A Freighter Cruise to Paradise. Explore French Polynesia’s Enchanting Marquesas Islands. Board the Aranui III in Tahiti and sail almost 800 miles to the most spectacular and remote islands in French Polynesia. The first stop on this 16 day voyage starts with the Tuamotu islands, where you’ll see pearl farmers harvest rare black pearls from giant oysters.

The Arinui is a mixed passenger/cargo vessel that operates between Tahiti and the Marquesus. After boarding in Tahiti you will sail to the most spectacular and remote islands in the world.

Your days will be filled with adventure as the 14 day journey takes you to the Tuamotu Islands where you will see the rare black pearls being harvested from giant oysters then onto the Marquesas.

The first view of the Marquesas are the mountain spires of Ua Pou, "volcanic needles like the pinnacles of some ornate church," as Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1880. Whenever the Aranui III docks, villagers gather on the pier to greet us. As the muscular crew unloads supplies -- from cement to sugar -- and loads sacks of copra (dried coconut meat), the well-trained, multi-lingual guides bring you to meet traditional artists and take you on breathtaking hikes to hidden jungle ruins.

Sailinto Nuku Hiva’s spectacular bay, a giant volcanic amphitheater dominated by towering cliffs streaked with majestic waterfalls. There are dramatic dive sites or heartstopping views by helicopter. A decade  before he wrote Moby Dick, 23-year-old Herman Melville jumped his whaling ship here in 1842. Retrace his escape route on a spectacular Jeep safari over the mountains to mysterious jungle river valley, still much the same as Melville described it in his autobiographical first novel -- Typee.