Day 76: Mystery Island, Vanuatu

Mystery Island is a tiny, uninhabited island 10 minutes away by boat from the big island called Aneityum, situated in Tafea Province, Vanuatu. Tiny Inyeug (Mystery) Island can be reached only via cruise ships, local boats and by planes (Air Vanuatu) 3 times a week on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from Port Vila and Tanna landing. You can take a leisurely stroll around the island in about 40 minutes. This incredibly beautiful conglomeration of pure white sand, palm trees and coral reefs provides the perfect place to relax and unwind. The Island itself has remained virtually untouched. 

The indigenous name of Mystery Island is Inyeug. According to the locals, the island was changed to Mystery Island because a reporter writing about Queen Elizabeth’s II 1974 visit kept asking for the name of the small island that she visited. The reporter was told the name is “Inyeug” meaning “Small Island”. After his own version of “Who is on First” (What is the name of that small island? “Inyeug”, “Small Island”!), the newspaper’s headline read “Her Majesty visits Mystery Island” which surely sold more papers than “Her Majesty visits Small Island”. The tourist that followed came to see Mystery Island not Small Island. The name Mystery Island has stuck and is used widely by the tourist and cruise industry.

Source:  Vanuatu Travel Guide to Mystery Island

Today was our third visit to Mystery Island, but it was definitely the prettiest day we’ve spent here. The weather was warm, sunny and breezy, and we wasted no time tendering over to the island. We went almost empty-handed; we thought we’d hike around the island first, without needing to carry our beach things with us, return to the ship for lunch and then tender back over with our Swimways floats and snorkel gear for some beach time. It didn’t work out that way at all.  Luckily, I had tied a pareo around my waist, because we ended up using that when we finally sat on the beach. 

Mystery Island, surrounded by coral reefs, 

as seen from the Ruby Princess 

Panorama view of Mystery Island

Aneutyim Island, home to the locals working on Mystery Island 

The island is very narrow (not much wider than the grass airstrip that runs its length) and we crossed to the other side and walked the length of the island on the beach, then connected with one of the several paths and walked back toward the tender on that. We stopped along the way for G to open his can of Coke, and sat on a downed coconut palm tree and listened to the waves crashing on the reef. It reminded us so much of the islands of French Polynesia. 

The island is totally undeveloped and home to just a few wooden shacks with grass roofs

There are a lot of tours available on the island, 

including snorkel trips and boat rides to Aneutyim Island

There are several well marked paths crossing the island

Coral flats at low tide

Our view for G’s Coke break

There are no residences or places to stay on the island, 

but there are a few cottages that look like this. 

Those shades of blue...gorgeous

Some locals and children were performing for us, singing not just island tunes but John Denver’s Country Roads, too. That song is certainly well loved down here; we hear it a lot. Donations were accepted for their local school. 

Local musicians and school children performed throughout the day

Lots of souvenirs for sale

These siblings were darling, and passengers were only too happy to push them

on the swings. 

G had found a hermit crab, and these two little girls were entranced by it. 

Around noon, we were getting hungry and thought we’d return to the ship for lunch, but then spotted a sign advertising island BBQ. That sounded even better, and we both had yellow fin tuna caught fresh this morning and cooked over an open firel. It was served with sweet potato fries and everything was delicious. 

Cooking our lunch over an open fire

Lunch and the local beer, served with a view

The cafe and outdoor tables 

Following lunch, we decided to use the beach without returning to the ship. We didn’t even have beach towels, just my pareo,  but we made out just fine.  The water temp felt great, probably around 82F, and we loved watching all the kids in the water and building sandcastles on the beach. This cruise has been so much more fun with them on board.  We had heavily applied sunscreen before we left the ship this morning, and it lasted all day, because we didn’t get a hint of color. Still, by 3pm, we were done, sandy and sweaty and salt covered and greasy from sunscreen, and decided to take a tender back to the ship. 

Going to the island empty-handed meant we didn’t have to wash and rinse and set out to dry all of our usual toys.  We had just enough time to get showered and were in the Elite Lounge when it opened at 4:30pm. The views from Skywalkers on Deck 18 were spectacular. We watched sail away from our dinner table, but noticed it had turned rather cloudy as we left. I hope that’s not a harbinger of our weather tomorrow. 

Day 5 dinner menu, page 1

Day 5 dinner menu, page 2

Day 5 dessert menu

Comedian Mark Palmer is back this cruise. Although G hadn’t been impressed that last time we saw him, we went to his 7:30pm show. He’s ok, but he hasn’t gotten any funnier. Tomorrow is a big day for us, our first visit to Isle of Pines, New Caledonia. Some fellow guests we were talking with in Skywalkers today said that if we thought Mystery Island was good, Isle of Pines is ten times better. 

We can’t wait. 

Mystery Island Port Guide, page 1

Mystery Island Port Guide, page 2

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 5 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 6 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 55: Mystery Island, Vanuatu

Our weather today on Mystery Island, Vanuatu, though still not fantastic, was considerably better than when we were here last month. First, just getting to stop at Mystery Island is a treat; the surrounding reefs and the fact that it is a tender port mean the island is often missed if the wind doesn’t cooperate. But even though it wasn’t especially sunny today, we were able to tender over to the island. 

It was another early start for us today. We had a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet and were already packed up and in the Crown Grill awaiting tender tickets before the Golden Princess was even cleared by the local authorities (which they took their good old time doing). Still, we were on the second tender to the island and set our tarp down under a perfect little palm tree with a view of the ship. 

The welcoming committee



In the absence of loungers, a pile of broken coral works well!

Me, in my favorite place

Though the water color was a gorgeous blue-green color, it was like Antigua in that it was a bit murky.  Because of that, and the clouds, I didn’t even bother to put on my snorkel gear but instead just enjoyed swimming and using the float. We also had some additional entertainment this morning; there was a small plane with TAXI on its fuselage parked at the Mystery Island Airport. A short time later, we could hear when its engines started, and it took off right over where I was swimming in the water. It was quite a ‘Six Days Seven Nights’ moment. 

Where’s Harrison Ford?

Not a sight one sees every day

Eventually the sun did appear, and I really wanted to take a boat snorkel tour, so we started back toward the central part of this small island where the local people had sign boards for Mystery Island Indigenous Tours. While we were walking there, an Air Vanuatu flight did arrive.  It was quite exciting to watch it land on that grass air strip. It taxied up to the airport building, the door opened and a few passengers and a lot of cargo were disembarked. It was easy to see a tricycle and bicycle wrapped in newspaper in the pile of things unloaded. Early Christmas presents, perhaps? 

Apparently Air Vanuatu is on a tight schedule. A few new passengers (some of whom we had just seen come over to the island in fishing boats) boarded the flight. When it started its engines and turned to taxi down the runway, it was like being on Maho Beach on St. Martin. All the packages, which were still in a pile on the grass, blew around, and we had to turn our heads because of the dirt that was blown up. But we watched as the plane taxied and then took off right over our heads. And then the locals descended on the packages, and a little boy took off on the tricycle, newspaper and all. 

Packages everywhere


A site we saw twice today

That excitement over, we watched several local people do a traditional dance, and then finally made it to the boards advertising tours. I chose to take a 90-minute, three stop tour simply because it went outside the barrier reef and the water was supposedly clearer out there than inside the reef today. G didn’t feel like snorkeling but instead bought a beer and rode along as a passenger. It was just the two of us on a small fishing boat navigated by Saiman with Crusoe (really) along as my guide. Crusoe was apparently multi-talented; he even opened G’s beer with his teeth (really, really). 

How to charge a phone on a tropical island

Lots of local excursions to choose from

I chose this one

The first spot was about a 10-minute boat ride away, and I did a backward roll out of the boat and stuck my head under the water to see an underwater paradise. We were just outside the reef in about 40 feet of water but the coral came up to about 8-10 feet below the water’s surface. It was spectacular.  The healthy coral supported an endless variety of fish (though no clown fish there) and we even saw three large turtles. We stayed there the longest of the three sites we visited, and the current carried us far from where the fishing boat was anchored. Luckily, I was wearing fins, because it was quite a swim back against the current. 

The second stop was inside the reef to see a shipwreck. Shipwrecks are not my favorite dives - my claustrophobia makes me uncomfortable inside wrecks- but I’m quite happy diving or snorkeling above them, which is what I did today. And the final stop was at an underwater cave, which would have been a perfect dive stop. This is where I finally saw clown fish, at least 25 of them, and, between them and the turtles I had seen earlier, I was ecstatic. 

I was also wiped out. We were returned to the Mystery Island beach and were considering more water time just as it clouded over again and a misty rain began to fall. That was our signal to tender back to the ship. I was so tired that I struggled just to get my gear cleaned up. After I did, I rested for a short while and then discovered I was ravenous. G had gone up to the Lido Deck to get a burger. I was craving one too- I only crave burgers after a day on the water- and, for once, my big salad from the Buffet just didn’t satisfy. Luckily, dinner was less than two hours away. 

The tender pier

We returned to the cabin where we watched the end of the movie Gifted on TV. Our viewing of that has been typical for a cruise ship (at least for a ship without On Demand viewing)...we’d seen the middle of it a couple of cruises ago and the ending today, but still hadn’t seen the beginning. We dressed for formal night and went to dinner in the Bernini Dining Room (smoked salmon starter, salad, roasted vegetables and sorbet for dessert).

We had over an hour then until the 7:45pm performance of production show Let Us Entertain You, and that was all it took to convince us to return to the cabin and crash. What I really wanted to do was watch Gifted from start to finish in one sitting, and after our active day today, that was a more attractive option than the production show. We have three more ports, all new to us on this cruise and need to pace ourselves.