Tahiti Christmas — Fit2Sail

Sometimes I think people think we live in an episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”; our blowout of a Tahiti Christmas falls squarely in this category. Yes, we still live on our little sailboat, and yes, laundry is generally done in a bucket. But for almost 2 weeks in December of 2025, we lived quite a bit larger.

Where Calypso will be for Christmas has been a family conversation for the past few years. Yes, people want to see us, but really there’s the hunt for a good excuse to visit somewhere new. The challenge is, we have no idea where we’ll be in any kind of good timeline for large-scale logistics like renting houses or securing good airfare deals. Three years ago, en route from Beaufort to the Eastern Caribbean, we figured it out right after Thanksgiving; up until that point, it had been a tossup between BVI, St Martin, or Antigua. Two years ago, the Bahamas became reality again on a similar timeline when we finally got a weather window to cross over from Florida. In 2024, we knew we’d be in Panama but it didn’t feel like a good place for people to come in and visit given that we’d be on the Atlantic side and Colon isn’t known for tourism.

*Boat Christmas tree, pressed into land service*

In 2025, though? We knew in April we’d be in French Polynesia for Christmas. Cue the planning.

Houses were found. Plane tickets booked. Now to find a place to stash Calypso . . .

*The “airport anchorage” in Tahiti. Good holding, but very squirrelly winds*

One major challenge in Tahiti for boaters is that the marinas (all 2 of them) do NOT accept reservations. It’s a first-come, first-served situation. Christmas is not high season, per se, but it is also a time when a lot of people want to leave their boats and fly home to wherever. We could make a reservation in Mo’orea, paying in advance for a space, but that would entail ferry rides and likely expensive local transport if we wanted to check on her during the time family was around. We decided we’d just hope we got lucky.

*You have to call port control and get permission to cross the runway approach area*

Spoiler: not lucky in terms of a marina. Did it matter? Not much, it turns out. We brought the boat down and anchored her right off of where we spent most of the time.

*Calypso’s Christmas lights from the airbnb*

First to arrive was Anik, Jeremy’s mom, who wanted to meet with cousins who live on Tahiti. We stayed with her in the cozy airbnb she’d rented for the first few days, a studio really, which had a delightful deck and waterfront access. We met cousins, checked out the Marche Papeete, and just had a wonderful quiet time just the 3 of us before the onslaught truly began.

*At the studio airbnb, on the wall overlooking the beach*

On December 20,the first to arrive were Bee, Julian, and Jules, arriving on the 5 am flight from LA. We just had time to drive them back to crash at Anik’s little spot, then turn around to pick up the next 8, coming in on the 7 am. After a little juggling of cars and luggage, we packed everyone in and headed back to where we’d be staying for the next 8 days.

What a spot. The 2 houses were about 4 doors apart, an easy walk down the beach as long as you didn’t mind getting your feet wet when the tide was in. Kayaks and paddle boards came with the houses and were immediately pressed into service; the coconut tree right off of the deck of the bigger house was a source of immediate and endless entertainment. The bigger house had a foosball table even.

We set up cooking teams so nobody had to be in the kitchen all day every day, though we definitely partook of the excellent bakery that was literally right across the street. There were hikes, a group trip to Mo’orea for many, drives around the island. Kayak rides to check out the sharks and turtles. Many, many trips into Papeete to the marche as people scrambled to find Christmas presents - it was a Secret Santa style present giving, with a top limit of $25. Who needs to unwrap presents when we’re all together in a location that still makes me want to pinch myself? The Friday after Christmas the kids took a surfing lesson.

*Patisserie display case. This was RIGHT ACROSS the street!*

*Group photo on Christmas morning, in the shirts Bee made for all of us <3*

*Close up of the shirt design. (They take commissions: @blanchardwaters on social media)*

*Cooks Bay in the background - the inspiration for the design*

It was an epic vacation filled with a lot of laughter, tons of photos, amazing food, and sheer joy at being together.

Christmas 2025 will be one we talk about for a very, very long time.