New Zealand
Our first stop in New Zealand was at Waitangi which in on the north island in an area called the Bay of Islands. Cruise Director Gene (from Provo Utah) urged us all to get up at 5:30 for the sail-in…
Sailing towards New Zealand
We had four days at sea between the Cook Islands and our first of three stops in New Zealand. Some of the ship characters Tanned Jeff lives on the ship for 7 months of the year and this is his…
Cook Islands
Dear all or Kia orana as they say in Rarotonga, Drama this morning as we stopped in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It is notorious as a "missed port" due to the sea swells and this morning was no exception.…
Tahiti & Moorea
We arrived in Tahiti in the early hours and from quite a distance away the shadowy outline of the hills and peaks was quite breathtaking. Tahiti is the main island of French Polynesia and is a sprawling metropolis compared to…
Nuku Hiva & Rangiroa
Nuku Hiva is the second largest island in French Polynesia (Tahiti is the largest) and has a population of a whopping 3,000 most of whom are the size of a small family hatchback. French Polynesia is split into several island…
8 Days in the Pacific
Today we reached our first Pacific island, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesa Islands of French Polynesia. I'd almost become so used to being at sea I wasn't sure I wanted to get off. During the first few sea days I…
Costa Rica & Panama
Our first stopping point was at Peurto Limon (Lemon Port) in Costa Rica and as we hadn't booked a official tour, Karla and I jumped into a taxi and had a private tour lasting about 3 hours. Our driver Manuel…
Ft Lauderdale to Costa Rica
The flight from London arrived at Miami International at 2pm and I was on the ship by 4pm which was good going. The taxi driver from the airport to Port Everglades was from Haiti and came to the US 30…
Hong Kong part 2
On Thursday morning I flew from Brisbane to Hong Kong and something told me it would be a good idea to get to the airport over 4 hours before departure. Whatever that "something" was needs a good talking to. I…
Gold Coast
On Saturday I roused myself at about 8am (still legal in Australia) and got ready for the drive back down south. I had 1200km to drive in total before flying from Brisbane to Hong Kong on Thursday. I had no…