April, 2018 - Travels with Verne and Roy

South Pacific Cruise – Part Five: Two Wet Islands

Fiji’s Dravuni Island and New Caledonia’s Maré Island were the last two stops of the cruise – and as luck would have it, the one was wetter than the other. Never mind! Tropical waters are warm, and so is tropical rain.

Bula, Dravuni Island!

The tender stops at a pier that is specially assembled before Cruise Day and then taken apart afterwards

I’m not sure whether the clouds, drizzle and eventual steady afternoon rain were a blessing or a curse: on the positive side, there were fewer cases of geriatric sunburn.

There’s no electricity here, and no cars; and, according to Heather from the shore excursion team, “they’re as fascinated by us as we are by them”. This is billed as the true remote Fijian island experience.

It’s a fair way from ship to shore, as you can see here

South Pacific Cruise – Part Four: Lautoka, Fiji

In Fiji,“Bula” means hello, and always gets a smile! Located on Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island, Lautoka is also known as Sugar City. Like my home town Durban, its important Indian population descends from indentured labourers brought in during the second half of the nineteenth century to work in the sugarcane fields.

Once again, the Noordam is berthed in a container port

South Pacific Cruise – Part Three: Vanuatu

Waking up in Vanuatu’s Port Vila to a sight like this, no wonder I was itching to go ashore. In retrospect, I’d say this was the best stop on the Noordam’s South Pacific Island itinerary.

As you step off the gangway, you either go right to join one of the ship’s organised tours, or left to enter a market maze. Haggling is not part of the culture here: the price you see is the price you pay.

South Pacific Cruise – Part Two: Nouméa and Lifou

Annexed by the French in the 1840s and established as a penal colony, New Caledonia (or Nouvelle-Calédonie) is part of the French collectivity, and feels like a slice of France in the middle of the South Pacific.

Day 4: Nouméa

After two full days at sea, we woke up – that’s never too early, with Roy – to find ourselves moored at Nouméa, New Caledonia’s capital city, on Grand Terre island. Many of our 1,800-odd fellow passengers on the Noordam were already up, breakfasted, and streaming ashore.