Halo From Mystery Island

Today, Monday, we are at Mystery Island, Vanuatu.  But before we get here, let me catch up.  Saturday, we had our last stop in Fiji - Dravuni.  It's a very small island with a permanent population of about 150 people and no roads or much infrastructure.  We were tendered in.

                                          

 

Once there, we found a spot on the beach to swim, snorkel, and relax.  The island and the water are beautiful.  The snorkeling was again not great.

Leaving the island turned out to be a bit traumatic.  Sailing on Oceania has one big drawback.  With the age of the guests, it is not unusual to have a death on board.  Well, we were quite delayed leaving and I was able to observe from our veranda a body being loaded onto a pilot boat.  Then we heard that a gentleman who we happened to have dinner with on one of the first nights of the cruise (and were supposed to have dinner with last night) was missing.  He apparently walked away from his wife to take a picture and was not seen again.  Ultimately, the ship had to sail away while the search continued.  His body was eventually found by some of the islanders.  So sad.

That night there was a Holloween bash and a pumpkin display.

Sunday was a largely uneventful sea day except for Linda finally scoring a bingo win.

Now, on to Mystery Island.  When we were here in April, we did a snorkeling excursion and then walked around the island.  This time we opted to just walk around the beautiful island, although the floweres along the path were not blooming as much as in April.

The walking trees are always interesting.

We did see some interesting spiders.

And then there is the airstrip that gave the island its name.

Tomorrow, we'll be at Port Vila, Vanuatu, a new port for us.

Mbae pis ol blessings I stap witim yu,

Linda and Larry

Bula From Lautoka, Fiji

Today, Friday, we are in Lautoka for the second day.  It's an interesting port, mostly industrial with a massive pile of wood chips that are shipped to China and Japan.  There are nice looking islands nearby.

Yesterday, we took an Oceania excursion - Garden of the Sleeping Giant.  It was about a 45 minute drive through the countryside to the garden.  They grow a lot of sugar cane here.

At the garden, we were led through an area with many orchids.

We were then led through the main part of the garden - nice, but not very impressive.  It is called the Garden of Sleeping Giant since it lies at the base of the Sleeping Giant mountain.

The next stop  was the Vuda village.

We were then taken up a very rough road to the Vuda Look Out.

The final stop on the tour was in the city for a 30 minute shopping stop.  Fortunately, the stop was right by the shuttle bus stop and we were able to escape the shopping and take the shuttle back to the ship.

Today is a turnover day for the cruise.  We had thought about going into Lautoka and visiting the botanical garden.  However, when I went for my morning walk around the fitness track on the ship, it was already sunny and hot so we have opted for another day of dolce far niente!

Tomorrow we have our last port in Fiji - Dravuni.  Then it's off to Vanuatu before heading to Australia.

Vosa Vakaviti,

Linda and Larry