Jasna Tuta - All the Colours of Polynesia

Bonjour, Madame.

The young French gendarme asked us to take a seat.

Thank God, we thought, silently hoping for the paperwork to take as long as possible. Still panting after an hour-long climb under the blaring tropical sun, we collapsed onto the seats and angled our sweaty faces towards the refreshing blast of the air conditioner.

The gendarme handed us an entry form for yacht crews entering French Polynesia for the first time. For a moment, I wondered how he knew that we had arrived on a boat, but smiled when I caught a reflection of myself in the window; I was deeply tanned, my hair bleached by the sun and tousled by the wind, with rumpled clothes and threadbare sandals on my feet. My sunglasses were encrusted with salt, and Ricks backpack had started to mould. One look at us was enough to know that we had spent a long time at sea.

The sailboat gets a three-year permit, explained the tanned Frenchman as soon as we handed over a filled-out form. He took a quick look at our passports, made copies and returned them to us. I had been hoping for a new stamp, but as a European in what is officially Europe, I had no such luck. Americans, Canadians and Australians only get a three-month visa upon arrival, but residents of the Old Continent can stay as long as we want in this remote French territory.

The bureaucracy in French Polynesia is remarkably straightforward in other respects, as well. In most other countries, the crew is not allowed to leave the boat until all the entry formalities have been sorted out. When sailing into a countrys territory for the first time, we have to hoist a yellow flag signalling that we would like to check in. Sometimes we dock at the pier near the Harbourmasters office, while other times, we just drop anchor nearby and wait for someone to notice us and grace us with an official visit. Each country has a slightly different entry procedure, but usually, one can expect a visit from two or three different types of officials sometimes even more. First, they inspect the crews passports and boat papers. While stamping all the paperwork, they explain how long we can stay and how to extend our visa if we wish to stay longer. After that, its the health inspectors turn, who checks on the crews health and whether there are any animals on board. Sometimes they even fumigate the boat if they suspect there might be a bug infestation in the bilge. Some countries have very strict rules regarding food. In New Zealand, for example, they will confiscate all fruit and vegetables, seeds, dairy products, meat, honey, and any other suspicious edible items they can find.

After all that, its finally time for the customs officers to board and make sure that were not smuggling anything. All of these officials come armed with reams of forms, and filling them out can make the registration process take hours.

In light of this, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we dont have to wait for any officials at Hiva Oa.

Dont worry about it; theres no rush. Have a rest, and youre welcome to go ashore as well. Just drop by the gendarmerie tomorrow or the day after.