I guess we paid for our glorious day yesterday with disappointing weather today. It alternated between misty and rainy most of the morning, and cleared to just occasional mistiness by mid-afternoon, but we never did see the sun. However, this was our first time on Mystery Island and our first time in Vanuatu, and we were lucky to actually be able to tender to the island. We’ve been told it’s frequently missed due to weather. When we saw the surrounding reefs at low tide, basically appearing on three sides of the Golden Princess, it was obvious that any wind at all would have prevented our visit. So rain and clouds were acceptable; wind would not have been.
Mystery Island is not just the name of the island where cruise ships send their tenders; that name is shared with a larger island also known as Aneityum (a-NI-chum) located within sight. Aneityum is the southernmost inhabited island in the Vanuatu archipelago (Are there any more exciting words in the English language than archipelago and atoll? I don’t think so.). Its origins are volcanic and the landscape is mountainous. The fertile volcanic soils and temperate climate encourages the growth of sandlewood trees, which caused the island to be ravaged by sandlewood traders in the 19th century and the population now stands at about 500.
The ship sends its tenders to uninhabited Inyeug Island (also called Mystery Island...it’s all very confusing) a tiny sliver of land that is not much bigger than the airstrip built by the US during WWII. The locals from Aneityum come in small boats to sell crafts and foods and services like snorkel trips and massages when a ship calls on Inyeug. It reminded me exactly of the San Blas Islands of Panama, where the Cuna Indians come by boat to one small island where the ship sends its tenders.
Source: CruiseCritic.com
I was ready for another day of snorkeling but the weather this morning was discouraging. Still, after breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, we went to the Crown Grill and took an early tender to the island. Inyeug is an island surrounded by beaches and can be walked around in less than 45 minutes. Blog reader Cheryl, who did this same itinerary just three cruises ago has given us copious instructions on what to do on each island, and advised that I could snorkel just to the right of where the tenders come in, so that’s what I did. It rained almost the entire time i snorkeled, which shouldn’t make a difference, but the lack of sunlight does rob some of the beauty of the fish and coral. Still, I enjoyed the ease and availability of decent snorkeling. The ship offered several snorkel tours, as did the locals on the island, and, if the weather had been better, I would definitely have done a snorkel trip by boat, but it just wasn’t that kind of day.
The rain picked up then (and G was tired of being wet) and we tendered back to the ship where we had a quick lunch. We had been told there might be food sold on the island, but, although there were sodas and water and beer for sale, we didn’t see any food vendors. Around 2pm, the rain had mostly stopped and we decided to tender over again to walk around the island. It’s not possible to walk around the entire island on the beach without crossing some exposed coral that is tough to walk on, but there is a sand path that encircles the island separated from the beach by some vegetation. I instantly fell in love with this tropical paradise, and told G that, given First World plumbing, electricity and high speed internet could happily live out my years there...until I spotted a massive spider web with a spider at least 5 cm wide holding court. Then another. And another. Maybe it is one of those places that is nice to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. Still, until I spotted the spiders, it was fun to imagine a Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson-type existence.
Ugh.
I can handle hermit crabs. Love those eyes!
The runway is just a grass landing strip, marked by a single beacon light powered by a large solar panel. I read online (because we’re sadly not getting much valuable information from Destination Expert Wendy Fuller) that Air Vanuatu has two flights there each week. That must be one heck of a landing. That explains why there is such a nice pier on that uninhabited island. First, it enables access for cruise ship tenders, but it is also used to send supplies to nearby Aneityum. Like Maré island yesterday, this is a remote existence.
We covered the entire island on foot, and then caught the second-last tender back to the ship about 4pm. That gave us just enough time to get ready for the evening and we went to dinner early, about 5pm. I was hungry (lunch had been just a salad and can of sardines) and had a fruit plate starter and then a baked sweet potato and vegetable caponata as an entree. Fantastic and filling! Still, I had just enough room for one scoop of mango-tamarind sorbet, simply because I’ve never seen it on the menu before, and I love tamarind. It was a wonderful dinner.
We finished in time to go to the 6:45pm Princess Theater performance by Jo Little. This was the second time we’ve seen her this season (plus twice last season on the Pacific Princess) and she does tremendously better in front of an Australian audience than an American audience, but that’s often the case with comedians. But Jo also has a fantastic voice and sings, so even last year we enjoyed that part of her show.
The Love Boat Disco Deck Party is being held tonight, but after two days spent in the water and walking on sand, I have hit a wall. We are having an early evening, but we do move clocks ahead one hour tonight and again tomorrow night to get on Fiji time. We noted tonight that when we are in Fiji, we will be 23 hours ahead of Hawaii time, and, in fact, when we fly from Melbourne to Honolulu, we’ll move 21 hours back in time, which is only a three hour difference on our bodies. Piece of cake.