Day Five - 10 July 2015 - Lifou

Another lovely day dawned and we watched as the island of Lifou drew near.  It looked like a long peninsular with little to define it at first.  But when we anchored in the bay we could see the  headland cliff of Jokin rising up and the landmass tapering off.

So first thing to do is shower and have breakfast.  Well, we met the most interesting old gentleman at breakfast, he must be late 80's or even 90, and was quiet and subdued to start with.  David is always very chatty so we all introduced ourselves, and we realised 'Jim' was a bit deaf so wasn't quite up with the play.  However he started telling us that he had had an argument with his sister the previous day, she only came on the tour because he had booked, and she and her friend were castigating him for one thing and another.  

This 'Jim' taken later in the tender

He was very well spoken and went into great detail about the argument, I felt quite sorry for him really.  And then I commented on his accent being English, and he told us he was born in Germany.  We were there listening to his story for over an hour and I would love to have breakfast with him again tomorrow for the rest of the story.  He was brought up by his grandparents whom he has the highest regard for,  his father, being Jewish had a narrow escape from Germany when Hitler came to power and ended up in Scotland.  It was such a long and interesting story - and all the while I kept thinking of John Cleese "Don't mention the War"!  But although he seemed moved and chose his words carefully, he seemed more than willing to share his story with us.  Alas we heard our call to go to the tender for our tour of Lifou and had to stop, just as he was saying that he has no relatives from that era left, except his mother's sister.  I will write it all down separately so that I don't forget. 

The 'tenders' being lowered early this morning

Ok so a quick tidy up and down to deck 4 to disembark and climb onto the tender - which was the lifeboat.  So good that the crew get to practice sailing these - just in case.  

A quick trip and we set foot in Lifou. 

The island is really beautiful, long sandy beaches, thick vegetation, and just as nature intended.  So were the islanders, completely unpretentious, and very welcoming.

There were several markets under that thatched roofs selling the usual hand made curious and lava lavas, beautifully stitched,

little girls and big girls, tourists of course,  having their hair braided wherever there was a chair and a couple of island ladies,

a place where food was sold, but bearing in mind the subsistence level of the locals, and what their expectation of what tourists need to eat, the choice was questionable.  We were allowed to wander around before our Lifou Island tour guide ushered ur onto our shuttle bus. The description they give us for all transport on the island is "rustic", an apt expression, but more than adequate.  Our guide had had no training but his English was great. 

Our first stop was their botanical gardens and a walk through some indigenous flora and fauna

Our guide then explained how vanilla is cultivated, because there are no bees they have to be fertilised manually, and because the can be selective and not propagate every flower their pods become big and more valuable. 

We were offered a tasting of vanilla tea and vanilla coffee, which tasted very pleasant.

  And so back on the bus, on we went to visit the cliff of Jokin and look down into the crystal clear water.

At the top we were offered some refreshments, orange juice and plates of island grapefruit, beautifully sweet and juicy.  We were also given woven flax garlands to wear on our heads. 

The thing about Jokin is that there are 200 steps down to the water if you want to paddle, but you have to come up the same way, so I chose to watch the others!

The guide was very informative about their traditions and hierarchy.  They have a round house which is the Chief's meeting house and most villages are ruled by the chief. 

In order to access his house you only have a small door which means you need to bow on entering.  We were invited in by a lovely island lady who explained the rituals to us.  There was a fire burning inside which made it very smokey as there were no windows for the smoke to get out.

This is David getting out - not easy for big fellas!

And so we returned to the landing area again.

I am not so much puzzled but accept that the island people are healthy and happy and would never consider themselves to be poor, and yet they seem to exist on next to nothing.  

There is no agriculture on Lifou, no produce is grown no animals for food, except the odd hen,

 

and maybe a pig or two, so they grow vanilla plants and coconuts.  We have all the luxuries in the world compared to them, and yet we worry and fret about stuff, mostly materialistic and unimportant to the value of life. 

We were back on board again for a late lunch and had a relaxing afternoon doing our own thing. We watched the final set of the Women's singles at Wimbledon on the big screen on deck 14. The weather became cloudy and overcast and cold - 18 deg!!  

An ice carving demonstration 

The ship moved away from its anchorage so smoothly we hardly knew, and no dramas this time.  We had a lady join us on our trip this morning who said she had been with the passenger who had to be taken off yesterday.  Apparently she saw floating dots on her right eye, left it for a while then became worried about it and went to the ships doctor, apparently she was in danger of getting a detached retina, so they had to act quickly.

We had dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant - it beats queuing up and then having so much to choose from (such a burden!) at the Plantation, we joined three other couples at the table and it was good sharing experiences, but it will be hard to beat Jim's story!  

We decided to go to the 9.15 show tonight, so went to the Conexxions Bar and try out some cocktails, they had a group playing called 'The Alter Ego' and they were so good, could play everything the audience asked for.  

Our Singapore Sling and Long Island Iced Tea (I couldn't taste any tea!) cocktails came and we supped and enjoyed being in a night club atmosphere. 

The show was good again, this time a musical with the same 8 actors as last time, lots of good music and a new story line.  It's going to be hard watching the telly all night again!

The ship was really rocking and rolling, we were heading into quite a strong wind and the swell must have been quite high.