"The greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
— Bill Bryson
SOUTH PACIFIC TRIP 2016
I knew that putting this experience into words would be a testing pursuit. I don't think it is possible to portray exactly the raw untouched beauty that lives within the islands of French Polynesia, nor is it possible to justly describe the kind, happy, loving and gentle people that inhabit these islands.
Over the next few months I will allow the story of our adventure to unfold and share experiences and stories of a life changing journey completed with great friends and family. To start, I've written a brief introduction to the trip and quickly touched on the unique and majestic islands that we visited.
There were 8 of us on board. All friends and family, and each one of us ready for this life changing trip. Excitement grew between us as we had copious amounts of crew meetings via Skype from all parts of the world. Months and months of hard work and planning resulted in an incredibly safe, immensely happy and most definitely unforgettable adventure.
Entering the Pacific for the first time was a euphoric experience. Filled with adrenaline and anticipation we set sail for 6 days to the Galapagos Islands. To visit these unspoiled islands has sat at the top of my bucket list for a very long time. Covered in endemic species it was like waking up in the wild each morning, cheeky sea lions filled with character bask in the sunshine, greedy hungry pelicans litter the shores and beautiful blue-footed boobies soar high in the sky.
We spent 8 days in the Marquesas exploring Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa and lastly Nuka Hiva.
We first visited Takaroa, one of the smaller atolls in the Tuamotus, its small enough so you can see the entire ring of coral that wraps around the lagoon from the centre. I fizzed with excitement swimming around this marvellous paradise with reef sharks and colourful fish surrounding me.
We next visited Fakarava, the second largest atoll in the Tuamotus with a lagoon surface area of 430 square miles. It is immensely popular for its north and south diving sites. These diving locations are known for their enormous amounts of sharks and varieties of fish.
They are divided into Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. We managed to visit Tahaa, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Tahiti and Moorea over our last two weeks in French Polynesia. Its hard to put into words the impact that these landscapes have on you. Being surrounded by such natural and untouched beauty is both consistency breathtaking and eyeopening. Waking up every morning to soft lapping water against the hull, sleepy pods of dolphins slowly circling the boat, and empowering silhouettes of vast mountains tops will be etched in my mind forever.