Rarotonga, Cook Islands
This is an unusual daily expedition report for me to start, especially as we are at sea for the day, but I am overwhelmed with new experiences… The first thing I want to say is: Hello everyone! This is Emma Ridley from the South Pacific! You might say to yourselves: isn’t that the person that leads trips in Galápagos, Central America and Europe? Haven’t I dived with her in Belize and Honduras?
One of the absolute best things about working for Lindblad Expeditions is the opportunity to travel the world with a company renowned for exploring the most remote parts of the world in the most environmentally responsible way you could wish for. My life-long dream has been to visit the remote islands of the South Pacific, and I am finally here! I feel I am exploring this area both for myself and for my 84-year old father, who instilled the love of travel in me during his long career as a foreign correspondent and whose only remaining unaccomplished dream was to visit this paradisiacal and remote spot on Earth.
I have had the immense fortune to be a part of the South Pacific Dive Team on board. There are two dive-masters here at the moment: a greatly accomplished Swede named Martin, who has dived the world over, and me. Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to explore one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world: the coral reefs and associated fauna of the South Pacific. This region stretches all the way from Papua New Guinea to Easter Island – an immense stretch of the largest ocean in the world – and the sheer number of new species I have encountered is overwhelming! The basic fish groups are similar: we find angelfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish etc., but whereas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and Caribbean, we have but a couple of species of each family, here we have a couple of dozen! It is absolutely overwhelming and you have to come and see for yourselves.
We have just ended a fabulous trip from Fiji to the Cook Islands, and are embarking on the next leg: towards French Polynesia – come and share these adventures with us, and we’ll keep you posted as we explore on! In the meantime, savour these glimpses of the underwater world by our Undersea Specialist, David, taken over the last few days…
This is an unusual daily expedition report for me to start, especially as we are at sea for the day, but I am overwhelmed with new experiences… The first thing I want to say is: Hello everyone! This is Emma Ridley from the South Pacific! You might say to yourselves: isn’t that the person that leads trips in Galápagos, Central America and Europe? Haven’t I dived with her in Belize and Honduras?
One of the absolute best things about working for Lindblad Expeditions is the opportunity to travel the world with a company renowned for exploring the most remote parts of the world in the most environmentally responsible way you could wish for. My life-long dream has been to visit the remote islands of the South Pacific, and I am finally here! I feel I am exploring this area both for myself and for my 84-year old father, who instilled the love of travel in me during his long career as a foreign correspondent and whose only remaining unaccomplished dream was to visit this paradisiacal and remote spot on Earth.
I have had the immense fortune to be a part of the South Pacific Dive Team on board. There are two dive-masters here at the moment: a greatly accomplished Swede named Martin, who has dived the world over, and me. Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to explore one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world: the coral reefs and associated fauna of the South Pacific. This region stretches all the way from Papua New Guinea to Easter Island – an immense stretch of the largest ocean in the world – and the sheer number of new species I have encountered is overwhelming! The basic fish groups are similar: we find angelfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish etc., but whereas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and Caribbean, we have but a couple of species of each family, here we have a couple of dozen! It is absolutely overwhelming and you have to come and see for yourselves.
We have just ended a fabulous trip from Fiji to the Cook Islands, and are embarking on the next leg: towards French Polynesia – come and share these adventures with us, and we’ll keep you posted as we explore on! In the meantime, savour these glimpses of the underwater world by our Undersea Specialist, David, taken over the last few days…
