We are Gail and John Tremel sailing on the Royal Clipper in 2006 two days out of Barbados sailing to Rome. It was a great crossing almost perfect. We are going to sail the Royal Clipper again in September 2010, Venice to Rome.

John Tremel on board Royal Clipper.

Gail Tremel on board Royal Clipper.

If you’d like to share your favorite photo at the helm, send it to info@starclippersblog.com

Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.

Located in the southeastern Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, Hiva Oa is the second-largest island in the Marquesas. Guests on Star Clippers will arrive to find laid out before them an exotic island framed by majestic mountains and dramatic coastlines.

Over the last 170 years this largely undiscovered archipelago has served as an escape for artists, writers, adventurers and musicians, and is best known as the final resting place of French painter Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer Jacques Brel.

Fans of Gauguin will want to visit Puamau Village where Gauguin’s descendents live. The black sand beach of Taaoa and Tahauka Bay provide an ideal place to relax and enjoy the island’s beauty.

An island landmark is an 8-foot-high stone tiki, the largest in all of Polynesia, that makes for a fun photo opportunity.

Before heading back to the ship, guests will want to make time to purchase some of the beautiful traditional Marquesan handcrafts sold throughout the tiny island villages and at the port.

Star Flyer will call at Hiva Oa during its 24-night Tahiti to Panama trans-Pacific crossing that departs Feb. 14, 2010.

Here’s Cruise Director Peter Kissner tempting fate during a swim stop. His signature line is “You are laughing????” heard many times a day. I could not resist using the line here!

Portuguese, French and Berber architecture frame the maze-like streets of Essaouira, a western Moroccan city along the Atlantic Ocean. With its long beach, abundant seawater spa treatments and dramatic sunsets, relaxation is as easy to find as the northeast trade winds that create ideal conditions for watersports. Long considered one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast, archaeological research shows that Essaouira has been occupied since prehistoric times.

The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited and established a trading post here in the 5th century B.C. Around the end of the 1st century B.C. or early 1st century A.D., Juba II established a Tyrian purple factory, processing the murex and purpura shells found in the intertidal rocks at Essaouira and the Iles Purpuraires. This dye colored the purple stripe in Imperial Roman Senatorial togas.

Today, the Medina of Essaouira is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage city as an example of a late 18th century fortified town. The medina is home to many small arts and crafts businesses, notably cabinet making and “thuya” wood-carving (using roots of the Tetraclinis tree), both of which have been practiced in Essaouira for centuries.

Essaouira also is renowned for its kitesurfing and windsurfing, and camel rides are available on the beach and into the desert band in the interior.