Tag Archives: transpacific cruise

December 3, 2014 · 5:35 am

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, there is a terminal building at Anatom Airport.

Watch out, Chicago and Atlanta — Anatom Airport Terminal

2,001 feet of landing strip

Click on any image below to bring up today’s gallery:

Papaya

Pandanus Tectorius

Mystery Island Flora

Pandanus tectorius

Mystery Island Flora

Looks a bit like a Sierra gooseberry, but it isn’t

Mystery Island Flora

Colorful moth

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel

Tagged as Anatom Airport, Inyeug, MS Oosterdam, Mystery Island, photography, R. Doug Wicker, transpacific cruise, travel, travel photography

December 1, 2014 · 5:35 am

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 circumnavigate on foot in much less than a couple of hours. But just in case you get lost:

Hard to get lost on an island this small

Despite the small size, Mystery Island has a lot going for it. There’s Queen Elizabeth II Beach, for instance, which was renamed in 1990 in honor of the Queen’s visit to Vanuatu back in 1974.

Queen Elizabeth II Beach

Basking beneath the clouds

MS Oosterdam arrived offshore the morning after we departed Lifou, New Caledonia. Below you can see the ship anchored between Inyeug and the much larger Aneityum.

MS Oosterdam

It was from this anchorage that we tendered onto the island.

Tendering onto Mystery Island

On Wednesday we’ll take a look at Mystery Island’s bustling airport and some of the native flora and fauna, including some really big spiders.

Until then please enjoy the slide show below:

Walking around the island

Mystery Island beach

Mystery Island

Seeking seashells on the seashore

Aneityum in the distance

Mystery Island

Mystery Island beach

Mystery Island

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel

Tagged as MS Oosterdam, photography, R. Doug Wicker, transpacific cruise, travel, travel photography

November 19, 2014 · 5:35 am

Nouméa Cathedral and Chinatown

Nouméa Cathedral

Now for some points of interest from our foot journey around Nouméa, capital city of New Caledonia. One of those sights is Nouméa Saint Joseph Cathedral. And while it may not look very opulent by European standards on the outside . . .

Nouméa Cathedral

. . . it is nevertheless impressive on the inside:

Nouméa Cathedral

Northwest of Nouméa Cathedral is Nouméa’s weekend gathering place, the Place des Cocotiers, or Coconut Square. Place des Cocotiers is a large, lush central-city park.