Bridging the Equator: Micronesia & Polynesia

Day 1 Guam/ Pohnpei / Embark Clipper Odyssey

Arrive in Guam to connect for your group flight to Pohnpei, a high volcanic island, lush with dense rain forests filled with towering trees, elegant ferns, tumbling waterfalls, and luxuriant mosses. Upon arrival in Pohnpei, depart on a brief tour to Pohnpei’s famed archaeological site, Nan Madol, a National Historic Landmark. Explore the 92 megalithic man-made islands, once the residence of the royalty and priests of the Saudeleurs, from about the 12th to the 15th centuries. Board the Clipper Odyssey in the late afternoon and set sail.

Day 2 At Sea

Today settle into your home for the next twelve nights while lecturers introduce you to the Marshall Islands, a paradise of extended coral reefs, warm waters, and easy-going Marshallese villagers.

Day 3 Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands

A highlight of this voyage is a visit to Bikini Atoll. In 1996, Bikini opened to tourism, offering the world’s most astonishing and breathtaking dive site, over ships sunk by atomic bombs. The postwar American testing in 1946 resulted in the sinking of a host of famed ships, including battleships, destroyers, submarines, cruisers, and the world’s only diveable aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga. The Japanese HIJMS Nagato’s history is legendary: from her bridge, Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy ordered the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Snorkelers enter the water from pristine beaches and may spot giant tridacna clams, with their iridescent blue mantles spread toward the sun, or turtles paddling lazily in the lagoon.

Day 4 Wotho Atoll

Today stop at the very remote Wotho, which few have visited. The island is sparsely populated and offers splendid underwater landscapes rich in brilliant corals. Watch for little red-speckled blennies, which back themselves into empty holes, or sinuous moray eels, whose heads can be seen poking out from coral crevices. Along the beach inspect hermit crabs crawling in cast-off snail shells, while in the tidal pools spot starfish and some of the country’s thousand species of live shell fish. Or, with the ornithologist, search the more remote islets for boobies, frigate birds, and tropic birds.

Day 5 Likiep Atoll

In the late 19th century, the first Europeans settled in the Marshalls, founding a coconut plantation which remains today. Walk through the shady groves and listen as the historian details how the Portuguese whaler deBrum and the German trader Capelle joined forces to create a profitable copra-processing and ship-building operation.

Afterwards snorkel in the lagoon, which is framed by some 60 idyllic islands with white sandy beaches. The Marshalls are famed for their diversity of underwater life. Some 800 species of tropical fish dart among the brilliant coral fans and rainbow-hued hard corals. A special endemic fish to search for is the three-banded anemone fish, which favors the security of its underwater partner, the bulb-tentacle sea anemone.

Day 6 Majuro Atoll

This visit to the capital of Majuro provides a cultural and historical framework to tour the island visiting the Japanese Peace Park; a farm where giant tridacna clams are bred and nurtured; and a copra factory, where the mature meat of the coconut is rendered into fragrant coconut oil and soaps. The superb Alele Museum documents the 2,000-year-old culture and also features a fascinating collection of century-old photos taken by the deBrum family, owners of the plantation on Likiep Atoll.

Enjoy time at leisure in town, where you will find unusual Marshallese stamps and fascinating handicrafts that reflect the superb navigational heritage of these seafarers. Look for traditional “stick charts” used by the local people to point the way to far-flung islands using diagrams of the stars, waves, currents, and bird flight patterns.

Day 7 Butaritari Atoll, Kiribati

In the afternoon arrive at Butaritari (formerly called Gilbert Island), whose islanders Robert Louis Stevenson once described in these words: “They sing with a certain lustiness and Bacchic glee.” Today is a complete sensory experience in this wild island paradise: be welcomed by the blowing of a conch shell, warlike cries initiate dances and games, and a refreshing coconut drink cools while fragrant leis rest upon your shoulders. Local handicrafts are also on display while you stroll the beach and village with smiling local children and guides by your side.

Day 8 Abemama Island

On this remote island, consisting of many islets around a deep sapphire-blue lagoon, meet the local children, visit traditional shrines, and watch women weaving pandanus mats while men quietly fish from outrigger canoes or cast circular nets into the shallows. Whether snorkeling or diving, spot vibrantly colored wrasses, damsel fish, and butterfly fish.

Day 9 At Sea

The lecture series continues, enlightening you on the fascinating Marshall Islands as well as the upcoming days in the simple, beautiful islands of Tuvalu. On the ship’s open bridge, join your captain and watch for the low-lying coral atoll of Nanumea.

Day 10 Nanumea Atoll, Tuvalu Islands

Nanumea’s typical low profile, with nothing higher than a waving palm tree to spot across the horizon, requires attentive navigation. Once you arrive via Zodiacs bring you ashore for nature walks, watersports, and birding. Watch the older male islanders rolling coconut fiber to form sennit, used to lash the floats of outrigger canoes.

Day 11 Funafuti Atoll

Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, Tuvalu served as a WWII base where the Americans constructed a major runway on Funafuti. Today, the peaceable atoll is populated by the Polynesian ancestors of Samoans and Tongans. Sit on finely-woven mats in a maneapa, or open-air meeting house, feasting on local delicacies as intense drumming begins. Dancers in red-and-black pandanus skirts perform welcoming dances that are some of the finest in the South Pacific. In the afternoon, snorkelers and divers explore a coral pinnacle in the calm lagoon waters, where you find staghorn coral plus immense stretches of coral gardens that shelter myriad species of fish. Birders walk the sandy islets to spot ruddy turnstones and reef herons, among others.

Day 12 At sea

Today enjoy lectures and time at sea as the Odyssey head south to the lush islands of Fiji.

Day 13 Taveuni Islands, Fiji

The Fiji Islands cover an area of 386,000 square miles. Of the 325 islands large enough for habitation, only 106 have permanent residents. The third largest, Taveuni, is a dazzling emerald known as “the garden island,” and offers a choice of excursions. Hikers enjoy a visit to beautiful waterfalls in Bouma National Park, while birders explore the lush forests, keeping a lookout for collared lories, Fiji goshawks, and blue-crested flycatchers. A cultural tour highlights traditional Fijian village life, a kava ceremony, and demonstrations of cooking, tapa-cloth production, and basket weaving. Snorkelers and divers investigate the submerged wonders of the sea including Fiji’s famed soft corals with their incredible diversity of fish.

Day 14 Lautoka / Disembark Clipper Odyssey / Nadi, Viti Levu / Home

This morning disembark the Clipper Odyssey in the city of Lautoka on the western, “sunshine coast,” of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island. From here set out for island exploration, including a visit to The Garden of the Sleeping Giant, started by the late actor Raymond Burr in 1977, and showcasing more than 2,000 varieties of orchids. Visit the Vei Sei Sei village, then stop for magnificent island views at Vudu Lookout. Drive to your hotel for lunch and a chance to relax in your day rooms. After dinner transfer to the airport for your late evening independent flight home.