Join this island excursion as Island Sky takes you on the 20-day cruise from Tahiti to Easter Island. Start the trip by learning about Tahiti through the different arts available in the museum. Visit Tuamotus Island, which is comprised of the world's largest atoll chain. Due to a low volume of visitors, you will be able to explore the underwater landscape and it is perfect for snorkeling and diving. Zodiacs will bring you to different islands where local dancers and drummers await to welcome you with their traditional songs and dances. Spend time bird-watching as you search for the endemic Nuku Hiva pigeon and Marquesan swiftlet. End your voyage at Easter Island, where you will witness the famous giant Moai statues before returning to Chile's mainland and making your way home.
Highlights
Photograph the exquisite Marquesas with their sky-piercing volcanoes
See Easter Island’s giant volcanic stone statues or Moai
Meet and socialize with the Pitcairn Island residents
Birders can search for the endemic Nuku Hiva pigeon and Marquesan swiftlet
Involves minimal physical effort and is typically associated with leisurely activities. Activities are low-intensity or last less than a few hours each day.
Relax during a morning at leisure, then join a tour of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia’s largest island. Pass by orchards of papaya as you drive along the stunning coast. Visit the renowned Museum of Tahiti, which traces the islands’ history. Embark the Island Sky this afternoon.
Though remote and sparsely populated, the far-flung Tuamotus comprise the world’s largest atoll chain. These venerable coral constructions rise just high enough above the water to be called land, and if it weren’t for their waving coconut palms, they might be entirely invisible from any distance. With few visitors and little industry, the dazzling lagoon of Apataki offers a pristine underwater landscape for snorkelers and divers to explore.
Considered one of the most beautiful island groups in the South Pacific, the Marquesas lie farther from a continental coast than any other islands in the world. Unlike other Polynesian islands, the Marquesas have no surrounding reefs or placid lagoons. Their wide, deep bays are havens for vessels such as ours.
Spend three days exploring this dazzling collection of islands whose breathtaking vertical peaks reach into the clouds, while carpets of lush tropical vegetation drape cliffs and canyons that descend to sea-sculpted bays. Countless sooty, fairy, and bridled terns circle tiny, rocky pinnacle islets. Zodiacs bring you ashore on a variety of islands, to be greeted by dancers and drummers adorned in leis and tapa cloth. On walks, you may see petroglyphs or tiki figures—representing deified ancestors—flanked by banyan trees, fragrant plumeria, blooming orchids, and silvery waterfalls. Open-air craft markets display baskets, shell jewelry, and wooden carvings. Birders search for the endemic Nuku Hiva pigeon and Marquesan swiftlet. Though the islands lack fringing reefs, snorkelers and divers will discover colorful fish against a backdrop of sheer walls and dramatic arches.
Delightful music and dancing welcome you to this idyllic island—the first land sighted in the Pacific by Europeans. Visit the small village whose residents raise taro, bananas, and coconut palms for copra (dried coconut). Birders search for Pacific reef-heron while snorkelers and divers explore the fringing reef.
Coconut palms and breadfruit trees cover the beautiful islets that surround Puka Rua’s lagoon. Garland-bedecked dancers greet you in the tiny village whose 150 hospitable inhabitants earn a living selling copra. Witness the process of coconut drying, visit a local crafts market, or stroll along the lagoon’s shores watching crested terns circling overhead.
Spend a day at sea as the ship continues towards the remote Pitcairn Islands. Join naturalists on deck to search for a variety of seabirds and marine mammals.
Remote, enchanting, and tiny at six miles around, volcano-crowned Pitcairn was the fabled hideout of the HMS Bounty mutineers in 1790. Step ashore and visit with the 50 hospitable inhabitants of Adamstown, who are the direct descendants of the nine mutineers and 18 Polynesians. The anchor of the Bountyrests beside the courthouse and the ship’s Bible resides in the church.
Sheer limestone cliffs surround this elevated coralline island, a World Heritage Site, pockmarked by caves and blowholes. Henderson’s astounding natural selection has produced ten endemic flowering plants and four endemic species of land birds, including the Henderson Island crake and Stephen’s lorikeet. There will also be an opportunity to snorkel or dive in the marinelife-rich waters.
This small, uninhabited, and rarely-visited atoll is rimmed in white sand beaches that in turn surround a crystalline lagoon. As you walk along the shore, witness a vast variety of seabirds—tens of thousands nest here, including Murphy’s and Phoenix petrels, masked boobies, frigatebirds, and red-tailed tropicbirds. Underwater forays bring you face-to-face with legions of rainbow-hued fish in the warm, clear waters.
Relax on deck and enjoy the ongoing lecture series as you cruise toward Easter Island, a World Heritage Site and one of the most mysterious places on earth.
Spend two full days exploring Easter Island. View the intriguing stone heads, moai, built on massive stone platforms at Tahai, along with nearly 400 monolithic statues in various states of completion at the spectacular volcanic tuff quarries. Visit the ceremonial center of Ahu Vinapu where the island’s only female moai was found. At Ahu Tongariki visit the largest ceremonial site in Polynesia—a five-year archaeological restoration project was completed in 1996. Drive to the Rano Kau volcano to view the giant caldera, home to a sprawling lake dotted with small floating reed islets, and the ceremonial village of Orongo, dedicated to the fascinating “birdman” cult.
Day 19-20: Easter Island | Disembark | Santiago
2 Breakfasts
After breakfast disembark the Island Sky and enjoy a short tour before heading to the airport for your afternoon flight to Santiago.
Apologies for the inconvenience. Prices for not yet published. Below per person rate based on previous season. Contact us to confirm upcoming season pricing.
Prices for are estimated based on inflation. Contact us to confirm pricing and availability for your desired departure date.
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Category 1
Magellan Deck. 230 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and four portholes.
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Category 2
Columbus Deck. 240 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and a large picture window.
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Category 3
Marco Polo Deck. 225 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and a large picture window.
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Category 4
Marco Polo Deck. 240 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and a large picture window.
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Category 5
Erikson Deck. 270 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and patio doors which lead to a private balcony.
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Category 6
Explorer Deck. 325 square feet and feature beds that are configurable into two twins or one queen, a sitting area, en suite bathroom, and patio doors which lead to a private balcony.
Notes
- Rates are per person based on double occupancy.
- Singles may be available at 1.6 times the share rate.
Initial deposit is 25%, and most travelers will call our office and pay the deposit with a credit card.
Final payment is due 100 days prior to departure by bank transfer, check or credit card. All final payments by credit card may be subject to a surcharge and maximum of $20,000 charge
The trip might have been the absolute best of our lifetime (thus far). We particularly want to commend our guide Peter in the Guilin area-he was so incredibly attentive, energetic, enthusiastic-and absolutely dedicated to ensuring that our meals were 100% vegetarian.
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