An Appeal to All Visitors

Created by webmaster. Last modified on 2002-08-19 00:50:58
Contributors: Steve & Keiko (Chiba) Walker, Bora Bora
Countries: French Polynesia

Many visitors are not aware that French Polynesian waters cover an area bigger than Europe, and whilst in an emergency situation local authorities will respond with all navy, airforce and local means at their disposal, there are no coast guard equivalents on each island. Cruising yachts due to excessive VHF channel 16 chatter can in some outlying islands cause safety issues for local boats. As Tahitian and French are the main languages, many vessels during the cruising season, turn down their VHF radios due to excessive cruising yacht channel 16 chatter. When anchored, or in the lagoon, please organise between yachts a VHF net on channel 22, a channel not used by local boats. This will assist local boats who need the monitoring of channel 16 by inter-island ships for eventual emergency situations.