Detailed Photo Review of Paul Gauguin 10-Night Cruise 9/6/17 Plus Moorea Pre-Cruise

[deladane]

Do they sting, go squish?

 

haha actually, I have no idea because I didn't touch them. I have seen photos in other reviews where people were holding them so I assume they don't sting, but I was too chicken to find out for myself haha

[deladane]

AMAZING pics and review! I really feel like I am on the journey with you and am super excited for our upcoming trip!

 

Much to my husbands dismay and thanks to your review, I am considering purchasing the Olympus TG5. I hope you won’t mind answering a few (ok really a lot) questions about the camera. Some Amazon reviewers mentioned challenges with air bubbles between the camera lens and fisheye lens. Did you have any issues with this? Did you find the fish eye lens greatly improved the underwater shots? Did you use the fish eye for all of your pics or just underwater? As you can probably tell from my questions, my main quandary seems to be around the need for the fish eye lens - lol. Did you find it worth the extra expense?? I do have a couple non fish eye lens questions too....like you, I take a LOT of pictures. Did the battery typically last you throughout each days excursion or did you need a spare? How many memory cards did you take?

 

Sorry for so many questions but, you seem very knowledgeable and I will be using the camera for the same purposes as you

 

Thanks in advance!

Karen

 

I too was debating back and forth about if I should get the fisheye lens or not, and in the end, I am so happy that I bought it. Yes, there is a problem with air bubbles when you bring the fisheye lens into the water, but there's an easy fix to that. I just unscrewed the lens while holding the camera underwater so it filled the empty space between the camera body and the lens with water, and that eliminates the air bubbles :) It worked perfectly in French Polynesia where the water is super clean and clear... fingers crossed that it works equally as well on my Caribbean cruise in March haha Just remember to empty out the water when you leave the water.

 

I used the lens both above and below the water. In fact, my favorite way to use it was to take a photo with the lens half above and half below the water! This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip...

 

0560 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

 

The fisheye also made it much easier to take selfies. It shows a bigger frame so when I took a selfie of DH and myself, it showed more than just our heads lol Here's a good example...

 

0465 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

 

I have a 16gb SD card and I only used about half of that (but I do delete the bad photos from the card as I go). I did bring a spare 16gb card on the trip, but I didn't need it so I'll probably just use it for my March cruise. I very rarely used this camera for videos, but those do take a lot of memory on the card so you might want a bigger card if you do take a lot of video.

 

I bought a combo pack on Amazon that incuded 2 spare batteries, a wall charger for the batteries, and a car charger, all for like $12. As it turned out, I think there was only one day when I burned thorugh my first battery and needed to change it out, but I liked having the spare batteries on hand just in case.

 

I think that answered everything :) I was very happy with the camera and while it is certainly pricey for a camera that I will probably only use on cruises, I think it was worth it. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[deladane]

I was wondering if you had an Olympus Tough TG-4 or TG-5. Friends of our have one and so does another popular CC reviewer and I've love how the pictures look, nice and crisp and very colorful. But you have always gotten nice pictures, so it's not just the camera. I have a Kodak Z612 that is only 6 mega pixel and purchased in 2007 and it's on it's last legs, so much so that I didn't even take it to Hawaii as a backup. I also have the Canon D20 for underwater and I've been happy with it, but mainly for underwater. I also have a DSLR that, well, lets just say I like the camera but haven't been happy with the pictures but I'm finding out more that it's not the body of the camera, it's the lenses. Needless to say, I have the "kit" lenses that came with the camera, so if I want picture improvement, I need to spend some big $$$ on a "quality" lens. Since my Kodak point and shoot is on the outs, I need to upgrade and have been seriously considering the Olympus Tough TG 4 or 5. It would double as point and shoot AND underwater and with they examples of pictures I'm seeing (yours now have me SOLD), I think I could also start leaving the DSLR behind...until we get lucky and win a lotto. LOL!!!

 

 

But gosh, I am still following along and really, really enjoying your review and beautiful pictures. We enjoy snorkeling and, wow, just wow!!! It's funny, it was 9/9 that we arrived in Honolulu, so when you put the dates up before each segment, I'm also thinking about where we were and what we were doing on those days. I will continue to follow along.

 

I was actually all set to buy the TG-4 about 6 months before my cruise, and then Costco stopped selling it lol That's how I found out that they were going to release a TG-5 and I decided it wasn't worth saving a little bit of money and I'd rather just get the newest technology. The cameras are very similar, and both work with the fisheye attachment, but the TG-5 has 4K video and a fog-resistant lens, so I went with that. I will say that there's no chance the indoor photos are as good as your DSLR. They are fine, but even my old Cannon P&S that I bought for the Mediterranean cruise would take better indoor photos. I took 99% of my photos on this cruise with the new TG-5, and it was nice to have all my photos on one SD card in terms of organizing them after I got home, but I probably should have used my Cannon for indoor photos if I wanted better quality. I did take it with me but never used it! Oops! Maybe I'll use both cameras in March... we'll see :)

[deladane]

Notice how shallow the water was… we are quite a distance from shore and it’s still not even waist deep!

1860 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

On the opposite side of the beach, our boat was still anchored in the lagoon

 

1867 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

1870 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1872 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

After about 45 minutes, one of the crew brought around an appetizer with pieces of fresh coconut and a mystery fish marinated in lime juice (with the language barrier, we couldn’t tell if it was muscles, clams, or scallops, but whatever it was, it was tasty!)

 

1875 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1878 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

They handed out cans of Hinano, sodas, and cups of water, and called us over for our lunch buffet at around noon. All of the food was delicious and incredibly fresh. They served freshly grilled coconut bread, fried rice, chicken, and sausage.

1879 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

This guy was preparing Poisson Cru

1874 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

They also cooked fresh grouper and snapper on the BBQ

1873 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

There was plenty of food for all of 24 of us, and even enough that we could have seconds if we wanted.

1881 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

As we were finishing lunch, someone noticed that there were black tip reef sharks swimming in the lagoon!

 

1882 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

 

1883 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

There was no need to put on our snorkels and get fully in the water because the sharks came right up to the shore we could clearly see them from above the water.

 

1889 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1893 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

As is the custom throughout FP, they built a fire to burn all the trash.

1903 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Once everything was cleaned up, we piled back in the boat, 45 minutes later than originally planned. I had no complaints though! I wished we could have stayed on that beach forever. I’m not even sure if those photos fully conveyed the pristine beauty of this motu. Thank you Ato for bringing us here… I know this is a day that none of us will forget.

 

Ato said we were going to make a short 10 minute stop at a beach just a little bit away. A few of us were thinking “What’s the point? Can’t we just skip that stop??” but Ato inisisted. Little did we know, the REAL reason for making this stop is that Ato needed us to get off the boat at that point because it was so close to low tide that he could not get the boat out of the lagoon with our weight on board because the water was so shallow! Haha This was truly an Only-In-FP situation.

 

The beach was very pretty, with soft white sand surrounded by bright blue water.

 

1906 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1910 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

 

1914 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

1915 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

What started out as a functional stop turned into such a unique and interesting experience. Ato brought the boat way out into the water, so in order to meet him, we had to walk on water. Literally. We walked several hundred feet through water that was barely ankle-deep. I felt like we were a bunch of refugees trudging to safety, but it was just so incredible how far out we could walk with the water still so shallow!

 

1918 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1919 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Looking back towards the beach where we started our journey…

1920 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

When we finally reached the boat, Ato put one of the stools from lunch into the water so we could climb up on that to get back on the boat. Once everyone was back in their seats, we motored over to our next stop about 5 minutes away.

 

1924 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

This was a tiny motu in the middle of the lagoon but it had even more unbelievably beautiful snorkeling than we saw at the coral garden this morning!! We saw an eel that must have been 10 feet long, plus there was interesting blue coral and these little things that looked like Christmas trees. Ato said we could spend 30 minutes here.

 

 

1930 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

1932 (2) by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1933 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1934 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

I have never before seen anything like these little guys:

1936 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1940 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1941 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to see but the eel is winding between the coral and rocks deep inside of here. He never came all the way out so I didn’t get a full photo of all of him, but we stuck around to watch him squirm for a few minutes.

 

I hope this video captures how great the snorkeling was here…

 

2_sJqRcGAf0

[pghsteelerfan]

I was actually all set to buy the TG-4 about 6 months before my cruise, and then Costco stopped selling it lol That's how I found out that they were going to release a TG-5 and I decided it wasn't worth saving a little bit of money and I'd rather just get the newest technology. The cameras are very similar, and both work with the fisheye attachment, but the TG-5 has 4K video and a fog-resistant lens, so I went with that. I will say that there's no chance the indoor photos are as good as your DSLR. They are fine, but even my old Cannon P&S that I bought for the Mediterranean cruise would take better indoor photos. I took 99% of my photos on this cruise with the new TG-5, and it was nice to have all my photos on one SD card in terms of organizing them after I got home, but I probably should have used my Cannon for indoor photos if I wanted better quality. I did take it with me but never used it! Oops! Maybe I'll use both cameras in March... we'll see :)

 

 

Thank you for this information and the detailed information in the previous post for someone else. Good to know about the interior pictures. It's funny, but our last cruise we took on Carnival Liberty was shortly after we crawled out from under our rocks and got smart phones (Samsung Galaxy 6S). I used both the phone and my DSLR for interior pictures of the ship and no other camera I've had can compare with the pictures I got with the phone. The phone will now be my "go to" for interior pictures. Perfect lighting and the colors came out exactly how it looked. So, I'd be covered with a Olympus Tough TG-4 or TG-5 and the phone. :)

I've never before seen anything like these little guys:

 

 

 

I actually saw, and got fairly decent pictures of these little guys while snorkeling at Jalousie Beach (beach between the Pitons) in St. Lucia while on our Liberty cruise in September 2015. I *think* the nickname for them is Christmas Tree worms. Attaching a link to Wikipedia about them. :)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirobranchus_giganteus

[longhorn5]

I too was debating back and forth about if I should get the fisheye lens or not, and in the end, I am so happy that I bought it. Yes, there is a problem with air bubbles when you bring the fisheye lens into the water, but there's an easy fix to that. I just unscrewed the lens while holding the camera underwater so it filled the empty space between the camera body and the lens with water, and that eliminates the air bubbles :) It worked perfectly in French Polynesia where the water is super clean and clear... fingers crossed that it works equally as well on my Caribbean cruise in March haha Just remember to empty out the water when you leave the water.

 

I used the lens both above and below the water. In fact, my favorite way to use it was to take a photo with the lens half above and half below the water! This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip...

 

 

 

The fisheye also made it much easier to take selfies. It shows a bigger frame so when I took a selfie of DH and myself, it showed more than just our heads lol Here's a good example...

 

 

 

I have a 16gb SD card and I only used about half of that (but I do delete the bad photos from the card as I go). I did bring a spare 16gb card on the trip, but I didn't need it so I'll probably just use it for my March cruise. I very rarely used this camera for videos, but those do take a lot of memory on the card so you might want a bigger card if you do take a lot of video.

 

I bought a combo pack on Amazon that incuded 2 spare batteries, a wall charger for the batteries, and a car charger, all for like $12. As it turned out, I think there was only one day when I burned thorugh my first battery and needed to change it out, but I liked having the spare batteries on hand just in case.

 

I think that answered everything :) I was very happy with the camera and while it is certainly pricey for a camera that I will probably only use on cruises, I think it was worth it. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

I can see why the under water/Island picture is one of your favorites! Wow just wow!!!

 

Thank you for such detailed answers to my questions and the other poster’s questions. I’m convinced and crossing my fingers for a good Black Friday or cyber Monday deal ;p

[deladane]

I can see why the under water/Island picture is one of your favorites! Wow just wow!!!

 

Thank you for such detailed answers to my questions and the other poster’s questions. I’m convinced and crossing my fingers for a good Black Friday or cyber Monday deal ;p

 

Awesome!! Not sure if you're a member at Costco but they sell it for $30 less than most other places and it includes a floating wrist strap and a 16gb SD card. Might be a good option for you if you can't find it on sale over Thanksgiving :)

[deladane]

Thank you for this information and the detailed information in the previous post for someone else. Good to know about the interior pictures. It's funny, but our last cruise we took on Carnival Liberty was shortly after we crawled out from under our rocks and got smart phones (Samsung Galaxy 6S). I used both the phone and my DSLR for interior pictures of the ship and no other camera I've had can compare with the pictures I got with the phone. The phone will now be my "go to" for interior pictures. Perfect lighting and the colors came out exactly how it looked. So, I'd be covered with a Olympus Tough TG-4 or TG-5 and the phone. :)

 

 

I actually saw, and got fairly decent pictures of these little guys while snorkeling at Jalousie Beach (beach between the Pitons) in St. Lucia while on our Liberty cruise in September 2015. I *think* the nickname for them is Christmas Tree worms. Attaching a link to Wikipedia about them. :)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirobranchus_giganteus

 

Yes! I heard they have the Christmas Tree worms at Jalousie Beach and I plan to look for them when I'm there in March! We signed up for the land and sea tour with Spencer Ambrose (which I know you have taken before!) because I really wanted to go back to that beach to snorkel again. When I was there back in 2012, I wasn't as experienced with snorkeling and I didn't venture out very far and I don't think I saw everything there is to see, so I look forward to my do-over haha

 

And yea, it's crazy how powerful the cameras are on cell phones nowadays! I personally prefer to use a real camera when I'm on vacation, but I honestly don't know why because I never use real cameras and only take photos on my iPhone in my everyday life lol

[FlightMedic555]

I've been told those are Christmas Tree Coral. Snap your fingers under water near them and they withdraw into the larger coral in a blink of the eye.

[pghsteelerfan]

Yes! I heard they have the Christmas Tree worms at Jalousie Beach and I plan to look for them when I'm there in March! We signed up for the land and sea tour with Spencer Ambrose (which I know you have taken before!) because I really wanted to go back to that beach to snorkel again. When I was there back in 2012, I wasn't as experienced with snorkeling and I didn't venture out very far and I don't think I saw everything there is to see, so I look forward to my do-over haha

 

And yea, it's crazy how powerful the cameras are on cell phones nowadays! I personally prefer to use a real camera when I'm on vacation, but I honestly don't know why because I never use real cameras and only take photos on my iPhone in my everyday life lol

 

Have you toured with Spencer before? We gone with them, twice, and really, really enjoy his tours. I really don't think Jalousie Beach will compare to what you saw in FB, but it's the best we've seen while snorkeling in the Caribbean.

 

As for phone vs. camera, I mainly used the camera (DSLR) for ship pictures (interior and one night used it for exterior with the ship's lights) and the pictures came out OK. I didn't take the DSLR (or the P&S) around the ship most evenings since it was much easier to take the phone along in case a photo op came up. Not the "pictoral ship tour" but I did take quite a few with the phone and was very surprised at how well those came out. For those that I had duplicates (actual cameras and phone), I ended up using the phone pictures in the review I did. I love the ones I got on the phone of Liberty lit up at night while docked in San Juan before our 10PM sail away. Of course, the real test was how well the looked on the computer once we got home and I was very pleasantly surprised. :)

 

I've been told those are Christmas Tree Coral. Snap your fingers under water near them and they withdraw into the larger coral in a blink of the eye.

 

Funny you mentioned that. When I was snorkeling at Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia, I thought I accidentally knocked one of them off the coral when getting pictures when it suddenly withdrew into the coral. I felt terrible since I do not want to touch or disturb anything when snorkeling, but a few seconds later, it was right back where it had been, so I put two and two together and realized they could withdraw into the larger coral. I was also relieved that I caused no harm.

[deladane]

I've been told those are Christmas Tree Coral. Snap your fingers under water near them and they withdraw into the larger coral in a blink of the eye.

 

Oh wow, that sounds like a fun game to play if I ever see them again! Thanks for the suggestion :)

[deladane]

Have you toured with Spencer before? We gone with them, twice, and really, really enjoy his tours. I really don't think Jalousie Beach will compare to what you saw in FB, but it's the best we've seen while snorkeling in the Caribbean.

 

As for phone vs. camera, I mainly used the camera (DSLR) for ship pictures (interior and one night used it for exterior with the ship's lights) and the pictures came out OK. I didn't take the DSLR (or the P&S) around the ship most evenings since it was much easier to take the phone along in case a photo op came up. Not the "pictoral ship tour" but I did take quite a few with the phone and was very surprised at how well those came out. For those that I had duplicates (actual cameras and phone), I ended up using the phone pictures in the review I did. I love the ones I got on the phone of Liberty lit up at night while docked in San Juan before our 10PM sail away. Of course, the real test was how well the looked on the computer once we got home and I was very pleasantly surprised. :)

 

 

 

Funny you mentioned that. When I was snorkeling at Jalousie Beach in St. Lucia, I thought I accidentally knocked one of them off the coral when getting pictures when it suddenly withdrew into the coral. I felt terrible since I do not want to touch or disturb anything when snorkeling, but a few seconds later, it was right back where it had been, so I put two and two together and realized they could withdraw into the larger coral. I was also relieved that I caused no harm.

 

We have never toured with Spencer before. When I was in St. Lucia in 2012, I toured with Cosol but felt that was way too much time in the van. Last time we were in St Lucia, we did a ziplining tour which was fun, but I wanted to do something different this time. DH has never seen the Pitons, and I didn't get to do the mud baths back in 2012 so we thought the full day land and sea combo was a good idea for a fun day. We are also going to Bonaire on that cruise (all of the ABC islands, actually), and I know there is supposed to be amazing snorkeling there so I have high hopes although I know what I saw in FP was truly unique and better than anything I can find in the Caribbean.

[deladane]

1960 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

I probably should have posted this earlier in the day, but this was our tour boat…

1966 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

By now, it was getting late in the afternoon so I assumed that when we left this motu, that was the end of the tour and we were just going back to the tender pier. Ato had one last surprise planned for us. He took us out to the pass where there is a break between the motus and it opens up to the Pacific Ocean. First we rode through a section of water with hundreds of birds. I am not sure why they were all there, but I think there are fish there for them to try to swoop down and eat.

 

1967 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

ehsG0zb70wc

 

1969 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Then, we went a little further and Ato started to drive the boat around in circles creating a swirl in the water. When we looked over the side of the boat, we could see straight down to the ocean floor. Ato took out the left over fish from lunch and tossed it into the water and then the show began. Eight to ten large pink snapper and 2 or 3 grey sharks came over for their lunch!

 

1971 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

1972 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1973 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1975 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1978 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1983 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1984 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

It was really hard to capture all the action in a photo, but maybe this video will do a better job…

8Fp3OAMUf_s

 

 

It was such an exciting and unexpected end to our day!

[broberts]

I can't believe the water clarity.

[doug52]

Fakarava looks amazing. We are doing the Cooks for our first trip, but I can see the Tuamotu's for our next visit!

 

Great pictures, and I love your commentary,

 

Doug

[deladane]

Fakarava looks amazing. We are doing the Cooks for our first trip, but I can see the Tuamotu's for our next visit!

 

Great pictures, and I love your commentary,

 

Doug

 

Thanks Doug! There's no reason not to plan FP/PG trip #2 prior to taking trip #1 lol

[deladane]

I can't believe the water clarity.

 

It was so incredible how the water was that clear on every single island we visited!

[deladane]

After all our scraps from lunch were tossed back in the water, we made the 20-minute ride back to the tender pier.

 

1992 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

1996 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

We got back to the pier at 3:50pm. Somehow, even though all the other tour operators we used on this trip were on “island time”, Ato managed to take us the furthest distance from our starting point and still be the most prompt to return us there! Way to go, Ato!! If you are ever in Fakarava, I highly recommend taking this tour with Ato Lissant. Despite the look of his boat from the start of the day, he took such great care of us and brought us to such beautiful places. While we were waiting for the tender to pick us up, the person who gave me a C- rating as a tour organizer earlier this morning updated his grade… he now awarded me an A+ for arranging our day in paradise with Ato!

 

We took the 4:10pm tender back to the PG and went back to the cabin to get showered and changed. We were a little hungry and it was at that weird time of day when the buffets are closed, so we ordered a cheese plate from room service to hold us over until dinner time. I don’t remember if I posted this yet or not, but here is the room service menu with non-breakfast items (breakfast has it’s own menu in the form of a door tag that you hang outside your cabin each night).

 

1998 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

After our snack, we went upstairs to deck 8 to for the sail away party, and I tried today’s drink of the day. The Pink Colada is made with vodka, pineapple juice, coconut cream, and cranberry juice.

 

1999 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

When the sail away party ended, we went downstairs to the piano bar to listen to Alex play and have a few pre-dinner drinks. I’m not sure if I never noticed it or if tonight was the first time they did this, but some of the waiters came around with plates of small bites to nibble on. These were hummus and tuna…

 

2003 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

It made for a nice appetizer until we were ready for dinner. When we got to L’Etoile, the maitre’d said there were no tables for 2 available at that time. As it turned out, the couple checking in just ahead of us live 20 minutes from us back at home, so we opted to sit at a table for 4 and got to chat and get to know each other better.

 

2000 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

[deladane]

2001 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Steamed King Crab Leg with Clarified Butter

2004 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

House Made Gravlax

2005 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Squid and Shrimp Wok

2006 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Seared Filet of Tuna

2007 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]

 

Dessert Menu

2008 by deladane, on Flickr"][/url]