Long cruises take me to distant and difficult to get to places that I have always been curious about. This trip has taken me to Pago Pago and will take me to Guadalcanal and Rabaul, plus on a trans continental train trip across Australia. Such cruises also take me to places that I knew about but when I got there, I saw them in a completely different light. That triggers more reading and reflection.
But then there are places that a long cruise can take you to that you never heard of and didn’t trigger your interest when you saw them on the itinerary. Out of the way places, not really on the tourist map, that the cruise line adds to an itinerary, I suspect, because they need to add new stops that frequent cruisers have not yet visited. Easo (pronounced Yasso) on Lifou in the Loyalty Islands (Part of the French Territory of New Caldonia) is such a place. I never heard of it, and a cruise director who had done this cruise for Holland in the past didn’t have a crib sheet posted for it. Some folks decided to stay on board and declare it a “ship day. We went ashore and loved it.
It wasn’t the history we loved, it wasn’t the sights, it was just there and was beautiful, laid back and friendly. We didn’t do much, just walked around and looked around, but that was enough for a satisfying day. Before getting on the ship we sat in the shade within earshot of a bar and listened to a great mix of music including reggae, west afro pop and flowing South African guitar. Sometimes just being there is enough.
Maybe showing my age, but was New Caledonia the home base for McHales Navy
WOW what great pics…reminds me of some of the French Polynesian islands we visited, such beauty!
Robert, it was a fictional island somewhere around Papua New Guinea.