Destinations • French Polynesia
Traveling with pets in the Pacific
The pugs’ French Polynesia steps, and what actually happened to us, are on the clearance guide.
Most of this circulates by word of mouth among cruisers. We pulled it together, organized it, and share it free. It is not official guidance, so don’t rely on it as such.
Dogs and cats, country by country Heard from Cruisers
This is not a sightseeing page. It is how a dog or a cat travels on a yacht. The pugs’ own French Polynesia steps are on the clearance guide.
Cruisers report that you cannot import pets into the Cook Islands, Niue, or Tonga. You agree to keep them aboard. Fiji, they say, bonds a pet aboard and does not treat a boat arrival as an import. The figures and the links are below.
From Some Tuesday Our own Neiafu check-in is on the Tonga clearance guide: they asked us to confirm the dogs would not go ashore, and we were not charged.
Links
- Pets-by-country spreadsheet. The French Polynesia contacts in it date from 2025, and 2026 updates are still wanted.
- French Polynesia biosecurity: bringing in dogs.
- A June 2026 account of checking into French Polynesia, including pets.
- A longer write-up of the French Polynesia pet import.
French Polynesia
Who examines the animals Heard from Cruisers
Pets are examined whether or not they go ashore. You go to Tahiti as soon as you can for a clinical exam and a document that lets them stay aboard, and until then they stay strictly confined. Officials may cage them aboard. Upload the papers and get feedback before you see an official. Requirements: an annual rabies vaccination (a 3-year vaccine is not accepted), a microchip certificate, echinococcus deworming, internal and external parasite treatment, a leishmaniasis test from a specified lab with the chip number and test date on the certificate, and sometimes a sterilisation certificate. The clearance guide and the official page are the current list.
Where the file goes Heard from Cruisers
Declaration form 211A goes to yann.teikiteetini@administration.gov.pf for a Marquesas landfall, and to animal.impex.dbs@administration.gov.pf for a first landfall elsewhere. The clearance guide’s current step is the online application, which replaced paper 211A.
Marquesas vet visit Heard from Cruisers
A vet visit to the Marquesas or the Gambier is possible only if enough boats share the cost, about 12,000 XPF plus travel. A visit in Nuku Hiva had the fee payable at the Nuku Hiva post office.
The Tahiti office Heard from Cruisers
Files are cancelled for “unpaid” fees even with proof of payment. Visit the biosecurity office next to Faa’a airport with paper originals. Dogs are confined aboard for months, and titer tests go to Paris. The in-app messenger on the online file is slow, and it is the best reply. Clinique vétérinaire Maeva, opposite Carrefour near Marina Taina, is helpful, with blood tests shipping to France on Tuesday mornings if you book Monday. Veto Mobile is another option. Flying a dog from the Marquesas to Tahiti needs a dog crate.
Before French Polynesia
Panama vets Heard from Cruisers
For French Polynesia prep, Dr Sandra in Panama City works in English. Mega Vet in Panama City does a FAVN titer at USD 375, sent to a Kansas lab, and knows the French Polynesia requirements.
West of French Polynesia
Cook Islands, Niue, and Tonga Heard from Cruisers
You cannot import pets into the Cook Islands, Niue, or Tonga. You agree to keep them aboard, with a threat of euthanasia if they go ashore. Vava’u charges only a fee for a dog aboard, and there is no official vet in Tonga who can certify export tests.
From Some Tuesday Our own Neiafu check-in is on the Tonga clearance guide: they asked us to confirm the dogs would not go ashore, and we were not charged. The Cook Islands note is next to the dogs line on the Cook Islands clearance guide.
Fiji Heard from Cruisers
Pets cannot be imported by boat, only bonded aboard: the pet has to be resident of a Group A or B country, the titer at least 180 days old, and a bond of about FJD 1,500, with the animal able to be seized if found ashore. The bond runs about three months. BAF will not certify tests or export certificates for a bonded pet, which limits a later New Zealand or Australia import. Air import is 30 days of quarantine from a Group B country, and 7 days from French Polynesia. The published bond on our Fiji clearance guide is FJD 1,500.98.
Vanuatu and beyond Heard from Cruisers
Vanuatu is more expensive but possible. The Solomons, Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia are more relaxed.
New Zealand and Australia Heard from Cruisers
Book Pet Haven quarantine in New Zealand months ahead. October–December slots fill four months out. Boat arrivals are about one month of quarantine, against about ten days by air. The facility closes on 23 December, with no visits. New Zealand pet-import rules from July 2026 align with Australia: about a six-month process, and a vet-read microchip certificate from a rabies-free country. Australia is no pets by boat, with an exemption possible after six months registered in New Zealand.