Posts In The “South Pacific” Category

Vanuatu and Yasur Volcano

Vanuatu and Yasur Volcano

Vanuatu, a small country in the South Pacific previously known as New Hebrides, is home to the world’s most accessible active volcano. Mount Yasur, pictured at the top and bottom of this post, regularly erupts in a fireshow that is amazing to experience firsthand. From Fiji, we travelled 475 miles southwest to Analgawhat in Vanuatu,…

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Fiji: Namena Marine Reserve and Makogai Island

Fiji: Namena Marine Reserve and Makogai Island

From Yadua Island, we visited Namena Marine Reserve and Makogai Island on the eastern edge of Bligh Waters. We stopped first at Namena for three nights and dove several times. Namena has some of the best diving in Fiji. The hard and soft coral life was amazing, in particular Dendronephthya in all colors of the…

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Fiji: Yadua Island

Fiji: Yadua Island

After touring through Fiji’s Mamanuca and the Yasawa Groups, we travelled east across the northern edge of Bligh Waters to Yadua Island. We’d initially planned to anchor only one night, to break up the run from the Yasawa Group to Namena Marine Reserve at the eastern side of Bligh Waters. But we liked Yadua so…

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Fiji: The Mamanuca and Yasawa Groups

Fiji: The Mamanuca and Yasawa Groups

A string of islands lie west of Vitu Levu, Fiji’s largest island: the Mamanuca and the Yasawa Groups. The photo above is at Navadra Island, at the northern end of the Mamanucas. We left Port Denarau for the southern end of the Mamanucas, with plans to work our way north through the Yasawas. We were…

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Fiji: Lautoka and Nadi

Fiji: Lautoka and Nadi

After two weeks in Tonga‘s Vava’u Group, we continued 540 miles west to Fiji. We landed at Lautoka, on the western side of Fiji’s largest island Vitu Levu. Most boaters land farther north at Savusavu on Vanua Levu, but James had a flight out from Nadi a few days after we arrived, and this was…

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Tonga

Tonga

From Beveridge Reef, we ran three nights to reach Tonga and spent two weeks there touring the Vava’u Group. We enjoyed the more relaxed pace in Tonga, where the anchorages are only an hour or two’s run apart, and we’re not going to sea every time we move the boat. The real standout for us,…

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Beveridge Reef

Beveridge Reef

We stopped off for a few days at Beveridge Reef while en route to Tonga from the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Beveridge Reef is an uninhabited, but anchorable atoll, about 130 miles southeast of Niue. Perhaps one reason the atoll is unininhabited is there is no land–the entire reef is underwater, giving the feeling…

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The Society Islands

The Society Islands

The Society Islands were the third and final major island group we visited in French Polynesia. With mountainous shorelines and fringing reefs, these islands felt somewhat like a combination of the previous two groups: the Marquesas and the Tuamotus. Our first stop was in Papeete, the capitol of French Polynesia. Here we did our first…

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The Tuamotu Archipelago

The Tuamotu Archipelago

From the soaring peaks of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, we travelled 465 miles to the barely-above sea level Tuamotu Archipelago. Of the seventy-eight islands that make up this archipelago, all but two are coral atolls. The Tuamotos are renowned for excellent diving, and we agree: the diving there is out of this world….

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Diving Anse Amyot

Diving Anse Amyot

The Tuamotus Archipelago consists of seventy-eight islands, and all but two are coral atolls. The islands are known for amazing diving with excellent visibility and abundant fish, creature and coral life. We’ve spent two weeks here now, diving at four different atolls: Raroia, Tahanea, Fakarava and Toau. While the diving in the South Pacific is…

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Marquesas Islands

Marquesas Islands

The Marquesas Islands first showed up in version four of our planned itinerary across the South Pacific. We weren’t even going there initially, not because it wasn’t appealing, but because the islands were a long run east from Hawaii. And we decided to make it even more challenging by going to Palmyra Atoll and Fanning…

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From Hawaii to French Polynesia

From Hawaii to French Polynesia

We arrived in Baie de Taihoae on Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, 31 days and 2,550 nm after leaving Honolulu (trip log map). We had stopped at Palmyra Atoll and Fanning Islands for 11 days, for a total of 20 days at sea. We left Honolulu with 2,350 gallons of diesel…

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