Papeete to Valparaiso

Papeete is the center of the tropical paradise of French Polynesia where islands fringed with gorgeous beaches and turquoise ocean await to soothe the soul. This spirited city is the capital of French Polynesia and serves as a superb base for onward exploration of Tahiti – an island of breathtaking landscapes and oceanic vistas. A wonderful lagoon of crisp clear water begs to be snorkelled stunning black beaches and blowholes pay tribute to the island's volcanic heritage and lush green mountains beckon you inland on adventures as you explore extraordinary Tahiti. Visit to relax and settle into the intoxicating rhythm of life in this Polynesian paradise.

Moorea is a high mountainous island with two nearly symmetrical bays found on the north coast. The island’s triangular shape has been likened to a heart or a bat. Eight mountain peaks reaching a height of up to 1,207 meters give Moorea a very rugged silhouette. The reef surrounding the island encloses a narrow lagoon –a RAMSAR Wetland- and has barely any motu (reef islets). Sharks and rays are some of the lagoon’s attractions. The island is only one eighth the size of neighboring Tahiti and has a more relaxed life-style. A road leads around Moorea, passing small villages with their churches and the resorts and smaller hotels mainly found on the north coast. A detour into the interior will show large pineapple plantations, French Polynesia’s only agricultural school, ancient marae (stone platforms) and splendid views of the island from Belvedere above Cook’s Bay or the Magic Mountain above Papetoai, Opunohu Bay. Many of the 18,000 residents work in Tahiti, taking one of the ferries plying between Vaiare on the east coast and Papeete. This led to Papeete being one of France’s busiest ports in passenger volume. Foreign visitors either come into Temae airport, tucked in-between the Green Pearl golf course and Temae’s public beach, or by ship entering one of the two bays on the north coast. Both bays are connected to Captain Cook’s visit in 1777: he stayed in Opunohu Bay, but to honor him Pao Pao Bay has been named Cook’s Bay.

Fakarava is oblong shaped and has an almost continuous string of reef and motu stretching for 40 km (25 mi) on its eastern edge. It's the second largest of the Tuamotu atolls located 450 km (280 mi) northeast of Tahiti and 120 km (75 mi) southeast of Rangiroa. It's renowned for the drift diving in its two passes—Garuae (also spelled Ngarue) in the north near the main town of Rotoava (and the airport) and Tamakohua Pass 48 km (30 mi) across the lagoon in the south. The tiny village of Tetamanu situated by the southern pass was once the capital of the Tuamotus and houses the first church built in the archipelago in 1874. In 2006 the entire atoll was deemed an UNESCO biosphere reserve to preserve the lagoon no overwater bungalows have been built in it. Fakarava was "discovered" by Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb Von Bellingshausen in 1820 some 20 years later missionaries arrived in the guise of fanatical Catholic priest Honore Laval and began building churches.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

The largest of the southern islands Hiva Oa the master pillar or finial post of the ‘Great House’ - which represents the Marquesan archipelago in the local mythology - has always been the rival of Nuku Hiva. The island is shaped like a seahorse and has a mountain range running southwest to northeast whose main peaks Mt. Temetiu and Mt. Feani form a real wall around Atuona. Atuona a peaceful little port at the head of the Taaoa Bay also known as Traitors Bay has emerged from obscurity due to having had the privilege of being the last resting place of Paul Gauguin and of the singer Jacques Brel. The tombs of these famous personalities are on the side of the Calvary cemetery looking out across the bay and are places of great pilgrimage. In the village the Gauguin Museum displays items related to the painter's stay there at the beginning of the century and has copies of his works.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

In the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia Mangareva is the largest island with a population of over 1 200 people. Most live in Rikitea the largest village on the island. A high central ridge runs the length of Mangareva peaking with Mt. Duff which rises over 440 meters from the sea on the island's south coast. The island has a large lagoon sprinkled with coral reefs whose tropical fish and the black-lip oysters have helped islanders survive much more successfully than on other nearby islands. Small ships are able to enter the lagoon of Mangareva. Ashore visitors can walk through the town see the remains of the massive stone and coral buildings dating back to the 19th century or climb up Mt. Duff. The highlights in town include the cathedral with its mother-of-pearl shell altar and objects designed and built in the 1830s and 1840s and partially restored by the students of Rikitea’s school just a few years ago.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Home to the original mutineers of the Bounty, Adamstown’s is today the capital of all four Pitcairn Islands. The islands – the last British Overseas Territory in the Pacific – include the namesake Pitcairn Island itself, plus the uninhabited Oeno, Henderson and Ducie. Pitcairn is the archipelago’s only inhabited island, with the population of just 50 centred in Adamstown. It is no surprise that the nine mutineers along with six Tahitian men, 12 Tahitian women and one child stopped on Pitcairn in 1790; with its sloped and varied landscape, lush tropical promise and equidistant location between Peru and New Zealand, Pitcairn would have seemed an ideal hiding spot for the mutineers to settle. The ship was burnt to avoid detection (the ballast stone remains of the wreck in Bounty Bay). However, the ideal bucolic life that mutineer leader Fletcher Christian had envisaged was not to be. Poor treatment of the Tahitian men led to alcoholism, chaos and carnage and by 1800 only John Adams – who had recently discovered Christianity – remained. Adams taught the women and children to read and write from the bible. The capital is named after him. Not only had the island been misplaced on early maps of the region, but it can also be very difficult to come ashore as large breakers tend to build up just in front of the small harbour of Bounty Bay. The local museum houses the HMS Bounty Bible, the same bible that Adams taught the women and children to read and write from in the early 19th century.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Easter Island, the easternmost settled island of Polynesia, received its European name in 1722 when the island was seen by a Dutch expedition under Roggeveen on Easter Sunday. The triangular-shaped island of 163 square kilometers is famous for the hundreds of statues known locally as moai. Rolling hills covered in grassland, eucalyptus forest and a rocky shore surround Hangaroa, the island’s only village on the southwestern coast. This is where Captain Cook landed in 1774, where missionaries built the first church and where ships find the best protection from winds and swells. Small beaches and transparent waters invite swimmers and snorkelers, but it is the cultural aspect which attracts visitors. Since 1935 the island has been a National Historic Monument and today 43.5% of the island is a national park administered by the Chilean National Forest Corporation and Mau Henua, a local community group. The island’s national park has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Found slightly more than 3,500 kilometers west of Chile, the island was annexed in 1888. Used as a sheep ranch for many decades, the island was opened in 1965 and an airstrip was built. The US Air Force set up a base to record the behavior of the earth's outer atmosphere and by 1987 NASA had the runway extended as an emergency runway for the space shuttle. This never happened, but tourism benefitted from this improvement and today the island receives more than 100,000 visitors a year.

Easter Island, the easternmost settled island of Polynesia, received its European name in 1722 when the island was seen by a Dutch expedition under Roggeveen on Easter Sunday. The triangular-shaped island of 163 square kilometers is famous for the hundreds of statues known locally as moai. Rolling hills covered in grassland, eucalyptus forest and a rocky shore surround Hangaroa, the island’s only village on the southwestern coast. This is where Captain Cook landed in 1774, where missionaries built the first church and where ships find the best protection from winds and swells. Small beaches and transparent waters invite swimmers and snorkelers, but it is the cultural aspect which attracts visitors. Since 1935 the island has been a National Historic Monument and today 43.5% of the island is a national park administered by the Chilean National Forest Corporation and Mau Henua, a local community group. The island’s national park has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Found slightly more than 3,500 kilometers west of Chile, the island was annexed in 1888. Used as a sheep ranch for many decades, the island was opened in 1965 and an airstrip was built. The US Air Force set up a base to record the behavior of the earth's outer atmosphere and by 1987 NASA had the runway extended as an emergency runway for the space shuttle. This never happened, but tourism benefitted from this improvement and today the island receives more than 100,000 visitors a year.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.

Robinson Crusoe Island is located 600 kilometres off the coast of Chile. The island is a rugged volcanic speck where 70 percent of its plant species are endemic and is the largest of the Juan Fernandez Islands a small archipelago that since 1935 is a Chilean National Park which in 1977 was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. This island has witnessed and played an important role in Chilean and world history. In 1704 the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned on the island and stayed for more than 4 years eventually inspiring Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe –hence the name of the island. 1750 the village of San Juan Bautista was founded at Cumberland Bay and by 1779 there were already 7 small fortresses bristling with guns. The island’s isolation offered Spain a splendid place for setting up a penal colony to which high-ranking Chilean patriots were deported in the early 19th century. In 1915 during the First World War three British ships and a German one the Dresden engaged in a sea battle which ended with the scuttling of the German cruiser. Today there are currently around one thousand people living in the archipelago most of them in the village of San Juan Bautista engaged in fishing for the “spiny lobster” a delicacy exported to the mainland.

Days at sea are the perfect opportunity to relax unwind and catch up with what you’ve been meaning to do. So whether that is going to the gym, visiting the spa, whale watching, catching up on your reading or simply topping up your tan these blue sea days are the perfect balance to busy days spent exploring shore side.