South Pacific Cruise
Sydney Birding
A couple mornings in Sydney, Australia before the start of the South Pacific cruise. I really wanted to see a laughing kookaburra, and ended up finding a few in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney that wanted to pose.
South Pacific Birding
A random assortment of birds encountered during the cruise that stopped in American Samoa, Fiji, French Polynesia (Bora Bora, Moorea, & Tahiti), New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
National Park of
American Samoa
This visit put me at 100% of all 63 U.S. National Parks visited. The entire national park spans four different islands, so this was just a day trip through the main area of the park in the vicinity of Pago Pago on Tutuila Island including Vatia Bay on the north shore. Also encountered quite a few Samoa flying foxes, which was featured on the U.S. National Park quarter design.
Noumea
New Caledonia
A day trip to Parc Zoologique Et Forestier Michel Corbasson, which had a large assortment of (captive) endemic New Caledonia birds. The highlight was the kagu (pictured in the thumbnail), the national bird of New Caledonia.
Moorea
French Polynesia
A day trip on Moorea resulted in gold dust day gecko sightings (not native, they were introduced from Madagascar), tiny white crabs, and the view of Mount Rotui from Belvedere lookout point.
Tahiti
French Polynesia
With a full day to kill between getting off the cruise ship in the morning and flying out at midnight, we rented a car and did a lap around Tahiti. Stops included Arahurahu Marae, the Arahoho Blowhole, Maraa Grotto, Vaipahi Gardens, and the Faarumai Waterfall.
Bora Bora
French Polynesia
Photos from a snorkeling/sightseeing cruise around Bora Bora.
Mystery Island
Vanuatu
A day trip for beach time and drift snorkeling on Mystery Island, which isn't much more than a sandbar just off the coast of Aneityum, the southernmost island of Vanuatu.
Lautoka & Dravuni
Fiji
Not much here - the Lautoka stop was just a trip to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, a botanical garden featuring a collection of orchids that once belonged to actor Raymond Burr. The stop at Dravuni was canceled due to high winds making tender operations unsafe, so we were only able to look at the island from the cruise ship.
Sydney
Australia
Killing time in downtown Sydney after arriving a couple days prior to cruise departure. This also has some shots from the top deck of the cruise ship as we departed from White Bay and sailed through Sydney Harbour under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Syndey Opera House.