When we first set sail from the Pacific coast of Panama, with our eyes on the horizon and a goal of reaching French Polynesia, we had no idea what was in store for us. We had spent two years cruising between the island nations of the Eastern Caribbean but had heard stories of the majesty of the South Pacific that we just couldn’t ignore. Sailing short-handed and non-stop for six weeks across the Pacific Ocean certainly had its challenges but we would do it all again in a heartbeat to reach this incredibly unique part of the world. Most sailors arrive from Mexico or Panama, a 3000-4000 nautical mile crossing through the ITCZ (the doldrums) and over the Equator. A brave few might make their way from South America, past Easter Island and Pitcairn, but the one thing that we all have in common is the desire to reach French Polynesia, a country of 121 islands that spans more than 5 million square kilometres, covering roughly the same size as Europe. Both those who first make landfall in the lush, green mountains of the Marquesas Islands and those who arrive in the smaller, off-grid archipelago of the Gambiers in the south, may enjoy their first taste of island life but many say it is not until you find the lowest lying land in the world that you reach the real jewel of French Polynesia: the remote atolls of the Tuamotus.
Read the full article here:
https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/research/navigating-the-dangers-of-remote-atolls-in-tuamotus-by-sail/
