New Year Eve 2020 in the Southern Seas, an Eight Days Voyage to start the New Chapter
BNE - NOUMEA - MYSTERY ISLAND (SOUTHERN VANUATU) - PORT VILA - BNE
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Mystery Island (its real name) - South of Vanuatu Islands Archipelago |
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Local tours organised by nearby island inhabitants who come for the day - the island being inhabited |
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Prestine Waters |
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Mystery Island Snorkelling Spot - Main beach I suppose:) |
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Launching the canoes from our boat since there is no pontoon to attach the boat |
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Our boat in the distance, lucky that the weather allowed us to land |
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This is me in the distance, hard to work dress code, well, a swimsuit underneath as a must. |
We later on visited a village in a nearby inhabited island.
I didn't take pictures, but if you want to learn about sustainability down to dried pandanus and palm tree leaves clothing and no western medication, here is the place. Traditional diet is taro plant, small bananas, chicken, pig, fishing of course, and you can marry your cousins, but here again, it is a bit complicated, and you'd have to learn the many languages.
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Vanuatu Totem |
Back on the boat towards Port Vila (Capital of Vanuatu)
I could not tire of looking at the sea, and luckily, even from my bed, I could see the boat motion on the sea as we were heading along, at night (yes, I got up just to peak from time to time) or first thing in the morning. Unbeatable.
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| Our cabin (twin beds for myself and my daughter) - all you can possibly need is here. |
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| .... and more :) |
Life on board
This was called the Board-Walk. I tried first, but went only half way, my body would not listen to me to go further. My daughter tried the following day and made it, something she can do and I can't!
What else do you do on board?.... (1) reading (i.e an Australian POW novel given to me as an X-mas gift)
Yet, really, the true social leveller on that cruise (P & O therefore Australians) was well, alcohol, yes, there was a lot of it, ... but no unruly behaviour and people were so nice to each other, you could even strike a conversation in the lift 'every time' (not a land behaviour), the dress code was 'no dress code', you could do what you wanted. Some people dressed magnificently, non judgmentally. I did not have the budget for the daily cocktails, but I took a cocktail lesson from the bar one day to learn some appreciation. Of course, if you are more into quantities, there were also the infamous VB Beer Games - if you manage to put your circle around a can, it was yours for free, yes, free beer on board!
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Learning how to make serious cocktails like Caiprioska (vodka, muddled lime, sugar syrup), Hummingbird (Malibu, Captain Morgans, freshly crushed pineapple juice, vanilla syrup), Southside (gin, cucumber, lime, soda water), Top Deck (Baileys, caramel syrup, vanilla, chocolate powder) |
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The Caipriosaka I made, the other ones are a bit of a blur |
Lunches could be formal (Waterfront Restaurant) or not - this one was 'not', still good though, IMO this was the real waterfront.
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| Life on board |
And yet, funny things happen in the middle of the Pacific ocean. As we stopped at Noumea (New Caledonia), I managed to find a Galette des Roys in a Bakery store as it was beginning of January. I took it on board of the ship, and we found La Feve!
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| La Feve |
No tour for us in New Caledonia, I had been there a few times for work in the past, so we just took the bus, went to the (French) supermarket and the local beaches
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| Noumea Anse Vata |
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Arrival in Noumea Gare Maritime (New Caledonia) |
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Cocoa Beans Bags - Port Vila Chocolate Factory |
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| Kava Chocolate |
.... and of course, every night, you could dance under the stars, and you were bonded to everyone because you knew, that after all, you were just a leave in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and that the best thing to do was to party as if there was no tomorrow :) ...
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Like No Place On Earth |
