I'm now about two weeks back home again.
What shell I say, it was to short, I ran out of money and all the stress relaxation is already gone!
All in all it was a great experience and the right decision doing this. Worse every penny and even more ;)
I thought about writing a résumé and starting with the biggest disappointment, which was Vava'u in Tonga
Probably because of a couple of reasons.
1. It was not allowed leaving Vava'u by sailingboat as we planed. So no chance going to places, from which I already
knew, that there is still big fish. (Vava'u is pretty much empty when it comes to big fish)
Like some Islands around Hapaii and some volcano islands as well.
2. Because of 1., three weeks only staying in Vava'u was to long.
3. The local people. You did not feel very welcome at all. Tourist they really like are the ones who disembark,
walk to the check-in desk, put all their tourist-money on the desk and start boarding again. Sure there are some
exceptions, but that's how you mostly feel
4. Chartering the Sailingboat was to expensive for only staying in Vava'u and what I've experianced there.
Specially for being far away and only seeing in total about 7+ sharks
But there are other places which surprised me more then I expected.
In the first place Niue! That was definitely not my last trip to Niue.
Pacific Harbour and Beqa Lagoon on Fiji were also better then I expected. Maybe because I was
so focused on the bull sharks that I did not thought about the fact, that there will be also
something else ;). The people been very friendly over there and they are interested in you and aren't dealing superficially with you.
Tanna Island in Vanuatu, was also better then I expected and because of what? The breathtaking
volcano experience and of course again, the people ;)
Do I need people around me? Not all the time, but I think being far remote from anyone and anything
will be very challenging for me. Maybe less if there is a perfect reef where I can go for
diving every day and there is something to see ;). But still, if there is no one with which I
can share this, it will get boring and because of that, insufferable
Anyhow, here are some statistics and impressions combined ;)
Some flight statistics
- Over 73000 km or 45000 miles flown
- 28 flights in total
- longest flight 11,7h
- 9 different Airlines
- 14 different kinds of aircrafts
- 21 different airports
- checked out 9 different business lounges
- estimatet 5.5 hours of departure delay
- estimated 3 hours of arrival delay
Misc statistics
- 25 scuba dives
- estimated over 700 freedives deeper that -10 meters
- sailed over 300 Nautical Miles
- encountered 8 different kind of shark species ( blacktip reef shark, bull shark, twany nurse shark, grey reef shark, whitetip reef shark, silvertip Shark, zebra shark, galapagos shark (not 100% sure)
- 31 diffrent Hostels/Guesthouses/Hotels
- lost over 7kg of weight
- visited 12 countrys
What's missing from my bucket list for this trip?
I'm not writing here what was all on my bucket list for that trip, but
their are a couple of things which I sadly can not put off my list.
- Mahi Mahi Harpouning from boat on Rarotonga
- Tigershark encounter (will not count the shadow I saw far away which possibly could have been one)
- Hammerheadshark encounter
- Dogtooth Tuna 25kg+
- climbing a coconut tree to the top (half the tree, on Falalop, but did not managed climbing into the treetop)
- Freediving the wrecks on Santo, Vanuatu (bad cold)
- Whatching Orcas's in NewZealand
My personal highlights:
- Niue! (specially the hardcore freediving with Stifu, thanks!)
- My first "big" fish I shoot, the barracuda
- My first Sailingtrip
- Fiji & the Fiji bull shark dives (Thanks again Mike)
- Volcano on Tanna in Vanuatu
- Hector Dolphin encounter and riding/sharing waves with them
- Tokyo, best Metropolitan city I've ever been to
- Yap and Yap Day, this guys know how to celebrate ;)
- Getting surprised by Mantas during spearfishing
- My first Dogtooth Tuna
- Ulithi Atoll
- ... If I think again, there will be probably many many more ;)
Best towns/city's/metropolis I visited.
- Wellington
- Queenstown
- Tokio
- Seoul
Worst parts of my trip
- Manila, never ever again (And I was not even visiting the districts of the poor people)
- having a cold on Santo with the result of not having a chance going wrack freediving there
- Bad weather on Yap! (no mating Manta Rays for me and no freediving outside the reef)
Would I do it again? YES!!! But probably try to go to some more remote places,
where the underwater world is still as it should be. For example?
Some well known spots I will list here, the rest I will keep for myself.
Maybe I will get the chance going there by boat one day.
- Malpelo
- Cocos
- Galapagos
- Island of Sacorro
- Kiribati (some places)
- Micronesia (some places)
- Marshall Islands (some places)
- and so on....
