Coronavirus: Hundreds of sailors stranded in paradise in South Pacific as restrictions hit

There are some 550 sailing boats currently sheltering in French Polynesia, with hundreds more stranded in Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia

Some are preparing to hunker down where they are, and others have felt discrimination from locals fearing they may spread Covid-19

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Kristen Pankratz, right, and her father David pose with their boards before going surfing in Tahiti. They are stuck in the South Pacific as the coronavirus pandemic restricts travel and countries close their borders. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00am, 30 May 2020Updated: 7:21am, 30 May 2020

For as long as she can remember, 28-year-old American Kristen Pankratz has shared in her dad’s dream to sail around the world. Life somehow always got in the way. But after giving up her advertising job in Dallas, she finally set sail with her parents in January.

Now, along with hundreds of other sailors, they find themselves stranded in paradise. As they sailed west across the vast Pacific Ocean in March, the coronavirus pandemic spread its tentacles across the globe. They made it as far as Tahiti in remote French Polynesia, one of the last places in the region to offer refuge as borders slammed shut.

With South Pacific countries not yet ready to reopen, the family is finding no way forward, no way back, and does not want to abandon their boat. So they remain where they are, in a strange limbo, hoping they can sail west again before the cyclone season hits in November.

There are some 550 sailing boats currently sheltering in French Polynesia, according to a manifest kept by maritime authorities. Typically the boats have a crew of about two or three, although a few have 10 or more aboard. There are hundreds more sailors stranded elsewhere in the South Pacific, in Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.

We’re very happy to be here. I feel like we’ve won the lockdown lottery.

Vandy Shrader

The Pankratzs say they’ve been treated extraordinarily well and have been able to see beautiful grottoes and black sand beaches without many other tourists around. Others say they’ve encountered suspicion and sometimes hostility from local residents fearful they might be bringing in the virus from abroad.