Pacific

It is hard to understate the mesmerising splendour of the sundry archipelagos that lie scattered around the azure waters of the South and Central Pacific. The worn cliché of island paradise finds new vitality here: coral encircled atolls give way to lushly forested volcanic peaks and tropical, palm-lined beaches abound at every new landfall.

The region has extraordinary diversity of character, from deeply colonially imprinted Fiji plantations to the proud indigenous heritage of such as Vanuatu.

A visit here is to range far across the planet greatest ocean, encountering peoples whose destiny has been shaped by the seas and encounters with outsiders to whom they have ever proffered the warmest of welcomes.