Mystery Island

Date: 21st December 2022

Breakfast

The usual routine – cereal and coffee in The Pantry followed by half an hour walking exercise.

Today was much brighter than yesterday, no sign of rain but quite humid. The humidity shouldn’t have been a surprise, it is summer after all and we are in the tropics.

As I walked the islands came into view and the ship started to slow and by the time I had showered we were stationary and presumably anchored. Soon there was a tender floating off my side of the ship.

Ashore

After 8am I wandered down to collect a tender ticket which was being given out on deck 7 by the resident Elf. Actually I was lucky, when she asked me how many and I told her that it was just for me, she gave me a single ticket she had lying on the table for Boat 6, the tickets she had been handing out to the people before and after me were for boat 8, it must have just been an odd ticket left over.

Sat around waiting for my ticket to be called, was chatting to a lady at the table I happened to sit at, she had been on 27 cruises and went several times every year, she was telling me she had a cruise coming up that cost her $250 for 11 days, I gathered from her that regular cruisers get offered freebies or bonus cruises, she had booked this Christmas cruise two years previously.

Didn’t have to wait too long for my tender to be called and soon I was clambering ashore on the jetty at Mystery Island. It was a pretty small island offering the usual fare to passengers, hair braiding, massage, food, tours etc. I think most of the passengers just wanted to get into the sea or sun bathe on the sand. That evening at dinner I noticed a lot of the children had elaborately braided hair.

(Don’t forget if you click on a picture you can view a larger version)

I wandered about for a while, surprised to find it even had an airport and a grass airstrip but after an hour or so I think I had seen all I wanted to see so I made my way back to the jetty to catch a boat back to the ship. I suspect I was the first to return as they seemed quite surprised to see me!

Afternoon

By the time I returned to the ship the humidity had taken its toll, my T Shirt was saturated with sweat so I bit the bullet and washed a couple of T shirts to hang on my make shift line on the balcony. There is a line in the bathroom but it is about half a metre long and I reckon clothes would take a week to dry in there.

Had absolutely nothing planned for the rest of the day except I might catch the Spicy Margaritas in the Blue Room later this evening, for the rest of the time it looks like reading and drinking.

Evening

Dinner tonight  was in the Waterfront Restaurant and was quite enjoyable, I had grilled barramundi which was OK. Chatted to the couple at the table next to mine, they too were complaining that before Covid all the entertainment on a cruise was free but now some of it had an extra charge and the free entertainment  in the theatre was pretty ordinary.

During dinner the ship’s captain reported that the liner had been diverted to a rescue a small boat that had sent off a distress signal, turns out that it had run out of fuel. Unfortunately it needed petrol and the ship only carried fuel oil so the bloke had to abandon his craft and be taken onboard. There was an aircraft flying low circling the ship while this was all going on.