Vanuatu Adventures: Turtles, Cruising and Iririki Island

Today’s Vanuatu adventures post is a bit of a mish-mash of a couple of different things we got up to whilst we were staying in Port Vila – an afternoon spent on Iririki Island, a sunset cruise on the bay and a visit to a turtle conservation park. As with the last posts this will probably be rather photo heavy – but I just don’t think words alone will do it!

Iririki Island is an island just off the mainland that has a resort on it, but is also accessible for day visits via a ferry. We could see the island from our window so decided we should go over and spend an afternoon making use of the resorts facilities and wandering around the gorgeous location.

We started off with lunch and found ourselves a rather lovely spot to sit by one of the pools at the resort. It was a tough day, ok?!

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After an unfortunate incident of some hidden beef in the vegetarian nachos (I’m planning a whole post on our food adventures!) and a delicious juice we headed off for a wander around the island, and once the heat got too much we found ourselves a lovely spot by another pool – or more accurately a series of interconnected pools on varying levels, complete with waterfalls – to rejuvenate and cool down. It was here that we were able to tick one thing off my Vanuatu to-do list, and we enjoyed a cocktail whilst in the pool. As I said, tough day!

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That evening we went on a sunset cruise around Mele Bay, which was a really lovely way to start our evening. We were on a boat that could fit up to 60 people, but it was just us and one other couple, along with a local lady and her daughter who were showing them around Port Vila.

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The cruise included some light snacks and some drinks and we got a gorgeous view of Port Vila and the surrounding area as the sun came down. Definitely recommended! We were even able to get a great view back at the spot on Iririki we had been sitting for lunch earlier that day!

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The next morning we went on a trip to a turtle conservation park where they collect turtle eggs (most of which otherwise wouldn’t survive) hatch them and raise them before releasing them back in the wild. We were able to see tiny little baby turtles, and even hand feed a couple of the really old turtles – somewhere in the vicinity of 80 to 90 years old! It was amazing getting to be so close to such majestic creatures, and despite their age they definitely still had a lot of life in them – in fact one of the turtles kept squashing the other one when I tried to feed it!

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We went for a bit of a snorkel while we were there, and then had some delicious tropical fruits and got to tick another thing off my to-do list – drinking out of a coconut! Luckily we were doing a morning tour as by the time we headed back to Port Vila the place was starting to get busy as a cruise ship was in town. They stop off in Port Vila for less than a day and scores of people hit the town and go on various day tours – so if you want peace and serenity it’s best to try and avoid cruise days!

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Phew, that was a long one! Congrats to anyone still reading! What would have been some things on your tropical island to-do list?

If you missed my previous posts about our trip you can read about Port Vila here and Lelepa Island here!

2 Comments on Vanuatu Adventures: Turtles, Cruising and Iririki Island

  1. Courtney
    December 11, 2013 at 9:38 am (10 years ago)

    heeey!
    Great reading!! 🙂
    Is there any way we can find out what days Cruise Ships arrive in town so we know to avoid these days, when wanting to do day tours?

    Thank you.
    Courtney

    Reply
    • I Spy Plum Pie (admin)
      December 11, 2013 at 11:12 am (10 years ago)

      Thanks Courtney!
      I’m not entirely sure how you could check in advance, other than looking up the cruise ships website for travel schedules. When you’re in Vanuatu though the locals always know when to expect the cruise ships, so you can find out then and choose your day trips accordingly!

      Reply

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