Question about self guided tours South Pacific

[no fuss travel]

I have been reading the Boards for South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, but am coming up empty handed on several of the ports of call or else did not see anything that appealed. Does anyone who has been from Papeete to Sydney have advice for what to do at the various ports. We are doing the Wonders of New Zealand in February 2013.

Thank you for all your help ahead of time.

[bbwex]

You will get many more answers on the Ports of Call section for this sort of question. Here you are limited to Oceania passengers who have been to these ports. In the Ports of Call section, you will get everyone who has been to these ports and some locals who likely watch and offer advice.

[no fuss travel]

I am hoping that some Oceania passengers will reply here. I am trying on the Ports of Call and have tried looking but most of what I have seen .......

[LuAnn]

a number of years ago so not sure he's still around but give it a try.

 

Dave's VIP Tours tahiti1viptours@yahoo.com LuAnn

[Caroldoll]

fabulous. If they are still around, they had a driver called Angel and she was great. I understand they do some other of the islands, but I don't know which. I did use tours in Sydney and New Zealand but wasn't impressed with any of them so I don't remember their names.

[jpalbny]

Hi no fuss travel,

 

There is scant useful information about doing things on your own in most of the Marquesas and the Society Islands. We did Tahitian Princess through (some) of this region in 2007, and we had what we thought was a decent guidebook. We still struggled to find the things that we had read about in the guidebook wanted to do on our own. Markings are sparse and signs were nonexistent. We did not have a GPS at that time but not sure that it would have helped.

 

If you list the specific ports where you're looking for information, I'll tell you what I can remember about them (if we were there), whether we tried to do things on our own, and if we succeeded!

[FlightMedic555]

I recently came off an Australia to Tahiti cruise on the Paul Gauguin. The PG remains in French Polynesia year round and if you check out that board, as well as the Trip Advisor site you will get tons of information.

[pacheco18]

So right The PG boards are the place -- go to any of the roll calls there. When I sailed the PG I posted a long list of every private tour we booked.

[no fuss travel]

Thank you. I will look there. I have seen mention of snakes. Are they in the areas where they take you snorkeling? That is the one animal that I can't stand to be near. Also for those of you that have done snorkeling, is it easy. My husband is a non swimmer and when we went to Bonaire he couldn't manage with the wave action.

[pacheco18]

I am a novice snorkeler. I cannot think of a better place to snorkel than in FP. Water is shallow, salty (so you are buoyant) and crystal clear. No fear.

 

And we swam with the sharks and stingrays (on purpose)!

[ORV]

Thank you. I will look there. I have seen mention of snakes. Are they in the areas where they take you snorkeling? That is the one animal that I can't stand to be near. Also for those of you that have done snorkeling, is it easy. My husband is a non swimmer and when we went to Bonaire he couldn't manage with the wave action.

 

Actually I've heard there are no snakes in Tahiti. Some of the other Islands you're going to probably do have them.

[FlightMedic555]

No snakes. It is very easy to snorkel in most of FP as the snorkeling is generally inside the lagoon and there is very little wave action. This minimizes the silt in the water and it is generally crystal clear. My wife is not a great swimmer so she wears a snorkel vest. You can buy one at many places including www.leisurepro.com. If he is a true non swimmer I would highly recommend the snorkel vest. We will be on our first O cruise through the Panama Canal in January so I don't know if they supply any equipment. PG does supply snorkel gear and vests for those that want one.

[no fuss travel]

The ports where I seem to be having difficulties finding out about tours are:

Apia, Samoa, Pago Pago, American Samoa: Lautoka and Suva Fiji: Noumea, New Caledonia; Isle of Pines, New Caledonia; and Luganville, Vanatu.

 

We will probably do New Zealand and Australia by booking tours once we reach the port or just walk around. Timaru, New Zealand does not sound like it is set up for cruise ships yet according to what I have been reading.

 

Any suggestions for the above mentioned ports? As usual I am trying to get everything organized before I begin this years teaching terms from May to December.:D