I've been on holidays for a while now, but this trip has been the highlight, a liveaboard cruise around the outer islands - see here (it really is as good as it looks)

I have been on a few liveaboards in the past, but this was the best by far and I can recommend it to anyone. The boat has a wide range of guests, some my age, some younger and some older - perfect for me. Basically I went for the diving, but I also did kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, swimming, site seeing various villages etc etc.

I had a ball, dived heaps of different sites with amazing visability. At one time I was on the bottom at 35m looking up watching the bubbles and fish when I spotted the boat, some 20-30m away - that's over 50m visability . I kicked myself for not buying that 60m camera I was looking at before I left - I could have taken a heap of shots.

The food was fantastic and enough to come out my ears. The Fijian crew were the friendliest bunch, doing everything for us. Looking after the gear, cleaning the gear, carting the gear where ever we went, we didn't have to do a thing except relax and enjoy it. One couple brought their smaller kids and they too enjoyed the trip - they were also looked after by the on board babysitter when ever their parents wanted a break or went diving.

After so much exercise, I also had a few "magic" masages. Beautiful coconut oils, hard or soft, and where ever we wanted - on the boat, the beach or even next to a waterfall, they take the gear for you anywhere.

The best thing apart from the diving, for a woody like me, was the extent of timbers used throughout the ship. Mainly Rain Tree, but plenty of others, and pearl shell decorations throughout. Since they only had plastic pepper grinders, I have committed myself to making them a couple out of local timbers for them that I brought back.

If anyone is interested in diving, or just a totally relaxing trip, I recommend this for you.

Cheers