rosy59
Rosemary Joined: April 25th 2007
Logged in: January 22nd 2012
Logged in: January 22nd 2012
Travel Blog Posts
Taxi madness
Shore day in Port Vila Vanuatu. This is the capital and on the island of Efate, the south west of the group of islands formerly known as The New Hebrides as named and chartered by Captain Cook. A small capital of around 30,000 people from a mix of nationalities with the principal language of Bislama (pidgin type of language ) English and French. In the harbour lies the island of Iririki which has expensive looking resorts doted around. There seems to be quite a lot of marketing of homes and villa to expats, lots of real estates. The harbor had a constant sea mist today, not sure if this is usual. It was hot and muggy when we disembarked and we ran the gauntlet of the taxis and vans lined up and took one to town. ... read more
Final farewell at the Atrium
The sea is like a mill pond today, the smoothest we have seen. There is still a little pitch and roll though I love this feeling. Talking to some people, they experienced 2 or 3 days of sea sickness at the beginning but most came right. Some used the medical centre on board and some came equipped with ginger tablets, pressure bands and other remedies. It's quite odd though when you have your first shore excursion to find walking on land equally unstable. The poor inner ear has to work hard to adjust to all this change. The crew do not seem to feel a thing, and carry on as if nothing was happening. The Pacific Cirque last night did have some trouble with a couple of their acts due to the sideways roll, balancing on ... read more
Tnder ashore
A shared breakfast at the Waterfront early and a #11 ticket for our tender.A tender is the life boat in real life but since we can't anchor at some of our shore excursions we use these to take us to the jetty on the Isle of Pines. This island has 2000 inhabitants mostly involved with the tourism industry of cruise ships. It is part of New Caledonia so French is spoken as well as native languages and a little English. We disembarked in Kuto Bay and had a little walk around to start our day. There is an obvious fort like fence near this port, possibly built by the French to keep out the locals. The locals had set up stalls with food and souvenirs for sale, there was dancing and music displays and every thing ... read more
Tea at La Luna
After our excursion to The Isle of Pines we celebrated New Years Eve at La Luna Restaurant and singing Kareoke.... read more
Tender to islands
No new year hangover for me but think Martin's bottle of Sake may have had an effect. Little slow to start this morning for both of us. Mystery Island is our shore trip today which is in the southern end of the islands that form Vanuatu. It is uninhabited as the local people from the nearby island of Aneityum consider it taboo. There is a landing strip on the island used in WW2 for the allied forces. The P&O Princess Jewel is the largest ship to enter into the lagoon. I went across for a swim and left Martin drinking a coffee and having flex time in the room. Again we used the tenders to go to and from, deck 4 to board and a temporary jetty set up to receive us. The locals must love ... read more
Happy New Year
There are many themed nights on board and this was NUmber 1, with a show and dress ups by crew and passengers... read more
Fishing vessel
Wala Island is a small island paradise in the north east of Vanuatu. It has 323 inhabitants who make a living out of the copra and cocoa crops as well as some beef cattle which are mostly on other nearby islands. Tourism is an add on with 3 or more cruise boats a week anchoring off the 150 foot deep water anchorage only 500 metres off the island. Many of the people today came from the nearby island of Malekula to assist with the various tourism opportunities. The people are called Small Nambas named after the penis leaf sheath that was traditional wear. The island had a tradition of cannibalism due to its isolation from the outside world and talking to a man today he said in his grandfathers time (he was 45) it was still ... read more
Deck 10 Oasis
Today's shore excursion is to Champagne Bay which is situated on the East coast of Vanuatu's largest island, Espiritu Santo. This is Spanish for "Holy Spirit" and was first sighted by Europeans in 1606 when the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandez de Quiros landed at Big Bay west of Champagne Bay. The beach has fine white sand, and this fringes forests and mountains. 200 residents live in this bay and today they were all out flogging their wares. $2 for a photo with a snake, lizard or turtle, the usual sarongs, shirts and woven products as well as food such as banana, pineapple, passion fruit, coconut, mango, pawpaw, dried banana chips, dried tapioca chips, and a local nut that we used to eat in PNG which we called Gallup nuts. The market area was set up in ... read more
Cocktails on the deck
A sea day sailing from the top of Vanuatu to New Caledonia.Sea days involve the crew in major entertainment with all venues and all types of activities on offer. Shopping with the incentive of 1 for $20 and 3 for $30 with the brand Bijoux Terner brought the bargain hunters out. I managed to get some of my next lot of Christmas shopping done. We played cards and scrabble together over a great coffee in Charlie's and enjoyed a game of croquet, challenging with a rolling ship, tennis ball and limited space. The crew hosted Murder Mysteries performed like an old fashioned radio show with music clues, they are a diverse bunch and the dancers double up as many things. Tonight's show in the Marquee was a Magician/Comedian another great show, followed by Karaoke and Pop-stars. ... read more
Welcome to Noumea
Noumea, New Caledonia from 8am to 5pm. What a great day, such a lovely place, a delightful mix of Europe, Melanesia and Kanak cultures all on proud display. We were welcomed to Gare Maritime terminal, downtown Noumea by a group of dancers and singers. We had sailed from Vanuatu through the Havannah passage, Woodin Canal and the Petit Rade into this deep water harbour. Our draft enabled us to berth downtown; we were only 3-4 meters from the bottom though. Noumea is situated in Grande Terre the main island, and was sighted and named by Captain Cook in 1774. Noumea was claimed by the French in the Napoleonic war and this city became the administrative center in 1854. Like Australia it was a penal colony but free people also came in the form of traders and ... read more
