January 18th – A Spectacular Event in Tahiti

Coming to Tahiti straight after Moorea is a bit unfair on Tahiti. Instead of the idyllic island paradise you left behind a few miles away in Moorea, you're greeted by the traffic and concrete buildings of Papeete. But, scratch below the surface and there are plenty of gems to uncover on an island of lush mountains and attractive beaches (OK – most of them are black sand, so can't really compare to Moorea).

Of course, our efforts to find the positives on Tahiti were helped by Silversea putting on an amazing World Cruise Event that turned into a sensory overload of singing and dancing, eating and drinking. The location itself was certainly pretty spectacular – in the lush gardens of the museum, overlooking the sea, to a background theme tune of crashing waves, and the jagged outline of Moorea providing the perfect backdrop.

Here, we were treated to one excellent performance after another – lilting choirs, vigorous warriors, graceful hula, sensuous hip-swaying. If Papeete made you concerned that Tahiti was getting swamped by Western culture, then these superb performances made you realise that Tahitian culture and traditions are most certainly alive and well.

Just watching these highly energetic performances in the extreme heat and humidity made you feel tired (how the dancers kept up the levels of intensity I'll never know), but fortunately we were able to keep hydrated with essential champagne and beer-based energy drinks. To put on a show like this on a remote island must have been a major logistical exercise, but Tahiti is about the only island in the South Pacific that could do it.

Tahiti may not be the paradise that inspired the Bounty Mutineers or Gaugin any longer, but days like today proved that it's still a pretty special place.

January 17th – Moorea à Vélo

The rugged green landscapes of Moorea make for a striking contrast to the pancake flat atolls we saw Rangiroa yesterday. That's the remarkable thing about French Polynesia – it has such a variety of scenery, that you can feel like you've ended up on a different planet as you move from island to island.

So, as a contrast to yesterday's day of indolence and luxury, today was going to be all about hard work and exercise. From the pier, we walked down to one of the hotels to hire bikes so that we could combine sightseeing with a workout – seeing as it was about 32 degrees and very humid, it was like doing a spinning class in a sauna.

To add to the workout, these were heavy old bikes with no gears (you had to cycle backwards to get them to brake). This was mostly fine because the coast road is predominantly flat, although in one section where you climb about 40 metres (it felt like 400!) up to a viewpoint, our heartbeats were going through the roof.

But, the great thing about cycling around Moorea is that the views are always spectacular – on one side you have steep slopes of thick vegetation leading up to striking jagged mountains; on the other you have Moorea's blue lagoon, in an ever changing variety of colours. In fact, those amazing colours in the lagoon are the thing that link Moorea and Rangiroa.

As we set off, I confidently told Tracy that it was "only 37 kms" all the way around the island, so if we were making good progress maybe we could do a full circuit. Fortunately, the cronky old bikes prevented us from going too fast, because on closer investigation it turned out that while I had got the number right, the units were wrong – it was 37 miles (more like 60kms), which would have killed off Lance Armstrong, never mind a couple of out of shape old shufflers who'd been over-indulging on a cruise ship for 2 weeks.

Anyway, we made it past the golf course, the airport, the Sofitel Resort and got as far as Vaiare were the Tahiti ferry comes in, before prudence told us that it was time to turn back. On the way back, we called in at the wide Temae Beach where the warm, turquoise waters made for a great place to rejuvenate before heading back on the final leg of our Tour de Moorea.

At the end of the day we'd ticked off 25 kms of the island, we'd ticked off mountain scenery, blue lagoons, little villages and friendly locals – all the elements that make Moorea my favourite island in French Polynesia. Moorea is a great place to relax, but it's also a wonderful place to expend a little energy.

January 16th – Busy Doing Nothing in Rangiroa

Some places aren't made for high octane experiences. On a low-lying atoll like Rangiroa there's no bungee jumping opportunities. With so few visitors, there's no speedboat rides or jet skiing.  With the biggest settlement having no more than a few hundred people, there's no "sights" to see.

But, with Rangiroa, the "sight" is all around you – the island's huge, luminescent lagoon glittering in all shades of blue. And what a sight it is – if you wanted to construct a stereotypical desert island paradise, Rangiroa would probably be it.

Seeing as land is no more than a few hundred metres wide, everything here is dominated by that lagoon – it's the food source, it's the playground, it's the attraction that drives visitors to come to an incredibly out-of-the-way place like this.

So, the thing to do here (some might say the only thing to do here), is to find a comfortable spot by that lagoon, set up camp on the white sands underneath the shade of a swaying coconut tree, and launch yourself into those warm blue waters for a spot of snorkelling. Fortunately, we weren't just setting up camp in any old spot – a couple of generous fellow passengers had invited us to join them at the Kia Ora resort (the island's only 5-star resort), where they had rented a bungalow for the day. With all views framed by the lagoon, this was luxury beyond luxury.

There were plenty of tropical fish to see in the coral garden in front of "our" bungalow, while the food (seafood of course) was fabulous, but the temptation to just settle into a hammock and drift off to the sounds of lapping waves and rustling palms was hard to resist. Every time I opened my eyes, it was still a "wow" moment – the variety of shades of blue almost seemed like it was a painting rather than nature.

If you're going to do nothing all day, I would recommend Rangiroa as the perfect spot.

January 14th – Land Ahoy in Nuku Hiva

After 7 (remarkably smooth) days at sea across the Pacific, we finally saw dry land, in the shape of the rugged volcanic island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. This place is all about its vistas and spectacular scenery, rather than for its man-made sights, but most of us were just glad to be setting foot on dry land, whatever it looked like.

It's fairly obvious that not much changes on Nuku Hiva – this is one of the most remote island groups in the world, and home to less than 3,000 people – and for me, that's one of the attractions of a place where life moves at an agreeably slow pace, where everyone knows everyone else, and where the modern world doesn't get much of a look in. That means that tourists aren't exactly spoilt for choice here - visitors either do a 4x4 ride up into the rugged mountains, or they just do a leisurely walk around the capital, Taiohae's pleasant waterfront.

But, having said that, Nuku Hiva has added one attraction since we were last here – on a small hill overlooking Taiohae Bay, a huge 12-metre tall Tiki statue has been built to welcome visitors to the island. Actually, the site, called Tuhiva, has an interesting history that encapsulates some of Nuku Hiva's story. Originally it was a meeting place for the local tribes; then, as western whalers began to call in to the island in the 19th century, the Americans built a small fort here in 1812 (called "Fort Madison") as they unsuccessfully tried to claim a Pacific Empire. Next, when the French took over in the 1840s, it became "Fort Colet", before the site was abandoned at the end of the century. Now Tuhiva has a new focus which, even if it's not the most subtle statue, is a joyful celebration of the isand's local culture.

As a reminder that the local culture has had to withstand outside influences for a couple of centuries, down at the dockside we saw a couple of smartly dressed Mormon missionaries ready to go out and spread the word to the island's 2,800 inhabitants. The first Christian missionaries, who arrived in the 19th century, attempted to ban tattoos, traditional dress, and the local dancing. Thankfully, they weren't successful in this, and all three things are making a real comeback these days, which gives this remote place a really exotic flavour. Whether the Book of Mormon will affect things, remains to be seen.

To prove the enduring strength of the local traditions, back on board, we were treated to a fantastic local show of drumming, singing and dancing that really brought to life the atmosphere of Polynesia – in parts aggressive, in parts sensual, there was a delightfully primitive air to the dancing which captured the unique spirit of Nuku Hiva.

Nuku Hiva is a gentle start to the World Cruise; but, we don't do journeys like this just to visit big cities, to see huge skyscrapers or massive monuments. We come to visit hard-to-reach places that show us life away from modernity, where traditional culture still gets a look in, and where the natural setting is more important than the touch of mankind.

"Live" Map of the World Cruise 2019

Two more days until we hit dry land, so in the meantime, if you want to see where the Silver Whisper is on the World Cruise 2019, then check out this link on my website, it may not be high-tech accurate tracking, but I will endeavour to keep it up to date.

http://www.jonfleming.co.uk/wc-2019-live-map.html

Before you start to worry, the captain is not using this for his navigation!

January 6th – The World Cruise 2019 Starts

After a Gala Dinner in San Francisco where we met a record number of World Cruisers (240), it was time for the 2019 World Cruise to start. As this is our 8^th Silversea World Cruise in a row, it’s amazing how many of the passengers we know already – the cruise already has something of the feel of a big reunion.

Just to remind everyone why it is we head away from winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the weather in San Francisco was atrocious – absolutely tipping it down and strong frigid winds blowing in. Hopefully those winds will die down once we’re in the Pacific, because we have seven days at sea before we hit dry land!

Silversea World Cruise 2019...

Happy New Year 2019 Everyone...

Our new adventure begins tomorrow as we fly to San Francisco to meet up with the Silver Whisper and embark on our ninth World Cruise. We are looking forward to four and a half months of adventure.

I will endeavour to keep a timely blog to let you know what we are up to, but in the meantime, here is a route map to whet your appetite.

Cheers

Jon & Tracy