Charter Chatter

100,000th Seawalker, windsurfer cruise ship godmother, new Grenada sailing base

- Koichi Okamura, the 100,000th 'Seawalker', experienced an underwater walk on the sea floor with Seawalker @ Green Island off Cairns, using the new generation of modern, user-friendly recreational diving helmets.

- Triple Olympic medal-winning windsurfer Barbara Kendall MBE will become P&O Cruises' first New Zealand 'godmother' when she officially names the Pacific Pearl at a ceremony in Auckland on December 21. Pacific Pearl is the first superliner to be based out of Auckland and leaves for her maiden voyage to the South Pacific on December 22.

- Sunsail announces a new charter destination in St. George's, Grenada, in the Eastern Caribbean region, offering bareboat and skippered charters on a fleet of 36 to 38ft catamarans and monohullls. Known as the Gateway to the Grenadines, the cruising grounds of Grenada (The Spice Island) offer exceptional sailing conditions along with pristine reefs, colourful coral gardens and access to the famous Tobago Cays!

- Enjoy the sun, fun and river breeze of the Murray River this summer and save 25 per cent on all three-, four- and seven-night Murray River Captain Cook Cruises. The sale is valid until 28 February 2011 and valid for travel from 3 January 2011 to 28 February 2011. The Murray Princess steams down the river between the Blanchetown area and Murray Bridge for 280kms of incredible terrain, wildlife and Australian history and culture.

- Central Coast Tourism welcomes the announcement of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for the Ex-HMAS Adelaide to be scuttled off Avoca Beach near Terrigal in NSW. The creation of an artificial reef site is expected to attract approximately 5,000 divers every year and inject an additional $4 million in direct tourism expenditure into the region annually.

- The National Maritime Museum’s annual Jacaranda Cruise up Sydney’s Lane Cove River will be conducted on Saturday 24 October from 10am to 1.30pm on board the historic ferry Lithgow. Adam Woodhams, award winning gardener and photographer and assistant editor of Better Homes and Gardens, will provide expert botanical and historical commentary. Bookings 02 9298 3644

- Sunsail announce a new charter destination in the place where it all began. Over 35 years ago Sunsail put their sails up in Greece; 36 years on and 30 worldwide destinations later, their new Athens Lavrion base is ideally located for the start of a sailing holiday in Greece's Saronic Gulf and the Aegean Sea. This contrasting city brings a mythological land dotted with ancient ruins, colourful architecture and quaint waterside towns, together with a sophisticated and vibrant city. Book early for summer 2011 and receive up to 10 per cent off.

- The new Le Boat 1500 Series, a fleet of luxury, ecofriendly self-drive cruisers, will cruise European waterways in 2011. Le Boat is part of TUI Marine, the marine division of the Specialist & Activity Sector of TUI Travel Plc. The Le Boat 1500 Series, built by Groupe Bénéteau, allows the customer to cruise via a conventional diesel engine or under electric power with zero noise, zero pollution and zero fuel consumption.

- Coral Princess Cruises offers an Early Bird Special of 15 per cent off selected departures of its just-released 2011 Kimberley cruise programme. The ten-night exploratory cruise along the wild and beautiful Kimberley coast of Western Australia -- much of it only accessible by sea - is Coral Princess Cruises' most popular voyage.

- A tiny island, a white sandy beach, or picturesque coral reef -- find your own special place in Fiji with Captain Cook Cruises 'Find My Fiji' sale on all three-, four- and seven-night cruises, offering up to 47 per cent off brochure prices. The sale is valid until 30 November 2010 and valid for travel until 31 March 2011 around the Yasawa Islands aboard the small ship, MV Reef Endeavour.

- Cunard Line announces that Her Majesty The Queen will name the company’s new Queen Elizabeth, the third Cunard ship to bear the name, at a ceremony to take place in Southampton, England, on Monday 11 October 2010. Her Majesty also launched Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1967 and named their current flagship, Queen Mary 2, in 2004. She was also present at the age of 12 at the launch of the first Queen Elizabeth in 1938.

Photograph: Seawalker @ Green Island Dive Instructor Sanjin Vukobratovic with Koichi Okamura.-