Cruising the Solomon Islands - an Adventure of the Moira

The Solomon Islands

This is the second episode of the adventures of the Research Vessel Moira in the South Pacific. Moira has sailed down from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippine Islands, Palau and PNG to join Dr. Walter A. Starck at the Malaupaina Island where they plan to set up a marine research facility to study wild dolphins and whatever else of interest they can find.

Click on "start here" on the map above or, if you want to just go consecutively from one section to the next click on the green marker on the Moira Menu..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That being said, we will now ramble on about totally different subjects. You can safely ignore what follows and get on with the expedition report by clicking on the green marker above.

Sustainable Tourism in the South Pacific

We have prepared travel guides to new caledonia and vanuatu.

Cruising Guide to Vanuatu

One of the first guide we created was a cruising guide to Vanuatu for yachts. Vanuatu is a popular cruising area for yachts. Superyachts cruising Vanuatu can make all arrangements via South Sea Shipping. The best Vanuatu marine weather site to watch is on www.cruising-vanuatu.com.

Order a copy of the Vanuatu cruising guide for the very best cruising guide available for any sailing destination. This is, like the Rocket Guide to Vanuatu, based on satellite and aerial imagery of Vanuatu.

For the most fun adventuring and holidaying in vanuatu get a copy of the Rocket Travel Guide to Vanuatu CD ROM and plan your perfect vacation in the south pacific.

The next guide we did was a cuising guide for travel agents

Travel Guide to Vanuatu

The Rocket Travel Guide to Vanuatu is a Windows and Mac electronic tourism guide to Vanuatu . It was created by Rocket Guides and intended as a training aid for travel agents. It turns out that travel agencies have about a 20% per year turnover in staff (as one might imagine with their employees forever extolling the virtues of overseas travel). So the travel agency is forever training new employees about destinations. Our guide was intended to give Vanuatu an edge over other destinations by having a fun way for the travel agency employees to learn about all the tourism features of Vanuatu.

The Windows and Mac starts off with a NASA satellite view of Vanuatu taken from orbit. You can rocket from one island of Vanuatu to another almost instantly and click on an island to see what's there and what Vanuatu activities are available.

Vanuatu hotels and resorts

The Rocket Guide to Vanuatu has full details on Vanuatu hotels, Vanuatu resorts and Vanuatu accommodation on every island. Most of this information is not available anywhere else. It's all organised so you can quickly see where every Vanuatu hotel and every Vanuatu resort is located. You will see aerial photos of the location and surroundings and images of the hotel inside and out, so you will be able to judge which Vanuatu hotel or resort is just perfect for your needs. The guide is not limited to Port Vila accommodation or Santo resorts and hotels or Tanna resorts and bungalows . It has information on accommodation on every island in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu Photos

The 1400+ images on the Rocket Guide to Vanuatu are also online photo library of Vanuatu Vanuatu photos, including 360 degree panoramic images of Vanuatu hotels, Vanuatu scenic places and the fabulous Vanuatu culture of these islands.

Vanuatu diving and activities

The Rocket Guide includes information on SCUBA diving vanuatu, vanuatu sport fishing, vanuatu sailing and international sporting events There is a whole section on how to get married in vanuatu , the best tours, and shopping, restaurants, car rental vanuatu   vanuatu weather as well as the less interesting but utilitarian information on Vanuatu visas and customs information, travel-tips, banking, in Vanuatu. You can even see the local time in Vanuatu in case you need to call to reserve your hotel room.

If you want to organize a group trip to Vanuatu, The Rocket Guide to Vanuatu CD ROM has complete information on conference venues to help you organise a Vanuatu Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events in Vanuatu

Vanuatu Transport

There are taxis, buses, and car rentals in vanuatu capital city of Port Vila, and most of the larger islands. If you want to visit the other islands of Vanuatu you will need to fly there on Air Vanuatu's domestic flights in Vanuatu. And for the smaller islands, You will need to charter a boat, either a Game Fishing in Vanuatu or visit some of the smaller Vanuatu islands.

New Caledonia Vacation and Holidays

Our next guides were a cruising guide to new caledonia and a travel guide to New Caledonia. These were twice as difficult to do because they needed to be in English AND French. The French cruising guide version is called Le Guide Nautique de la Nouvelle Caledonie while the French version of the travel guide has it's own website called Ile de Nouvelle Caledonie.

The Rocket Guide to New Caledonia is a virtual new caledonia map ( or carte nouvelle caledonie ) that shows all of New Caledonia from space. But the CD Rom travel guide to New Caledonia is far more than just a map. It is a virtual atlas of tourism information about New Caledonia with over 700 tourism features located precisely on the satellite and aerial images. You can, for example, find any new caledonia hotel with just two clicks, plus there is a summary about new caledonia hotels and resorts that helps anyone plan a new caledonia vacation. It's not easy to plan new caledonia vacations - especially for people who don't speak French.
The first step in planning a New Caledonia Vacation is deciding what KIND of a vacation you would like. There are several possibilities.

Most people have heard of new caledonia - or nouvelle caledonie as it is called in French. La nouvelle calédonie is located just 780 nautical miles east of Brisbane, Australia.

Setting up new caledonia holidays is confusing because the majority of websites about New Caledonia are in French and those which are not tend to concentrate solely on noumea new caledonia - and especially hotels in Anse Vata noumea new caledonia. Travel to new caledonia begins with finding out about flights to new caledonia and then, if the traveller wants to go beyond Noumea, also finding out about domestic flights in New Caledonia. New Caledonia visas are not required for most tourists, but it's best to check to be sure because travellers from some countries (like the US) - can only stay in New Caledonia for 30 days without getting a tourist visa before arriving.

Anse Vata, in Noumea, is the International travel centre of New Caledonia. This is where you'll find the big Noumea hotels and resorts, fine restaurants, and a zillion things to do. Within a very small area - you can stroll along the waterfront promenade from Le Meridien to Le Mocambo in about 15 minutes and within this area are all the major hotels, all the New Caledonia conference venues, the majority of the New Caledonia restaurants, the best beaches, the Aquarium, shopping malls, Noumea weddings coordinators, new caledonia tours agencies, and casinos.

Noumea is also the gateway to the world's largest lagoon and second largest Barrier Reef. New Caledonia fishing boats, New Caledonia boat rentals, yacht charters and boat trips , new caledonia diving trips, are all organized in Noumea and all of the details on how to do this and who to contact are on the Rocket Guide to New Caledonia.

But there is so much more to New Caledonia than Noumea and any visitor to New Caledonia should consider a short 20 minute domestic flight to the Ile des Pins (Isle of Pines). Isle of Pines New Caledonia hotels, resorts and other accommodation range from very expensive to camping. The Rocket Guide to New Caledonia shows all the accommodation of Isle of Pines on high resolution photographs, both from the air and on the ground - including 3D virtual reality tours of many of the resorts.

The Loyalty Islands are only a 40 minute domestic flight from Magenta airport in Noumea. There are three Loyalty Islands, Ouvea, Lifou, and Mare. Lifou is actually larger than the island of Tahiti and has only a couple of thousand people living on it. These are great holiday destinations and well worth a visit.

On the Rocket Guide website you can even check on the long term new caledonia weather forecasts - because the weather in new caledonia makes all the difference between a good vacation and a great vacation.

New Caledonia travel info is available at travel information points throughout New Caledonia. You can quickly get information on most of the essential things you need to know for a New Caledonia holiday - such as the current rate of exchange of new caledonia money, the local new caledonia time and business hours, information on New Caledonia Internet cafés and New Caledonia Mobile phones - GSM New Caledonia.

One excellent and relatively inexpensive way to discover New Caledonia is Fly/Drive New Caledonia holidays essentially a round the island tour of Grande Terre - where the first stop is a new caledonia car rental agency. Or perhaps a new caledonia tours agency to arrange a round-the-island safari. Rental car new caledonia are only slightly more expensive than in Australia, so fly/drive vacations combined with camping, is the least expensive (and often the most rewarding) way to travel to new caledonia. The Rocket Guide to Vanuatu CD has a special Fly/Drive holiday section with road maps, camping sites and New Caledonia accommodation, hotels and resorts on Grande Terre outside of Noumea.
There are a wealth of activities for visitors to New Caledonia - the French people of New Caledonia adore sports of all kinds and are very active. Which means that visitors will find all the facilities they could wish to enjoy themselves. For some sporting ideas see Sporting Events New Caledonia,New Caledonia Horseback Riding and New Caledonia golf courses.

If you would like to see some photos of New Caledonia you might wish to visit the Rocket Guide to New Caledonia online photo librarys, especially the New Caledonia Lagoon virtual cruise and New Caledonia Photos

Cruising guide to New Caledonia - Guide Nautique Nouvelle Caledonie

The satellite image approach to understanding New Caledonia is especially useful to people who wish to visit New Caledonia aboard cruising yachts of people who with to charter a yacht in New Caledonia. The New Caledonia cruising guide shows detailed information on new caledonia anchorages new caledonia marinas,noumea yacht services, yacht charter noumea, superyacht services new caledonia, new caledonia weather and new caledonia ports.

High resolution satellite and aerial photography provide detailed nautical charts of new caledonia. These nautical maps of new caledonia
create a unique sailing guide for new caledonia that opens new possibilities for new caledonia yachting , yacht charter new caledonia, and Yacht Agents in Noumea

The guide is in both English and French, with information on location bateau nouvelle caledonie, location bateau noumea, mouillages nouvelle caledonie, guide mouillage nouvelle caledonie

• photos of New Caledonia
• photos New Caledonia Mermaids
• photos of New Caldeonia Hotels, Resorts and Camping
• photos of the New Caledonia Lagoon

Sailing and Cruising the South Pacific

Cruising the South Pacific is a way to experience the magic of the sea and expand your personal thread of awareness and expectations to fit the actuality of the islands.

You can cruise the South Pacific aboard your own yacht or if you yacht charter in Noumea New Caledonia, or bareboat charter anywhere in the world, you'll need information about the places you go. You would get the cruising Broken Bay nautical guide so you would know all about the Pittwater and Broken Bay sailing grounds. There is a terrific Windows and Mac based cruising guide to vanuatu, with vanuatu satellite photo charts and vanuatu aerial images of 140 anchorages covering every Vanuatu island. A satellite based cruising guide for New Caledonia has a wealth of information about New Caledonia including:

There are general tourism guides of interest to cruisers planning to visit an exotic country, such as the tourism guide to vanuatu

You'll also need to know what the cruising weather is going to be like whenever you go sailing. If you sail when the new caledonia weather, weather is nice you'll always have a good trip. The secret is picking the best time to go and going when the time is right. This is called finding the right weather window for sailing. However, if you go with a captained yacht charter, the captain takes care of all the detailssailing and cruising in the south pacific leaving you and your family free to enjoy the adventure.

If you visit vanuatu aboard a yacht of any description you'll certainly visit Yachting World Vanuatu , they provide diesel fuel for vanuatu yachts , internet vanuatu services, a sea wall marina vanuatu and moorings vanuatu for yachts from all over the world.

Don't forget that cruising requires a certain mind set and awareness, you need something to do while cruising. Like diving in the New Caledonia Lagoon.