We arrived to Marquesas at the end of April, and as a Canadian I am limited to a 90 day stay in this country so we will have to move on by the end of July. Jens, as a Danish citizen and part of the EU can stay as long as he likes. But 90 days it will have to be. We will only get to three of the five archipelagos of French Polynesia - Marquesas, Tuamotus and the Society Islands. The Gambiers (rarely visited as the French were conducting nuclear tests there as late as 1996) and Austral Islands will have to be missed. They are both a little too far south, off wind and off course for us.
In the five archipelagos that make up French Polynesia there are 118 islands spread over an area of the Pacific Ocean the size of Europe. The islands signed a treaty with France and became a French colony in 1842 but as of 2004 French Polynesia has gained a high degree of autonomy. They still have their own currency but fly the French flag as well as the Polynesian flag. We, as a visiting yacht should also fly the French flag, but we arrived here with only the Polynesian flag. We'll have to buy the French flag in Tahiti in order to be respectful and compliant.
The Society Islands are the most popular and most well known with the islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora being the most recognised of them. We'll discover them next and see for ourselves what has made them such a haven for honeymooners and mega yachts.
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