South Seas Sewage Smells

[bobconnie]

Things change!! More folks, more smell!! 30 yrs ago when we went to the french Isles, things were pretty pristine! 15 years later, things had changed ! more of everything !! Bildings, hotels, bars ect ect! Its just the way of the world ! everybody wants to live in Paradise! LOL Im just happy to have many GOOD memorys of the way it was! Ya just need to find places with a few less folks !! May never be what it was, but it will be a good memory for you ! We still find new good memorys in Mexico, Belize, and below there! Little ancorages with few if any boats, and clean beachs and water so clear ya can see your anchor from the dink !! Thats paridise for us ! just sayin ya got to make good memorys !!

[micah719]

Buy the guide books, so you know which places not to go....and when you find your nice little places off the beaten track, don't tell everyone; only tell the folks you would want to find there.

[stevewrye]

I don't want to imply that there is no pollution in French Polynessia as there is plenty. Just look at the destruction of coral reefs on many of the islands to build roads with crushed coral bases. Drive around any island and you will see beach quarries with heavy equipment on a quay loading dump trucks with ancient coral to be processed. Many believe that ciguatera came only after the practice of mining coral for road and runway development began.

As far as the Quay goes in Papeete I'm sure there is plenty of pollution but I doubt it is from the city dumping sewage in the inner harbor. It is a small harbor with plenty of commercial boats tied up across from the quay, maybe they dump at night. Early morning car fumes are lousy at the quay until the trades kick in.

But still it is a great place to sail to as there is no other place like it in the S. Pacific. If you are going to sail half way around the world experience it all. Papeete is a city with a totally unique culture and should be enjoyed for what it is.

My first time there was in 1972 and let me tell you the city has changed. In those days Quinns bar was the most famous bar in the S. Pacific and if you dared to step inside the door you were willing to brawl with some very big guys, big women and some very big inbetweens. At night the main street was the only street one ventured on. The French were doing Nuke testing out in the atolls and every day the locals had protest marches in Papeete. I remember getting surrounded by some big brothers while a march was going on they wanted to know if I was French. When I showed them I was not they forcefully invited me to join the March and I did. I think that period was the first time that the French Foriegn legion was called into the island to stop the mugging of French Nationals.

[Blue Crab]

Yeah, I've heard lots about Quinn's Bar. Finally decided to hove to in the armchair long enough to Google the issue. Saw a lot of references but couldn't isolate anything current. Quote below off Sprep.org site circa 1993:


Papeete is also faced with the problem of managing its solid waste. This is produced at a rate similar to

industrialised countries ...

Six official dump sites in the valleys and dozens of unlawful dumps contribute to

the physical, chemical and visual degradation of the environment.The lack of sorting and the frequent fires spread evil smelling and toxic fumes over the town. These have led to the construction of an incineration plant

producing

methane, currently being trialled. lt is doubtful whether this costly plant, which is almostworking

to capacity, will satisfactorily solve the refuse disposal problem.

Also found a pic of smog hanging over Noumea. That did it for me. I'm from So Calif and know all about that.

Thanks for the input. As Barnakiel says, still distink odors as of '04:

"... When we visited (2004) Papeete smelled very bad as did plenty of lagoons in French Polynesia - basically anywhere close enough to a village or town. I bet they have NO sewage treatment facilities at all."

Think I'll stick with the Florida Keys. You can still be a hermit if you only come ashore for tartar sauce. I like my big tiger sharks with plenty of sauce. My next thead: Does tartar sauce need refrigeration?

[stevewrye]

Ya I googled Tahitti wastewater and pollution, only good stuff was in French.

Google Quinn's Bar. Tahitti. What a trip through memory lane the few top links are. When I sailed there in 2007 or 8 I was riding the bus out of Papeete back to the marina on the west side and a elderly man sat beside me and started speaking to me in English. He introduced himself as Paul Gauguin's grandson. I wasn't going to believe him but everyone on the bus was watching us and nodding yes he really was. After a short time I believed him he was an amazing man. We talked about the old days in Papeete and about Quinn"s Bar. I am an idiot for not having invited him back to the boat for lunch, my wife could have kicked me for not bringing him back.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by stevewrye

Ya I googled Tahitti wastewater and pollution, only good stuff was in French.

Google Quinn's Bar. Tahitti. What a trip through memory lane the few top links are. When I sailed there in 2007 or 8 I was riding the bus out of Papeete back to the marina on the west side and a elderly man sat beside me and started speaking to me in English. He introduced himself as Paul Gauguin's grandson. I wasn't going to believe him but everyone on the bus was watching us and nodding yes he really was. After a short time I believed him he was an amazing man. We talked about the old days in Papeete and about Quinn"s Bar. I am an idiot for not having invited him back to the boat for lunch, my wife could have kicked me for not bringing him back.

Thats a cool story...

[Jim Cate]

FWIW,

It has been a long time since we last sailed into Papeete, but my memories are not of bad aromas but of good times had. We first visited in 1987 and by then the"good" times were long gone, but it was a very interesting cruising destination.

But it is definitely true that Noumea's Baie de Moselle, and the marina Moselle therein do not smell very good. I have some history in sanitary engineering projects, and the aroma is familiar. My understanding is that there is no proper sewage treatment there, but large septic tank fields instead. The increase in population density has meant that there is leaching of sewage into the bay with the subsequent odor problem.

As a result we now always leave that marina (where formalities are performed) ASAP and retreat to the nearby anchorage in the nearby Baie de Orphelenat (sp?).

NOumea is still one of our all time favorite destinations and the cruising in New Caledonia is superb and varied. We return regularly... smell and all!

Cheers,

Jim

[Livia]

We can think of only two places (both near towns) that we could smell sewage in French Polynesia after spending most of the season there this year.

We smelled a lot more raw sewage wafting up from holes in the streets of San Francisco.