Cruisers in trouble with Customs in Tahiti

Created by doina. Last modified on 2003-07-14 10:09:45
Countries: French Polynesia

What a treat to visit the Tuamotu archipelago when cruising French Polynesia! Endless beaches, terrific diving in the passes, isolated anchorages are some of the attractions of the Tuamotus. Those beautiful lagoons are also the best areas for culturing the famous black pearls of French Polynesia! Beware, the dangerous archipelago may still be dangerous despite the GPS we all carry on board! Because I am not referring to navigation but I am talking about the temptation to exchange black pearls for whisky or other goods. Years ago, some cruisers told me that as soon as they anchored off a pearl farm, they were chased away by the owners and were thus quite disappointed by the welcome they got. I told them that the reason is that since the pearl farm activities in the 70's, many times cruisers have been approached by native workers wanting to trade black pearls (actually stolen from their boss!) for any type of booze or money. First of all, most of the pearls you get may be good looking but from very low market value and thus you may not have made the great deal you thought you did. ALSO you could have been trading in stolen goods! Recently the government has been tightening the rules of who can sell pearls, how they can do it and standards of pearl quality. Pearls of poor quality cannot be exported at all and every purchase has to be accompanied by a official certificate. All sellers have to be registered with the government. While you may not be in trouble to receive a gift or to exchange with the owners of any farm a few pearls for yourself, you could be in a lot of trouble if caught with a large quantity of them. Like that US boat, caught in Tahiti recently with 300-400 black pearls traded/bought in the Tuamotus! After the deal was made, someone contacted the Customs authorities in Tahiti and when the boat got in port, it was completely searched. The pearls and any cash money plus their boat papers were confiscated until judgement was rendered. Results: all the money found on board was confiscated as the fine to be paid and all the pearls also confiscated.

I think those cruisers got lucky as the law states that any boat can remain duty-free in French Polynesia if not more than 12 months in any 24 months period, ONLY if nobody on board engages in any type of labor or business activities! So the full import duties of roughly 20-25% of the value of the boat could have been arguably been asked! Traders be aware! As a reminder, some boats in the past have been in big trouble for selling and trading guns, ammunitions & drugs in the Marquesas. In most countries, penalties could be much worse so cruisers, be careful while cruising the dangerous archipelago!

Luc Callebaut, S/V Sloepmouche

Noonsite Regional Editor, French Polynesia