Arrival back into Sydney, Wednesday, 21st June 2023

As the ship sailed closer to Sydney, the seas and weather slowly changed. It became cooler, wetter and higher seas. Ugh! The indicators of our lovely cruise coming to an end. 

The shopping of Duty Free, jewelry and souvenirs ramped up, Using our On Board Credit. A couple more Bingo sessions (the last was a Jackpot of $5,000), a Game Show I hadn't seen before of Deal or No Deal, Towel-Folding display, A Production Show and music entertainment kept us distracted for the last two sea days. 

Just a couple of hours sailing from Noumea.

Then the morning approached where we were able to watch the ship sail into Sydney Harbour and tie-up alongside the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Boo Hoo! Our lovely holiday had come to an end. 

Harbour Bridge lit-up as we approached OPT. 

I would like to thank my ship-mates for their company, making my holiday extra special. We waited through uncertain times to finally board the ship. And special acknowledgement to Kay J. who initially booked the cruise for us but due to health issues could not join us.

An appreciation to Carnival Cruises and Virgin Airlines for converting our payments into Future Credits and allowing us to use them before ceasing the availability. 

Sunday, 18th June 2023

Noumea, our second visit in two days!

Mare Island, an island in the New Caledonian archipelago, had been originally scheduled on our itinerary,  however it has closed its port to cruise ships in response to fears of coronavirus spreading to the islands. On January 31, all visits to the island has been cancelled until further notice as a precautionary measure. Therefore we were fortunate to revisit Noumea enabling us to explore some of the markets which we weren't in a position to do so when we visited before. 

The city ran a free shuttle bus from the ship to Maritime Station for a pick-up/drop-off, along l'Orpheliat Bay, Lemon Bay and part of Anse Vata Bay to stop outside the Aquarium before returning along the same route. We boarded the shuttle and alighted at the Maritime Station to check out the market on the first level before walking a short distance to the morning market located alongside the marina. The morning market sold local produce of tropical fruits and vege. and also fish. We sat for a while in the shade of a couple of sails and enjoyed a coffee whilst listening to a local reggae band and soaking in the atmosphere. 

Marina where to morning market is located. 

Of course we couldn't resist stopping off at a French Bakery on our walk back to the Maritime Station to collect our scenic shuttle back to the ship. 

Our return to the Carnival Splendor. 

Saturday, 17th June 2023

Mystery Island

Water shuttle access to this small pristine island of Vanuatu while the ship is anchored takes about 30 mins. The shuttles run back and forth continuously throughout the day, making it easy to spend a couple of hours or a little longer exploring this well maintained and clean island. 

Once we landed we followed the other shuttle passengers along the short jetty to start the beginning of our time on this paradise island. We were greeted by serenading islanders before wandering off to explore. It wasn't too long that a plane landed and deposited it's cargo. It was quite fortunate for us to witness the plane land and take-off from here. 

Plane about to turn around and head up the grassed runway to take off.

Mystery Island airport.

Cargo dropped off by the plane.

We then wandered off to explore. My ship-mates decided to check-out the village markets selling sarongs, postcards and island trinkets while I decided to circumnavigate the island and try snorkeling off the beach. As I left the market area, I discovered massages were offered in thatched huts under the palm trees overlooking the sea and open braiding huts. They were doing a roaring trade of braiding the young children's hair. I noticed when back on board the ship most of the under 15 year old's' had had their hair braided. I had walked past a man in charge of two flouro green lizards, allowing people to hold them and have their photos taken. Apparently the lizards are called Fred and George. 

pristine walkways which were swept before we had arrived.

I couldn't resist, a walkway round-about!

Yes, there were several long drops scattered around the island.

The end of the runway where to plane started is take off.

Snorkeling beach with the Carnival Splendor in background.

This is where I snorkeled, there were coral, both living and damaged/bleached. I saw quite a variety of different shaped and coloured fish. I could honestly say over 50 different varieties of fish. The water was pleasantly tempered and clear. 

View from the jetty.

On the shuttle returning to the ship.

Once on board I headed back to the cabin to shower and wash my hair, then caught up with the girls to watch as the ship left Mystery Island. 

This is where the local village is.

Views of the main island where the islanders live. 

Mystery Island from the ship. It's a shame that the island was in cloud cover when I took the photo.  It's not very big. 

Noumea Friday 18th June 2023 

Amedee Island

Our first port after 2 and half days sailing through reasonably calm waters and the day's temperature's slowly increased to a idealic 26/28 degrees C. During this time we spent quite a few hours sitting on our double balcony (we asked our cabin steward to open the dividing wall between our balconies, which gave us a larger area to socialize). 

 We were most fortunate to book our shore tour to Amedee Island through our travel agent as the tour had booked out either the first hour or so on board or pre-boarding. It was an all day excursion, leaving the ship in Noumea to bus to the nearby marina where we boarded a high-speed ferry of 30/40 minutes to a little paradise and home to green turtles. 

Local government designated the island as a special marine reserve dedicated to managing, preserving and increasing the number and variety of marine plants and animals. Fishing, collecting and disturbing the sea creatures or their environment is prohibited. In 2009 Amedee Island was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage area. 

I had intended to snorkel and swim in the lagoon surrounding the island but had heard New Caledonia, especially beaches off Noumea had experienced a string of shark attacks in the lagoons surrounding the popular tourist area. In May 2023 action came in the form of closing the capital's pristine tropical beaches for the year and enforcing a city-wide ban on beach swimming. Hmm... no swimming this time. 

Upon landing on the jetty, we walked the short distance to the beautiful white-sand beaches, towered over by the light-house in the centre of this island. 

I had already decided that I just had to walk around this pristine island and discover it's natural treasures. It certainly wasn't hard to get lost, the light-house was a constant point of reference as it was always visible over my right shoulder as I circumnavigated clock-wise around. My walk took me a whole 20 minutes!

White sand beach

Plenty of dead coral and drift wood.

Sandy walkway around the island.

Images of lighthouse as I walked.

Natural Flora

Another view as I continued on my walk.

Beacon on the eastern section of the island.

As I walked a group of jet-skiers approached.

Jet-skiers arrived.

Back at the jetty and activity area I found the girls had claimed a few chairs and were soaking up the atmosphere. 

Arrived back, now at base of light house.

I saw several native snakes. Very slow moving.

We had a delicious lunch overlooking the lagoon and shortly after were entertained by an island dance show of Pacific Island traditional dance moves. 

Fire dance

When we boarded the ferry to the island we were given a coloured wrist band, which designated the tour we were on to view the coral and sea-creatures from the glass-bottom boat. Our tour happened to be the last for the day. Fortunately the seas remained calm and we were fortunate to spot lots of fish, coral and even a few turtles. 

Coral seen from boat.

Fish feeding.

Green turtle.

Kay and I on glass bottom boat.

View of island from boat.

Back on board Carnival Splendor we watched from the aft Serenity Bar as we sailed out of Noumea, the ship navigating past the islands and reefs to open water.

View whilst moored at Noumea

The marina across from where the ship is moored.

Setting sun and the ship's wake with islands in background.