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.