I had no expectations about today and this last South Sea Island. I/we were delighted when we stepped off the tender to a pristine mile long crescent shaped beach stretched out before us. We were greeted by some strangely decorated and costumed natives, Karaks, the original inhabitants of some of these islands. This was the most 'different' island we have ever been on. It seems to be the classic example of a icing-sugar sand island, undiscovered by developers. The population is about 2000.
We started the day by getting in a van with two other couples; $25 each for a two hour tour of the island. It turned out to be about the best thing we have done for some time. The drive around the island would take about 3/4 of an hour non-stop. Ours took somewhat longer. It is hard to believe that there is such a small population on a relatively large island. Water seems to be in ample supply, the ground is certainly fertile and there are minerals available for export. Possibly its remoteness is a factor but it is only three hours by air from Sydney.
One of our stops was a former penal colony location. The jungle is reclaiming the iron, mortar and bricks but you can sense the feeling inside the crumbling remains of minuscule cells. It was apparently used for political prisoners, poor souls. It is similar to the French penal colony of Devil's Island in French Guinea in South Africa but smaller and less well know. I do not know when it was closed but it was certainly some many, many years ago.
There are certainly more islands, and some quite big, than I ever thought in this part of the world. When looking at a large scale map these islands are tiny specs, almost invisible, but there are literally hundreds and likely thousands of islands stretching across vast stretches of ocean. After a while they all look the same, and we have seen many, many of them in our travels. Today, however, we visited an island unlike what we have ever seen before. I suppose it will just be a matter of time before it gets developed into another cookie-cutter tropical island resort island. We are fortunate to have seen it like it is now.
The van ride was an adventure as it turned out. On our second stop the van would not start so we had to push it to jump start it. A few stops later it was completely out of operation and we had to wait some short time for a replacement vehicle. The driver was embarrassed about this professional failure on his part as a tour operator. No worries with us, it added to the excitement and drama.
We then headed for the beach to cool off. The sand is like icing sugar and no coral or rocks to worry about but the water was cool today as we were not in a lagoon but had access to the ocean water itself, unheated like in a lagoon, it was very, very refreshing. After the beach we headed for the tender to come back to the ship but we stopped for a beer and cool drink at the only facility on this side of the island. Two beers and two ginger ales cost US$32.00. God Bless the French!
Moe stayed aboard today and is starting to get organized for disembarking in a few days.
Pics: Rather self explanatory I think. A very interesting day with some history, culture and relaxing: a great combination. This island is French so the Catholic Church has had quite an influence here. [The pushing of the car was a reenactment later, as we waited for our replacement van.] The last photo is of the man who gave us all mangos as we awaited our replacement van.
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