South Pacific Blog

La Diademe courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme

Thinking of visiting Tahiti? Great idea! There are many beautiful things to see. For many, traveling to such a destination can be expensive even if they are using credit cards with best rates. From passport fees, to plane tickets, to sightseeing, it can all be a bit overwhelming. Use your best credit cards for good credit to create your dream vacation. Choosing a destination that is so far from home can be a scary thought.

Financial mumbo jumbo aside, we have compiled a list of reasons you should visit Tahiti, as life will quickly pass you by and this opportunity may never come knocking again.

1. Museum Of Tahiti and the Islands: This museum tells the story of Tahiti through artifacts. The exhibition includes Polynesian history, ethnology, culture, and environment. If you are the kind of person who appreciates history and culture, this is a must do.
2. Punaaui Beach: If you are one for the sun and exotic fish, this is perfect way to enjoying some relaxation while experiencing nature at it’s finest.
3. Paul Gauguin Museum: Art enthusiast or not, you will be impressed with this museum. The museum is dedicated to the works of artist Paul Gauguin. It is home to sculptures, engravings and wood carvings that are inspired by his French Polynesian life.
4. Tahiti Lagoonarium: Swim with fish, sharks, and rays. This is a calm, safe environment in which you can become one with the environment. This is great for those who have never snorkeled, as well as those who consider themselves experienced in the area of sea life.
5. Maraa Grotto: A fan of optical illusions? This cavern is equipped with a black lake that creates just that – a perfect photo opportunity that is rich in history and beauty.
6. Point Venus: The landing site for many famous explorers including Captain Cook, Point Venus is surrounded by black sand and natural beauty. With absolutely no development surrounding the point, the black sand against blue oceans creates a beautiful contrast that is not comparable.
7. Fautaua Waterfall: This wondrous site cascades more than 980 feet over volcanic cliffs and is one of the tallest waterfalls in the world. You would be a fool not to visit.
8. James Norman Hall Home: This is a replica of the home of the famous author. For Mutiny on the Bounty fans or non-fans alike, you will find interest in the life of Hall.
9. Nemo Cruises Day: Spend the day in the middle of the lagoon; swim with turtles, fish, and rays. Or just relax on a beautiful boat. Either way, this is sure to be one of your favorite experiences in Tahiti.

As a side note, it is important to understand the climate you are about to experience. The summer months of November through April consist of hot and humid weather, but with these activities that include water and indoor activities, finding an escape from the heat should be no problem. If you would like to experience the cooler side of Tahiti, you should think about planning your trip outside of those months. No matter what month you opt to visit, you will be glad you did.

Dreaming of Tahiti already? Good, plan your next vacation and enjoy all that this island has to offer. Make sure before you book, that you understand requirements and laws regarding international travel. Doing so will save you from any mishaps to and from this incredible vacation.

At last, the natural skin care secrets of the ancient Melanesians are being revealed by Volcanic Earth. The organic healing products available from this Vanuatu company contain no harmful chemicals, toxins, artificial preservatives, or synthetic colorings. Their amazing wild harvest Tamanu Oil combines the cleansing properties of virgin coconut oil and volcanic pumice with the natural fragrances of frangipani, vanilla, and sandalwood. This precious oil not only promotes anti-aging but also treats acne, scars, skin blemishes, age or sun spots, sunburn, and many other skin conditions. In Vanuatu it’s called Green Gold. Other lines include Unpredictable for women, Eruptable for men, Wild Ginger Lily, and CocoVan (coconut oil and vanilla). Thanks to the global reach of online marketing, the curative and regenerative remedies of traditional Melanesian medicine are now available to the world. For more information, go to Volcanic Earth.

Fiji’s international airline and flag carrier, Air Pacific, is being officially rebranded as Fiji Airways. This comes as the company takes delivery of three wide-bodied Airbus 330-200 aircraft purchased to provide flights to Fiji along the carrier’s South Pacific routes. The new planes, powered by fuel efficient, low carbon emission Rolls Royce engines and with cutting edge design and services in the main cabins, will replace the airline’s older Boeing 747-400s which are to be phased out by the end of 2013. The fresh tapa-style livery reflects the natural tones of Fiji and the A330s are intended to become flying billboards for Fiji.

Air Pacific was founded in 1951 as Fiji Airways by Harold Gatty, an Australian aviator who set a record with American Willy Post in 1931 by flying around the world in eight days. In 1972, the airline was reorganized as a regional carrier and the name changed to Air Pacific. From 2013 it will be Fiji Airways once again. Qantas owns a major stake in the carrier and handles their bookings in many parts of the world. If you book a Qantas flight to Fiji, you’ll actually fly Fiji Airways.

Fiji Airways operates to Fiji from Apia, Auckland, Brisbane, Christchurch, Funafuti, Hong Kong, Honiara, Honolulu, Kiritimati, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Port Vila, Sydney, Tarawa, and Tongatapu. They have up to 17 cheap flights to Fiji from Sydney a week and eight from Los Angeles. Within Fiji, a subsidiary, Pacific Sun, serves 10 domestic airports. By flying Fiji Airways you experience the friendliness of Fiji from the moment you board the plane.

Sea Fiji Travel is a Colorado-based tour operator which has been sending divers to Fiji since 1990. Scuba diving is their specialty and their knowledge of Fiji’s reefs, dive operators, liveaboards, and resorts is unsurpassed. For a number of years they handled arrangements for the Cousteau Society’s Project Ocean Search, and aside from individuals, their services are used by universities, travel clubs, and consumer travel agencies. Handicapped divers are welcome. In addition to diving, Sea Fiji Travel provides expert advice on other Fiji travel styles including surfing and weddings. Flights, transfers, and hotels can be booked as part of a custom made itinerary at the best possible price.

Sea Fiji Travel’s owner Scott Kukral is a dive instructor and rescue diver who has logged over 3,500 dives. He helped found a team specializing in swift water and ice rescues in Boulder, Colorado. In Fiji he has dived in almost every region – 700 dives and counting. He has also slept in most of the resorts used by his clients and is personally familiar with resort and diving staff. This level of knowledge and experience means he won’t steer you the wrong way and waste your valuable vacation time. Scott recently started a newsletter called Fiji in Focus which you can subscribe to by clicking a link on SeaFiji.com. Recent issues of this free publication have covered Air Pacific’s rebranding as Fiji Airways, the Great Fiji Shark Count, and Fiji’s unique pearls. The newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with the world’s “Soft Coral Capital” and while finding out about Fiji travel specials as they arise.

I’ve just uploaded an updated and revised New Caledonia Travel Guide based on material taken from the 8th edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific. The site includes 98 pages covering Noumea, Grande Terre, Isle of Pines, and the Loyalty Islands, plus an introduction and travel facts. The eight maps are of New Caledonia, Noumea, North Province, South Province, Isle of Pines, Mare, Lifou, and Ouvea. A number of charts, photos, and illustrations also appear. The whole site is linked together intuitively for easy navigation and even the maps are clickable.

There are very few travel guides to New Caledonia available in any language. Currently, the most useful guide in English is the one published by Lonely Planet which also includes Vanuatu. Lonely Planet’s coverage of travel around the territory is quite good but their sanitized background sections gloss over the various misdeeds of French colonialism and hopefully my site will help fill in a few of the holes. There isn’t much about New Caledonia on the web either. For some reason Wikitravel.org’s skimpy one-page guide ranks first on Google, followed by Lonely Planet. TripAdvisor.com comes third.

New Caledonia is the 11th South Pacific country or territory to have its own complete travel guide on SouthPacific.org. It’s a lot of work to revise this material and reformat it for the web. No one is paying me to do it so I only work on the site in my spare time when the mood grabs me. As a reader, you can help out by sending in updates on anything you see on the site. Just use the “Contact Us” buttons at the top and bottom of the pages. I reply personally to all legitimate emails and promise to implement any necessary changes at the first opportunity. I hope you find my New Caledonia Travel Guide useful!

Tangaroa, the creator and god of the oceans

The ancient Polynesians worshiped a pantheon of gods, who had more mana than any human. The most important were Tangaroa (the creator and god of the oceans), and Oro, or Tu (the god of war), who demanded human sacrifices. The most fascinating figure in Polynesian mythology was Maui, a Krishna- or Prometheus-like figure who caught the sun with a cord to give its fire to the world. He lifted the firmament to prevent it from crushing mankind, fished the islands out of the ocean with a hook, and was killed trying to gain the prize of immortality for humanity. Also worth noting is Hina, the heroine who fled to the moon to avoid incest with her brother, and so the sound of her tapa beater wouldn’t bother anyone. Tane (the god of light) and Rongo (the god of agriculture and peace) were other important gods. This polytheism, which may have disseminated from Raiatea in the Society Islands, was most important in Eastern Polynesia. The Arioi confraternity, centered in Raiatea and thought to be possessed by the gods, traveled about putting on dramatic representations of the myths.

A visit to the Cayman Turtle Farm, a commercial tourist attraction on Grand Cayman in the Caribbean Islands, gives you the opportunity to abuse a captive wild animal, eat turtle meat (a banned product in the rest of the world), actively prevent the conservation of an endangered species, and maybe even get E. Coli or salmonella.

The Cayman Turtle Farm states that it has a dual purpose – first and foremost to farm the endangered green sea turtle for sale as meat, and secondarily to repopulate the species. Sadly it is incapable of doing either: sales of the meat have fallen by more than half since 2007 as the Caymanian population consigns this practice to the past, and the farm’s treatment of these magnificent turtles is a direct contradiction of their conservation mandate.

Despite professing to be a conservation facility, the CTF houses more than 7,000 of these endangered turtles and for the past five years has released only a shameful average of 27 per year. Of all the tagged turtles that have been released by the farm in the past 30 years, only 11 have returned to nest on Caymanian beaches. Furthermore, the deteriorating condition of the turtles actually deters conservation, as they cannot be released into the wild carrying the diseases and genetic abnormalities caused by intensive breeding. And their claims that the sale of turtle meat deters poaching from the wild is dubious at best. The price of turtle meat from the farm is the highest by far of any form of meat on the island, and a poached turtle is still free. The turtles are frequently wounded or ill due to the severe overcrowding (turtles are a solitary species) yet go without even routine veterinary care, which explains why 2,299 turtles have died at the farm in the short window of 2007-2011 alone.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals in Washington, DC, has spent the past year investigating this farm and has accumulated a significant amount of evidence on the facility. Unfortunately, not only are these endangered species being kept in filthy conditions which lead to disease, genetic mutation, and captivity stress including cannibalism, but the water in which tourists regularly swim, stand, and reach into to handle the turtles has tested positive for E.Coli, salmonella, and vibrio vulnificus. The farm proudly markets their “touch tanks” as an opportunity for tourists to enjoy getting close to the turtles but the handling is a significant stressor for the turtles and passes diseases between the animals and the tourists. The Purell and hand-washing stations (new, since this information became public) are not sufficient to kill the bacteria found in the water.

WSPA has taken their evidence and concerns directly to the farm but sadly to no avail; the CTF refuses to consider any meaningful changes. This despite the fact that 87% of tourists polled said they would not participate in an activity if knew that animals were being abused. Until the Cayman Turtle Farm transitions their operation to a legitimate conservation and education center, which could still be enjoyed by tourists without farming the animals for slaughter, it’s inadvisable to visit the this shoddy facility. Instead, try snorkeling or diving so that you can see these magnificent animals in the wild, as they are meant to be.