Join Craig Cohen in French Polynesia on board SURI

When you invest in anything, be it stocks, property or even a holiday, you do as much research as you can to make sure it's a wise investment.

We're the same. When we recommend a charter holiday, you can be sure that we've done our research. We know the yachts, crews and cruising grounds better than anyone else because we've experienced them first-hand. And because we're one company, we can share our knowledge worldwide. Wherever you are, you know you can trust our recommendations.

These features, known as Broker On Board, are essentially research reports. In this one, New York-based broker Craig Cohen went to French Polynesia to experience the 63.4m (208ft) expedition yacht SURI.

The owner, captain and central agent wanted to show the capabilities of the yacht, crew and toys in an off-the-beaten-path location. I flew to Pape’ete where I was met by the yacht’s helicopter pilot. We flew to join SURI at anchor in Moorea and spent five nights cruising around French Polynesia.

The yacht

SURI is a magnificent, recently extended 63.4m expedition yacht. She was originally built as a support vessel in 1978 by Halter Marine in the USA and converted to her current adventurous purpose during an extensive refit in 2016. There is plenty to do on board, both in the water and on land with a diverse range of toys and features. These include a jacuzzi, a glass-bottomed media room, a massage and spa room, a helicopter, sea plane, speedboat, dune buggy and hovercraft. Excitement, adventure and luxurious comfort all rolled into one amazing yacht.

The itinerary

The cruise started in Moorea and took in the islands of Pape’ete, Huahine, Raiatea and Taha’a. We swam with humpback whales, which was very special. The diving and snorkelling were exceptional throughout. As well as whales we saw plenty of sharks – tiger, black tip, silver tip and lemon – and manta rays too. We spent days working our way through SURI’s huge range of watertoys including a waverunner safari around Huahine, flyboarding, the 8m slide and sunset cruises on the yacht’s beautiful StanCraft tender. The toys took centre stage for the SURI Olympics in which guests and crew form two teams that compete for aquatic glory. On land we had an amazing hike up to Belvedere Lookout and got stunning views of Princess Mountain, known locally as Mount Mou’a Puta or ‘pierced mountain’, as seen in the movie Moana. We also had a fabulous beach BBQ with all the water sports, local music, and traditional spear-throwing game. Back on board we were entertained by Tahitian dancers performing dances from across the Pacific, Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa and French Polynesia. On our last night we took a sunset cruise to Raiatea and it was such a wonderful night a few of us slept up on the sun deck and awoke to a sunrise.