Blog 8: Cruise!

On a bit of a whim, we booked a cruise on black Friday when there was a massive sale with Royal Caribbean. (Again sales+travel=happy Leah) We knew we wanted to take a cruise when we moved here, as cruises sail from Sydney to a variety of destinations, and the travel to the cruise is much cheaper than when we lived in Winnipeg, where we obviously had to fly somewhere and stay in a hotel the day before. 

We took a nine-night cruise to the South Pacific on Voyageur of the Seas, and we had an amazing time! We didn’t know what to expect of the ports, and all that we could really tell was that there were far fewer tour options compared to the Caribbean. We stopped in Noumea, New Caledonia; Mystery Island, Vanuatu; Port Villa, Vanuatu, and Lifou, New Caledonia. Each port we really enjoyed, and we did water sports at each one. 

Photos: Goodbye Sydney!

Before getting to our ports we had two full sea days. The first was fairly calm, but the second was definitely more choppy. We learned from the captain that we were dealing with the tail end of a cyclone that had passed the week before, and a new cyclone was chasing up behind us. Thankfully, the new cyclone weakened and trailed off, so the weather the rest of the cruise was excellent. We spent our sea days doing group exercise classes, playing board games, and relaxing on our balcony. We finally got a balcony this time, as the sale included a free balcony upgrade. We really enjoyed the extra space to relax, especially a space that was quiet and not so busy, as the cruise was quite full. 

In Noumea we spent half the day stand-up paddle boarding at a beach where the water was like glass. It was incredibly beautiful, and reminded me how much I enjoy paddle boarding. After the excursion, we explored the town, and enjoyed a bit of shopping. 

Photos: (Top) Make Up Forever Store, (top middle) Park, (bottom middle) travel info centre, (bottom) beer is nice when it's hot!

In Mystery Island we did an advanced snorkel tour, as no diving was offered there. It was a small group tour meant for experienced snorkelers, which made it much more enjoyable for us. We saw amazing hard and soft corals, and so many fish!!!! I saw an enormous, I mean humongous, puffer fish. Normally, we see that sort of stuff scuba diving, so we were really pleased with the snorkeling. The only minor complaint is that it went too quickly! After the tour, we spent some time swimming and enjoying the island. 

Photos: Mystery Island

In Port Villa we finally got to scuba dive! We had one of our best dives there, and Drew said it was comparable to Papua New Guinea (still his favourite diving). We started with a wall dive, and then swam to some bommies before having to get back on the boat. Again, we saw impressive corals, huge soft corals, and amazing aquatic life. We saw three families of anemone fish (similar to Nemo, different variety) all hiding in different soft corals. One fish was very agitated by our presence and bonked Drew in his goggles to try and get Drew to go away. I was much nicer to that stressed out Papa fish, and gave him and his family a wide berth. 

I was very sad to have to end the dive, and Drew and I would like to go back if we can. 

Photo: Wearing our tropical clothes I made (minus Drew's pants) for tropical night

Our last stop was Lifou, where we snorkeled Jinek Bay. We were hoping to dive, but the dive master canceled, and it’s the only shop on the island. I had a back-up plan that turned out amazing. We got off on one of the first tenders, and walked over to Jinek Bay with our snorkel gear. We paid our entrance fee to snorkel, and jumped into the shallow waters and we were amazed. It was the best snorkeling I have ever done, as the variety of fish and corals were amazing! We saw a school of 20 trumpet fish—normally we see maybe two or three together, not 20! We saw three large families of anemone fish, one soft coral had over a dozen anemone fish! We also really enjoyed that we could snorkel at our own pace, so we went slowly, and made sure to enjoy and appreciate everything that we saw. We spent some time on the beach and then went back to the ship to enjoy the nice weather on the sports deck. 

Photos: Balcony shots, and the bottom shot was taken when we took the ferry home after the cruise.

On our sea days returning to Sydney we continued to relax, but we also made sure to squeeze in more rides on the flow rider. The flow rider is a standing wave, and we both had a lot of fun body boarding on it. 

Overall, it was an amazing cruise, with great water sports during out ports of call, and a nice relaxed pace that we were looking for. 

PS: You might be noticing the overall lack of photos, especially compared to the last blog. Our waterproof camera has been acting up, so we didn't bring it along. It was quite liberating to be untethered, but it also means there are a lot fewer photos as we spent most of this cruise in the water!