boat hopping in the south pacific

Hello all! I plan to travel the south pacific islands "hitching" on yachts as I go. Starting from NZ with no particular itinerary. I'm trying to get in touch with someone who has done a similar trip before. I'm having trouble trying to work out what kit to take with me amongst other things. Please get in touch if you can help. I would also like to know how it works out with visas, and working on the islands. But essentially anyone who has crewed on different private yachts from island to island, chipping in for food or free travel in exchange for an extra pair on hands. thank you

Regards

Nick (UK)

I can only comment on the Visa issue, and the time of year to travel. Most countries issue visas on arrival to British citizens for tourists for around 3 months. (I can only specify for Solomon Islands, but other countries are similar). You cannot work on this visa, and obtaining permission to work is quite complicated, and only available if you are prepared to stay for a long enough period, and have appropriate qualifications (eg high school English teaching, medicine). Then they are generally organised by your employer.
Island countries are areas of high unemployment, and they won't give jobs to expats when locals need them.
As far as when to travel, yachties generally avoid cyclone season (October/November to March/April). I am not sure how successful you will be starting in New Zealand -many yachties travel west to east across the Pacific, from the Americas.

I also can only comment on the visa issues as well. I've been to most of Melanesia and Polynesia and was always given a landing visa, for different lengths to time depending on the country. Solomon Islands requires an onward ticket if arriving by plane but I don't know how that works if arriving by yacht. As a lot of people do arrive by yacht, a visa must be do-able.