Yacht
Surprise is an expedition style yacht, which means she has an exterior that looks more like a cargo ship with an interior that is just as luxurious as any you’ll find on sleek’ white, traditionally styled motoryachts. Her expedition style is actually perfect for the South Pacific, because if the boat needs to move from, say, Fiji to a repair yard far away in New Zealand, it can do so without having to worry that the construction isn’t up to the trip.

The guest areas both inside and out are lusciously designed on Surprise, incredibly comfortable and yet elegant at the same time. This is a yacht where you will feel comfortable putting your feet up after using the boat’s water toys all day, but in a décor more elegant than you’ll find in most five-star resorts on shore.
 
Surprise’s sun deck is especially well-designed, with plenty of shaded areas and dining spots for afternoons spent under way, simply enjoying the pristine Fijian scenery.

Crew
It’s hard not to be impressed with the crew onboard Surprise. Capt. Carol Dunlop, a former nurse in her native Britain, arrived in Fiji about 30 years ago after sailing around the world on her own small boat. She loved Fiji so much that she stayed—and began collecting a group of charming, able seamen from among the locals who would eventually become the crew of Surprise. As a group, they now combine Carol’s exacting British demands for luxury and safety with the rest of the crew’s understanding of local customs and traditions.

A good example is steward Mosese Marawai, who previously spent 12 years working on liveaboard dive boats and expedition yachts. He is from the small island Komo in Lau, in the most remote eastern part of Fiji. In between his duties making up guest cabins and serving meals, he performs welcome ceremonies with local tribes so that you can go ashore and be welcomed. He also leads the Surprise band, playing guitar and ukulele while singing traditional native songs.

Like we said, it’s an impressive combination—and the description fits pretty much every crew member we got the chance to meet.

Chef
Manasa Heritage was a wood carver growing up in Fiji before learning to cook onboard boats for European officers and their guests. He spent ten years making gourmet meals for a liveaboard dive boat, and he now combines his ability to impress groups of guests with his panache for making everything from local favorites to traditional entrees.

Our group’s favorite dish was kokonda, the local version of ceviche. We liked it so much that Manasa offered to cook it for us a second time, so we could bring the recipe home:

• juice from about 5 lemons
• about 1 pound of raw white-flesh fish, such as mackerel or wahoo, chopped into bite-size pieces
• ½ cup apiece of peeled, chopped carrots, chopped red onion, diced tomatoes, diced green pepper, and diced red pepper
• ½ TB minced chile
• scraped-out insides of 2 coconuts combined with sliced limes and a few tablespoons of water (if no fresh coconuts are available, substitute a can of coconut cream and leave out the limes and water)
• Salt to taste

Soak the fish in the lemon juice for about a half-hour, making sure the juice covers each piece of fish entirely. Manasa recommends squeezing the lemon juice through a strainer before letting it cover the fish.

While the fish is marinating, combine all other ingredients except the coconut mixture. Salt to taste.

Squeeze the juice from the coconut mixture over the bowl of vegetables and mix well.

Run the fish through a strainer and then add the fish to the previously mixed bowl. Mix well. Add remaining lemon juice to the combination to taste.

Serve in hollowed-out coconut shells for a dramatic presentation.

Accommodations
The master cabin onboard Surprise in on the main deck, stretching across the entire width of the yacht. It’s impressive, with its own private lounge area and study—not to mention the spectacular view of the surroundings from the large windows on either side of the sleeping area.

The rest of the guest cabins are below, on the bottom deck. Two of the cabins have double beds while the third has twin beds and a bunk-bed style Pullman berth.

Our CharterWave expert slept in the least-roomy of all places—the Pullman berth—and was perfectly comfortable. Ideally, this room would be for kids, but if you want to travel with adults, everyone should sleep just fine.

Destination
The cruising grounds where Surprise has made a name for itself among the locals are pristine in every sense of the word. There are no other yachts cruising here, there are no cities onshore, and in some cases, there aren’t even any lights except those running by the boat’s generator. You’ll never see such bright stars in the sky, or such a spectacular moonglow over the water’s surface.

Water sports lovers will be in heaven (Surprise even offers scuba diving right from the yacht), but so will sightseers who want to learn about a different culture. What makes this destination so remarkable is the access your private crew offers to it, using all their local connections.

It’s a slam-dunk home run, in our opinion—an excellent example of what expedition-style charter in an emerging destination should be.