Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands, was home to the great Polynesian navigators 2,000 years ago who later navigated throughout the Pacific including Tahiti, Hawaii and New Zealand. 

The French navigator Marchand documented the first European visit in 1791. Captain Porter of the USS Essex claimed the island in 1813 after raiding British whalers during the War of 1812. They even built a fort and unfortunately took sides in local tribal wars, before evacuating the island less than a year later. The US Congress never ratified the Captain's claim.

Nuku Hiva is rugged, windy, and volcanic island with distinct dry and wet sides. There is a beautiful Catholic Church on the shore. A nearby island is where Paul Gauguin finally ended up after leaving Tahiti and never returning to France. 

Fakarava Atoll

Fakarava Atoll in French Polynesia is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve known for its pristine beauty, abundant marine life, and world-class diving, particularly the "Shark Wall" in the Tumakohua Pass, home to large schools of grey reef sharks.

Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea

More beautiful S Pacific islands. 

Taha’a Island, north of sister island, Raiatea

The Society Islands in the South Pacific are known for clear turquoise waters surrounded by motus. A motu is a reef islet formed by broken coral and sand surrounding an atoll. Snorkeling and diving amongst the coral and tropical fish, sailing, touring vanilla plantations and fresh pearl farms are popular things to do here in its laid back tropical atmosphere. Tahaʻa, Bora Bora, Raiatea, and Huahine hold an international Polynesian canoe competition.

Rarotonga

Rarotonga is the main volcanic island of the Cook Islands, its territory is part of New Zealand. Snorkel at Muri Lagoon or Aroa Lagoonarium, take a hike, or shop at the Punanga Nui Saturday market. Tourists hop on and off the clockwise or the anti-clockwise casual bus to get around the island. Only an hour to drive around straight through but there are not that many buses. Don’t miss it!

Kingdom of Tonga, Oceania, South Pacific

The Kingdom of Tonga is an independent nation with a constitutional monarchy, an archipelago of over 170 islands, many uninhabited, and beautiful white sand and coral beaches with tropical rainforests. The main island and capital is Tongatapu. The island of Vava’u is home to Mt Talau National Park with a gorgeous viewpoint, a < 3-mi roundtrip hike up to the viewpoint towering over the island from the dock in Neiafu.

Fiji Islands

Fiji, an archipelago of over 330 S Pacific Islands, is renowned for its rugged mountainous and coastal landscapes, coral reefs, and white-sand beaches. 

The capital is Suva (on the largest island, Viti Levu) along with more industrial Lautoka. We visited the fabulous Fiji Museum during a heavy rainstorm and sailed to Savusavu on Vanua Levu for clear water snorkeling off the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort.

Samoa and American Samoa

Both so friendly and welcoming, Samoa is an independent sovereign state (gained independence from New Zealand in 1962), and American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the USA.

Tabuaeran Island (aka Fanning Island), Kiribati



Tabuaeran is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the nation of Kiribati. Its land encompasses only 13 square miles holding a sparse population. As a low-lying atoll (max elevation only 10 ft above high tide), it has been vulnerable to sea-level rise from global warming and the detrimental effects of salt water erosion. 

American Captain Fanning was the first Westerner on the island at the end of 1900s, then not permanently inhabited. Evidence of early Polynesian culture from Marquesas has been found on the island. With the importation of coconut trees, copra has been an important export for Fanning Island and throughout the Pacific Islands. 

Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

The Hawaiian Islands were discovered by Polynesian voyagers from the Marquesas (and later Tahiti) in innovative double-hulled canoes 1,600 years ago. They used celestial navigation, sun, ocean currents and flight of sea birds to travel some 2,400 nautical miles over open ocean northward to Hawaii.

The first European to land on the Hawaiian Islands at Kauai was Captain James Cook from England in 1778.

In 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were unified under King Kamehameha I, after inter-island struggles for power and independence.

After missionaries arrived in 1820 and later sugar plantations expanded in mid-1800s, labor was recruited from China, Japan, Philippines and Portugal.

The monarchy survived until its power was reduced to a constitutional monarchy in 1887, a coup in 1893 which placed the Queen under house arrest in the palace for four months. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898, made a US territory in 1900, and became the 50th State in 1959.

Much to learn about the fascinating history of Hawaii and its culture at the Iolani Palace (1882) and the Bishop Museum in downtown Honolulu.

Perros-Guirec

Perros-Guirec is a scenic area on the far northwestern part of the Brittany coast due south of Plymouth, England. Hike through the wonderful pink boulders on the brisk Atlantic coast on the other side of the English Channel. Even the poodles are in seventh heaven and the local mussels … outstanding.

Saint-Malo and Cancale

We started our counter-clockwise road trek around the Brittany peninsula at Saint-Malo and Cancale, certainly the oyster capital of the region. If you read the fictional book, All the Light You Cannot See, you’ll know about the bombing of the old-walled city from WWII. But it’s been beautifully restored, and now feels historic and fun (in peacetime).

Loire Valley

Take a trip through French renaissance architecture and explore the river landscapes and historic chateaux of the Loire Valley. One of the most famous castles in the region, Chambord was commissioned by King Francis I and built between 1519 and 1547. 

Flying into Nantes, France, from Geneva, Switzerland, we rented a car and stopped at pastoral inns along the Loire to see the surrounding beautifully restored castles. Then, based in Amboise, there is the impressive Chateau Royal d'Amboise, and also Clos Luce, home of Leonardo da Vinci 1516-1519, supported by benefactor King Francis I. 

Driving back toward our next journey in Brittany, we stopped in Chinon, the renowned wine region, and discovered the medieval Royal Fortress of Chinon. It was famously visited by Joan of Arc in 1429 to convince the future king for military support during the Hundred Years' War between France and England and a civil war in France in the late Middle Ages.