vickygoestravelling

my journey to health and well being via exotic destinations


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Remembering Louise in Moofushi, Maldives

7 December 2020

Louise would have been 31 today. Almost ten years since she died. It is simultaneously like yesterday and an aeon ago. This morning – 3 am to be precise due to jetlag – I flipped though her Facebook photos and her joie de vivre, sense of naughtiness and good humour shone out to me. Of course she had her moments – we all do – and I remember when she was about 14 or 15 regularly waiting on the stairs listening for the late night bus to rumble past in the hope that she would be on it…and at some point she would tumble through the front door and I would pretend to be asleep. Continue reading


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Round the world in 113 days: 65-82 diving & island-hopping in French Polynesia

 

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The Aquatiki II at the Tetamanu Pass in Fakarava

Our round-the-world trip has two major unexplored dive areas in our itinerary – the first was the Solomons and second is French Polynesia. This area is famous for its passes – the channels between two atolls that separate the ocean from the lagoons, where hundreds of sharks hang desultorily in the blue while the tide washes over their gills for effortless breathing. The Tuamotu islands, where we are headed, has several lagoons with passes and probably has the most famous shark-diving in the world due to the vast volumes of water that swoosh in and out twice a day. We have decided to explore them on a live-aboard, an eight-berth catamaran, the Aquatiki II. Continue reading


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Round the World in 113 days: 12-26 diving the Solomon islands

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The next stage of our trip takes us to the Solomon Islands for a 14-day dive adventure aboard the MV Bilikiki. This has been a long-time ambition of ours and the trip was carefully planned around these dates and Christmas in NZ; for dive boats such as this you have to book a year in advance. Continue reading


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Eat, sleep, dive, Bequia

IMG_7788We’re going to Barbados – for a wedding! The son of our old friends who live there is getting married, so we have hired an apartment – but more of that in the next blog. Cashing in on so-called BA freebies means we have to arrive a little early – so we find ourselves in Bequia spending a few chilled-out days doing some diving and getting into training for the wedding! Continue reading


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Village life in Papua

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My new friends on Roon island

No dive trip is complete without a shore visit. The first village is on the island of Roon where they have just had their 2018 festival. We are greeted by the village elder and his tiny daughter decked up in a grass skirt and looking overwhelmed. The welcome committee extends to a local band playing on bamboo flutes and locally-made drums, and then a procession of grandmas, sashaying along the main road, at right angles ot the extraordinary statue of a missionary that dominates the square. Continue reading


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Diving with whale sharks in Papua

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Me with a whale shark, Kwatisore Bay

We arrive at Manokwari after 4 flights and 36 hours of travelling, bang on time and with all our luggage. The Dewi Nusantara, just out of dry dock gleams in the half light – the rain lashing down as we motor out to her by tender. This is our third trip and the welcome is warm, many faces familiar. Continue reading


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More high life in the Maldives

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Man Friday

After a week on the boat we treat ourselves to a few days of pampering at Soneva Fushi. This is a ‘barefoot luxury’ island, with secluded villas adorning its outer edges like a string of pearls, encompassing verdant rainforest, populated by fruit bats, bunnies, a few chickens and white-breasted waterhens which cluck around followed by fluffy tweeting chicks, and poo liberally on the verandahs. This is our third visit; the last time we came was within a few weeks of Louise’s death so it has bittersweet connotations. But we do remember it being a place of beauty and tranquillity. Continue reading


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High & low life aboard in the Maldives

header2-bluecavesWe are missing our diving now we are based back in Europe. So I booked a sneaky two-week holiday in the Maldives, the first week on a live-aboard, and the second in Soneva Fushi, a ‘barefoot luxury’ resort we repair to when our souls and bodies need replenishing. Continue reading


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The Singapore chapter closes, but a fresh page beckons

 

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Enjoying Singapore’s national dish – Chilli crab

Here I am sitting among boxes as I wait for the packers to remove our final belongings as we prepare to leave Singapore. It’s been an experience, mostly wonderful. We came here as refugees – from the emotions surrounding the loss of our daughter Louise and the wish to mourn in a private and fulfilling way, by adventuring and ringing the changes. The deep sense of grieving never goes away and, as I have said many times, time is NOT a healer; but it is possible to fill your mind and your heart with happy experiences that take the raw edge off that insistent nagging realisation that every day you wake up is another without her. Continue reading