Beaches and Islands

11 days/10 nights, March 17-27, 2015. Highlights: Capital of Faroe Islands, Torshavn/Tinganes, the world’s oldest parliament/1,000-year-old St. Olav’s church/view solar eclipse with an astronomer/in Iceland, aurora borealis/Skogar Folk Museum/Gullfoss waterfall/Geysir Hot Springs/Hvalfjörður fjord. Land, $7,110. Single supp., $1,600. Note: take first five days of tour only for $3,810; single supp., $1,200. The Great Canadian Travel Company (Winnipeg, MB, Canada; 800/661-3830).

September’s photo depicts the Druk Wangyal Khangzang at Dochula Pass in Bhutan, 30 kilometers northeast of the capital, Thimphu.

The app Waterkeeper Swim Guide, available on iOS and Android devices, has data on many beaches in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The app detects the user’s location and shows which beaches are safe to swim in, accessing recent data from government agencies and local Waterkeeper Alliance chapters. The data is also available online at www.theswimguide.org.

My wife, Anna, and I visited Aruba, one of the four constituent countries that comprise the Kingdom of the Netherlands, July 18-24, 2012. 

The weather was quite warm, but we didn’t notice it much because of the 25- to 40-mph trade winds blowing constantly. 

We spent the majority of our time at two resorts and stayed two nights in the capital, Oranjestad. Oranjestad seemed rather seedy to us.

I read the subscriber’s letter “Did Not Find Expected Amenities on Easter Island” (June ’13, pg. 24) and can sympathize with the writer’s experience, as most of us who are world travelers (125 countries so far, for me) have been disappointed when our expectations failed to meet with reality.

Tour packages include flight from Papeete to Mangareva, Tahiti. From there, head to Pitcairn aboard sailing vessel Xplore or supply ship Claymore II. Homestay accommodations on Pitcairn. Eight-day Xplore voyage, $4,400; 15-day, $5,000, departing in spring. Eight-day Claymore II voyage, $6,650; 15-day, $7,350, February-December 2012. Pitcairn Travel (6/123 Waminda St., Morningside, QLD, 4170 Australia; phone, to Australia, +61 406 609 022 or, to Pitcairn Island, +64 9 984 0163).

16 days/15 nights, departing June 8 & Oct. 19, 2012. Highlights: In Addis Ababa, National Museum, Trinity Cathedral/boat to Lake Tana monasteries/Gondar/Simien Mountains National Park/rock-hewn churches in Lalibela/stelae, Queen of Sheba ruins in Axum/visit tribal people in Lower Omo Valley. Land, $6,800 (with 8-12 people), $7,500 (5-7). Single supp., $1,300. Internal air, approx. $1,200. Geographic Expeditions (San Francisco, CA; 800/777-8183).

(First of two parts)

The Devil’s Pool, a natural rock pool at the top of the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, is shallow enough during dry season (September-January), under the right weather conditions, for visitors to swim to the very edge of the falls above the 300-foot drop without getting swept over. The current is diverted around both sides of the pool by a rock wall below the water’s surface.

I would like to comment on the subscriber’s letter titled “Did Not Find Expected Amenities on Easter Island” (June ’13, pg. 24), about a visit he made in July ’12. I was quite surprised by his letter, in which he wrote, “…my visit to Easter Island… was the worst travel experience I have ever had, out of 17 or 18 countries. Although the moai are nice, I felt that, as a whole, Easter Island was overrated.”