Here is a testimonial from one of my recent visitors:
Where the crabs and the turtles bite
By Strong Without Realising in Travel, Uncategorized on January 7, 2018
For our 24th December Port Vila Stop I had been recommended a tour guide by the name of McKenzie who runs his tours via the Unique Tours and Transfers Facebook . So I booked us all in for his tour at a cost of $85 per adult and $50 per child where he would take us snorkelling at Eton Beach, Swimming at the Blue Lagoon and of course, to the turtle sanctuary to feed and cuddle and swim with the turtles.
He also has an option of $50 per adult and $30 per child and he will drive you to whatever destinations you would like and you then pay your entry fees etc separately.
By nature I’m an explorer, take me to another country and I’m a different person. So this tour seemed to suit my preferences perfectly.
First we stopped off for some duty-free shopping, where the children were approached by a man with iguanas to take photos with them. Little did they know he would charge for those photos. It ended up costing us $20aus.
The drive to snorkeling was around 45 minutes. Such beautiful land to drive through, even with the roads being so rough and full of potholes and the previous cyclones running through. We made the comment you won’t see any sports cars here. Little did we know a Porsche Cayenne would drive past us later in the day. I loved that everywhere we went people gave McKenzie and us a wave. The people really were so friendly. Something I’ve come to expect from island people now that I’ve visited a few different places.
The current at Eton Beach was insane so I was not keen on my son snorkelling there but he snorkeled where he could. There was some small amounts of live coral and some small fish but other than that there wasn’t much to see.
We then drove further down the road to the Blue Lagoon, where we had some rope swing fun and I got bit by a crab. Watch out for those things they have no hesitation in clawing you! There were also fish that nibbled on your feet too.
We exited the water to the most beautiful fresh fruit platter arranged by McKenzie. I ate my weight in island fruit that’s for sure!
At the turtle sanctuary we were then treated to another feast, BBQ meats and vegetables and salads. I tell you they sure know how to feed you well!
After this second lunch we headed off to cuddle some baby turtles and hold some iguanas and see coconut crabs and bats and pigs and chickens.
Then came the fun part – feeding the big old turtles and swimming with them. Seriously my highlight of my trip. I had finally got to tick off that item on my bucket list!
The snorkelling at the sanctuary is apparently amazing as well, but I did not go for a snorkel as I asked if there were any sharks and they said no so I didn’t want to. Pretty sad I didn’t see one single shark in the water the whole trip. It’s probably a good thing to everyone else though.
They had a quick, funny, magic show for us. I don’t think I can explain that one! Ha!
We were bought back to the ship with plenty of time left to shop at the markets. I paid $8 for all of us to have our passports stamped. As I said in a previous post who doesn’t want more stamps on their passport?
Out of all the islands this was most of my groups favourite stop. My favourite I think was Noumea. I always seem to like the places everyone else least likes, what can I say?
If you ever have a chance to travel to any of these islands I’ve mentioned, please do.
Finishing a Journey is amazing but no one ever talks about the fact that you then have to turn around and go home. Back to normal life for me. Just for a while.
Xo S
