Tuesday 17th February Moorea, French Polynesia The island of Moorea is just a short distance from Tahiti. We arrived early this morning and anchored in Opunohu Bay. Moorea is a mountainous volcanic island surrounded by a coral reef. The tender boats took us over to the island and we went on a tour. There is one main road that circles the island - a bit bumpy but it is being resurfaced before the French President visits later in the year. We travelled first to ...

Tuesday 16th February Papeete, Tahiti After 10 days at sea we arrived at the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti. The island is fringed by coral reefs so it was a slow but very beautiful sail in. We are docked in the capital Papeete and it is a short walk into town from the ship. This morning is sunny and very,very hot. We left the ship to Polynesian music and everyone was given a flower to welcome them to Tahiti. We started our day with a walk along the promena...

Friday 13th February Sailing around Pitcairn Island At 11o'clock this morning we sighted Pitcairn Island. The island is very small and is famous for being the place that the mutineers from HMS Bounty fled to in 1790 after leaving Tahiti. We sailed slowly around the island twice. The photo shows Bounty Bay. This is where HMS Bounty was anchored. It is the only place where it is possible to land on the island. Bounty was set on fire just off Pitcairn. Descendant...

Tuesday 10th February Cruising by Easter Island This afternoon we are due to cruise by Easter Island. We are not stopping unfortunately, but will sail slowly by about a mile from shore. Easter Island or Rapa Nui is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The nearest inhabited island is Pitcairn which is 1,289 miles away. It is hot here and the Pacific Ocean is a deep blue - very lovely. The island is called Easter Island as a Dutch explorer arriv...

Thursday 5th February Valparaiso, Chile We have arrived at our last Chilean port, Valparaiso. This city is built on about 45 hills and rises steeply from the water's edge. This is a container port and we were berthed close to the town centre. You could see it from the ship. Unfortunately we had to take port buses to the terminal which was almost 2 miles away. Once outside the port area we had to walk all the way back to the town centre. We visited the National ...