Anchoring Before 2025
We landed in French Polynesia in May of 2024, making our way throughout the region over the course of 90 days. In the time leading up to our departures, both from Canada in 2022 and Mexico in 2024, we began to hear that increased restrictions were going to be put on anchoring in French Polynesia. On arriving in the Marquesas Islands we found few limitations as to where we could anchor, other than natural restrictions (too deep in some places, terrible holding in others). We spent 5–6 weeks in the Marquesas with hardly any anchoring issues.
On arriving in Fakarava, we noted that there were areas on the map that we could not anchor, but otherwise, anchoring outside of the village, in Hirifa and at the South Pass was possible, if not at all easy – especially in South Pass. We learned to float our chain to try to avoid bommies (not always successfully) and took our time to find a place to drop our anchor in sandy areas. During our time in Rotoava, we were probably one of 50+ boats anchored. At Hirifa the numbers varied from several to 50 boats and at South Pass there were probably 15–20 boats anchored at any given time.
Anchoring in 2025+
French Polynesia intends to implement a pilot program this year that will prohibit anchoring in favour of using mooring balls, which can be reserved on an app. This policy is to be fully implemented by 2026. Here are the issues that we see with this new policy:
1. Travelling to Fakarava is a 5+ night passage, made only in good weather. Planning ahead is nearly impossible. How is one to make reservations for a mooring ball when they cannot reasonably anticipate when they will arrive? Further, what happens when a fleet of boats makes it into Fakarava, expecting to take over the mooring ball they have booked, only to find that the last group of boats have not departed because the weather has made it unsafe to exit the atoll?
2. As we understand it, there will be 25 mooring balls installed at Rotoava, 10 at Hirifa and 10 at the South Pass. Given that the prevailing winds can make either the north or south end of the atoll untenable, the boats tend to congregate towards the more protected end. This will effectively mean that no more than 20 boats can safely and comfortably be accommodated at Fakarava at any given time, which is less than half of the number of boats that were there when we were.
Harifa, Fakarava, will have mooring balls installed
Moving on from Fakarava, we landed at Tahiti, anchoring our first night at Point Venus. There were already limitations at this site – a maximum of two nights, I believe. Anchoring here is now prohibited. Again, this can pose a problem. We arrived late in the afternoon with winds building. It was not safe for us to enter the pass into Papeete and travel the narrow, restricted pass past the airport to either of the, at the time, approved anchorages. Without the option to stop for a night at Point Venus, we would have been required to make a very dangerous transit to the anchorage area in the dark or wait outside in worsening conditions. When we were at Tahiti, most of the boats were either in the marina at Papeete (I don’t believe that you can make advance reservations so it is first come, first served), the Taina marina on the other side of the airport (we understand that you need to book well in advance to get into the marina), or in the “airport anchorage” or the anchorage near Taina marina. I would estimate that in those two anchorages alone, there were at least 100 boats. Admittedly, some of the boats anchored were derelict and had been shamefully left to languish in the waters of Tahiti – we fully support the authorities having a way to remove those boats. But again, for the cruiser making their way through French Polynesia, the choice to anchor at either of these spots and the time that they are there is largely dictated by weather.
In trying to decipher the new anchorage/ mooring restrictions for the west side of Tahiti, which include the Airport Anchorage and the Taina marina area, it appears that there will only be 6 mooring balls in an area that 100 boats or more are normally located. This will clearly not accommodate the boat traffic that regularly travels through French Polynesia, most of which hope to stop at Tahiti in order to do their first really good provisioning in what may have been months!
Cooks Bay, Moorea, also destined for mooring balls
Moorea, Raiatea (see featured photo), Tahaa, etc. will also be subject to extremely limited anchoring opportunities with an insufficient number of mooring balls. While we had no issues anchoring in Raiatea this past year, we had friends who were constantly being moved along from their anchorage or mooring spots in Tahaa. The time limitations were being strictly enforced and there were already very few available spots. Given that most of the boats anchored or moored in the area were there because they were trapped by weather, they did not have the option to say “okay, you don’t want us here, we will leave”.
Times Are Changing
I don’t know what cruising through French Polynesia will look like in the coming years, but we would strongly recommend that you seek out all possible information before setting out. Our resources include Noonsite, Navily and Escales (the official French site that should be set up to book mooring balls). Keep an eye on the comments on No Foreign Land, Navily and Navionics to be sure you are not putting yourself in an area where you are not permitted to be.
It seems that the time of being able to leisurely move through French Polynesia, moving safely with the weather and being able to stop off in many paradisical spots may be over. Instead, planning will need to be done ahead of time to ensure access to a mooring ball. But the situation seems very fluid. Presumably French Polynesia will be monitoring the success of the mooring ball program, ensuring that there are sufficient places to accommodate all the visitors to their region. As we understand it, 2025 will be a pilot year. If there is an opportunity to send in feedback on the availability of spots, etc., it would be a good idea to do so – the parties planning the number and locations of mooring balls need to hear from you.
It will be interesting to see how the situation evolves. We are certainly thankful we passed through when we did and hope that the experience will not be made less enjoyable in future years.
The anchorages may change but the fish are still pretty. These were seen by Owen while snorkelling at South Pass Fakarava.
Currents PDFs
