Captain Michel Quioc CULTURE CORNER: A Pr of ile of the Captain
Nearly two decades after his first voyage to Polynesia, in 2019 the captain returned to these waters that hold so much emotion for him—and that he knows by heart; a love affair he willingly shares with the guests of the m/s Paul Gauguin.
Like many of his fellow sailors who navigate the most impressive ships on the planet, Michel Quioc grew up reading Treasure Island, the classic tale of a young boy who goes to sea in search of adventure (and buried treasure). A keen interest in life at sea was further fueled by real-life accounts of the extraordinary feats achieved by legendary explorers and writers who abandoned their homelands, even if only temporarily, for the allure of Tahiti and her islands.
Michel joined a renowned Merchant Navy School in France and his nautical career took off with his initial crossings close to his family home. From his first voyages at just 20 years old, he recalls the intensity and demands of navigating complex passages with hectic currents, huge tides, abundant rocks, occasional fog, and formidable storms.
The experiences that followed range from a ferry in the English Channel to an oceanographic research vessel in the Mediterranean, and just about any and everything in between. Coastal navigation in New Caledonia and Vanuatu led to discovering Polynesia in the early 2000s, and he remembers it “very well. It may sound very strange, but it's a place where I immediately felt I belonged.”
Dropping anchor in Polynesia
Without realizing it, the captain was crafting the first lines of a story that he is still writing, 20 years after he first fell in love with this land of sharing and carefree living. It is a never-ending pleasure that he obviously links to “his” ship, The Gauguin, but also to the anthology of emotions he experiences on every voyage to these waters—and islands—at the edge of the world: “the sailing is smooth, the scenery is like no other, and the welcome is incomparable. A bit like Ulysses with the siren song, there's something really special here, the charm and purity of the islands bewitch you...”
Which ports of call particularly thrill the captain? The mystery of the Bay of Virgins at Fatu Hiva and the perfection of the Taiohae caldera at Nuku Hiva, respectively the first and last islands in the Marquesas archipelago where The Gauguin cruises. “It is not unusual for some guests to confess to me that they have never seen anything so beautiful.” A dream that Michel Quioc now lives without needing to open his childhood books.
12 2026 Paul Gauguin Cruises | A Profile of the Captain
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