Chartering in French Polynesia or Marquesas

[FabioC]

We are starting to plan a charter for later this year, destination either French Polynesia or Marquesas, which are at the top of our list of places we would like to visit.

We (my wife and I) actively sail our 35' monohull in the PNW, we are pretty comfortable handling her on our own in all conditions.

For this charter, however, we are either considering a larger monohull (45'-50' -- just because there is almost no selection for smaller boats) or a catamaran. Neither of us has any experience with catamarans (other than sailing a Hobie Cat a few times...). It is likely going to be only the two of us for this charter.

Does it make sense to consider a catamaran or should we stick with monohulls? should we expect a learning curve on a catamaran (which, combined with the unfamiliar cruising grounds may not be advisable)? I am kind of curious to try a catamaran, but I am concerned with adding some unnecessary stress in learning a different kind of boat to the vacation.

How do monohulls fare in comparison to catamarans cruising those areas?

Thank you!

[Cheechako]

For two I would go with the mono. I chartered Tonga years ago and it was great. No long passages and many diverse anchorages. At that time they had smaller monos too, I think ours was 36 ft.
To me a cat was "point and shoot". A bit like driving a bus. You do need to be careful about sensing the wind, you dont feel it on a cat the way you do on a mono. I was once accidentally caught between islands in the Caribe with sudden and steady 35- 40 knots of wind. It didn't last long though, but Full main up. You could hardly tell. But with steep seas I was pretty worried about things going upside down fast!

[fxykty]

Chartering a catamaran will be much more expensive than chartering a monohull. On the other hand, if you can afford it, the catamaran will be much more luxurious and comfortable - you’ll be spoiled. And you will learn to love sailing and living on the level and knowing that things you leave on a flat surface will remain in place while sailing.

The sailing is easy, in fact on a charter catamaran the sailing won’t be as fun or sporting as on a charter monohull. French Polynesia, whether the Marquesas or the Society Islands, has relatively steady trade winds and low chance of strong squalls in the winter. Charts are very good and navigation is straight forward (marks system is opposite to NA, though). Only sail during the middle of day and get to anchor while the sun is still high.

The Marquesas are a more open and exposed cruising area compared to the Society Islands. The latter have many more anchorages and sites (assuming you charter from Raiatea). There was an earlier thread on CF about chartering in the Society Islands.

For the Marquesas, a catamaran will not roll in the swells in the open anchorages as a monohull will. For the Society Islands, either type of boat will be suitable, though in a few spots a catamaran with shallower draft will get into nicer spots.

[FabioC]

Thank you for the info, very useful.

We are thinking of late November (Thanksgiving) for this charter. Is that too late for French Polynesia? When are the best times to go to French Polynesia, Society Is., and Tonga?

Thank you!

[Cheechako]

We did Tonga in October. It was cloudy some, not cold but not super hot either. We were lucky to get "owners time" from the Moorings at a very good price. That's when owners sell the time reserved for them to use their boat.

[fxykty]

Late November is the beginning of the summer cyclone season throughout the South Pacific, but the chances of an early season cyclone are less likely the further east you go. It generally will be warmer and more humid with lighter trade winds than earlier in the year and you may have extended periods of rain.

On the other hand, in 2016 we chartered out of Raiatea over the first two weeks of December. We had a great weather with only one rainy day. We were very thankful however for the boat’s air conditioning for getting to sleep and the passages between the islands were slower and less comfortable due to the weaker trade winds.

One of the benefits of chartering out of season is cheaper prices for the flights and boats and very few boats in the anchorages. Though some smaller land-based tourist operations and restaurants may be shut down for the season.

For Tonga, high season is June - October, not the least because that’s when you can swim with humpback whales. For French Polynesia that’s also high season, especially June/July with the Heiva i Tahiti festival and Bastille Day activities. October Tahiti Carnival is pretty cool as well.

Bottom line, there’s no big reason to not charter in late November but do have comprehensive travel insurance in case the weather goes bad and you have to cancel the charter.

[JESSWILLMS]

I would say that there is a bit of a learning curve with going from a mono to cat, but if you are willing to be patient with yourself and your mate as you figure it out, you will probably enjoy the experience. With a cat it can sometimes be challenging to see all the way up forward (depending on helm location, your height, etc), so setting up good verbal and hand signals in advance with your mate will help take some of the stress out of figuring out how to get to and successfully retrieve a mooring ball. Also, working on a trampoline up forward while anchoring/mooring is different than on a monohull. Just something new to get used to as your footing is different on netting than a hard deck. You may be most comfortable on a 38ft which is going to be the smallest cat you will probably find in charter. The two of us had a 40ft in French Polynesia in May and it's a lot of boat for two, but we had chartered cats before so did fine. Fantastic experience. Look for my brief summary of that trip if you search Raiatea on here. Anyway, bottom line in my opinion is that if you and mate are adventurous and have good communication skills, you will probably do fine trying the cat on this trip. Fair winds and following seas!