off as they want to be and many have stopped working for the day to show us around. So, come with an open heart. If you do bring gifts, bring things that you would want to share with your family. These people are very generous and if treated like family, they will welcome you into their lives. We wish we had brought more things that relate directly to us: Small VT Maple syrup bottles, more art and craft supplies to make gifts, favorite or personally hand made fishing lures, other things we had made.

All that being said, it is very expensive to bring in parts from the US...