“It’s always risky to retrace one's steps, especially when for almost 30 years, we have kept the memory of Polynesia as one of our most beautiful marine and underwater discoveries. However, let’s dare say it, this return to the other side of the world met all our expectations! It’s true that this time we can wander around the various archipelagos that the constraints of a sabbatical year didn’t allow us to visit the previous time. So after having linked the Atlantic crossing, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (23 days from Panama to the Gambiers...our friends called us the Transpacific Express!) we are enjoying the freedom to spend time where we feel comfortable. Off the classic route, the Gambier archipelago proved to be very captivating, combining high islands and the appeal of the lagoons.
We had great difficulty leaving the smiles and the generosity, but at the end of May, the weather constraints (at 23°S, the southern winter here is a reality!) had us setting a course for the Marquesas, where we have visited one anchorage after another from the south to the north over almost 10 weeks. Here time seems to have no hold over the villages in the wildest bays, apart from a few gleaming 4 x 4s and certain things which seem out of place, such as the brand new internet network now accessible in the famous Baie des Verges on Fatu Hiva! In the water, the manta rays fascinate us, and ashore, once again it’s the welcome by the inhabitants and the beauty of the wild scenery which appeal to us. But the desire to swim in transparent waters is the strongest...it’s time to point the bows in the direction of the Tuamotus.”
Brigitte and Serge aboard Kallima.
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