Last month, Amunì forum volunteers had the great opportunity to connect with @danoppliger, a professional tour guide and founder of Tropical Sails Corp. He was open to sharing the experience of guiding tourists through the ocean and setting foot in North America, the Caribbean, Africa and Far East Asia. We figured out that the time on the boat was not as lengthy, boring and deadly expensive as we had imagined. By contrast, sailing tours have been created with diverse activities of exploring nature and human culture.
An adventure to capture Solar Eclipse
What is special in Dan’s business is that he found the potential of organising cruise tours for the astronomic sight. Back in 1990 in El Paso, a tour guide Dan Oppliger received an odd but interesting request from tourists. They wanted to see a total Solar Eclipse while travelling to the Mexican Baja peninsula. Dan knew that tourists wanted to have adventures, to see something special that they normally did not. Solar Eclipse occurs approximately 2-5 times per year and the location to view it is never fixed. This idea of rarity has inspired tourists to join the adventure and witness such an occasional beauty.
Later, his company managed sailing tours with a variety of specialities. Their ships and yachts crossed the ocean to Oceania for the Venus Transit, to Chile for Solar Eclipse, to Turkey for Seven churches of Revelation and to China for the Silk Road Eclipse. He was proud of these tours to Turkey and China in particular because they amazed the tourists with nature, beauty and local heritage at once. For example, in Turkey, tourists both enjoyed the beaches and saw the religious construction while in China, they visited the Great Wall and participated in major festivals of Uyghur people.
The sailing adventure was even more exciting with unexpected situations on the ocean. Once, the yacht carrying his group and tourists came across a pirate ship. Though no one wanted the scenarios of Pirates of the Caribbean, they were curious and thrilled to see what would happen. Luckily, the pirate ship just passed by and their yacht continued its journey safe and sound. Dan confirmed water travel was the most peaceful route to any destination.
The next journeys you can join
In the next few years, Dan and Tropical Sails Corp will organise more sailing trips to sightsee the astronomical phenomenon. The most worth considering will be Northern Lights Adventure to Alaska, USA, departing on December 5th, 2022. Alaska in December will be covered in thick layers of snow. However, there is still a decent number of activities for tourists. You have the privilege to watch the extraordinary light show at night, use unique transportation - Dog Sledding, eventually soak in hot springs.
Do you think the Northern Lights are not rare enough? The next option will be the Australia Solar Eclipse Cruise tour from April 17th 2023. It will capture one of the rarest types of a solar eclipse, so known as the Hybrid Solar Eclipse. For this occasion, you need to book the cabin and its fee ranges from $1,500 AUD to $5000 AUD. For now, only a deposit of $400 AUD is required.
Besides the trips for sky view, Grand Turkey FAM Tour, starting on the 5th March 2022 will take you to the South coast of Turkey. On this road trip, tourists have the chance to stay in the Mardius Hotel, visit different old towns and nature. Turkey will surprise you with its diverse and creative architecture, romantic hot springs and amazing food. There are a lot more planned tours on the Tropical Sails Corp website for you to choose.
Postscript: The more I got inspired by his sharing on sailing travel, the more I was curious about how good his business is in the eyes of former tourists. Then I found a lot of positive feedback on the Travel Leaders website, Yelp. Therefore, their services are trustworthy overall. The last question would be which destination and schedule you prefer.
Written by: @Khuat Ngoc Ha, Public Relations Volunteer for Amunì Travel Forum