Blogs from Lifou, Loyalty Islands Province, New Caledonia, Oceania

Blog 29 Easo, Lifou, New Caledonia, April 17, 2018 – Weather forecast: mostly sunny; temperature 27°C 90%, wind 19kts (5 Beaufort) Our port of call today was the island of Lifou and the community of Easo. According to the documentation provided by the Shore Excursion Team the name “Easo” in the local Drehu language means “smoking fire”. The name was derived from the fact that whalers lit fires on shore to render the fat into oil from the cetaceans they had harpooned in the area during the decade of 1860-1870. Catholic missionaries came to the island in 1858 and established a chapel, Notre Dame de Lourdes, on the promontory overlooking Santal and Jinek bays. The chapel was clearly visible from the ship as we sailed into the Santal Bay. Our shore excursion took us to the ... read more

Bulletin info cyclone n°12 du 09/03/2018 La trajectoire du cyclone Hola devrait s'incurver vers le SE dans l'après midi et se situer sur Lifou dans la journée de samedi. Le cumul de précipitations pourra atteindre 250 mm. Sur Lifou les vents vont dépasser 150 km/h.... read more

We had 4 days of port calls in a row and now we're on the last leg of our trip to Sydney which is our last port for this first portion of the trip and the first port for the second portion of our trip to Australia/New Zealand. We had no idea we were on two separate trips until we got on board, but that's the way it's counted. Now a lot of people are leaving the ship in Sydney tomorrow and a new group are getting on. We're going to miss our new friends Susan and Jon (from Canada) who were great about saving us seats for the nightly shows. We really enjoyed their company very much! All the islands we visited during the last few days were wonderful and gorgeous. In Vanuatu, we an ... read more