It’s a bit like preparing for a military operation as we are plucked by the beleaguered deckhands from the stern transom into the lurching Zodiac. Trussed up in numerous layers of Gortex and looking almost like space explorers, we endure the biting sea spray whipped up by 30kt gusts as we seat our clumsy bottoms around […]

#expeditioncruising #worldexpeditions #maldives by Roderick Eime , travelling with World Expeditions in the Maldives. Regular readers to this blog will be used to reading about all manner of ships from the trusted and sturdy former Soviet oceanographic vessels through to the new wave of luxurious ‘champagne’ adventurers venturing out to the remote corners of the world’s oceans. Here in […]

Fiji does hedonistic ‘escape’ packages up there with the best, but what about something that wraps all facets of these fascinating islands into one irresistible bundle? Roderick Eime disappears off the tourist map to find out. Beyond the manicured lawns, swimming pools and cocktail bars of Denarau Island, there exists another Fiji; one of remote, deserted beaches, […]

Australians have reaffirmed their deep affection for Fiji with record numbers travelling to the islands despite outcry from some quarters about the controversial political situation. This tourism surge from Down Under has filled any vacuum left by diminishing arrivals from the US or UK even though those numbers are on the turn too. The Australian experience […]

The terms ‘expedition’ or ‘adventure’ has been more frequently attached to cruise products in an attempt to give them a romantic, out-of-the-way appeal. The danger is that the original expedition cruise concept is being diluted and misconstrued. A true expedition cruise consists of a voyage plan and itinerary that has inbuilt flexibility and redundancy. In the […]

By Roderick Eime . Pics by the author. The jungle is almost silent. A mossy natural junkyard of tree corpses and opportunistic vines line either side of the narrow rivulet while tall, spindly kapok trees merge overhead to form a verdant archway. Invisible birds call sporadically to each other in shrill chirps shattering the silence like distant gunshots. […]