Visa is there, French Polynesia we are coming

While we are having a leisurely breakfast with a bowl of yoghurt, Rajesh appears in the cockpit with a broad smile. “It’s time to return to Panama City to get my passport and visa,” he says. A little dance of joy follows in the cockpit while we immediately check the weather forecast for the next two weeks to sail to French Polynesia. From April 12, a northerly wind is forecast at 15 knots, which promises a favourable downwind course. We can maintain this pattern for eight days if the weather is steady. Perfect for sailing beyond the Galapagos Islands and taking advantage of the tradewinds and currents.

We are currently on Las Perlas, also known as the Pearl Islands, a group of islands in the Gulf of Panama, about 30 miles off Panama’s Pacific coast. People have lived here since long before Christopher Columbus arrived in America. When the Spanish arrived and noticed the abundance of pearls, they named the place Las Perlas (Pearl Islands).

During Spanish rule, Las Perlas was an important destination for diving and pearl trading. European and Asian traders were fascinated by the pearls of these islands, making it a lucrative location.

However, the path to wealth was not without obstacles. Famous pirates such as Henry Morgan and Captain Kidd were active in the region in the 17th and 18th centuries, searching for treasure wherever they could find it, including Las Perlas.

Over time, however, the pearl industry began to suffer setbacks. Excessive oyster exploitation and cheaper pearls elsewhere caused a decline. Las Perlas fell into oblivion.

Until the era of reality TV arrived. Shows like Survivor found Las Perlas to be a perfect location for exciting episodes. Las Perlas became known worldwide thanks to Survivor, where participants competed against this island backdrop. Other countries followed with their own versions of the show, such as Israel’s Survivor: Pearl Islands, South Africa’s Survivor South Africa: Panama and France’s Koh-Lanta: Panama, with each season mixing cultures and languages on the shores of Las Perlas.

But Las Perlas didn’t stop at Survivor. The island appeared on TV screens around the world. Mogo Mogo Island was the setting for the BBC series The Real Swiss Family Robinson, while Isla Gibraleón and Isla San Telmo served as the setting for the British survival show The Island with Bear Grylls. Even Dutch television participated with Adam Looking for Eve in the first season.

And just when people thought Las Perlas had seen it all, The Challenge: All Stars came along and filmed their grand finale here, making Las Perlas even more famous.

Today, Las Perlas is a popular day trip destination. Tourists come here to see the locations of their favourite TV shows, soak up the sun on tranquil beaches and snorkel in the refreshing waters. Like ourselves, we missed paddling, snorkelling and walking along the deserted beaches. Every evening, we enjoy the bioluminescence in the water. You see large groups of fish swimming and even flushing the toilet, which will cause a light show. It’s almost a party to flush the toilet. Our anchorage, near the marina, is on the route of large cargo ships heading to or just coming from the Panama Canal. The water is brown and full of algae, making swimming or making drinking water with our watermaker impossible.

Fortunately, our water tanks are now full again, and two days later, we leave by motorbike for Panama City. Before we go, we make a list of chores we want to do, and of course, we have to do a lot of shopping. From Panama to French Polynesia, it is 4000 nautical miles of sailing, meaning we will sail for 30 days straight and see only the ocean’s vastness. Everywhere you look, there is nothing but water. Once we get about 500 nautical miles offshore, we no longer see any birds. Mental preparation is essential here. We will sail day and night for more than a month, during which our watch system will come into effect. Everyone will provide their own entertainment during this crossing. People often ask whether we are afraid of being bored, but no, we are not afraid of that.

We raise the anchor and sail slowly away from our anchorage on the engine. There is not a breath of wind, and the water is calm like a mirror. Although the absence of sunshine makes it pleasant to sit on the deck and look around, it is also a shame because underwater visibility is limited.

Soon, a group of dolphins appears. We switch off the engine, and Jeroen and Rajesh hesitate for a moment, but they decide to venture into the water to view the dolphins. It is a special experience to see them underwater.

As we sail further, I see countless mobula rays swimming past from the bow, one of which even jumps a few meters out of the water. Not much later, Rajesh sees whales and doesn’t hesitate for a moment. He takes his drone to take pictures. We keep our distance so as not to disturb them. They’re probably Rice’s whales, although we’re not entirely sure.

The return trip to Panama City was already extraordinary, but Mother Nature gave us one more wonderful moment when we saw a massive group of dolphins a little later. We steer in their direction, and Rajesh deploys his drone again. There are hundreds. All around us, we see groups of dolphins jumping and performing acrobatic stunts. All three of us are in ecstasy and can’t believe that we are actually experiencing this. We return to our anchorage, La Playita, full of stories and enthusiastically tell them to Barbara and Ralph from Lille Venn.

On that Monday, Rajesh picked up his passport, and it took us three days to do all the shopping and find a place for them. We bought the last spare parts, Ali helped us weld one of our stanchions, I went with Barbara to a fruit and vegetable market to stock up on fresh supplies, I cooked ten meals and froze them (in case we had terrible weather and cooking would be difficult), we refuelled the boat with diesel and water, and sailed the evening before our departure to an island where we could remove the growth on the hull of our boat and the dinghy.

Here, I am typing the last words for this blog. If you would like to follow us where we sail, you can do so at https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/mymotu. If you click on Show Journey, you will find our last position. Twice a day, we turn on our Starlink (internet) to download weather maps and pass on the latest positions on Noforeignland.

I hope to be able to post my next blog this way when we are halfway through our trip.

Visum is daar, Frans Polynesië we komen eraan