This summer and holiday season, aboard m/s Paul Gaugin, family travelers can embark on a unique trip to French Polynesia and take part in a naturalist-led Moana Explorer program. Available in 2022 on select family sailings, such as the seven-night Tahiti & the Society Islands sailings in July, the Moana Explorer program brings guests through lush rain forests, white beaches and clear lagoons.
On deeper-exploration itineraries, like the 10-night Society Islands & Tuamotus sailings in June, July and December; the 11-night Society Islands & Tuamoto in June; and the 11-night Cook Islands & Society Islands in December, kids can partake in the youth program.
Guests on any of the itineraries have the opportunity to meet turtles at Te mana o te moana’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center on Moorea. At the center, kids and parents alike can see rescued green, hawksbill, Olive Ridley and loggerhead turtles.
Another feature of the Moana Explorer program entails younger guests learning about Tahitian culture while building a shelter from natural materials found on the beach. Kids can also eat fruit blindfolded and picking up some traditional Tahitian wrestling techniques. Another day at the beach involves building teamwork skills through activities like crab racing, rope pulling and group snorkeling.
On Motu Mahana, younger guests may also participate in a reef quest to observe underwater life, recording their findings in an underwater field journal. Kids will learn about plastic pollution and its effects on marine life, saving coral reefs and the lives of dolphins, sharks and stingrays.
Activities vary per itinerary. Learn more about the Moana Explorer program.
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