The Oneironaut Life

01/01/2026

✨ HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends, family, guests, and fellow adventurers ✨

Hoping everybody has an exciting 2026 ahead of them. We're definitely excited about ours...
This new year marks the start of a new chapter for us with the the launch of PHILIPPINES EXPLORER.

Not one vessel, but TWO of our existing vessels will be coming online SOON (later this month!) as Philippines Explorer I & Philippines Explorer II.

Luxury diving & adventure itineraries that blend:
🌊 world-class underwater experiences
🌴 remote islands and wild nature
🗺️ travel, exploration, and real adventure in the Philippines!

This is just the beginning.
More soon.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and adventurous New Year —
Frank & Kerry 💙

✨ 2026 is going to be special and we hope to welcome you on board soon in the Philippines 🇵🇭✨

25/12/2025

It's that time of year 🥰🥰🥰
Merry Christmas to all our family, friends, followers, viewers, dive buddies, business partners, colleagues, crew, and guests! From Raja Ampat in Indonesia and onward to the Philippines, we wish you all the very best for a wonderful Christmas time 🎄🎅💫
Loving wishes from Frank Van Der Linde and Kerry Louise Leach 💕

01/11/2025

Bit of a different one... away from the rebuild projects, and following a few difficult weeks, here is a snapshot from just TWO dives in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia 🇮🇩
Unbelievable that you can see so much in just 2 dives. This place is a special place for sure.

Comment below if you've been to Lembeh and loved it 👇👇👇

Special thanks to Rinaldi and Natasha of for showing us the cool stuff and helping us with provisions for the trip 🙏💪🥰

Now onward to Halmahera and we pick up the boat rebuilds in the New Year 💪

24/08/2025

Now recovered from the initial shock of filming a thruster hydraulic motor dangling mid-air, Kerry has managed to edit this update on the "ex-Navy Minehunters to Superyachts" epic conversion project 🤣🤣🤣
Fun fun fun with more than 14 people working to empty the vessels completely, Frank takes you on a tour of ex-HMAS Hawkesbury and more...

Hope you enjoy the update. You know how the saying goes... "it's more fun in the Philippines"
Well for us right now, it is! 💪💪💪😅🤣🤭🥰

Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the channel to keep following the progress 🫶❤️

https://youtu.be/nINebrHBvyo?si=ofB5vBQJ5LRI-7nr

We’re back in Subic Bay, Philippines, with a long-awaited update on our transformation of two ex-Australian Navy Minehunters into future luxury superyachts!A...

01/08/2025

We posted about this vessel a year ago but here's a proper introduction and tour 🥰🤩😍

Built by Cochrane Shipbuilder's in Selby (UK) to perform on the mighty North Sea before becoming part of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), she journeyed to Australia in 2018 and then... she led us to the ex-Minehunters... she already has a rich history and we look forward to the next chapter 🥰🥰🥰🥰
Watch for more...

Enjoy! Like and Subscribe!

Last year, headlines broke when a New Zealand Navy vessel named Manawanui sank off the coast of Samoa. But what if we told you… another Manawanui survived—an...

20/05/2025

Pulling walls down as the sun goes down in the Philippines 🥰🥰🥰
Happy days! 💪💪💪
Navy ship to Superyacht... one day at a time.
Watch this space!

10/05/2025

Time for a good news story! 🥰🥰🥰
A long one...

As many of you know we've been spending most of the last 2+ years exploring South East Asia on board MY Oneironaut. This is where 'Living The Oneironaut Life' started!

On this journey we have checked in and out of 23 different ports in 8 different countries! Always the same routine involving Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) and of course the Harbour Master.
These government departments in each country are always the first people you will meet... so you would think (first impressions being everything) that they would want to welcome you, being friendly and polite. 🤔

Granted, they also have a serious job to protect their borders but we know what paperwork is required and we always have that ready upon arrival, and always with a smile 😉😉🥰🥰 We are literally asking permission to visit their country and we respect that.

Now, in our experience, it's not always a warm welcome we get so this is why we want to celebrate and make a post of appreciation for SURIGAO, The Philippines.

Using Noonsite.com (great tool and highly recommended to fellow-cruisers), we found Ms Roselyn Armida B.Merlin 🥰. She is currently the Surigao City Tourism Officer. We love her! She replied to our initial email with an attachment giving clear instructions on what to do next, who to contact etc. When we arrived she sent her staff (Mitchell) to meet and greet us and guide us seamlessly through the whole process.
Nothing was a problem. Everybody we met was helpful and supportive and welcoming, and Roselyn even went so far as to say, if anybody gives you any trouble during the inspections, or is not helpful to you, please let me know immediately. Refreshing!
Everybody we encountered was wonderful and...
Special shout out goes to Mr Cezar Arnel A Valdez of Immigration who takes good care of Immigration procedures in his city, but who also welcomed us with coffee and a delicious Filipino hotcake for breakfast (a kind of pancake). THANK YOU! 😋

Thank you to Roselyn's staff, Mitchell for assisting us with transport, SIM card and all local procedures. 🙏🥰

The dinghy pier had recently been damaged by a super typhoon for which we had no problem at all, but we received a very sweet apology, and here we share a photo of the rebuild plans that should be happening there soon 🥰🥰 It will be good again soon 🙏

THANK YOU for the warm welcome and hospitality Surigao!
We hope to see you again soon 🥰🥰🥰

Tip: For anyone with a private vessel, Noonsite.com is definitely worth being a Member of. It costs less per month than a Grande Vanilla Latte in Starbucks 🤣🤣🤣 This is how we found the lovely Roselyn to take care of us in Surigao. 🙏🙏🙏

14/04/2025

The superyacht project is alive and well 💪
2 ex HMAS Navy Minehunters are being transformed!

There's been delays, setbacks, ANOTHER epic tow... so time to share the story of the last few busy months. Enjoy! 🥰🥰🥰

https://youtu.be/VwAP--ZpUVw

Episode 8: Yes, we’ve been quiet… but we’re back – and this journey is far from over! ⚓In this long-awaited update, we take you behind the scenes of the last...

14/02/2025

A whole month has passed where we lost full access to the YouTube channel. 😭😭😭 Finally we got it fixed.
Just in time for the weekend, here's the next "go inside a Minehunter" episode.

Filmed in early January 2025, we've taken a new approach to show you where Frank Van Der Linde is on the Minehunter plans and drawings as he takes you room by room through the vessel.
With this one we're taking a close up look at the generator rooms...

Let's go!

What a find - in this Episode 7 of our Minehunter to Superyacht series, and this 3rd walk-around tour, we dive deeper into the heart of these ex-Navy Minehun...