January 12, 2012
These islands that we’ve visited down here have got to have the bluest ocean I’ve ever heard of or seen. I thought Moorea and Bora Bora had amazing water but they don’t even compare to the islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu. In the past few days we’ve visited several islands that have little to no population and then one with a small city and then lots of jungle and beach.Let me start with the 8th, since my last post was the 7th. On the 8th we visited Vila, Vanuatu which was the second city on this cruise (the first being Noumea, New Caledonia). We got off the ship after our boat drill (and after I moved everything off my floor to get new carpet in my cabin since a pipe burst under the floor and flooded my hallway) and Brian and I hopped in a cab to meet up with a big group of people who were eating lunch and then going to visit the Cascades Waterfall somewhere on the island. We found them after a short walk and ordered some food—I had an absolutely delicious Hawaiian Burger and the best sweet tea I’ve ever had. When we’d paid, we all piled in to a van and a driver took us to the waterfalls, where we paid an entrance fee and commenced our ascent up to the falls. They were SO beautiful! I will post pictures on Facebook when I can, but we had an awesome time taking goofy photos and swimming under and around the falls. After some time we worked our way back down, ordered some beers at a café they had set up, and then piled back into the van to be brought back to the ship.
On the 9th we went to Champagne Bay, Vanuatu, which begins the ports that don’t have much to them. Here we waited around while Jason and Nick ordered a huge lobster which the natives had caught that morning (presumably) and they killed and cooked it right in front of you. I bought some pineapple slices and a coconut to drink out of and sat on a tree while Jason and Nick devoured their lunch. They gave me a bit of the leg meat and it wasn’t half bad! I think I could probably try to get used to that…I’m sure you’re all shocked to be reading this right now. Brittany? Eating a Lobster? NEVER! But hey, I always say I’ll pretty much try anything once!
After they were done with their lunch we all piled into the back of a pickup truck (no lie) and a driver took us to a place called “The Blue Lagoon” which is allegedly where they filmed an old movie by the same name with Brooke Shields? I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it, but, apparently it was a big movie. Anyways, we got there and I’d more accurately describe this place as a “Swimmin’ Hole” or a Lake because that’s really what it looked like more than what I’d picture as a lagoon, but, hey, what can ya do…you’ll see what I mean when I post the photos! Anyways, there were a ton of guests there, but, we hopped in and swam around the chilly water for a little while, then guess what happened? That’s right, we piled back into the pickup truck and back to the beach and then back to the ship!
That brings us to the 10th! The 10th we were in Luganville, Vanuatu…but I didn’t get off the ship so I don’t have much to report. My schedule was busy enough that I didn’t think I had enough time, so I got a haircut and rested instead! Although, Jason and Lauren said they found the most amazing French restaurant, so, I think the next time we’re here I will try to check it out. This place was apparently a place where the US stored a bunch of stuff during WW2 and then after the war was over there was a disagreement over how to get rid of the stuff so what was the solution? They (the US..so…I guess we) dumped everything into the ocean…literally. A bunch of the crew members went on an underwater dive where you could see sunken ships and also piles and piles of debris from this dump. There were tires, forklifts, helmets, Jeeps, all kinds of random things, at least from what I could see from the photos. Pretty interesting stuff!
On the 11th we went to an island called Mystery Island where nobody actually lives! The people that were there were there simply to aid us and give us food and sell us goods. The sand wasn’t really sand, it was more like finely crushed rocks and shells, which kind of hurt my feet, but the water was also so pretty. We found a relatively shady area to set up camp and then put our stuff down to go swimming. I took the new underwater camera that I bought and tested it out and boy is it awesome! I don’t have snorkeling gear so I just walked around holding the camera under the water filming some videos of the small patches of coral that were around. I got some good shots of some pretty fish and sea cucumbers (which are SO AWKWARD to step on!! They are super rubbery and kind of bouncy and it’s just really weird to step on one). I also heard some guests talking about a blue Starfish so I went over and took some pictures of that, too.
Today, the 12th, I only got off the ship for about an hour because I was pretty tired of the sun and the beach, believe it or not. But the hour was well worth it—The Isle of Pines was by far the most beautiful of all these islands. The sand was so fine and white and powdery, the water was the bluest it’s been, and the locals speak French! I bought some chicken and ate it while I walked around for a bit. So amazing, let me tell you! Although, I was glad that I didn’t go swimming because apparently this island has the world’s most poisonous water snake…I didn’t see one but some other people did and someone else (a girl from Australia) told me that they’re the most poisonous. Either way…poisonous or not…I never want to meet a wild snake. No sir.
This post is a long one, so, for propriety’s sake, I’ll cut myself off and leave the rest for another post!
Xoxoxox
B
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