Author: richardandsuzanne

After a stop in Kiribati, we are finally heading home.  Kiribati is a remote Pacific Island that straddles the International Date Line.  It is a nation known for WWII history, crystal clear waters for snorkeling and diving , and authentic cultural experiences with a small but warm and friendly local population. Our trip has been…

Located 850 miles north of Tahiti and 3,000 miles west of Mexico, the Marquesas Islands is the most remote island chain in the world are.  Though named for the Spanish 5th Marquis of Canete, they are the one of the largest island groups in French Polynesia though still only have a combined land mass of…

Tahiti is the most known island in French Polynesia.  An “overseas collective” of France, French Polynesia is made up of 121 islands and atolls stretching across 1,200 miles of the south Pacific Ocean.  Papeete, on the island of Tahiti is the vibrant heart of French Polynesia, you are immediately greeted by the intoxicating scent of…

Roughly 2600 miles (about the same distance from New York to San Francisco) west of Easter Island you’ll find Tahiti.  We spent 3 weeks traveling among the tiny islands and even smaller atolls in between.  Most along the way are uninhabited and many have just a few hundred permanent residents.  Most famous among them is…

Who made the statues, why and how were they destroyed…still a mystery!! Easter Island, or Rapa Nui in their native language, is one of the most remote islands on the earth. It is Chilean territory in the South Pacific known for its over 900 statues, the Moai, carved by Polynesian settlers between the 13th and 16th centuries. As…

Beyond the glaciers, we continued north along the pacific coast to Valparaiso, Chili’s first and once bustling port.  In the early 1900’s this was a wealthy city where European imports and fashion made this the place to be.  Sadly, after a massive earthquake that devastated the city in 1906 and the opening of the Panama…

From the start of our travels, we have had many days at sea.  Our most recent journey through Antarctica, Chile and onward to Easter Island has been filled with many more sea days that are anything but dull – despite a few instances when Suzanne struggles with her sea legs. The ship offers a variety…

After Antarctica we made our way to Patagonia on the southern coast of Chile for an incredible journey among the fjords and glaciers.  It was magnificent. This is what we learned: “Chile holds one of the world’s largest concentrations of glaciers, primarily located in Patagonia, including the massive Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. Top…

(noun)               a large flightless seabird of the southern hemisphere, with black upper parts and white underparts and wings developed into flippers for swimming under water. Among the many different types, we were fortunate to see hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Emperor Penguins.  They are the largest and tallest of all the penguins and call the…

The Ross Sea, is the southern-most body of water on the planet, located approximately 2,000 miles south of New Zealand and just 200 miles from the South Pole.  The Ross Sea is also home to the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf in Antarctica, approximately 500 by 370 miles; roughly the size of France…