Home Free Global Nomads South Pacific: Pitcairn Islands to Îles Gambier (Gambier Islands), French Polynesia

11May We have travelled 4,000 nm or 4,603.12 miles since leaving Valdivia, Chile.

We have 118 nautical miles until Gambier entrance. 34:56 hours. Our current position is 23° 37.023S by 132° 49.446W.  Sunset was pretty with lots of pinks among the clouds, our first in French Polynesia 🇵🇫.  Half moon lite up the sky before bed.

This has been an adjective full trip, each part is more amazing than before but each has its special place in our hearts.  We have made some lasting connections along the way.  We look forward to seeing Nanaku and Zingaro ( nicknamed Shadow Cat by us).

French Polynesia

Illès Gambier 

It took us 3 days sailing to the entrance of the Gambiers from Pitcairn.  We are entering at 23°15.678S by 134°55.854W, going over the reef with the swell.  7:08 crossing the reef. Everyone feeling excited to be coming in to anchor for a few days with no swell.

Approaching Gambiers 

7:19 am and we are about to enter the passage to Gambier in 5 hours

The Gambier Islands, isolated more than 1600 km southeast of Tahiti, include the most eastern islands of French Polynesia . The archipelago, composed of ten high islands and eighteen motu , comes from a single volcano partially collapsed under the ocean. The whole is surrounded by a coral reef 80 km in circumference. Inside the lagoon each high island is itself surrounded by a reef. The island of Mangareva , with Rikitea its main village, is home to almost all inhabitants of the archipelago. The other three big Gambier islands are Aukena, Akamaru and Taravai.

Rainbow over the passage

Emma is ready as we are for land

Keith looking at our next destination 

Flags of French Polynesia, Quarantine and France

Emma: "I smell land and I see it"

Keith and Emma excited about seeing land and going to shore

Rikitea, Mangareva Island

View from the anchorage

Keith and I did some exploring while on the island, between getting baguettes, brioche, and going to the Post Office to exchange USD. Most times we were at JoJo's getting internet and some items for the boat.  We walked up to the church of St. Michael's. 

 St. Micheal's Cathedral is made of limestone, built 1839. The alter is mother of pearl and pearls

Gothic Revival architecture

Anchorage

Keith and Martin sitting by the dock at JoJo's

The beach by JoJo's looking toward Rikitea

The anchorage from the boat looking toward Rikitea

We spent 12 days in this lovely location off of Rikitea, Mangareva.  Keith and I toured the island some.  We joined Olga from sv Blue Peter to hike Mont Mokoto, 423 meter altitude, Mont Duff is 441m. We had so much full foraging for pomelo, papaya and raspberries along the trail.  We even found red, yellow and green chilies.  We met Olga in the forest with raspberry bushes covering the ground. So peaceful and tranquil walking in the shade of the canopy seeing so many white flowers but not many raspberries. Olga has planned to make some kind of dessert to take to a party on another boat.

We collected about 12 raspberries, we all laughed about not getting many. On the decent we came along a dirt road and found papaya, more pomelo and lush rich plants.

We had a memorable encounter while taking photos when a young man from the Australs named Toma asked us to come across the street and see his property and view.  We met his girlfriend, Grace. Her grandfather owned the property and they lived and cared for the property.  He gave us banana, cucumber and pomelo.  We were so grateful for this then he went to the garden across the road and gave us fresh taro.

View from hike on Mont Mokoto

Pearl farms located on the island

Mont Mokoto view of Rikitea anchorarge

Walking down from Mont Mokoto in this peaceful forest  

Mont Duff from the road after we left the forest with raspberries

Flowering Ginger

View from Toma and Grace's home

Keith, Toma and Wayne

Keith, Olga and Wayne

Sunset and moonrise

We watched the full moon rise over Aukena

We explored Aukena one day when we went over to see the island.  Keith and I took the dinghy to the beach on Aukena. We were greeted by a family on the beach then the son of the caretaker of the island. The son and his nephew showed us the island. We walked down a garden like path to the church, which had wasps flying around it. This is the first church constructed out of stone in all of French Polynesia is also on this tiny island in the Gambier archipelago. Built in 1839, Saint-Raphaël Church is a 19th-century archeological vestige with other ruins along the path.

The boys keep getting fruit for us to try as they took us to the point, we ate coconut that had sprouted and fresh coconut from the tree and drank coconut water. We ate breadfruit, bitter orange, they showed us medicinal plants. There are many wild pigs on the island that they feed coconut.  We had the most enjoyable time on shore with the family that lives there exploring the island and foraging for fruit.

Aukena in the distance from the anchorage in Rikitea, 

Aukena has reminders of the missionary period, including the hexagonal lookout tower, still used as a landmark, the former seminary and the lime kiln. The white-sand beach leading to the tower.  St. Raphael's Church still stands as a reminder of the missionary period.

Church of St.Raphael, interior

Maintained path to the church and grounds

View of Mangareva from Aukena across the lagoon of coral and beautiful water

Beach behind the point where the Watchtower sits

Pristine beach with coconut palms and warm breeze

Shaded beach area, peaceful and quiet

The pigs of the island maintained by the family that live here

Getting into the dinghy after walking along the beach, we see a storm coming in the distance

While we were anchored here our friends from Rapa Nui came into the anchorage. We joined Nananku for a hike up Mont Duff (441m).  It was a really nice hike past the pomelo tree, where we picked some fruit for the hike.  Leisurely hike with some hard points. Keith and I foraged for raspberries as we went along.  We met the others at the summit.

Mont Mokoto seen from Mont Duff summit

Rikitea below from Mont Duff

Mont Mokoto with Taravai in the distance

Francisco, Wayne, Marta and José

Keith and I went to shore on 22May with the intent to explore the church where the last king of Mangareva is buried then the old convent and forgave for fruit and squash. Initially walking from Rikitea we were drawn to the old coral buildings, ruins from the past of former jail and other buildings but the small lagoon was our main focus.

Abandoned ruins of the prison

Small lagoon near the old watchtower and prison ruins

St Pierre Chapel - Tomb of Maputeoa

Te Maputeoa (baptized Gregorio Stanislas; reigned as Gregorio I; born c. 1814 – 20 June 1857) was a monarch of the Polynesian island of Mangareva and the other Gambier Islands

We walked towards the Convent of Rouru , located at the foot of Mount Duff in Mangareva, the first building that we see, to the left of the entrance arch of the convent houses the chapel Saint-Agathe and the infirmary.

This double building, 24 m long, was built in 1848 in large coral stones, under the direction of Father Cyprien Liausu, of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Picpus.

On the North side, there is a large room which served as infirmary for the sisters of the convent and for the inhabitants of Mangareva.Former President Gaston Flosse , was born in this infirmary.

The vaulted chapel , located in the southern part of the building, was used for Masses open to the population. 

Ruins Chapel St Agathe of the Rouru convent and infirmary

Interior of Chapel St. Agathe of the Rouru

Arch of the Rouru Convent Portal

Convent de Rouru: boarding school

Pomelo growing on the tree on the convent grounds

old ruins below Mont Duff made from coral 

View into the lagoon from the road below Mont Duff

Keith foraging for bananas

Wayne finishing husking a fallen coconut

Rectory house in Rikitea

6,193 km Distance from Chile to Mangareva

On the 13th day in Mangareva we pull anchor at 12:15pm and set our sites for the Hao in the Tuamotus, 443 miles, 89:27 hours, current position with Gambiers in sight: 23°01.523S by 135°08.369W. 

Home Free Global Nomads South Pacific: Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to Pitcairn Islands

On the 27th April we set sail for the Pitcairn Islands, Ducie is an atoll 840 nautical miles away.  I was at the helm first to allow Keith and Martin to get some sleep. The sail to the Pitcairns had more challenges for us between rain, stalling the boat with no wind, 2.0 to 2.5 meter swell and squalls. We all were tired from the rocking and jerky movement on the boat, day and night.

When we had clear weather, there were magnificent double rainbows over a sapphire blue ocean, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, night skies with stars and Milky Way visible. We became familiar with findings The Southern Cross,  Venus and Mars.  We enjoyed our time together, having long conversations, reading, enjoying great food and living without complications.

We were so excited on day 9 of our sail to see Ducie atoll.  We could see it from 3 nautical miles away, white beaches in the distance but as we got closer the waves breaking, swell, coral and rock along the shore made it dangerous for us to make an attempt. 

Approaching Ducie Island, we are flying the Pitcairn flag

Ducie in the distance

Ducie Island is an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Islands. It lies 575 kilometres east of Pitcairn Island, and 300 kilometres east of Henderson Island, and has a total area of 1.5 square miles, which includes the lagoon.

Emma can smell and see land 

Birds flying over us as we approached Ducie

We were all disappointed, we did not even try to go swimming when we hung out looking at Acadia Motu then set our sails for Henderson Island (Henderson is 30 meters in height above the sea. The inhabitants of Pitcairn go to the island for wood to make curios for tourists.

We arrived in Henderson for Wayne's birthday, day 11 since leaving Rapa Nui. My birthday was a fantastic day made very special. Martin made English style crepes for breakfast with confectioners sugar and lemon, cream cheese and mango preserve, dolce de leche for sweet crepes and avocado with cheese for savory.  

So exciting, Henderson Island is home to several endangered species of birds and, thus, takes prestige as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Uninhabited bird-filled Henderson Island is 168km northeast of Pitcairn and is the largest island of the Pitcairn group. The usual landing spot is North Beach.

Martin making English Style Crepes for breakfast

Taking the main sail down

Henderson Island, which lies in the eastern South Pacific, is one of the few atolls in the world whose ecology has been practically untouched by a human presence. Its isolated location provides the ideal context for studying the dynamics of insular evolution and natural selection. It is particularly notable for the 10 plants and four land birds that are endemic to the island.

Waves breaking off Henderson making it impossible for us to go to shore.

Henderson Island

We stopped in Henderson but the waves were crashing on North Beach making it impractical to land. We sailed around to the west side of the island to Awahou where we anchored in sand.  We had champagne and sushi for lunch.  After lunch, Keith and I went out in the dinghy but there was no inlet to the beach except over a large coral head.  We would not have been able to leave the beach if we did land since the area is all very high cliff face.  We opted to go snorkeling, we had a very large fish come up under us and scared the hell out of me, especially since we were not wearing suits.  We saw a large school of needle fish swimming near the surface, schools of other fish, assorted colorful fish, large angel fish, large parrot fish all swimming along the bottom between the coral heads and sand along the island’s drop-off. 

For dinner we had Pommes Boulanger and Bananas Forster for dessert, incredible birthday!

We set sail for Pitcairn, we all we excited about getting onto the island famous for the mutineers of the Bounty settling there with they Tahitian wives. We all read Mutiny on the Bounty and Serpent In Paradise.  Upon arriving on 8May, radioed to Pitcairn when we were told we could not anchor in Bounty Bay due to swell. We were advised to anchor off Tedside, South Harbor but the swell was big, with many rocks and cliffs.  

We discussed the possibility of heaving-to at sea and then coming back the following day. However, we downloaded the weather and the current conditions were expected to last at least two days.  There was no chance we could stay.

Pitcairn Island

The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. They lived on Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, and on Mangareva Island 540 kilometres (340 mi) to the northwest, for about 400 years. 

In 1790, nine of the Englishmen from the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian, along with the 18 native Tahitian men and women settled on Pitcairn Islands and set fire to the Bounty. Christian's group remained undiscovered on Pitcairn until 1808, by which time all but one of the mutineers and all of the male Tahitians were dead. The remaining women and children were led by John Adams. 

Bounty Bay

Rounding island from Bounty Bay to Tedside

Waves on Tedside South Harbor

Breaking waves at Tedside 

Pitcairn Island

Leaving Tedside of Pitcairn Island

We called Pitcairn and said we were off to Oeno.  All of us we sad to leave, including the radio dispatcher on the island but they understood. We left Pitcairn Island arriving at Oeno the next morning at around 8:00 to the reef,  with location of 23 54.460S by 130 44.284W. Oeno is 72 nm away, we are flying the Pitcairn colours.  

Keith and I wanted to go to shore to find a passage for the boat. We used GPS and Sounding to determine if we could get the boat into the lagoon. We walked on Sand Island and collected some shells.  We started to head back to the boat and to look for the other pass, as we headed out we had trouble with the motor on the dinghy and were caught between cross currents from the West and the North. The boat was taking on water and everything was floating out. Initially Keith was rowing then we both rowed out of the swell toward the boat.  We lost some things but nothing of consequence. After about 2 hours of bailing out the boat we quit and just had both of us row back to the boat.  Martin gave us Piña Colada’s with rum.  We had lunch then took a nap.

Water temperature is 27.7, temperatures are going up and the water color is getting lighter (turquoise, pale greens and blues).  

Sunrise approaching Oeno Atoll

 Oeno Atoll is surrounded by white sandy beaches inside a stunning blue lagoon studded with vegetation. A sand bar, which is constantly undergoing change, is currently unattached to the island.

Oeno Atoll is located 143 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Pitcairn Island, at 23°55′26″S 130°44′03″W. Oeno Atoll measures about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) in diameter, including the central lagoon, with a total area exceeding 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi).

Sunset at Oeno

Pitcairn Islands are 5,529 km distance from Chile

We will stay overnight and leave sometime late afternoon tomorrow for Gambiers. At 13:15 set sail for Illè Gambier in French Polynesia.