Supply bottleneck

We have long since said goodbye to the idea that you can buy everything everywhere in French Polynesia. On the Gambiers, we got to know the rhythm of when which goods are available. In principle, it's only about the food or household items that you really need in your daily life. Everything else has to be ordered and delivered separately from Papeete anyway. The rhythm is set by the supply ships. These ships call at the main islands every two weeks or so. All food, fruit and vegetables that are not grown on the islands themselves, drinks and everyday necessities are delivered and then distributed to the islands in the respective archipelago. This ensures that the yachts are supplied. Fuel is also brought to the islands via these ships. The fragility of this system was demonstrated on Nuku-Hiva in the first few weeks of January 2024, when the supply ships failed to arrive due to the public holidays in December and the New Year. In addition, there is a strike by the oil companies, which makes it necessary to ration fuel on the islands.

Food at the festival

After the festival on Nuku-Hiva, on December 21, 2023, the last supply ship arrived from Tahiti. It didn't have much with it, but rather picked up cargo that was needed at the festival on the island and no longer had any use, to bring it back to Tahiti. Since then, the shelves have been slowly emptying. In December, this was still inconspicuous, as the storage of the individual magazines was still able to replenish what was missing. By the beginning of January, we could already see some gaps. Restaurants suddenly ran out of beer, first occasionally, then more and more often. In the meantime, the supermarkets have run out of drinks in no time. There are no more colas, juices or mineral water. I managed to get the last six cans of lager from an undefined source this week. Occasionally you can still find a bottle in one or two restaurants, but even there supplies are slowly running out. However, there are not only supply bottlenecks for drinks. Potatoes have been out since mid-December. We used the last of the onions today, they have not been available since the beginning of January. Fortunately, we are here on Nuku-Hiva, an island where a lot of vegetables are grown.

Market in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

This means we can buy lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers at the market. Mangoes are also ripe at the moment and taste delicious here. Grapefruits seem to be available all year round. We use breadfruit as a substitute for potatoes, although this is not always available either. The shelves in the supermarkets are slowly emptying of pasta. The locals tend to disdain it, so I suspect that the yachties are making a run for it due to a lack of alternatives. Yes, things are looking bleak and the rumors about when the next supply ship will arrive fluctuate between January 15 and January 23, which doesn't inspire too much confidence. As we always keep up to three months' worth of supplies, we never run out of food. However, it does show how sensitive the system is here in French Polynesia when the routine is interrupted. In addition, there is a strike by the oil companies, which means that fuel supplies on the islands are extremely low. At the moment there are only 100 liters of diesel per month for yachts. The diesel is issued upon registration of the yacht papers at the filling station. Fuel is limited to 20 liters. So every dinghy trip has to be carefully considered if you don't want to end up paddling. For us, this means that we are still stuck in the Marquesas for a while, as the supply is even worse between here and Tahiti. So we will have to wait for this supply bottleneck before we set off for Papeete.

Supply ship in Franz. Polynesia

Out of desperation, our neighboring yacht, Tuvalu, bought a box of rose (3 liters) for 30 €, which should have been tasted as a spritzer. To our great surprise, the wine is not sweet, but has to be categorized as sour. That alone would not be the problem, after all, you can dose a mixture with the corresponding mineral water accordingly, no, a penetrating aftertaste between cough syrup and methanol cannot be eliminated even with the expensive Perrier, and you certainly could not drink the wine straight, as you would be exposed to the risk of going blind from even small quantities. Tuvalu has not even dared to give the fine wine as a gift. It is probably now used to polish silver, if available.

Neighbors in the Nuku-Hiva anchorage, Marquesas

Warned by the incident on the Tuvalu, we are currently buying with extreme caution, always hoping that this bottleneck will be resolved as quickly as possible. With this in mind, we wish you always fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.