Tag: Vanuatu

A Relaxing two weeks

The view as we sailed from Sydney aboard Royal Princess in March of this year.

It was a four-day sail from Sydney to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, so St Patrick’s Day was celebrated at sea.

As we approached Noumea it was strange to see broken water so far off the coast. It was as if we were passing a reef or large sandbank.

A distant shot.

Maureen & I had been to Noumea a few times, so we decided to walk to the local market – partly for exercise and for Maureen to check the items for sale. We reached the market area, and it was all closed – we had arrived on a Monday. So we started back to the ship because it looked like it was about to rain. On the way back I took the photos of a Tchou Tchou train – Noumea is famous for these trains, there are several and each one is a different colour. I don’t know if the colour denotes the route or if they all do the same route.

I took the above from our balcony, as you see we were in a working port because the cruise terminal was occupied by another cruise ship. The other vessel can be seen just under the second crane. Not long after we reboarded it started to rain.

Our next stop was Mystery Island, which is a small island in the Vanuatu Group. To get ashore was a tender job.

The island had a grass strip airport, which is seven feet (2 mtrs) above sea-level. The airline services the island twice a week, because the island is uninhabited and is only populated when a cruise ship arrives. The correct name of the island is Inyeug. We walked around the island in just over thirty minutes.

Our cruise ship through the trees.

The weather looked like it was turning from a beautiful tropical paradise to a soaking rain day so we caught the next shuttle back to the ship.

Just as we arrived at the ship it started to rain.

Within a few minutes after we boarded it became a tropical downpour. Long lines for the tender stretched along the shore and people were quickly soaked. The island did not have any shelter – only an occasional palm tree.
You can guess the conversation for the rest of the day.


Our next port was Port Vila the capital of Vanuatu – the above as we entered the harbour.

Small coasters & fishing boats as we moved slowly alongside the wharf. 

I have always liked Vanuatu and the capital having visited the area on business in the 1980’s. It hadn’t changed all that much -but as we went alongside the wharf, we realised just how heavy the rain had become. It was pouring down. We had planned a visit to a well-known duty-free shop in the town centre (about seven minutes from the ship by mini-bus.)
So, it was umbrella time and a ‘fast’ run to a minibus – ever tried running with an umbrella in heavy rain and avoid the puddles (small lakes in places). Cost to the duty-free shop $5, it has been $5 for years. Vanuatu is not a rich country but has some very good resorts and the people are very friendly, it is popular holiday place with the Australians & Kiwis.
As you see in the picture below the roads are not as well cared for as most of the roads in Sydney.

I took this outside the duty free shop as we waited for our mini-bus to take us back to the ship.
I had bought two bottles of spirits, Bombay Sapphire 1.25 ltr for AUD $26 and a 1.25 ltr Scotch whisky for AUD $46 and both were delivered to the ship free of charge and they were well packed for carrying off the ship in Sydney- great customer service and a lot cheaper than the duty free shop on the ship.
Before Covid this duty free shop had a large range of goods for sale, and I wanted to buy an new electric razor and considered I’d wait until Port Vila. The choice was one single electric razor and the choice of other items was very limited, once the cruise ships and holiday makers had stopped due to Covid the economy had crashed.

A day at sea as we sailed for Fiji, the weather was beautiful, the sea was calm, and the Seaview Bar was the place to be for a pre-lunch drink.

Sunrise as we approached Lautoka in Fiji – which is the main port for the export of sugar.

For me the only way to shop – the locals brought their shops to the ship, Maureen was happy, and I bought two shirts, both made in Fiji, I checked.
Next stop in Fiji was Suva the capita, designated as such in 1882.

The ship docked so close to the city centre which was about a five-minute walk into town.
We had visited the Suva area on previous trips so we just wandered around the town, until it got too hot and we were back on board quick sharp.
Once again stalls were set up along the wharf and Maureen bought a set of earrings – a lot easier than going from shop to shop and they were cheaper.
Next morning as we approached Dravuni Island.
Another tender port – the island has about 150 people, including children and they have their own school.


I’ve posted about this island in other blogs so will not repeat myself, but see below for the link.

It was very peaceful sitting facing aft with the Outrigger Bar behind us. The ship moved gently at anchor as the scenery slid by.

Dravuni Island

If you are interested in earlier post about Fiji when it was called the Cannibal Is. check November 2021.
Other posts about about Suva December 2019
Mystery Island May 2023.
Port Vila – when it was dry – December 2019 


Port Vila

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Port Vila the capital of Vanuatu, which used to be called New Hebrides.

The first Europeans to visit these islands were the Spanish, who arrived in 1606. They thought that they had found La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo or “The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit”.  The largest island was named Espiritu Santo, which has remained as the name of the largest island today.

Europeans didn’t return until 1768 when the Frenchman Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville arrived and named the islands as the Great Cyclades, but in 1774 Captain Cook arrived and he named the islands the New Hebrides, which name remained until independence in 1980.

Over the years the islands became important to both the French and the British for trade and ‘Blackbirding’ to Australia. British subjects from Australia became the dominant group of Europeans.
In 1882 a French company called Caledonian was created and over the next few years the number of French citizens soon grew to outnumber the British/Australians by two to one.

In 1906 the UK & France agreed to administer the country jointly, which created both British & French administrations, which only came together in a court of law.
In the 1920’s the French brought in workers from what we now now as Vietnam (at that time it was classed as French Annam or French Indochina). This created social and political unrest, and a movement for independence grew.

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If you are interested in the incidents at the time of Independence, may I suggest you look up the Coconut War.

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Vanuatu’s flag today

Ruby Princess went alongside in Port Vila at 8.00 am, and after clearance we were allowed ashore. We crossed the quay and exited to small dock area and then had to navigate through a zig- zag area of stalls selling various items of souvenirs.

We didn’t have a choice but to walk along the created ally-ways to gain access to taxis. It was not a hardship as many of the stalls had interesting items for sale.

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The second photograph is thanks to Ken.

Once outside we were bombarded with offers of traditional taxis and water taxis. We decided to take a water taxi, $5 AUD one way per person.

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The water taxis near the bow of the ship.

What we didn’t know was that the taxi wouldn’t be leaving until the boat owner had filled his boat – he had twelve seats for sale, and we wanted four, so we had to wait for eight other passengers. It was not a long wait because once Ruby Princess passengers could see others off the ship in the boats they followed.

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As you see the boats were not alongside a ‘normal’ pier of quay, but we climbed down the bank and into the open boat.

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These boats are waiting in town to take people back to their cruise ship, or perhaps a sightseeing tour of the harbour. The benches are clearer  . . . .

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When disembarking in town we did so at a small pier.

The trip from the cruise ship to town was about ten minutes, and I found it quite interesting.

In 2015 they suffered a cyclone, during which 24 people died, winds reached 280 km / hour (174 mph) – as we rounded an island, we saw some of the damage.

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What looked like the remains of a ferry, and a tourist sightseeing craft?

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Cargo ship or specialised vessel of sorts – I don’t know.

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What looked like an inter-island passenger ship?

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Private boats

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As we passed these wrecks, we saw the hotel located on an island in the harbour – Iririki Island hotel.
The island and the hotel has an interesting history.

Originally the island was a British hospital in 1910, after which it was the British Residency (1913). The Residency was built on the top of the island and one had to climb 179 steps from the beach to the house.

A lower house was built for the Queen when she visited the island, after which the lower house became the accommodation for the British High Commissioner.

After independence (1980) the island was abandoned, and in 1983 it was leased so that a a resort could be created.
The 1987 cyclone causes so much damage, it took a year to refurbish.

In 1991 it became a child free sanctuary, and in 2004 it was sold to a consortium of Australian businessmen.

In 2009 it became family friendly, until the cyclone of 2015, which required a huge amount of refurbishing, and the island was reopened for business in 2016.

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As you see it has a casino.

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Port Vila seems to thrive on duty free shops – the prices for duty free spirits were the cheapest I’d see in a long time, which makes one think of certain airport duty free shops and their prices . . . picture thanks to Ken.

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Port Vila looked quiet, but you still had to watch the traffic.

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We came across the local market, which had a huge choice of fresh vegetables and fruit.

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and don’t forget the flowers.

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Anchored in the harbour was a touch of yesterday.
The flag on the mast is the flag of Vanuatu.

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Across the harbour we could see the Ruby Princess, note the shallow water – our water taxi went to the left of the picture before crossing the shallow area.
Thanks to Ken for the full picture, I cropped the original to focus in the ship.

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Goodbye Port Vila