Wednesday 9th to Friday 18th August Although we had officially checked out of French Polynesia we wanted to visit Maupiti, 28 miles west of Bora Bora, another beautiful volcanic island with a high central mountain surrounded by a lagoon but with an outer reef through which there was only one

Wednesday 2nd to Wednesday 9th August   We heard a lot of cruisers say that they were giving Bora Bora a miss as it is too overdeveloped, too touristy, spoiled, but we could see its dramatic, jagged profile from Taha’a and were keen to visit. Bora Bora is another of

Wednesday 26th July to Wednesday 2nd August 2017 Many of the Society Islands of French Polynesia are clustered within a few hours sail of each other but Huahine, the next island in the chain northwest from Mo’orea, was around 80 nm away, so we planned an overnight trip to arrive

Thursday 20th to Tuesday 25th July 2017 It was only a 15nm sail from Tahiti to Mo’orea but, with waves hitting Vega from both sides, it was a rather unpleasant rolly trip under just the genoa until after 3 hours we turned to port to enter the pass through the

Friday 16th June to Thursday 20th July 2017 The strong winds forecast for our 240nm passage from the Tuamotus to Tahiti failed to materialise and although we optimistically raised the cruising chute and drifted along at two to three knots for most of the afternoon of the second day as

Thursday 1st June to Friday June 16th 2017 The day before we left Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas it rained. Torrentially. In between downpours we managed to get ashore but had to shelter under the eves of the post office, using their wifi to send emails, as it started to

I’m back in Bristol from Tahiti for a quick visit at the moment, so will try to catch up on our time in the fabulous Marquesas and Tuamotus before I return next week……   Saturday 13th May to Thursday 1st June, 2017 The Marquesas are part of French Polynesia, which

Wednesday 19th April to Saturday 13th May Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean in his circumnavigation of the world in the years 1519 to 1522. It was he who named it “Pacifico” because of its calm nature when he first encountered the ocean after rounding

Monday 10th to Wednesday 19th April The third island which we anchored off, Isabela, was our favourite. It is the most starkly beautiful of the islands of the Galápagos that we visited and also the least touristy. Only four of the 13 main islands that make up the archipelago are

Wednesday 19th April Unfortunately, due to the terrible wifi here on fabulous Isabela Island, I have been unable to post Galápagos Part 2 and photos. So that will have to wait until we reach French Polynesia. In the meantime Hugh will be posting regularly from the Pacific, plus putting our