First island call.

Monday 18^th June, 2012. Mare.

Sleep in day today, no rush to get going. Mare (pronounced Mar-ray) is a little island with seemingly nothing much to do. The ship is running a shuttle bus to Yejele Bay, $15AU pp return. If you decide to go back later, it looks like you have to pay again. I think it’s a rort but Trevor sees the up-side and says it’s also a little drive around and we might see some interesting stuff. So once we go ashore and look around where the tenders drop you, we charge the cost to our cruise card and get tickets for possibly the last shuttle to the beach. The P&O people were packing up their bits when we approached them.

self explanatory, non?

Before this we went for a walk. Up from the jetty to the road that runs parallel to the water and turned left, walked for maybe a bit less than a km till we find a spot where we can get a good look back at the Pearl. It’s a busy port here in Tadine, there was a warship (Just a little one, don’t know whose) docked when we arrived and tender services were suspended for 10 mins while it departed. There was a barge docked as well which left in the afternoon, around the time the Betico ferry arrived from Noumea. More food vendors and market stalls were set up in this main area as well.

turn left from the jetty

and a little further, not much

Very new looking pushbikes were available for hire, no idea how much or how many there were, but a good option if you got hold of one. The road around the island that we saw seemed easily navigated by bike. Take your passport ashore and the locals will stamp a ‘visa’ in it for $1AU.

The locals were selling grilled chicken skewers and also fish skewers, cold drinks and fruit. We both had a chic skewer for $3 each and it came with a chunk of baguette and somewhere to sit and eat it. 24 hours later and we’re not sick so it must have been ok.  I had a nice (non) chat with an old mate who spoke no English, so with my smattering of schoolgirl French we had a good laugh while we waited for the ‘interpreter’.

lunch

After we ate, we headed out on the shuttle bus for the beach and it was actually a pleasant drive. Practically every passenger van or bus that could be spared was put into P&O service for the day, with pretty tropical fabric tied over the seats in the mini-van we rode it. The bay was postcard gorgeous, with a spray of blue and white striped pool towels. It was a very long bay, so it was easy to find a spot to settle in. 

Yejele Bay/Beach

A reef protected the beach, so while we could see waves beyond the reef, the beach was dead flat. I'd read a bit about reef shoes being a good idea for Lifou, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have them here as well. The sand is very chunky grains of smashed up shell and coral, possible to walk on, but why risk a cut?? There was also the obligatory local stall selling things, don’t know what, didn’t really look too hard. The water was colder than I’d expected and shallow for quite a way, so didn’t go any further than knee deep. Will have to harden up tomorrow, because snorkelling is my challenge for this trip! Walked along the beach to the closest rocks/cliff face and saw the tiniest ghost crabs going at a million miles an hour when they felt threatened. Also saw sea cucumbers spewing out what looked like silly string to catch it’s food. Someone got some on their reef shoes and it looked like it was really difficult to get off.


Every afternoon when we are ready to up anchor and leave port, the Captain gets on the P.A. and lets us know that all passengers and crew (all-a souls-a) are accounted for and we shortly be leaving-a da port-a. Today he says something along the lines of: "Tomorrow, we be visiting the lovely port of Lifou" and he waffles on with some facts and figures... then he says: "but firsta, we have-a-to move-a da ship." 

A really weird thing has been happening to me since we got on board. I keep seeing people I think I know, then when I get closer, it's not them at all!  BTW, is Wayne Swan missing? I think he's here!! I mentioned to someone that I think there's a passenger on board who is a midwife at Gosford Hospital (where I work). Yes, they say, her name is Kim. Amazing! Next time I see her I give her a wave and she joins us for Trivia.

In Mare the exchange rate was $1AU = 100 CFP, so working things out was really easy and they took either currency.