Exploring The South Pacific

The South Pacific is a dream for all blue water lovers! There are remote islands, friendly people, contrasting cultures, coral reefs, breath taking landscapes and warm transparent water.

We had the chance to get some insight from Tabitha Nicole, who traveled the Pacific as a stewardess on a yacht in December 2010.

Can you tell us some of the places that you visited?

French Polynesia extensively, we visited basically all of the islands possible.

When did you travel the Pacific?

December 2009, and also January 2010.

What was the best experience for your guests?

Our owners loved diving and kite surfing. Our trip was very much catered around the best spots for them to experience this. We cruised extensively through French Polynesia, spending the most time around the Society Islands and the Tuomotus.

Where did the crew most enjoy?

We had a fantastic active crew. The owners very much enjoyed giving the crew the same experiences that they were having and quite frankly spoiled us while we were out there! I loved the diving... it was second to none. The majority of the dives we were doing were current dives. We would drop down into some crystal clear blue water inside the Atoll then let the current pull us out through the mouth into open water. It is so relaxing to not have to do anything but drift above the coral reef.

We also visited some Pearl farms in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. One in particular had this funky French family living in a stilted house over the water, where their farm was. We were able to see beginning to end how they cultivate the pearls and what makes them so special. Needless to say I now have a pearl addiction… although not many pearls to show for it yet!

The majority of our time was spent in quiet secluded areas, so our trip was more about the natural beauty of French Polynesia, we did stay a few days in Tahiti where we experienced more touristy aspects of the culture and had fire dancers come on board the yacht.

What was the best dish you sampled?

Best Dish Ever - I can't actually remember the name of! Basically, when we were on the beach, one of the locals taught us to make their version of a ceviche. He had caught a fish, cleaned it and cubed it into small pieces inside a large bowl. Next he took a coconut from the beach and cut it open using a special scraping spoon. He carved away shards of coconut meat from both sides. He then placed this in what looked similar to cheese cloth, and wrung out the meat, producing a very thick coconut syrup. He added this to the fish, added lots of fresh lime juice, scooped some ocean water into the bowl for salt, and voila! Finished. It was so fresh and so ridiculously good.

Was the food and wine everything you expected?

To be honest we only ate off the boat two or three times. We were very much out exploring the whole time, so our chef on board was quite busy! He spoiled us too.

What was your favourite place along the way?

The Tuomotus - I go crazy for any decent scuba diving, so this is the place to be.

Did you see any interesting sea creatures?

We took part in a shark dive. We had probably 15 or 20 sharks all around us. The camera man was sick so I was taken down to record the guests... half way through the dive one of the sharks came quite close trying to get at the food in the middle- he knocked me over in the process! - Funny bit of footage to watch.

Everything in the ocean there is pretty special though, from tiny little nudibranchs (colourful ornate little sea slugs), to the dolphins and manta rays. The dolphins loved playing around the yacht and almost every time we were under way through an Atoll, there would be loads of them swimming and jumping around. Too many to count!

What was the weather like?

The whole time, it was sun, sun, SUN! I was incredibly tanned by the end of it!

The whole experience was out of this world. I have no idea why more yacht owners don't head over there. It is just this incredible, beautiful, special part of the world that everyone should have the chance to see!

Bluewater has charter yachts that visit the South Pacific so if you are interested in Chartering a luxury yacht in the Pacific or working as crew on a suoperyacht that travels to the French Polynesia, contact our team.