David Stanley
David Stanley Joined: April 26th 2007
Logged in: December 28th 2011
Logged in: December 28th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
The Stonecutter
Over the past eight decades the paradise isles of the legendary South Seas have provided a backdrop for many Hollywood productions. French Polynesia has been the most popular location by far, followed by Fiji and Samoa. Both Hollywood films set in Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal Diary (1943) starring Anthony Quinn and The Thin Red Line (1999), were about the Pacific War. Easter Island features in Kevin Costner’s Rapa Nui (1994) while The Other Side of Heaven(2002) deals with Mormon missionaries in Tonga. The earliest Hollywood films about the South Pacific were based on Somerset Maugham's famous short story Rain about a hooker and the repressed missionary. Sadie Thompson (1928) with Gloria Swanson was a silent movie, while Rain (1932) is a talkie starring Joan Crawford. Return to Paradise (1953) with Gary Cooper movie was film... read more
Moon Tahiti
Tourism is the world's largest and fastest-growing industry, accounting for 10 percent of world economic activity and one in 15 jobs worldwide. Some 750 million people a year currently travel abroad compared to only 25 million in 1950, and each year over 100 million first-world tourists visit developing countries, transferring billions of dollars from North to South. Tourism is the only industry that allows a net flow of wealth from richer to poorer countries, and in the islands it's one of the few avenues open for economic development, providing much-needed foreign exchange required to pay for imports. Unlike every other export, purchasers of tourism products pay their own transportation costs to the market. Australia provides the largest percentage of the one million plus tourists who visit the South Pacific islands each year, followed by the United ... read more
Avalon Travel has released the eBook editions of Moon Fiji and Moon Tahiti, the leading travel guidebooks to the South Pacific. They are now available in the Kindle store at Amazon, in the Nook store at Barnesandnoble.com, on the Kobo at Borders, on iTunes for the Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and at the Sony Reader store. Moon Fiji is the original travel guide to the Fiji Islands while Moon Tahiti covers all five archipelagos of French Polynesia. Author David Stanley has been writing about the South Pacific since 1979. Moon Tahiti is now in its seventh edition and Moon Fiji is in its ninth. Each 400-page guidebook contains over 50 maps and 100 photos. By ordering online, readers receive the electronic editions of Moon Fiji and Moon Tahiti instantly worldwide without customs duties or ... read more
Moon Fiji
Avalon Travel Publishing has launched the 9th edition of Moon Fiji, the original travel guide to the 322-island Fiji archipelago. Since 1985, Moon Fiji has been the leading travel guidebook to Fiji. Author David Stanley has been writing about the South Pacific since 1979, and over the years tens of thousands of Pacific travelers have used his guides to Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, Micronesia, and the South Pacific. Moon Fiji’s 419 pages are packed with photos and maps. Unlike the maps in other guidebooks, the 53 maps in Moon Fiji are clearly labeled without confusing numbered keys. To allow for detail, there are three street maps of Fiji's capital Suva and two of the gateway city Nadi. Most of the 170 photos are new to this edition and many of them are in color. The 24-page ... read more
Moon Tahiti
Avalon Travel Publishing has launched the 7th edition of Moon Tahiti by David Stanley. Since 1989, Moon Tahiti has been the leading travel guidebook to French Polynesia and this new edition incorporates the latest restaurant, resort, and transportation news. Stanley has been covering the South Pacific for over three decades and he knows the region better than any other travel writer. Packed into Moon Tahiti’s 353 indexed pages are 53 maps and 122 photos. The maps are clearly labeled without the confusing legends and keys which make other guidebooks hard to use. There are five maps of Tahiti, four of Moorea, and eight of the Leeward Islands. The 24-page color section at the front of the book has been expanded with four suggested itineraries and three travel strategies. The six travel chapters offer detailed advice on ... read more
Nanaimo and Mount Benson
Magnificent Mount Benson is one of the scenic wonders of Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Mount Benson is the city’s backdrop rising 1,019 meters above the Strait of Georgia. The mountain’s green forested slopes are favorites of hikers and wildlife, and there’s a sweeping view of the Coastal Mountain Range across the water from the rocky summit. Unfortunately, this paradise is threatened. Forestry companies want to harvest timber on the mountain, while development companies want to build luxury homes and resorts on the cleared lands. If the logging were to go ahead, the ugly clearcuts would be an eyesore for decades to come. Hiking trails would be destroyed and the wildlife driven away. If subdivisions creep up the steep slopes, the damage will be permanent. It has happened here before. ... read more
Vancouver Island Conference Centre
The Vancouver Island Conference Center in downtown Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, is an exciting new venue for meetings, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, receptions, and other events. Just complete, the Port of Nanaimo Centre opened on June 7, 2008, with 38,000 square feet available in a variety of modules, from the 13,697-square-foot ballroom to numerous smaller rooms accommodating groups of under a hundred. The ballroom forms the heart of the complex, with seating for 1,300 persons theatre style or 720 when set up as a classroom. As many as 1,400 people can attend receptions here, while 960 can be seated at banquets. The ballroom can be broken down into four salons of differing size, and just across the corridor are five smaller meeting rooms for specialized use. The 7,368-square-foot conference pre-function area connects it all. An elevated walkway ... read more
Tonga
We've all heard about whalewatching from boats or shore, and a few companies are now offering the possibility of actually swimming and snorkeling with whales in the wild. Is this a good thing? Some whalewatching operators in the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific islands, advertise the possibility of swimming and snorkeling with humpback whales during the cetacean's annual migration from July to October. This activity sounds appealing, yet there are a number of things to consider. To drop clients off within snorkeling distance of a whale, the swim boats must come closer than the 30 meters laid down in Tongan government guidelines in 1997. Engine noise from a maneuvering boat can startle a whale, and repeated disturbances can lead to the animals changing their behaviour and even abandoning their traditional habitat. The nursing and resting routines ... read more
Go Nanaimo
Boomtown Nanaimo, British Columbia, is currently one of the hottest housing markets in Canada. Baby boomers all across the country are casting their aging eyes west in their quest for a retirement haven, and the many advantages of Nanaimo, BC, are becoming known. First off, there's the mild climate moderated by warm Pacific currents arriving from Japan. Nanaimo only gets a couple of weeks of snow a year, quite a contrast to central and eastern Canada which can be snowed in from December to April. There's enough rain to keep the city's gardens and parks lush and green, but plenty of clear, dry days for outdoor enthusiasts throughout the year. Nanaimo isn't a big city - under 100,000 - so traffic jams are the exception, and there's still free parking downtown. As the main service center ... read more
Easter Island
Ask me which Pacific island has the most to offer hikers and I'll probably answer Easter Island. Here on an island 11 km wide and 23 km long you'll find nearly a thousand ancient Polynesian statues strewn along a powerfully beautiful coastline or littering the slopes of an extinct volcano. The legends of Easter Island have been recounted many times. What's less known is that the island's assorted wonders are easily accessible on foot from the comfort of the only settlement, Hanga Roa. Before setting out see the sights, however, visit the excellent archaeological museum next to Ahu Tahai on the north side of town (the term "ahu" refers to an ancient stone platform). Aside from the exhibits, the museum has maps which can help you plan your trip. An online map is available at Map ... read more
