It has taken a bit of time to put together my thoughts for this trip and convey the essence of the experience. First a little background. In 2020, we decided to do a South Pacific vacation on the MV Paul Gauguin for a 14-day trip that highlighted the Marquesas Islands with stops along the way at two Tuamotu atolls and three Society islands. We planned this trip with our yacht club friends, Carl and Mary. Then the great covid disruption…sigh. We eventually rescheduled for June 2024.
We had been on the Paul Gauguin in 2018 on a 10-day Commodores Cruise with our yacht club and had been overwhelmed by the scenery, the native population, the overall calm that the islands create, the geology, the ship, the service and the crew which all went into the 2020 decision making process. In addition, we had always wanted to take our boat to the South Pacific. However, as time passed, it seemed more enjoyable to have an 8-hour flight to Papeete, be transported in air-conditioned comfort to a dayroom at the Intercontinental hotel for lunch and boat drinks, then transported to the ship where the accommodations are incredible, have all of our beyond phenomenal food prepared and served, our clothes washed, our room cleaned, turned down and attended to at least twice a day, others taking care of ship maintenance… you get the idea on the motivation for the decision.
Before getting too far into this, on top of the daily/hourly adventures, there was a BIG adventure during this trip. It so happened that the Commodores Cruise for our yacht club this year was a 7-day Tahiti and Society Island trip that immediately followed our 14-day voyage. Invoking the almost always successful argument that you only have so many trips around the sun and adding that we were thoroughly enamored with the whole South Pacific experience, Joni and I asked “How can we argue that logic?” and extended our stay on the Paul Gauguin for an additional 7-days so that we could not only experience exotic locales with exotic names, but we could also do it in the company of 56 yacht club members. Joni, wrangled, bargained and cajoled and thanks to her persistence, we had seven more days on the Gauguin.
14 – Day Itinerary June 8 – June 22
7 – Day Itinerary June 22 – June 29
The Paul Gauguin is a smaller ship, just over 500 feet long with 9 decks and a “tailgate” marina and was designed specifically to get into anchorages in the archipelagos of the South Pacific. There are three restaurants, and four strategically located adult beverage stations staffed with very personable and friendly mixologists. The ship also includes all of the amenities you expect from a cruise ship, pool, fitness center, overpriced ships store and entertainment at several venues on-board. In all, there are 217 crew members on board. On the 14-day trip there were 256 passengers with 180 French folks … Incroyable! On the 7-day trip there were 280 passengers.
We were also on a mission on this trip. Our good friend of at least 40 years, Jeff Inshaw passed away unexpectedly last year. Jeff and Marie were avid sailors, travelers and adventurers who visited, sailed and loved Franch Polynesia. Marie asked us to place some of Jeff’s ashes in a scenic spot in the islands. We took that assignment very, very seriously and in general being over-achievers, happily made sure that we left a little of Jeff in at least one location on every island that we visited.
I am not yet sure how this series will turn out and what the format will be. Since we took a combined 1,850+ photos, I will only be posting some of those in future blogs. I’m also pretty sure I will get carried away with some geologic ramblings and an unusual addition of some cultural discussions. In the end, the short story is, get to the Tuamotus before they are inundated and while there, see the rest of French Polynesia.