I wrote an article for ‘Lectronic Latitude, the thrice-weekly digital edition of Latitude 38, all about the latest news of the PPJ in 2020, and what I learned last year. Here’s an excerpt:
“Chatting on a hot New Zealand summer day this week, my new friend and fellow Pacific Puddle Jump 2019 alumna Elizabeth Stacey laughingly said to me, “We have a lot of canned tuna!” I can totally relate; I have way too many tins of sardines, but you’re bound to make mistakes when you provision for a 3,000nm journey across the Pacific into remote island archipelagos. This year’s Puddle Jumpers are preparing now for their departures from the west coast of the Americas. Eavesdropping on the digital PPJ forums has me reflecting on what my fellow jumpers and I learned in 2019, and what we wish we’d known before we departed for the remote islands of the South Pacific.
The latest buzz online has been about long-stay visas, a topic I know many in the 2019 fleet fretted about. Kathy and David Bennett sailed their Valiant 40 Pacific Destiny from Alameda to French Polynesia and back again during last year’s season, partly due to the 90-day limit for US citizens arriving by yacht without a visa. I opted to get a long-stay visa before departing from San Francisco, but spent nearly two months waiting, so I didn’t have time to visit Mexico before taking off for the South Pacific. Every cruiser I met who didn’t have a long-stay visa regretted it. Not having the visa also meant that some had to depart French Polynesia in less-than-ideal weather conditions.”
Go check it out, and stay tuned for an upcoming three-part series on lessons learned by last' year’s fleet. :)