Sailing with YELO

13 January 2024 | La Paz
10 January 2024 | San Evaristo
07 January 2024 | San Evaristo
04 January 2024 | Punta Salinas, Isla San Jose
02 January 2024 | Punta San Telmo
01 January 2024 | Agua Verde
28 December 2023 | Puerto Balandra
19 December 2023 | San Juanico
17 December 2023 | Punta Chivato
16 December 2023 | Punta Chivato
28 November 2023 | Santa Rosalia
18 August 2023 | San Carlos
05 July 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
05 July 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
10 June 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
03 June 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
02 June 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
01 June 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos
31 May 2023 | La Paz to San Carlos

Getting organized in Gambier.

02 February 2019 | Gambier
Rolf
If you have already cleared in and you arrive in any French Polynesian island you are supposed to register with the local Gendarmerie, the cop shop. Some of them don't care and look at you rather puzzled when you show up. Others like here in Rikitea take it serious and start filling out stuff on their computer. I don't know what it's all for and often you must wait a day or two to find anybody in the cop shop. They must be busy chasing the frequent armed robberies here JIts a joke and I don't know why the police is never in their office. So after we did all the paperwork we asked the Gendarme Lady if it was safe to keep our bicycles locked up somewhere on a lamp post. �" Oh mais, NON�" . We have thieves here. Especially bikes they like to steal. We do find the bikes after a while but often they throw them into the ocean and it's a hassle for us .So please don't leave you're bikes on land. It's too dangerous. Since the Cop shop has a nice fence and alarm system I asked them if I could keep them here�...Fat chance, no way!! Beside the Gendarmerie there is also the �"Police Municipal�". I have seen a few of them driving thru town. All in all I am sure they must have a dozen cops. Somehow it seems weird they can't keep the low life bikes thieves in check in this tiny island of 1000 people. Most of the islanders look rather peaceful, so it must be just a handful of young kids that they can't control. They should take those cops and send them to Singapore. There they just give you the cane if you don't behave. The whole world is shocked off course, but not much crime there and they have millions of people. For this and a few other things i miss Singapore, but i would not want to live there. We saw the supply ship "Nukuhau" coming in and it was a day and a half of chaos unloading a few containers. Everybody that ordered a fridge or something drives in with his huge pick-up truck and the port becomes a mess. I looked puzzled and realized: this is not very organized. And it's not the first time they do this. The ship has a generator on board but no muffler, so the whole island rattles along with this stinky noise while they are in port. The baker got his flour .We saw them unloading tons of drinking water and a truck load of chicken feed. I guess they feed their chicks expensive food rather than coconuts�...oh well. A truck load of black earth for flower pots arrived as well. Makes no sense with such good topsoil and tons of greenery to compost your own earth if you wanted to. Then it's off to the Post office. We are now semi legal residents. For paying the web and the mobile phone we are now proud owners of a bank account with �"La Poste�". The debit card was send to Nuku Hiva. Now we had it sent to Gambier. All well and clear �...it only takes a month, by air mail!! Any procedure, if it's the web or Post or anything government is extremely complicated and involves tons or paper. It feels like you are in the Third World. Impossible to open a web or bank account online�...they love papers that are sent to Tahiti for more stamps and a more approvals. The people here believe sincerely that they should have independence. But if they function like this, they would be bankrupt and as poor as Tonga or Vanuatu in no time. France of course pays for everything and covers the deficit. A major conversation piece is the local corruption. Elected and other officials fill their bank accounts in Japan or Switzerland. And France pays for everything. Nobody is ever convicted.It would be "white justice", they dont want that anymore. Voila I look at them how they �"organize�" a small port and it shows the real tragedy of the situation. France has kept them like children, and they haven't done much to grow up either. Their education is very poor. I often ask kids or young adults. Where is my island; Switzerland? Where in the world is it located?? They have no clue. Then I ask them to name me a few neighbors of France�....nothing . Maybe Russia or America ? They are ashamed and smile. It was pleasant at the post office and rather efficient. The funny thing was that while we were dealing with our card, many people came in and asked for cash. The post office is the only place where you can get cash. But she looked into her drawer and it was empty. The Post office is out of money!! She ordered cash a while ago but it never came. After we deposited 10 000 Francs into my account, there was a bid of a struggle who would get my money. It's about 100US $ After a week of no bread, the baker finally got flour for his baguettes. 5 am you have to be there. At 5h05 he was sold out. Next bread is at 14h00 sharp. This time Daniela was there at 13h30, but the electrician had to do maintenance on the village generator. So no power�.... No power: no bread. She finally got some at 16h00 ooof!! We found apples, TWO DOLLARS each !! and onions garlic, disgusting cheese, hormone chicken and not much else. Its gonna be slim pickings for a few months here. The Marquesan shops are paradise compared to this place. If you're not happy here, you can always make a visa run to Pitcairn Island with a population of 35 British souls. Not much shopping there. It's an easy sail of 290 miles. Then you roll at the �"anchorage�" for two days, pay 100$ for the passport stamp and come back for another 3 years in FrogPoly. By that time you must love the shopping here. Mangos and Lechees are out of season now. But they have Coconuts and Papaya and apples from the USA!! Life is good here, 24C at night 30C during the day with a light breeze. When the ship comes in many yachts pile up and fill their boats.Today they all left to another island where they have a public BBQ. They are all French boats and they call it a " Barbec" . I asked one French sailor if there was a French word for burning flesh on a fire. He thought for a while then he smiled and said " Mais oui une grillade" voila. Nobody knows why they use all these English terms. We do the same in Switzerland. Danielas Mom is in her 70s and when she vegges in front of her tube she " chilles". A term well established in Swiss German. I chill , you chill, we all chill....WTF ???
Comments
Vessel Name: YELO
Vessel Make/Model: CATANA 431
Hailing Port: LANGKAWI
Crew: ROLF & DANIELA
YELO's Photos - Main
First sunny and hot, then the fog moves in and the boat gets all wet. You feel the light drizzle
16 Photos
Created 20 March 2023