Mystery Island

Mystery Island will remain a mystery as we were not able to disembark the ship due to high seas and winds.

I had so wanted to go ashore, but I will have to come back to explore this island another time.

Mystery Island is a tiny, uninhabited islet in Vanuatu's Tafea Province.  Other than an airstrip, built by the United States Military to serve the nearby island of Aneityum during WWII, Mystery Island only has a few huts for overnights.

No one lives on the island as it is considered taboo to do so.  The locals come across from nearby Aneityum on the days when ships anchor.

The ship set sail for New Caledona.

We took to the deck to get in our steps for the day and visited with some of the passengers.

One of the passengers, Nola, had an interesting life.  One of the questions, we like to ask is "How many cruises have you been on?"  Without thinking, Nola said eighty-eight and thirty-six of them on the Princess Cruise Line.

She had to be honest, her grandfather, her father and her brother had all been sea captains.  She had lived on ships all of her life.

Nola stated, "If times had been different growing-up, she would have been a sea captain herself". Instead she became a librarian and was also a "stewardess" for an airline back in the 50s.  She has outlived two husbands and has three children and continues to cruise around the world.

Our evening ended with dinner in the Florentine, a walk on the deck and listening to a guitarist and violinist in the atrium.