June: wrapping up season 2

Our 2024 sailing season is already coming to an end. How can 4 months pass so fast !

As we prepare to pack up our things, let's reflect on boat life and our future on Wallis.

Boat life. What is it that we do really ?

We spent the month of June anchored in South of Huahine, one of our favorite islands of Polynesia and also a place where we feel at home since we have friends living around Parea village in the south where we drop our anchor.

So what do we do exactly everyday on a sailboat? This is one of the most frequently asked questions by our friends and family! Life on Wallis is very different whether we are sailing or at anchor. Let’s start with the days we sail, because there is not much to ‘do’ other than adjusting the sails if needed and taking turns to be on watch at night. Sailing in the open ocean on a monohull is not always comfortable and most you can do is watch the waves, eat some food and chit chat. Reading could make you nauseous and the boat moves too much to do anything else. Seb called it an Ocean Meditation Retreat!

So what does daily life on a sailboat look like when we are not sailing? Well, that depends on the weather! No two days are similar as we live with nature and nature is never the same. So right from the time we wake up - if it’s a beautiful sunny day, we tend to wake up before sunrise and do some morning yoga. If it’s been a rainy night or overcast morning, we tend to ‘sleep in’ and wake up a little later (late is 7am!) We have our breakfast with the ocean view. No/Less wind and calm waters means a day for swimming, yoga, run or hike. Wind between 10-15 knots could mean wing foil practice for Seb and security duties for Yamu. Wind between 15-20 knots means kiting! Wind more than 20 knots means waves, means a wobbly boat, means possible heavy rains means sitting inside the boat reading a book!

How often do we go to land? We try to go to land at least every other day. Either to see our friends and socialise or for sports (run, cycle, hike) or for a meal in the only restaurant on the bay or for shopping! Shopping means a day expedition as we need to get a ride with our friends to the main town and then we have coffee-breakfast, buy groceries, have another coffee, socialise and maybe have lunch too!

Do we get bored on the boat? Seb no, Yamu sometimes! If there are several days with rough/rainy weather, it means several days on the boat with limited activities (either or water or on land) and it means we get a bit ‘stuck’ on the boat and boredom, Yamu’s oldest friend shows up! A friend recently said to me ‘Boredom is a luxury’ and we realise how true that is. We try to enjoy these boring days by reading books , sketching and experimenting new recipes. Luxury indeed to have all this time with no worries…

Bartering our way around

Bartering might sound like quite an unusual topic on a sailing blog, but it has become a part of our sailing life and we love it. It is almost unimaginable to barter in the modern world. For those who might even wonder what this word means, it means exchanging services for other services without using money.

Our sailing life is full of bartering in different forms. When we visit remote islands like Maupihaa, where the people dont have access to shops, money and live very simple lives, bartering means exchanging meals. We are very happy to try their delicious lobsters and fish cooked in coconut milk and they are also equally happy to surprise their taste buds with Indian food!

On some islands, bartering can mean exchange of technical support for small businesses. In Tubuai, we came across a little food truck run by a smart and ambitious lady. We loved her energy and the fish burgers she was selling. As we ate at her food truck couple of times, and exchanged life stories, she told us about her plans for her food truck business. We helped her put up her business on google maps and set up a web page for her. We didn’t expect anything in exchange, but she was so kind and refused to charge us for our last meal at her truck. A couple of months later, we are happy to see her getting 5 star reviews on google maps :)

And in Huahine, where we have our friends, bartering means an exchange of activities and services! Technical support with computer and phone issues and business upgrade services (like setting up a webpage, google maps, painting a sign board) are exchanges for yummy meals in great company and/or lots of fresh garden fruits. We also exchanged Yoga classes for Body fly acrobatic class and Tango nights! For us, this feels like an ideal life. Why do we need money?

Plans for 2025 and beyond...

In July, we are leaving Wallis on the dry docks in Raiatea so that it is nicely tucked away until next year. Our 2024 sailing season is coming to an end, but we already have plans for 2025… Next time we come back to Tahiti, it may be on a one-way ticket!

We have been building up our sailing skills over the past couple of years and Wallis was also upgraded to fit our plans and lifestyle. We are now ready to take the next step and leave French Polynesia. But before that, we still have a few islands to discover. Our plan for 2025 is to make our way to the Marquises Islands, this archipelago is located north of Tahiti, near the equator and will be a perfect place to be during hurricane season. We should be back on Wallis between May and June next year, which will give us plenty of time to enjoy the whale season in the Society Islands and then discover more of the Tuamotu atolls on our way to the Marquises which we plan to reach in November (2025).

After spending a few months in Marquises Islands, we will head back across Polynesia to say good bye to our friends in Moorea, Huahine and Maupihaa. Maybe stop in Raiatea to fix a few things… Then we start heading West, past the last islands of Polynesia. This should be around March 2026, which will give us 9 months to discover other Pacific islands before the next hurricane season.

The most likely route is to start with Cook Islands which are only a short 5 day sail West of Maupihaa. Cook Islands are very widely spread from north to south, with a few famous spots such as Aitutaki or Suvarov. Next stop is Niue, a small island nation between Cook Islands and Tonga. We are not too sure how much time we will spend on these islands as our objective is to reach Tonga and enjoy sailing along the many reefs that will take us north, all the way to Samoa. Then, we definitely want to reach Wallis and Futuna before reaching Fiji.

As you can tell, there is still a lot of planning to do. The only hard deadline is to find a safe place to leave Wallis for the start of the hurricane season in December 2026, most likely in New Caledonia. If all goes according to plan, we will then be taking a break for a few months before continuing our trip to Asia…Stay tuned!

More Season #2