The Souvenir That Lasts a Lifetime

All along the West Coast of the Americas, soon-to-be westbound cruisers are upgrading their boats, stocking up on spare parts, and boning up on skills like offshore navigation, weather-reading, and heavy-weather sailing techniques. Few, we’d guess, spend much time thinking about tattoos. But they ought to.

Although they may not realize it now, once each year’s contingent of Pacific Puddle Jumpers arrives in the islands of French Polynesia, many follow the lead of thousands of sailors who’ve gone before them in getting the one souvenir that lasts a lifetime: a tattoo. Even if they would never consider adorning their skin with graphic patterns back home, once immersed into the centuries-old Polynesian culture, many cruisers become enchanted by the ancestral significance of various symbols and designs, and opt in to carrying a bit of South Seas culture with them as they travel onward. After all, in Polynesia tattoos are believed to be imbued with a magical and protective significance.

As you can see by the designs chosen by some recent Puddle Jumpers, individual tattoos can be quite elaborate, often borrowing ancient motifs and adding modern nuances to them. Over the years, we’ve collected some interesting photos of cruiser tats, but just for fun we thought we’d solicit more. So if you’ve gotten inked while cruising the South Pacific, please email us an image of your tat. If we receive enough of them we’ll post a special photo gallery online. (By the way, reliable sources estimate that up to 40% of adults between 26 and 40 now have a tattoo.)

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