Incredibly, the cruise is almost over. Two days from now, we’ll be arriving in Sydney. It seems like we’ve been gone forever and just left yesterday! I must say, it will be good to be on land long enough to get land legs again. Today’s update covers our last two ports of the trip.
2/2 (Tuesday) – Port Vila, Vanuatu
Our shore excursion today was Cascades & Waterfalls. I’d talked to our new friends Dick & Nora and they said they’d cancelled it after a similar trip a few days back. We should have heeded what they said. It took 20-30 minutes to get to the site in a van that was not air-conditioned. (Did I mention that it is HOT here!?) The description had cautioned that might be the case; guess we were just hoping for otherwise!
We walked/climbed about half-way up, stopped at an overlook that would have been quite pretty on a sunny day if there hadn’t been so much smoke from the locals burning their gardens in preparation for re-planting. When it got to the point that we had to wade in the streams and walk on potentially slippery stones, we chose to return back down to the “base camp”. Folks who made the whole trip, said it was quite nice and refreshing.
After everyone came back down, the locals served up native fruits (bananas, papaya, coconut, pineapple, passion fruit, and one I didn’t recognize) for us to taste. They served what tasted kind of like tang to drink. A 5 piece band played some local music for us. Amusingly, the bass was a wooden box with a stick and a couple of strings. The controlled sounds that one can get out of such rudimentary instruments never ceases to amaze me.
We were extremely happy to get back to the cool air of the ship! Perhaps in the cool of winter, same as our summer months, it would be more pleasant.
We caught the pre-dinner show, “Martinis & Bond (007)”, presented by the Regent Singers and Dancers and the Orchestra. Screens above and beside the stage showed clips of Bond movies, the entertainers were dressed in “Bond Formal” and the waiters were serving several varieties of martinis. An awesome show!
One of the waiters who knows us, came by upstairs and offered us a martini, he then said “I think this is not your kind of drink. Scotch and water, scotch and soda?” We of course said yes, and he was back in a few minutes with our drink of choice.
2/3 (Wednesday) Noumea, New Caledonia
Scheduled arrival time was 10am and we were in on schedule! Today was the clearest most beautiful day we’ve had.
Our scheduled tour was at 1:15pm and as we pulled in to port, we saw that the dock is right in town!
Tom and I went off the ship around 10:30am and found the terminal quite inviting. As we entered the terminal, we were greeted by a couple dressed in the very stylish garb of the French colonists of the early 20th century. And, inside the terminal were native musicians and dancers. All very friendly!
The cruise terminal here is the nicest we’ve seen on the entire voyage, including San Diego’s basically cargo terminal. To San Diego’s credit, they are building a new one!
We noted a “Casino Johnston Supermarket” right across the street from the dock and headed off to check it out. It was somewhat similar to our WalMart SuperCenters. They carried everything but a wider variety with smaller quantities! They totally beat out any market I recall ever seeing in the US when it comes to fresh fish, crabs, vegetables, etc.
We were back on the ship in time for lunch and to muster for our excursion at 1:30. It was a nice 2 hour trip on a air conditioned coach (large tour bus) that was less than half full. We made 3 stops for photos at places high enough up to get some great views of the bright blue water and surrounding islands. One stop was where there are still cannons from WWII where the Americans and French had an encampment to fight against the Japanese.
Our last stop was at the aquarium. It was very small by comparison to our Florida Aquarium in Tampa but is very nicely done. They had quite a few of the blue starfish I’d seen while snorkeling in Fiji as well as other starfish varieties we’d not seen in any other aquarium. This aquarium housed an incredible collection of the many varieties of fish and coral in the waters around New Caledonia. I could only think of friends who have expressed interest in diving / snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. On going there, New Caledonia might be a good stop along the way.
Noumea was by far the cleanest, best organized, most industrious, most modern island area we have visited since leaving the US some three weeks ago. This was accompanied by a beautiful sunshiny day with relatively low humidity and fairly heavy wind. Thus, I think Noumea was my favorite port followed way back by Bora Bora, purely for its natural beauty. And, Noumea was HOT as well! The luxury of an air-conditioned transport and the beautiful breezes kept us feeling cool.
2/4 (Thursday) – At Sea
This morning, Australia Immigration Officials were on board and we have now cleared immigrations… guess they’re getting a nice two night cruise from Noumea back to Sydney! What a tough job!
And, in preparation for our arrival in Sydney, one of the lecturers gave a presentation on “Sydney – Past & Present”. Sandra Bowern is quite a knowledgeable polished speaker. When we’re back to the land of no additional charge for unlimited internet, I shall Google her to get more information on her background!
Having purchased a pareo in Bora Bora and a sulu (same thing, different name) in Fiji, I decided to attend a “How to tie a pareo” class this afternoon. This was given by the Tahitian wife of our Chief Executive Chef and he was there to help her and to translate! What fun!
Tonight was our next to last night aboard and the rpe-dinner even was the Captain’s Farewell party. This included a show named “Crew Capers”. Choreographed and director by one of the crew members, it was incredible! Our stewardess was one of the main Philippine dancers! We have been extremely fortunate to have Theresa!
From the pre-dinner show, we meandered to our favorite lounge then to dinner. By 10pm, we were back in our room and ready for beddie bye! What a couple of old faxds we’re becoming!
That’s today’s “ramblings from Ruth”!
No comments:
Post a Comment