Coral Beaches?

[Breathless4]

Which islands are coral beaches?
Last year we went to Ouvea which was a sand beach and Lamen Bay (where we were marooned till nightfall) which was a coral beach.
This year March 9th, we are off on an 11 night cruise on the Pacific Sun.
I need to know which beaches are coral.
We are going to:
Luganville
Wala,
Vila - I know they are mostly sand beaches
Mystery Island
Isle of Pines
Any suggestions on what to do on these islands would be great too.
Last year in Vila we went on the speed boat ride, this year we would like to see a volcano. Has anyone done a tour to a volcano in Vila?
Thanks for you answers. For being a first time cruiser last year you all helped me so much, so this years cruise Im a bit of a know-it-all to my friends who are coming too.
Thanks for your help in advance

Caroline :p

[aussiedisneyfan]

On Mystery Island we swam on the other side and there were a few rocks about not it wasn't really rocky and I don't remember any coral. Isle of Pines is sand which is so fine it is like talcum powder.

I don't know if there is volcano in Port Vila. There is one on Tanna Island that has a post office (like the underwater one at Hideaway) but I don't know what is involved in getting there.

In Luganville we caught a taxi ute to the Shark Bay blue hole. It was wonderful. Had a wooden deck and ladder to get into the water. So cool temp and just lovely having fresh water. There are other blue holes and I heard one of them is rocky to get into.

[kaseyoz]

wala is also mainly sandy with some underwater coral. To the left as you get off the ship they have a penned off area, there is also underwater music here too

[cheznandy]

Hi breathless4, we were also marooned with you on Lamen bay:eek:
We were also disapointed that Ouvea was not a "snorkel beach" although we loved it!!

Mystery Island is a great spot for a snorkel and there are some good places in Vila, Irririiki island has some good spots, Hideaway Island and Erakor Island are also good.

Chez

[Breathless4]

I know we will mainly be swimming on Mystery Island and Isle of Pines.
What are other tours in Vila that you can recommend?
Wala from what you say Kaseyoz we can swim close to the jetty? Nothing much else to do in Wala?
aussiedisneyfan, Luganville is a mystery to us, what else can we do there. What are the blue holes you talk about and are they safe we are taking our daughter (10) with us and a friend with a hip replacement. How much was the taxi to Shark Bay Blue Hole?
thx for your help
Caroline

aussiedisneyfan you went on four cruises last year!!?? we went on the Magic Melody cruise 20th march 2006, on to our second cruise.
We were so impressed with our first cruise I am hoping it is the same the second time around.:confused:

[karmac]

....
aussiedisneyfan you went on four cruises last year!!?? :confused:


Yeh, but she went 5 months between cruises at one stage. What's THAT about?:p

Karen

[Skyrules]

Yeh, but she went 5 months between cruises at one stage. What's THAT about?:p

Karen

Yes, I thought our 3 cruises in 16 months was pretty good, but ADF leaves us for dead!!!

We had 5 months between our cruises on Pacific Sky and Pacific Sun, and then 9 months between Sun & Star. We'd only been back from the Pacific Sun crusie for a bit over a month before we booked on Pacific Star. Pacific Sun cruise was a short notice booking, we paid the deposit and the balance about a week apart.

Regarding the beaches - couldn't tell you what the beaches at Mystery Island were like - the day we were there it was too miserable to get into the water. Wala's beaches were nice, but I can't remember whether they were coral or not.

Isle of Pines beaches are sandy.


Kym

[aussiedisneyfan]

What I want to know is why do I cop all the flak about too many cruises. You guys need to pay more attention to Keepcruisings signature. How many counters does she have running. Three!!! Not 2 like me. And how many cruises has she done in the past year? Five!!! Not 4 like me. :D

Had a long response typed out about Luganville but then the darn boards stuffed up yesterday and it didn't make it.

Breathless, First cruise we wandered about (not much to see in walking distance that we found), nice cafe a fair way down on the left. I also did the P&O Blue Hole tour (same on not available now). It took us to Shark Bay Blue Hole. That is where I got the idea about the taxi from. The P&O tour was $48pp and the taxi cost us $50 for four. Think we might have gotten a very good deal though.

There are other blue holes but I have read/been told they are not as nice. The water is incredible, the best way to describe it is kerosene blue. It is fresh water and much cooler than the ocean water, very refreshing.

Your daughter and friend should have no problems there. Shark Bay has a sort of Jetty and a ladder to climb down but you can also just slip off the jetty, it is not far above the water. Actually by the time we left it was sort of underwater. It cost us the taxi ride (about 1/2 each way) and $5 entry fee charged by the owner of the land. There was fresh fruit for us to eat and there is also a toilet and change room, when were very good compared to some of the islands, concrete floor and flushing loo.

My husband and daughter did the cultural activity park excursion through P&O and said that was really good too.

[kezza]

I know we will mainly be swimming on Mystery Island and Isle of Pines.
What are other tours in Vila that you can recommend?
Wala from what you say Kaseyoz we can swim close to the jetty? Nothing much else to do in Wala?
aussiedisneyfan, Luganville is a mystery to us, what else can we do there. What are the blue holes you talk about and are they safe we are taking our daughter (10) with us and a friend with a hip replacement. How much was the taxi to Shark Bay Blue Hole?
thx for your help
Caroline

aussiedisneyfan you went on four cruises last year!!?? we went on the Magic Melody cruise 20th march 2006, on to our second cruise.
We were so impressed with our first cruise I am hoping it is the same the second time around.:confused:

Hi Caroline,
Wala is a beautiful island, there are lots of market stalls and the islanders do a tour of the island for free. You just drop a $1 in some of the donation boxes around the tour (that's if you want too that is).

Luganville was not the best place I've been to. The tour we did was new so was not organized very well. Hopefully they've improved on it. We did the Oyster Is tour which had a choice of 3 things you could do. 1 was snorkell off the island, 2 was take a boat ride into the Blue Hole which was absolutely beautiful. The blue is just so undescribable. Never seen anything like it. This was a different hole to the one Jane and Sandra went to. There are about 3 different blue holes in Luganville. Theres a beach in Luganville which is supposed to be very good, can't remember the name of it, but I'm sure someone on this board will know it. I would probably do that if ever I went back to Luganville.

In Vile we've done tours to Hideway Is which was fabulous, the Cascade Falls which was also fab, a Kayak tour and the Jet boat ride last Oct which was awesome fun.

[keepcruising]

What are other tours in Vila that you can recommend?


Breathless4 I can highly recomend the Cascade Waterfall Abseil. I did that last time around, I loved it so much am planning to go again and take the kids with me, once they weigh enough (min 30kg)

[keepcruising]

Wala from what you say Kaseyoz we can swim close to the jetty? Nothing much else to do in Wala?


I forgot to add that in Wala there is not an official p&o tour, but the locals put on a free tour for you. This has come highly recommended by lots of people. I have not done it yet, but my parents just returned and they too said that it is a must next time i go

[aussiedisneyfan]

Breathless4. There is someone over in roll calls asking if anyone is going on your cruise.

[karmac]

What I want to know is why do I cop all the flak about too many cruises. You guys need to pay more attention to Keepcruisings signature. How many counters does she have running. Three!!! Not 2 like me. And how many cruises has she done in the past year? Five!!! Not 4 like me. :D



Probably because you post more often than Keepcruising so we notice it more:p

Karen

[aussiedisneyfan]

Ok, I'll accept that. At least I am famous.

[chaz cruiser]

I forgot to add that in Wala there is not an official p&o tour, but the locals put on a free tour for you. This has come highly recommended by lots of people. I have not done it yet, but my parents just returned and they too said that it is a must next time i go

The tour on Wala by the locals is not free... They request and expect a donation. However it isn't much and I think is well worth it.

Cheers,
Charmain:)