R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 181

Vanuatu — Port Vila and Luganville

Rainy Day in Port Vila

The MS Oosterdam continued to make her way along the Vanuatu archipelago after we departed Mystery Island. Our next stop was Port Vila on the island of Efate. Port Vila is the capital of Republic of Vanuatu, and it was not named after Bob. Unfortunately we were greeted with overcast skies and light rains throughout our brief stay there. Ursula and I made it downtown, but I didn’t really want to take the camera out in those conditions. So, the pictures you see here of Por...

A Reminder of the Significance of Today’s Date

The Hawaiian Islands Campaign — December 7, 1941

Seventy-three years ago today the Greatest Generation confronted their own version of 9/11. That was the day the Japanese attacked in two waves Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field, Ford Naval Air Station, Bellows Field, and Wheeler Field. Alas that generation rose to the occasion far better than did we. While there were missteps along the way during the aftermath of that attack — such as the abhorrent treatment of Americans of Japanese descent — almost t...

Fun Photo Friday — Inyeug is still a Mystery

Lonely Windsock

Here’s my favorite shots of our stop on Mystery Island, Vanuatu:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel Tagged: Fun Photo Friday, Inyeug, MS Oosterdam, Mystery Island, photography, R. Doug Wicker, transpacific cruise, travel, travel photography

Touring Mystery Island on Foot

Mystery Island Marketplace

As I mentioned Monday, Mystery Island (Inyeug) is uninhabited until the tourists arrive by either ship or plane. Once the tourists do arrive, they are greeted by great beaches, diverse flora and fauna (including hanging from the trees some of the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen), and a marketplace at which to shop.

Massive Spiderweb

And a Massive Spider to go with it

The small World War II airfield relic is a sod strip approximately 2,001 feet/610 meters long. And, yes,...

Gilligan would be Right at Home — Stopping by Mystery Island

Welcome to Mystery (Inyeug) Island

Mystery Island (Inyeug) is usually uninhabited . . . until a ship arrives or a plane lands. Until then the inhabitants live next door.

Mystery Island Panoramic

The southernmost inhabited Vanuatu island is Aneityum. What you see in the picture above isn’t it. That’s Inyeug, also known as Mystery Island. They’re easy to tell apart because Aneityum looks like this:

Aneityum

and Inyeug looks like this:

Mystery Island

Mystery Island is small enough to circumnavigateon f...

Fun Photo Friday — Leafing through Lifou

MS Oosterdam

Today we say goodbye to Lifou before heading to our next port-of-call Vanuatu. Specifically, next week we’re going to take a look at Mystery Island. Until then, here is today’s Fun Photo Friday gallery of Lifou favorites:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel Tagged: Fun Photo Friday, Lifou, New Caledonia, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography

Thanksgiving Day Wishes

May all my friends, family, blog followers, and book fans have a great, warm, and wondrous Thanksgiving Day celebration. Just don’t burn the turkey. Or, as the late John Houseman would say, “We blacken turkey the old fashioned way. We BURNnnn it”:

To paraphrase John Houseman: “We Blacken Turkey the Old Fashion Way. We Burn It.

And for those too young to get the reference:

Filed under: Humor, Social Networking Tagged: R. Doug Wicker, Thanksgiving

Trekking Lifou

Lone Tender

I’m usually not a big fan of tendering to shore. It takes time and it frequently requires long waits in line. But there’s something about being transported over crystalline blue waters that somehow makes it all right.

Crystalline Blue Waters

A short, hot, uphill trek from the shores of Santal Bay takes you into dense jungle with some really interesting flora.

Lifou

Once you get to the end of the trail you arrive at the charming little Notre Dame de Lourdes Chapel — now fully restored t...

Arrival Lifou — Loyalty Islands

MS Oosterdam Arrives Lifou

Cruise ships arriving to Lifou anchor in Santal (Sandalwood) Bay. From there passengers wishing to visit Lifou must tender into port, meaning that they most board one of the ship’s tenders and ride it to shore.

Tendering into Lifou from MS Oosterdam

As with Nouméa (see last week’s posts), the island of Lifou is also part of New Caledonia. Lifou, neighboring Tiga, and several other smaller islands make up the French commune (administrative division) of Lifou, which in t...

Fun Photo Friday — Time to Reflect on Sydney

The Sydney portion of this post was originally scheduled for an earlier date. Alas, that conflicted with my Halloween short story. So, I’m combining today’s last Fun Photo Friday look at Sydney with our goodbye to Nouméa.

For this first part of today’s Fun Photo Friday it’s time . . .

Looks to be about 20 minutes past March

. . . to reflect . . .

Reflecting on Sydney

. . . on Sydney with one last look. Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Part two presents one last look at at Nouméa with some of my favorite...