kej1

Love it! Really enjoying your adventure! Sounds like you chose your excursion wisely. Spent a day in Banjul on another ship not long before the Covid mess and we did not choose that wisely. Did a taxi tour and although we weren’t out long worried we would miss the ship as there were demonstrations and tire burning in the streets - the President that had taken the outgoing President's place promised when he was elected he would not stay in forever like his predecessor. Well funny how that changes - after he was elected he changed his mind and that’s why everyone was burning tires. Anyway the good news was we were back in plenty of time as all the tours had the same problem and we actually beat most of them back due to the crazy driving of our local driver.

@BioInfoLibso far things of improved a lot on the second half of this trip. Once we got to the Soloman Islands, after Honaria we have had snorkeling every day. We just arrived in Bougainville and the ship is clearing immigration. The plan has changed or I should say evolved and I think most people in the ship are quite happy. We are not actually disembarking in Buka but on one island this morning for a village cultural visit and shopping for local crafts and later this afternoon we will visit another island for snorkeling and swimming. my husband and I are a bit disappointed only in that we had planned to visit an American some friends from home introduced us to today in Buka. He spends half time here and half in the US. He’s an author and is doing economic development on the island. We had been communicating for several months and I had confirmed just two days ago that we were in fact stopping in Buka but the plans changed so I found out last night we would not be able to meet after all. So sad for us but I’m sure it will be a nice day and better for most guests. And of course we are happy to be able to snorkel again! I think your trip will be fine!

Today was a fabulous day. We went to Njari Island near Ghizo which is privately owned and part of the Solomons. Great snorkeling, and to top it off we were able to do the submarine. Now I must say as a former diver and current snorkeler when you go that deep even on a reef, it’s dark and you don’t see the fish activity and colorful coral you see in shallower depths. But it was a fascinating experience. There were six of us and the pilot. You take a zodiac to the submersible, board it, then climb down a three step ladder to get to your seat. Three on one side and three on the other, pilot in the middle. We descended down a reef we were told 180 meters, cruised around for a while and then came up slowly. As you’d expect as we rose there were more fish, lovely fans, and coral. All six of us agreed we really enjoyed the experience. However I wouldn’t say it replaces diving or snorkeling. What I didn’t know til we were down was that the fish appear smaller than they are through the sub’s glass. I saw a grouper and asked Tom, our pilot why it was so small and he told me it is the glass they use in the sub. Glad we did it and since there hasn’t been an opportunity in the first 18 days I’d say we were lucky! For those of you interested I’d recommend you give it a try, but again don’t think it will replace fabulous diving or snorkeling. It’s just different. BTW I heard the divers had a great dive as well!

Oops my spell check is a bit overactive. I need to be a bit more careful! Thank you @Fletcher. I give the expedition team a lot of credit for making the move this morning from Honaria to Roderick Bay. It was a great decision and a very nice stop. Snorkeling around the World Discoverer and seeing the villagers that seemed happy for a visit. It was a great call even though I know there were a few that missed seeing the WW2 sites - everything was going to be pretty locked down so staying would not have mattered! Fun day. Had seafood Paella on the patio tonight. It’s one of the patio’s better dishes. Tomorrow it seems we may get a chance to do the submarine. Fingers crossed!🤞

Latest update from Honaria: Boy are we happy we did a private tour yesterday morning of the WW2 sites. The late afternoon ship tour according to some I talked to was poor. They only made a few stops, the last being the American war memorial which we’d found quite impressive but it was in the dark. Evidently the guides were not great and they were hurried from site to site missing key pieces of information as they had to return to the ship before curfew due to the election today. Now for the good news, since some craziness is expected in town today the ship is going to move to Roderick bay this afternoon, an island nit far from here. We don’t know exact plans yet but it seems we will have a village visit, some snorkeling, kayaking and diving opportunities. We shall hear final details this morning. The only disappointment is likely for those who arrived later last night and won’t have the chance to experience the WW 2 sites in Guadalcanal which will be a big miss for those interested. I’m also sorry to hear the comments about the flight. Not something one would expect for a luxury cruise. Based on the feedback on the group third party Guadalcanal tour we will go ahead with another private in Rabaul as it’s an important ww2 site as well.

May 1st: Honaria, Guadalcanal, Soloman Islands. The ship arrived early this morning. Over half the passengers were disembarking. And I’m told about the same number or more embarked. We set out early in the morning for a private WW2 Eastern Battlefields tour I had set up several months ago. We had a great guide, Bernard, and our driver did an excellent job of navigating the crazy traffic we encountered going from point A to point B and so on. Husband is a big WW2 buff so this was an important stop for him and I’m glad we did our own excursion. As mentioned there was a ship tour put together at the very last minute but we decided to stick with our plan and I’m glad we did. We visited the US War Memorial which was quite impressive. We visited the various battlefields, alligator creek, rivers, Red Beach, Bloody Ridge, the cemetery ( near the airport where a big battle took place), and the Japanese Memorial which was also quite impressive. Other than the two memorials, and the cemetery things are pretty run down, overgrown, but still it’s a very interesting experience to see where all these famous battles took place. Our guide was excellent but I have to say my husband is so knowledgeable and well read on the subject he kind of dominated the talk. We learned as is the case in so many of these countries, the Chinese are here big time. They have been “partnering” with the prime minister on lots of infrastructure projects. They just built a whole new sporting complex where the Soloman Islands hosted the Pacific games. They are also building roads and fixing those that need fixing ( most of them!). The Chinese like the strategic location and evidently the wood. This particular prime minister just stepped down and the new election is tomorrow. We learned from our guide there was quite a bit of violence after the previous election so likely why the ship changed the last minute scheduled tour from tomorrow to this afternoon. The country has had a ban on selling alcohol for the last few weeks and there are police officers everywhere. Hopefully since the ship still doesn’t plan to leave until tomorrow afternoon we won’t experience any of the drama of past! It was a good day and we are looking forward to tonight’s briefing in hopes given the feedback they have received the expedition team will give a bit more information than in the past on the upcoming activities as it’s all still a mystery.😎

@frantic36 I will look forward to your comments on your cruise. Despite the growing pains we’ve experienced on the expedition part of our trip we are looking at booking Kimberly and Indonesia in August of 2025. We’ve made a lot of friends from Australia on this trip and they have raved about Kimberly! And all the Indonesia travel we’ve done has been by airplane and land in the typical spots so this would be really interesting. The more we know about what to book in advance the better!

@Fletcher I’m really enjoying your live commentary on this very interesting cruise! Thank you for sharing and I’m so glad I found it.

Update! Thank goodness we booked a few months ago a private tour to the ww2 sites in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) on May 1. I almost canceled as Seabourn sent us a flyer the other night they would do a ( third party) tour May 2 ( we have an overnight as some guests disembarking and some arriving). Well, tonight we received a flyer stating the May 2 ww2 third party tour on May 2=is canceled as the prime minister election is that day and most things are shutting down. So, we are very happy we have our 8:30 am private tmw even though it will be messy with lots of guests disembarking. Seabourn to be fair has rescheduled the third party tour for tmw ( May 1) at 3:00 pm. But glad we are going in the morning and can go where we want as my husband doesn’t like shopping which is a part of what they have scheduled. @fletcher they have told us many of these ports will not allow ship expedition tours so therefore have to be third party - some charged and some complimentary. I think they have left all the planning to the expedition staff ( many who are Antarctica people) and they are learning…. I do note that Silversea has their expedition things published in advance. - I actually used their past cruises to this region and High plains drifter’s cruise critic blog from last year to try to plan what we could do and what to expect. We have been very happy with the service and staff on board but everyone we’ve talked to is frustrated with the lack of communications and organization of the excursions piece. Hopefully things will change since this is new to them.

@cruising kirby thank try for the info on Rabaul! Although it has t been communicated yet to anyone on the ship I asked thanks to your info about it and was told “ we should” have the same options and we’d know “ the evening before”! We are going ahead with our private in Guadalcanal tomorrow but I think we will hold off a day or so on Rabaul private as it seems we should have a Seabourn option there…. Thank you and if you are told any other port excursions let us know as those of us on the pursuit are still in the dark so to speak!

@Fletcher. I am now starting to read your interesting stories about Manaus, Amazon, and now west Africa! Went down the Amazon years ago in my early 20’s out of Iquitos, Peru. We took what looked like a worn out version of the African Queen to a lodge called Explora. Bucket showers,hair never dried and mossie bites everywhere but it was beautiful and pretty untouched at that point. And I was young and didn’t care but now….couldn't do it that way again! I see why you like this part of the world. We had on,y been to Fiji and French Polynesia previously by airplane and land. This is a wonderful way to explore the area. Thinking of Kimberly and Indonesia next summer on the Pursuit again.

@FlaviaOfTheMonthsnorkeling and I think scuba were offered in Cook Islands through third parties. In Tonga in the afternoon we snorkeled and I believe there was scuba as well. In Fiji there was snorkeling and scuba on the first day in the afternoon. Not on the second day. Neither was offered in Vanuatu or on the first 3 stops of the cruise. im hoping on this second half we will have more opportunities. Again there is no schedule published and as much as we ask what’s happening we are told we will know the night prior. Since Dom, the current leader will leave tomorrow to go home I’m assuming ( hoping) there will be a replacement. all, we are on til May 15th so I’ll keep updating. Strange those getting on May 15th have some excursions to choose and we have none….maybe you can share what they are as I assume they will be similar?

Land diving yesterday was a really great experience. In fact the last few shore visits - two on Fiji and yesterday in Vanuatu were what we had come to hope for with an expedition cruise. There was a tremendous squall that started after the ROM ROM dance and many were drenched but had a really great time. So for the afternoon visit for land diving the ship moved its location ( had always planned on moving to the other island but moved the location on the other island). There was a bit of confusion as the announcement said we had switched locations and there would be after getting off the zodiacs a truck ride to a village visit. Much to my delight and others it was a truck ride to the location where you would walk up the hill to see the land diving. It was quite muddy due to the earlier rain climbing up to the land diving but the wonderful local villagers helped us all to prevent us from slipping. Overall the whole day was a highlight despite not having a snorkeling opportunity. For those that do this cruise I recommend doing both excursions if offered. Today and tomorrow are sea days. Many leaving the ship when we reach Honiara. We are so happy to be staying on! There are lots of interesting lectures during the day and typically the MDR is open for lunch on sea days although today some were turned away due to lack of staffing. ( and only about 12-15 tables seated). Those guests were asked to come back later so not turned away completely. So staffing seems to be one of the reasons the MDR is nit always open for lunch. We have had really good service so hadn’t noticed but I guess staffing is an issue for some things. Still no information on what to expect in the next leg of the cruise although someone on this forum stated they had listed shore excursions for Rabaul on the following cruise. We don't have nor can I pull up the next leg anymore on the website. I asked the expedition team and was told we’d know the evening prior which most guests I’ve spoken with and I find very frustrating. If the cruise after ours has it published I don’t understand why we are still in the dark. They did send out a flyer that there would be a tour of WW2 sites in Honaria on day 2 of our stop. It’s not too clear but maybe they will talk about it in the briefing tonight. We also saw a notice on our Seabourn source iten about a submarine on May 1st, but it’s unclear if this is just a notification that we are signed up for it on the next leg or it’s happening and we are being included. I tried to track down the expedition lead today as if so I’d likely cancel our private tour as it’s the same day and do what Seabourn has planned the next day but couldn’t find one of the expedition team members in the know. Maybe this evening I’ll find out what’s up! Again we are really enjoying the cruise but a bit more advance communication would be helpful understanding that things can be canceled last minute due to weather or other concerns. Both Honaria and Rabaul are stops with a number of cruise ships so should be possible to publish in advance unlike some of the more remote islands we recently visited.

More lectures. Good lectures we have enjoyed quite a bit.

Btw, I’m wrong we are still going to see the bungee jumping/ diving. Just from another location! Yay! Just boarding zodiac now!

Regarding today’s excursions in Vanuatu. - morning was terrific with the ROM ROM dance and village visit. It was one of the best if not the best cultural experiences. It did start to rain, a tuallly I should say pour halfway through the morning! We all came back to the ship soaked but happy for such a great experience. Due to the rain the afternoon bu gee jumping was replaced with another location and it seems like it will be another cultural experience. No snorkeling or submarine so for people on,y on this leg no submersible experience as the team could not get the right permits. We are hoping fir the Honaria to Guam leg. And hoping for more snorkeling. Regarding gear, they have masks, fins and snorkels on board. ( we brought our own masks and snorkels but are using their fins). For divers they provide weights and tanks but you must bring your own BCD, etc. I highly recommend a skin as some areas are shallow and a few people have coral “owies”. Also if you have the right skin will protect from the coral as well. Happy to have my full body skin but on,y a few of us have brought. Makes a big difference! Better than just a short rash guard for where we have been. now two sea days and then Honaria. We have a private tour booked on May 1st to see WW 2 sites. However after I asked almost every day they are now organizing something for the ship on May 2. Not sure paid or complimentary. I think we will stick with our private. I see others on the May 15 cruise have options published for Rabaul. We still have nothing even after asking so I did go ahead and book another private there to see WW2 sites as well. Not sure the disconnect as I’ve asked the expedition team several times. Maybe not the right person?

@LocoLoco1i think based on our experience so far, if you want to do a lot of diving and snorkeling unless things change so far, this isn’t the trip. But, as this is their first expedition trip to this region perhaps it will improve as I’m sure they will receive lots of feedback. Interesting the previous segment from Chile to Tahiti had several submarine trips, this has had none. We used to dive but haven’t in some time but had hoped to have a lot more snorkeling. Pre cruise at Brando we snorkeled twice a day every day right off our room. If we’d stayed longer and I’d known more about this trip we would have gone out on their boat to some of the outer reefs, They like most resorts in the region also have diving. We are having a very good time but are disappointed in the minimal amount if good snorkeling so far and lack of planning. Hopefully on this next segment there will be more snorkeling but I doubt more planning! 😎

We just received an update for tomorrow on Vanuatu. We will do two landings: 1.Ambryn island in the morning. We will see a ROM ROM dance ( I expected having read on other ship sites) and a village walk. No snorkeling or submarine. 2. Afternoon - the island famous for the bungee jumping. Again no snorkeling or sub which is disappointing to many including us but these will be very interesting experiences. The good news is they will have room to accomodate everyone who wants to go. We will go on shifts in the zodiacs. This will be followed by two sea days and then a two day stop in Honaria, Guadalcanal where some will disembark. Because we are staying on for the next segment to Guam fingers crossed we will have more snorkeling and submarine opportunities. I’m glad I made a private tour plan for Guadalcanal as when I asked today it still hasn’t been planned. These things I don’t understand as they seem pretty std, but hopefully as time goes on Seabourn will get their act together on planning! Now on to dinner! Looks like a good menu tonight with lobster, Dover sole, and some other goodies.

@frantic36 I think you could easily organize a smallish cocktail party. When we arrived our suite had every kind of alcohol I could imagine and good brands. We only drink wine so told our stewardess she could give to someone else but she insisted we keep it for a cocktail party. We haven’t done yet but may do one evening. And yes the hit tub is private and covered from deck 9. If there is a great sunset however deck 5 co had look up but once you get in they can’t see! Just cover up getting in if there are lots of peilke down below but usually they aren’t looking up any warps as they are looking out! It’s a wonderful room! We love love it!

So on my general more later…. Expedition program: Well, there wasn’t much of one until we arrived in Fiji. I think the team is very nice and friendly but a bit disorganized. I realize this is Seabourn’s furst time doing an expedition cruise in this area, but there is no reason in the ports that are frequently visited the tours could not have been published mo this on advance. And tomorrow Vanuatu? Like I said earlier the tours are pretty std on other expedition ships. And I realize they don’t know for sure about the sub and the diving in advance but why not publish other options. I think all of this has been left up to the expedition team who works like this in Antarctica where it makes sense but not all of these ports. So this has been a lowlight so far. We will see if it improves but nothing has been scheduled for Vanuatu which we visit tmw, nothing for Guadalcanal, ( glad I arranged a private here in advance), nothing for Papua New Guinea or Micronesia. I did receive the name of a private tour coming Rabaul so will set something up there as my husband doesn’t want to miss the WW2 sites in these spots and I don’t think there is a WW 2 historian on the expedition team ( maybe someone will get on in Guadalcanal or maybe someone here is that we don’t know?). Anyway for us and many others we have spoken to this is the disappointing part of the cruise. Everything else has been great but we are paying a big uplift for the “ expedition” piece and so far it really hasn’t been up to snuff IMHO. I’m hoping it improves. Trying to give feedback in a positive way as I’m not a complainer but I just don’t think it’s being heard or maybe just too late? Anyway we are still having a great time, just think Seabourn needs to better set expectations or improve in this area. Spa and gym: nothing to say here. Haven’t even walked by it! I’m probably not the best person to ask about this aspect despite the fact on the regular ships we prefer the penthouse spa suites due to the location at the back of the ship! Wines: we love good wine so only a few complimentary we drink. We order off the reserve list many nights. Coming from California where we have pretty good pricing the prices seem high but you can find some good prices here and there and if you qualify for a discount it’s ok! We very much enjoyed a lunch with wine pairing one sea day. It was great. We haven’t done the dinners as we know many of the wines they have offered and just opted out but I think for others would be fun. in Antarctica where

@frantic36 The signature suites are fantastic. Certainly large enough to have room service for any meal outdoors or inside. The weather mid day can be quite hit and humid where we’ve been but if you eat indoors the table and chairs are situated in such a way you have a great view. We often have caviar and champagne in the evening outside before dinner and have had breakfast outside too. On,y did room service lunch once but it was too hot that day to eat outside. Also @highplanesdriftersasked about the jacuzzi temperature and it is lukewarm which works well for the evenings. It can be adjusted but has to be dine by the staff.

@LocoLoco1 and others. for the first part of our cruise it was not expedition ( although sold as expedition) in fact the excursions were the same as any other cruise ship, used third parties and IMO should have been published in advance, and we should have not been paying the uplift. We found it easy to find a taxi and guide to take us around the island site seeing and were lucky we got good people. Normally I would have researched this in advance and organized ahead of time but since when I called Seabourn destinations repeatedly they assured me there would be small, intimate unusual excursions I did not bother. Now there were some free included excursions and some paid. But they were essentially everyone on the ship - not small and intimate and with varying local guides. We did our own thing and paid for the taxis as the alternative was not to our personal liking. You could easily find a grid bar to taste the local beer btw. so I think you could easily do what we did but I’m not sure you could find someone to take you snorkeling or diving except in American Samoa where the snorkeling beach is only about 20 min from the ship, but that port was a substitute for Niue. I did talk to one of the guests who is a diver on this ship last night ( I think they limit the number to 6 or 😎 and he said they had great dives in the two stops in Fiji. I don’t think they were given permission ( Seabourn) to dive before this except maybe the second stop in Tonga where we did have decent snorkeling. The dives were with the expedition staff so in Fiji they had the permission. And the snorkeling was off the zodiac and by far the best we had day one but day 2 they warned us was off the beach and not much to see so we skipped and I had to do some work anyway. Heard we didn’t miss anything but some liked swimming in the cave. We are on our way to Vanuatu right now and stopping there tomorrow. No excursions have been published but in looking at the Silversea and Linblad websites I can see what the typical excursions are: Rom Rom dance with village visit, hike, and snorkeling. I’m assuming we will find out tonight those are our options and there will be a mad race to sign up! Perhaps there will be a diving opportunity and we are hoping for a submarine opportunity. So far Seabourn hasn’t received permission to use the sub anywhere. This is the last stop on this leg. After tomorrow we have two sea days and then some disembark in Honaria ( gudacanal) and others get on. We are staying for the next part so if no sub tomorrow maybe in Solomons, PNG, or Micronesia. I’ll keep updating on things as they unravel.

Today is a sea day and we are nearing the end of the first segment of our cruise. So,e will leave in a few days in Honaria, Soloman Islands ( Guadalcanal), some will continue for another two weeks ( including us) to Guam, and some new passengers will join. On this cruise we have about 200 guests, some have come all the way from Chile and others got on on Papeete as we did. A large portion are from the USA, about 25 from Canada, about 25 from Australia, the rest from varying parts of the world - Britain, Germany, Sweden and others. We’ve met some very nice people and I’d say a wide age span. One gentleman is 96 and there are a few that look to be in their 40’s but most seem to be in the 60-70’s age range. I’m guessing but that’s what it seems. I haven’t seen any children. The service from our suite attendant has been excellent. Some of the best I’ve experienced despite the fact she has 21 rooms. Unfortunately for us she’s going home from Honaria so we will have someone new on the next part of our journey. We do have a second person who helps her which I hadn’t experienced previously. He focuses on the outdoor decks, the bathrooms and does light maintenance, helps her with a variety of things and he’s outstanding also. He will stay on but it’s unclear if he will still be assigned to our room. The dining staff have also been terrific. We tend to have breakfast in our room every day and it’s always been very timely. We have had dinner most nights in the MDR but have had several dinners on the patio which is lovely in the evenings. We pick and choose based on the menus. One disappoint,ent for us is the MDR is closed except on sea days. So the Columnade and patio become extremely busy. We don’t care for buffets and the cafeteria atmosphere so try to get a table on the patio even when it’s very hot. You have to go early or late to get a spot. There is a limited menu - burgers, hotdogs, salmon, chicken breast, on the menu. I asked one day if I could have a Caesar salad from the room service menu and was told I could make my own at the buffet. I was told nothing from the room service menu could be ordered on the patio or in the Columnade as it was a different kitchen. So I ordered a burger ( they are quite good). Then 5 min later a waiter told me he could make a Caesar salad for me from the buffet but I passed and said thank you very much but I’d just ordered a burger. I think the situation is funny as I have seen people eating club sandwiches ordered from room service so maybe it depends on who you ask. Having said that the service has been attentive and very good. Just for those of us who don’t care for crowded buffets lunch can be a bit if a disappointment although some days I’ve just skipped it when we have morning and afternoon activities. We often eat on the patio on the regular Seabourn ships but there are more choices - usually a fish and dish of the day in addition to the salad bar, pizza, and same menu items. Food overall- it has been fair to very good depending. I on,y had one dish that was poor. On an Italian night on the patio I made the mistake of ordering Branzino - a dish I often order at restaurants. I have to say it was awful IMHO. It was dried out and way too fishy in smell and taste. Something I’ve never experienced before. I took only one bite. The staff could tell I hadn’t eaten it and offered to bring me something else but I passed. One never starves here so missing a main course of a meal is not a bad thing at all😎. I probably should have given the feedback but I just said I wasn’t hungry. ( bad on me I suppose but I hate to complain). On the other hand we’ve had some very good meals including a very good chicken tikka masala the other day. I do think the food could improve but realize it’s hard with such a large and varied group of passengers. More later!

We tried to post some videos but I think they were awfully large for this site. I’m not sure how to delete them. Yesterday afternoon we had some very good snorkeling off the zodiac platforms in Fiji. Best we’ve had so far. There was a village visit as well which we skipped as logistically we didn’t arrive at the site til about 1:30 and by the times the zodiacs were ready to transport everyone it was hard to do both although some did. Sunset last night was magical and given we had been anchored in an atoll, the sail away was incredible from our aft balcony. We enjoyed caviar in our suite last night pre dinner and enjoyed a nice Earth and Ocean dinner outside on the patio off the Columnade. It was quite a love,y evening with a nice breeze so the patio filled up rapidly. On certain evenings if one doesn’t arrive right at opening it can be hard to get an outside table which is preferred on this warm weather cruise. The inside we noticed was quite empty when we left but the outside still very full and busy. This morning was another village visit with snorkeling off the beach at another location in Fiji. The snorkeling was fair. Not great but ok. Nice to get in the water. The location was not far from another island resort we stayed on twice in the past called Wakaya. Wakaya had some of the best diving and snorkeling we’d ever experienced including the Maldives and other wonderful spots. This afternoon we have moved to another location where we have a choice of a beach visit ( supposedly not good for snorkeling) or swimming in a cave. We are passing on both while husband will work on his photos and videos and o have some work to catch up on. !y husband hopes I can send you a link soon if you’d like to take a look. He wants to shorten a bit first!

Yesterday we were in Tonga. We thought this was going to be the beginning of the “expedition” part of our cruise but not entirely. In the morning we were in Vava U, a small town on a pretty little island. There were 4 third party tour options: Two complimentary cultural visits, one city walk ( quite a small city - really a town, and a paid hike. Since the ship was leaving at 12:30 we signed up for and took one of the cultural tours. It was a tour to a small beach where we were given demonstrations of local cooking, weaving, dances and the obligatory cava ceremony. The dancing was performed by young children and it was we thought a nice fairly short (advertised as 2 hours but close to 3 with drive times) and since we had toured the other island stops on our own with a taxi we were happy to hear from other passengers who had done the other tours this was by far the best! Well I guess we were quite lucky! The tour was called Anu Beach for those who may be stopping here in the future. There was time to swim but only for about 15 min so we didn’t bother as we planned to snorkel in the afternoon. Following these tours we boarded the ship and moved to a spot to swim and snorkel in the afternoon. I think everyone on the ship must have come. We were on one of the first zodiacs and the beach was small. We set out to snorkel and about 20 min into it the water was packed with snorkelers running into one another. And after we finished not much room on the beach at all. Like a mini tiny version of Waikiki with bodies spread out towel to towel! On top of that the snorkeling was kind of a bust if you have experienced great snorkeling as we have in the past. Saw a few fish, but nothing spectacular or even very good. Anyway it was great to be in the nice clear warm water and putter around snorkeling even though there wasn’t much to see. Biggest problem was bodies everywhere bumping into one another! We were told Tonga was going to be the first chance to do the submarine, but unfortunately at the last minute the team was not given permission to operate it. We were told likely in Fiji. So now we just arrived at a very remote island in Fiji. We have been to Fiji twice before staying at private resorts on their own island where we had fabulous diving and snorkeling. we arrived just a short time ago and will spend the afternoon here. There are two excursions ( expedition not third party!). A trip to the remote island’s village and snorkeling in deep water off the zodiac platform. We were all assigned times to leave the boat for the zodiac to the village and the zodiac to the snorkeling platform. Because we arrived quite late and it’s a 20 min + ride to the village given the time we were given for snorkeling we didn’t really think we’d have time to do both so we will snorkel and hopefully as they are only letting 1/3 of the ship go at once for max one hour it won’t be crowded. It’s disappointing not to see the village but we would have had to zodiac in and then turn around after about 20 min and zodiac back. The good news is we have visited some remote villages on our past land based trips to Fiji so we chose to just do the snorkeling today! Hopefully it will be much improved from yesterday. Unfortunately the submarine was canceled again today and tomorrow as the expedition team was not given permission to operate. I’ll post again after our upcoming snorkel hopefully with some photos worth posting. My husband did a great video in Aitutaki but it was too large to post. I’ll send a ,ink once he posts on his website ( he’s retired from the tech industry and took up photography as a hobby after he retured so although he primarily dies sailing racing he also has done a lot on our travels to places like Africa, India, Antarctica, and lots on past diving vacations in Fiji, Seychelles, Maldives, and others. After returning to the ship we enjoyed a nice lobster dinner with a nice bottle of white burgundy off the reserve wine list. CCRsnorkel2.mp4 Here CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4 CCRsnorkel2.mp4