Marquesas or Mangareeva - Pitcairn Group

[sneuman]

Just curious:

I assume the Marquesas are the preferred landfall from, say Galapagos, because of resupply concerns, but do many cruisers call at Mangareeva or the Pitcairn Group (Pitcairn, Henderson, etc.) instead?

[donradcliffe]

The milk run is the Galapagos to Marquesas, but the Galapagos-Easter Island-Pitcairn-Gambiers route is well worth while. I would recommend it more for fully-crewed boats, because Easter and Pitcairn are far enough south that the weather fronts come through. We saw 60 knots in one frontal boundary between Easter and Pitcairn, but if you have done the Newport-Bermuda-BVI passage you have seen similar weather. It is also best if you can leave someone on the boat when you go ashore, as there are no well protected anchorages until you get to Mangareeva.

We went the southern route once and I'm really gladI saw those places, but the next time with only two on board we passed them up. BTW, we sailed up from Mangareeva to the Marquesas and it was an exhilirating 800 mile close reach.

[GordMay]

You may also be interested in:

Cruising the Coconut Milk Run ~ Ken Machtley and Cathy Siegismund (“Felicity”)
➥ http://www.svfelicity.com/articles/milkrun.pdf

The Coconut Milk Run ~ Jan & Signe Twardowski (“Raven”)
➥ The Coconut Milk Run

The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run
➥ The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run

[cagney]

I have done both routes. I don't think "resupply concerns" comes into the equation.On leaving Panama City you know that the next supermarket is in Papeete, and that you are not going to see descent prices for provisioning until NZ/OZ.So just fill your yacht with food.
I did the Mangareva route in 82, an saw 2-3 other yachts. At that time there was restrictions in force due to the closeness of Mururoa, and some dumping of waste in the lagoon, that maybe kept cruisers away. I never heard anything of it, and did not know about the restrictions in the first place.

By the way, the fascinating history of the Polynesian settlement in this part of Oceania is well worth looking into. There was an established trading route between Mangareva and Easter Island, that in the end collapsed due to a man made environmental disaster on Easter Island. Start with searching Wikipedia for Easter Island.
I wished I knew the history when I passed through. Jared Diamonds book "Collapse" has a fascinating chapter about this area that covers all these Islands.
Thomas

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by cagney

I wished I knew the history when I passed through. Jared Diamonds book "Collapse" has a fascinating chapter about this area that covers all these Islands.
Thomas

Excellent book, along with Guns, Germs and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee, by the same author.