Infinity in the Tuamotu - First stop : Raroia the welcoming island !

Dear all,

After spending some time in Marquesas islands, we sailed to the Tuamotu atolls. We currently are in Makemo after spending 5 days in Raroia.
The first contact we had with the Tuamotu was a great and rich experience.

What is awesome when we arrived in Raroia, is for sure the vision of the colours, colours of the sea, the lagoon, the coral, deep turquoise blue and the mix with the green of the coconut trees and the bright white sand.
But the most amazing was the way we were welcomed. Around 15 kids playing football, diving from the dock ; came to see us as soon as we arrived on the dock. The kids we met in Raroia are really nice : Lavahina, 9 years old, borrowing her mum’s name stayed on another island, and playing ball like a pro ; this other kid that wants to become a fireman on his island and who studies by correspondence ; another who asked me if we were welcomed the same way in the other islands. We definitely shared great time with them.
Raroia has around 150 habitants, located in two different places on the atoll. A new airport has been set up with one plane per week. Kids at secondary school on other islands can come back for holidays. It also appears that it helps the business to develop more on the island … mainly around pearls farms, dried coconut exported to Tahiti to make oil, and fishing. Good for them, they can import food, material,… but it also make them afraid of too much development that could change the peaceful atmosphere and the great nature they have. The lady that owns the snack told me that they have to find the right balance! The rising of the level of the sea? Yes, they know about it, but what can they do? Lots of topics we all exchanged with the locals.
But my greatest experience was for sure the meeting with Regis, a local man that decided to come back on his island after having travelled and worked in Europe and in the US. Jeremy and I spent two days with him, playing guitar on the beach and talking about the history and the future of his island. This amazing guy tries to teach to the young kids how to preserve their island, how to grow vegetables in their garden by themselves and how to fish in an efficient way. What better than a local having travelled the world and deciding to come back on his land for giving the good words ? That was my impression …
Jeremy and I had the opportunity to share with him a day on his red fishing boat outside the atoll, learning about how to catch the different kinds of fish he is then selling either on the island or to Tahiti. We ate “poisson cru” on the boat, fish we just caught five minutes before, marinated with lemon … Simple and magic moment ! Thank you Regis.
We now are still in Makemo, waiting for the wind … Different island, great moments too, news to come soon !

Claire

Raising awareness about climate change in the South Pacific: Call for sponsors to share the ecological vision and human dimension

Infinity Sea Tribe is now in the Marquesas, heading soon towards the Tuamotu's and Society Islands in order to raise awareness about climate change in the South Pacific. On July 11, 2010, Infinity will be in Hikueru, Tuamotus, not only to admire and share with the local islanders a total eclipse of the sun (4 min.) but also to take advantage of the international media attention that will be given to Hikueru Atoll.

Here in the Marquesas, Infinity focuses on its mission by anchoring in several islands with strong culture and history. The Infinity community goes to encounter local people and shares with them trying to understand their view of environmental issues and local culture preservation effort made. This is the first step of Infinity mission to be able to relay the information and to raise awareness. All crew members are conducting and recording several valuable interviews to collect testimonies and to measure the level of awareness. Exchanges have been made with a teacher, a fisherman, kids and other people with different backgrounds. Infinity gets involved and is getting prepared to continue the mission in the Tuamotus islands!

We have no sponsors yet, all 17 international volunteers on the boat are contributing financially every month for room, board and fuel. We need recording equipment, food, near sailing gears and internet onboard.

Infinity Sea Tribe has the skills, the courage and the determination to bring more attention to climate change in the South Pacific. With your support, we could keep the expedition going and facilitate communication between the crew and the rest of the world.

By Sasha, current Infinity crew member, The Marquesas, March 2010
"Our discussion veers into our own environmental impact, covering the boat’s system of storing used engine oil (not a drop goes into the ocean, ever), our own sad dependence on fossil fuels even in the middle of the ocean, and ends on our conundrum of how to communicate with islanders about climate change while forcing ourselves not to further burden them or the ocean with our own trash. By virtue of using any plastic and oil, it seems, we threaten to strain the resources of the very remote communities that we are approaching to offer education, support and documentation."

We all remain completely open and committed to culturally appropriate interaction with the long-term goal of helping our ocean, planet and inhabitants. We care for the environment and its people; it is our group desire to see peace, mindfulness and ultimately less destruction to our planet in a very timely, local, committed manner. It is a clearly urgent calling, according to our personal actions. The spectre of rising seawater is the end, simply, for many people. Our hope is to document the lives that will be affected soonest, most rapidly and profoundly, with the fervent hope of inspiring all of us to decide to conserve resources, live without greed, and share with others the urgency of sustainable living, now. This is haltingly happening in varied communities around the globe, and we are doing it at sea.

Thank you for your support ! Spread the word and do not hesitate to contact us!

The Infnity Sea Tribe

kids from Nuku Hiva

Here is a pic of Heimeiani, her brother and myself after two hours playing and sharing all together with their dad ! Great exchange time in Nuku Hiva in Marquesas !

Claire

Infinity Sea Tribe mission in “îles Marquises”

Dear all,

Here is some news from the tribe in “îles Marquises”!
We already visited two islands: Hiva Oa and Nuku Hiva; and spent some days in beautiful bays just anchored in front of beaches and small villages surrounded by mountains, banana and coconut trees !
After spending some time in Hiva Oa we moved to Nuku Hiva. We all enjoyed sailing again on Infinity! We had the chance to share the ocean with a whole family of dolphins following the boat!

Nuku Hiva is a very welcoming island, people are peaceful, interested to meet with us and pleased to see an international sailing community.
On land, we all took time to meet and to interact with the local people. Each of us heard stories about how the local culture tends to disappear and how they try to keep it alive.
I met with a fisherman and his two kids. It was amazing to see how this little girl, “Heimeiani“, was already learning with his dad to sell the fish on the dock and to recognize all kinds of fish they caught.

We also invited local people on board, to share dinner with us. Tama Rii Kohu has been really nice with us. He brought a “Carangue” and cooked it in a traditional way with Duncan (even if our stove was not working properly!).
Kohu also shared with us his vision of climate change and issues they face on the island around fishing and environment preservation.

The day after we were invited to a barbecue on the beach, and played “boules” and had a lot of fun !

Infinity mission is on! We also keep working on the boat to preserve our home!
We will leave soon to Tuamotu islands, as soon as we get fuel!
Other stories are waiting for us, we are all excited about continuing to discover the Polynesian culture and exchange with the islanders !
We will keep you posted !!

Claire

My last day in Hawaii

Hawaii, after 11 months on the Infinity, was a wonderful experience.
Clemens, Tara and Ruben is part of my life forever.
And Infinity is always a home for me.
You Annie and Make is part of my life too.
Love you

Arrived in "îles Marquises" : We did it !

Dear families, friends and Infinity followers !

We sailed from Hawaii to Marquesas Islands ! It took us exactly 2 weeks, 6 days and 22 hours. We are all very proud of our trip !
Everything went well, everybody is fine and I guess that we all loved that experience!
I was amazed that we didn’t see another sign of life during the crossing. Not a boat or even an airplane for that matter. Just us, in the middle of the South Pacific, all alone. Actually that’s not really true, we shared some sailing time with some dolphins around the boat, just as if they were showing us the way to go.
The weather was a good compromise : great wind (Traudl went up to steer the boat up to more than 8.5 knots !), calm afternoons favourable happy hour times, sunny days, … And I will always remember our first rainy day, when we all went on the deck, enjoying a fresh shower outside, running everywhere with a happy face !
The crossing was made of a lot of memorable moments :
-waking up in the middle of the night for putting the sails up or down because of weather conditions changing,
-watching beautiful sunsets and sunrises with our shift team partner and counting the “étoiles filantes”,
-running at the back of the boat to bring back Tuna caught on the fishing line
-becoming crazy with the big swell making the boat rolling a lot, and everything flying in the galley,
-the crossing equator party when we all went swimming, getting dragged by a line at the back of the boat, and drink a beer magically found somewhere on the boat …
-our music session made of singing, Ukulele, drums and happy sounds
It is hard for me to describe all the feelings that I had during this trip but I definitely will never forget it !

Well, we are now in Hiva Oa for a couple of days. We all went on land, met with people, talked with them (in French for me, what a pleasure !), enjoyed this beautiful island, spent some time to know more about Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel who are buried on this island. We also started interviews with local people around our main focus on climate change. Duncan and Chad had a really good exchange with Pifa, a local teacher.

We will leave today for next Marquesian island : Tahuata !

Everyone is great, more news and pictures to come soon, as far as our internet connection allows us to upload pics of everyone !

Last thing, a personal hello from Jeremy to Neil Roosevelt : “I received your messages but haven’t had a connection for long enough to respond “

* Claire *

MARQUESAS AT LAST !

Infinity arrived sound and safe in the Marquesas. All is well. Update to follow by one of the crew member if the internet connection in Marquesas allows it...
Stephanie