French Polynesia

• Region: five archipelagos in the South Pacific, 121 islands and atolls spread over more than 2,000 km
• Scale: 3,521 square kilometres of land, population 278,786 in 2022 with about 69 per cent of it on Tahiti
• Season: dry season roughly May to October, wet season and cyclone risk November to April
• Bora Bora: 125 nautical miles north-west of Papeete, one ocean entrance through Teavanui pass on the west side
• Fakarava: atoll 60 km by 21 km with a lagoon of 1,112 square kilometres, the second largest in French Polynesia
• Fakarava north pass: 1.37 km wide and the largest pass in the territory
• Fakarava south pass: has been protected since 2008 and holds an estimated 700 grey reef sharks
• Marquesas: about 1,370 km north-east of Tahiti, with no fringing reefs, listed by UNESCO in 2024 as Te Henua Enata
• Ports of entry: Papeete and Moorea, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa and Ua Pou, Bora Bora, Raiatea and Huahine, Rangiroa and Fakarava, plus the Australs and Gambiers
• Entry: an online arrival form at least 48 hours ahead, with approval reported to take one to three days
• Biosecurity: an online questionnaire with a fee and an onboard inspection before departure clearance
• Access: Faa'a International at Papeete is the only long-haul gateway, with domestic strips at Bora Bora, Raiatea, Rangiroa, Fakarava and four in the Marquesas

The scale of the place

French Polynesia is the size of Europe with the land area of a small county. Five archipelagos, 121 islands and atolls, and passages between them that are measured in days. Tahiti holds about 69 per cent of the population and everything else is thinly settled. Mount Orohena on Tahiti rises to 2,241 metres, and the volcanic islands generally are steep, green and dramatic, while the atolls are flat rings of coral with nothing on them above palm height.

The consequence for an owner is planning. This is not a coast where a yacht wanders and sees what turns up. Passages are committed, weather windows matter, and a change of mind can cost two days. The reward is that the anchorages, once reached, are as good as anywhere on earth and there is nobody in them.

Three different cruising grounds

The Society Islands are the accessible third: fourteen islands in two groups, with Tahiti, Moorea and Tetiaroa to windward and Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora to leeward. Moorea is about 12 nautical miles from Papeete. Bora Bora is 125. Raiatea and Taha'a share one lagoon, which makes them the easiest and most protected cruising in the territory and the reason the charter fleet is based there.

The Tuamotus, a couple of hundred miles north-east of Tahiti, are the atolls. Coral rings with lagoons inside, entered through passes, and the diving here is the point of the whole trip. The Marquesas are about 1,370 km further north-east, high volcanic islands with no fringing reefs, which means the anchorages take the ocean swell directly. UNESCO listed the Marquesas in 2024 as Te Henua Enata. They are magnificent and they are uncomfortable.

The best lagoon cruising on earth, supplied through a single runway at Papeete.

A week, and three weeks

A week means the Leeward Societies and nothing else. Guests fly to Bora Bora or Raiatea, the boat works the shared Raiatea and Taha'a lagoon, crosses to Bora Bora and Huahine, and everyone flies home. That is a genuinely good week of flat lagoon water, and it is what most owners actually do here.

Three weeks buys the Tuamotus. Papeete or Moorea, north-east to Rangiroa and Fakarava for a week among the passes, back through the Societies. Adding the Marquesas turns it into a six-week programme with two ocean passages of several days each. A boat that has crossed the Pacific arrives with the Marquesas already behind her, which is the usual way anybody sees them.

The passes, and where a 50 metre boat fits

Every atoll is entered through a pass, and the pass is the technical problem of this cruising ground. Water piles into the lagoon over the reef and drains out through one or two gaps, so the streams run hard and set up standing waves against an opposing swell. Transits are timed on slack. Fakarava's Garuae pass, at 1.37 km wide, is the easiest in the territory and the largest. Others are a few hundred metres across with coral on both sides, and some are simply not attempted by a large yacht.

Inside, the lagoons are shallow, coral-headed and generally poorly charted, so a 50 metre boat moves on eyeball navigation with a spotter forward and good light behind her. Bora Bora has a single ocean entrance through Teavanui pass on the west side, which takes cargo ships and cruise ships and presents no difficulty. Tetiaroa has no navigable pass at all, so a yacht lies outside and tenders in. Berthing barely exists: Marina Taina near Papeete and the commercial quay in Papeete by arrangement, plus Apooiti on Raiatea. Everything else is anchor or mooring.

The anchorages and dives that justify the passage

Fakarava is the one people come back for. The southern Tumakohua pass has been protected since 2008 and holds an estimated 700 grey reef sharks, which gather in the pass in a wall that divers tend to count instead of describe. The whole atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Rangiroa's Tiputa pass has dolphins working the tide and is the other must-dive. Neither is a place to run a tender casually across the stream.

In the Societies the anchorages are gentler. The Taha'a coral garden, the motu anchorages off Raiatea, the bay at Opunohu on Moorea under the volcanic spires, and the lagoon at Bora Bora with the resorts on the motu. Tetiaroa carries The Brando on a private atoll and is the discreet stop for owners who want one. In the Marquesas, Taiohae on Nuku Hiva and the bays of Fatu Hiva are the anchorages, and all of them roll.

Weather and the season

The dry season runs roughly May to October, with the south-east trades steady, humidity lower and the water clear. That is the cruising season and it is when the fleet is here. The wet season from November to April brings heavy rain, squalls and the cyclone risk, and insurers price accordingly. Very few large yachts stay through it.

Even in the dry season the trades mean the passages north-east to the Tuamotus and the Marquesas are upwind and up-current, which is why boats crossing from the Americas arrive downwind and leave to the west. Southern-ocean swell arrives on the south-facing passes through the austral winter and can close them. Humpbacks are in these waters through the same months, which most guests rate above the diving.

Getting there and getting guests there

Faa'a International at Papeete is the only long-haul airport in the territory. Flights come from Los Angeles, Paris via Los Angeles, Auckland, Tokyo and a handful of other points, and every guest movement funnels through it. From Papeete, domestic services reach Bora Bora, Raiatea, Huahine, Rangiroa, Fakarava and the four Marquesan strips, on small aircraft with real baggage limits.

The practical effect is that a guest arriving from Europe is looking at the better part of a day in the air and a domestic connection at the end. Private jets reach Papeete but not most of the domestic fields. Owners plan long guest blocks here for that reason. Nobody comes for four nights.

Ashore, and what there is to do

The honest position is that guests come for the water. Ashore, Bora Bora and Taha'a have the over-water resorts and their restaurants, Moorea has the pineapple valleys and the Belvedere lookout above Opunohu, and Papeete has a working city, a market and the roulottes, the food trucks on the waterfront, which are better than they sound. Raiatea has the Taputapuatea marae, a major Polynesian religious site and a World Heritage listing.

The food is French-influenced and expensive because almost everything is imported. Poisson cru, local tuna and mahi mahi are the exceptions and are excellent. Nightlife is resort bars and the occasional dance performance. What actually fills the days is diving, kite surfing, paddleboarding across a lagoon at first light and the fact that the water is 27 degrees and clear to 40 metres.

Papers, support and the honest downside

Clearance is French, digitalised and done in advance. Yachts file an online arrival form at least 48 hours before arriving, and cruisers report approval taking one to three days. Ports of entry are spread sensibly across the archipelagos, from Nuku Hiva in the north to Mangareva in the far south-east. Before leaving, a biosecurity questionnaire and fee and an onboard inspection are required. Charter operation and the tax position of a foreign-flagged yacht here are specialist questions and change, so an owner needs a local agent and advice that is current.

The downside is supply. Fuel is available at Papeete, Raiatea and a few outer points, at prices that reflect the distance, and a large uplift has to be arranged in advance. Spares come from France or the United States and take weeks. There is no refit yard in the territory that will take a 50 metre yacht, so a serious failure means a passage of thousands of miles or an air-freighted specialist. Provisioning at guest standard means flying it in. An owner should treat the boat as self-sufficient for the whole season, because functionally she is.

Who it is for: An owner willing to commit a full season and a self-sufficient boat, whose guests want diving and empty lagoons and will accept a long flight to get them.