Lifou, Loyalty Island - Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise

Land is near…..first sighting of a bird after two days at sea. :-)

The second day was rough and there was more room in the eating areas. ;-)  Hubby and I were not affected at all by the motion of the waves.  If anything the rocking helped us relax even more.

This is where I spent my birthday - such a beautiful day. 

Lifou, Loyalty Island.  You can find info here….thanks Wikipedia

The cliffs are limestone and they are pine trees not just tree trunks.

We caught a tender over to Lifou and walked through the small market place.  We didn't buy much on this cruise because what we saw for sale is what we see at the markets and tourist shops at home.  This worked in our favour as we had more time to snorkel.  There is a beach and snorkelling area (free) where the tender drops you off but it was very windy the day we were there.  Hubby had researched and discovered that a short walk away was Jinek Bay which was sheltered from the wind.  We paid $15.00 to the locals for the wonderful privilege of snorkelling in this beautiful bay.  The fish were amazing and beautiful coloured coral …especially the purple.  It was a novelty to just walk off the steps and start snorkelling.  At home we have to catch a boat for at least an hour.

Jinek Bay

After snorkelling we hiked up to the church (Our Lady of Lourdes) which you will see in a later photo.

This is the view back down to the ship.

And now looking back over Jinek bay where we snorkelled.

After snorkelling, hiking and checking out the small markets we headed back to the ship.  As we waited for the tender to take us back we watched fellow passengers swim in the waters where we were first dropped off.

The tender arrives with another boat load of people to look at the place.

This is another church on the island that we didn't venture to.

This the church we hiked up to.  Our Lady of Lourdes.

On the tender leaving Lifou.

We headed back, had a shower then a late lunch and as we were almost finished our meal the rain set in.  Nicely, timed as most people would have been back on the boat and would have enjoyed a day of sunshine.  

More photos to come.  Thanks for visiting again.