Let the Scramble Begin!

Americans, at least for now, are granted 90 days when entering French Polynesia, no need to apply ahead of time for a visa. No big deal, you might say. 3 months in a country? Why would you need more? And if you do, just go get an extension. No sweat.

*Random passport stamp from long ago, just for kicks*

Ah, but not so fast, not on either point.

For starters, the country, officially an overseas department of France, is vast. It’s lots of islands (130) scattered across 1200 miles of ocean. About the size of Europe. It’s so large that the islands within are separated into groups, and you read about people cruising a select GROUP. Kind of like the Bahamas, where you cruise the Abacos or the Exumas, except to go from one of these to another takes longer than it would take to get from the tippy top to the tippy bottom of the Bahamas, covering ALL the Bahamian groups. Compared to French Polynesia, the Bahamas looks downright walkable.

Part of why we’re going cruising is to take our time. 90 days is barely long enough to dent the Bahamas, let alone a country where it might take us a week of sailing between anchorages. And if we’re taking 6 weeks to get there in the first place? Yeah, being limited to 90 days is both a sign of my privilege in how I view time and also a non-starter.

So why not just renew the automatic visa once we’re there?

Here’s comes the second rub. You can’t. If you have not received a long-stay visa BEFORE going to French Polynesia, you’re not eligible to apply for an extension.

Basically, you need paperwork in order to be able to file more paperwork. French bureaucracy is alive and well.

All of this is to explain a bit of why we’re still in Panama, since we cleared the Canal and have been in the Pacific for a solid 4 weeks as of this writing.

*Sailing in Panama’s Las Perlas islands*

I applied for my long stay visa (Jeremy, being a French citizen, does not need to clear this particular hurdle) the day after we got back from the States in January. January 16, to be precise. This involved making an appointment at the French embassy, organizing and collating and copying a mound of paperwork, and going in for an interview. The visa approval is a 2-step process. First you clear the embassy hurdle, then the paperwork all goes to Papeete, Tahiti, for approval in French Polynesia. (I was assured that happens electronically, not by snail mail, limiting the chances of things being lost. Another cruiser got exactly the opposite assurance, from the same embassy person. Maybe one of us got language stymied.) I was told it would take between 4-6 weeks until I got the magic email telling me the visa was approved and to come back in to get it entered into the passport.

Friends on Faith applied on January 2. I’ve been checking in with them almost daily since their 4 week mark, figuring that once they got theirs, I had 2 weeks to go for mine. We went out to Las Perlas (spoiler - way way exceeded our expectations!) to escape the roll of the La Playita anchorage. Once Faith heard about their visas, the logic went, we’d head back to Panama City to do the provisioning thing, plus any other last minute prep. There would be plenty of time to investigate grocery options. To can meat and homemade meals. To find jerry jugs. Produce hammocks. Cleaning vinegar.

Make plans and the universe laughs, apparently.

Faith received word that their visas were approved about an hour AFTER I received word that mine was ready. As we were in the middle of a lovely sail south in Las Perlas. 25 miles south of Contadora. Which is itself 35 miles from Panama City.

*Las Perlas, but we were way further south than this!*

And the weather? It appears that there’s a good weather window opening up in a week.

The MUST DO list is short. If you don’t count how much work is in each step.

Get back to Panama City. (Accomplished in 2 good sailing days, albeit close hauled in more wind than we’d prefer. Here’s hoping the passage to the Marquesas is more downwind than upwind.)
Get rid of garbage. (will make sure there’s none on board when we leave)
Do laundry. (round 1 in progress. There will be a round 2 the last day we’re here.)
Pick up the visa. (drop off on Monday, pick up Tuesday or Wednesday)
Fill diesel, gasoline, water, and propane. (in progress. Gasoline might be the most tricky one.)
Provision. (4 rounds, done. At least 2 more, probably 3.)
Canning? (8 pints of chicken done, a batch of channa masala in the pressure cooker right now!)
Clear out of Panama with official paperwork. (appointment set for Thursday am)

Let the scramble begin.