My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
On my last cruise on the Coral Princess we went to ports I hadn’t been to before – all around Papua New Guinea. I didn’t know the difference between any of the ports we were going to and I was exhausted. When Joseph was trying to figure out the IPM (who stays onboard and does the activities) schedule, he had me off for Conflict Islands because it had been cancelled before, but then I needed to cover some hours to make it fair. I said I’d stay on the ship for Conflict Islands – if things went the way they’d gone before, where I wheel and deal to get something off, it ends up being cancelled again anyway. So at that point I was only working the last port of the cruise. I told Georgie so she could start researching adventures for us. She did the research and couldn’t really find much so we planned on staying on board, napping and having spa days. That sounded amazing! I want to do all of the fun stuff, so when it sounds like I’m not missing out on anything fun, I can sleep. After two busy sea days, word was out that the first couple of places we were going to were going to be very hot and if the guests didn’t go on a tour, there wasn’t a lot to do walking around the port. The Cruise Director and the Entertainment Director beefed up the activities and decided to have an extra person stay onboard to run them. I looked at the schedule and I was the pullback person all but one day! This was going to get in the way of my plan of sleeping, sunbathing and packing! Joseph said he’d look at the schedule again. The first port day we went somewhere that started with an A but it didn’t matter to me because I had to stay onboard and do activities. Georgie and some of the others found a resort. She said it was fine. I’d done that in other places – I’d found a hotel and gone swimming in the pool and spent money on food that wasn’t memorable and drinks that were more expensive than the ones on the ship. I was glad I hadn’t missed out. We had another sea day, and, due to weather, the itinerary changed and we would have an overnight in Rabaul. Then the Captain made an announcement that it was so dangerous in Rabaul that he recommended being very careful going out- there were more specifics that I won’t go into, and crew had a 5:30pm curfew and we would do a full crew drill on the morning of the second day. The first day in Rabaul would be my day off and I would do activities on the second day after the drill. One of those nights Georgie found me. She said she had been invited to go climb a volcano and she could bring one friend and I was that friend! WHOOO HOOOO!!! Awesome! I said. She said the tour starts at 5am – she paused and waited for me to object, but I did not consider that to be a deterrent. If anything, it made the whole thing even more exciting. It’s on the second day in Rabaul and we’d be back before the full crew drill at 9:45. Perfect. I was stoked. Things were starting to look better in Papua New Guinea.
Before I knew about the volcano, Georgie asked if I wanted to go with a group of people to another resort on the first day in Rabaul. It would cost $30 to get there by cab but there was no entry fee. I had crawled into bed in my uniform and closed my eyes. The thought of doing anything made me want to cry so I opted out in order to sleep the morning away and then maybe go to the crew pool later (which turned out to be the only time I actually got in the crew pool the whole contract). They scheduled to come back early enough to go to the crew pool with me. When they got back, we met up and it turned out that I’d picked the wrong day to stay back – I’d missed out on a tropical experience! The sea had been beautiful and there were hammocks and delicious cheap food and cocktails. I had some regrets this time (even though I felt much better after a few extra hours of sleep), but I also had an adventure coming my way. What should I bring for the volcano? What should I wear? Georgie wasn’t entirely sure, so we decided to wear swimsweets under our clothes, and to pack a towel and water in our backpacks. This is my typical hot weather rig. You never know when you’re going to want to swim! I’d have sneakers on my feet and flip flops in my bag. I got a coffee from the mess at dinner that night and put it in my fridge to make it easier to wake up at 4am. I love jumping into an adventure where I don’t fully know all the details about what is going to happen or who I’m going to meet.
Rabaul Day 2: 4:42 AM
This is Tiago. He is one of my favorite people. He’s the guy in charge of Shore Excursions, and I’m not just trying to kiss up to him to get free tours. Tiago is a ray of sunshine – not just a ray, more like a giant ball of light, like what stars supposedly are. When one says ‘how are you?’ in greeting around the ship a common response is a sarcastic, ‘living the dream.’ It’s thrown around with an irony that says, ‘we live this really cool life often doing really fun stuff but sometimes there is so much BS and we are so tired that we can’t see through it to see the good stuff,’ and we bond over commiserating about the parts of our life that suck. But when Tiago says ‘living the dream,’ he means it. He’s still a real person, though – he works long hours and encounters as many crabby people and obstacles as we all do and sometimes he has days that are tougher than others. But every time I see Tiago I am reminded that while both the good things and the sucky things exist, I can choose my lens. I can let the bad stuff cloud my view of the good stuff, or I can enjoy all the wonderful circumstances I have around me without letting the bad stuff get in the way. And it’s not just me. Everyone with an opinion that I value loves Tiago too. We tell him. At first he didn’t believe us because we were so gushy that I think he thought we were making fun of him, but now he plays along. My friends and I once played a game. We were talking about someone who we all agreed was really annoying, and someone said, what if you were sitting at a table with that person and Tiago, would you stay or would you go? I’d said I’d definitely stay because Tiago was there and his positivity would outweigh whatever the other person had going on. We played this game with every annoying person we could think of and there was no one we disliked enough to give up a seat next to Tiago. We tried playing this game with other people in Tiago’s place, but it lost momentum. Anyway, I treasure all the moments I got to share in Tiago’s starlight, and it felt like perfection to see him at the beginning of this adventure.
So Tiago (from Portugal) was there, and Georgie (UK), of course. Megan (US), Ben (UK) and Mami (Japan), all of them dancers from the cast, were there along with Emily (with passports from UK and Canada), the Business and Brand Director who I knew and liked from the Enchanted, and Mao (Philippines), the Photo Manager. Oh right! Georgie had also mentioned in passing that we were going to be models in a photo shoot. There were no guests going on this tour? It was just going to be us? 🤩
We had gotten special permission to get off the ship. Normally when there is a full crew drill, crew shore leave isn’t granted until after the drill. I love when the light turns green under my ID when I cross the gangway to get off the ship.
It was still dark. There were a couple of guests who got off the ship around the same time, and we guessed that they also had a private tour of some kind. We were met by the local tour guides and we folded ourselves into the van like clowns in a circus car. We crossed the gate and bounced over potholes on the dirt road. I thought, it feels like we’re in Africa! but I didn’t say it out loud because I’ve never been to Africa – how would I know what it feels like? The sky started to lighten, and the tall grass brushed against the van. Someone said, ‘this is what I imagine Africa is like’ – I was just thinking that! There was a stick fence by the entrance to what might have been a national park. We joked about the high level technology that they had for security. The guard waved us through.
When we arrived the market hadn’t been set up yet.
Our before picture:
We had four or five local guides. The main guide looked us up and down, assessing our abilities. He said it was about half way there to the mountain along the beach and then the other half was up the mountain to the mouth of the volcano. It would take about 30 to 40 minutes based on how quickly we walked, but he said we looked pretty fit so it would probably be closer to 30. They would bring some extra water and they would carry our backpacks if they got too heavy. We smirked. They were all wearing flip flops. I figured if they could do this in flip flops, we’d be fine. We set out for adventure.
The ground was definitely a different texture.
The water steamed, even this far from the volcano.
I wasn’t sure if this boat was set out authentically or if it was put there for tourists to take a picture, but either way, I thought it was pretty.
We crossed this steaming stream – no one tried to touch the water.
As we walked, I asked Tiago how we came to be here. He said that the pandemic hit these islands pretty hard and there wasn’t a lot of infrastructure for tourism yet. We were invited to test out this tour to see if this was something we could offer the guests. This particular tour was only something we could do because we had an overnight – it’s too hot to climb in the heat of the day (although our guides did offer tours all day – I knew of other people who did it, although now I have no idea how they did). I felt so blessed to be a part of this group who got to have this experience. It was a dream come true! If I didn’t have the job I have on the ship I would totally like to go on tours and check them out to see if we could offer them on the ship, but I don’t know how to apply for that job.
The piles of volcanic rock on the beach reminded me of the piles of stone I saw in Ireland.
It was still relatively cool. The only thing we could hear was our footsteps. The darkness before the dawn adds such an unrealized feeling of anticipation. We were all having such a great time already. I turned around to see what the sunrise was doing to the sky in the other direction:
We climbed up and over a little hill.
The texture of the ground was fascinating.
This time we reached down to touch the warm water.
The ground up close:
The guide stopped us so we could catch our breath. I didn’t even realize that it needed catching, but I was already starting to sweat a little from the humidity. He pointed out the huge holes in the ground.
He said those big masses of dark rock (at the end of the pit) had gone flying through the air – hot, wet and sometimes as big as a car – and they would crash into the ground making pits the size of large trucks. Later when it cooled, the locals would take the volcanic rock and use it for trenches. The rock has lots of holes which makes it absorbent which was a great thing to put at the other end of a toilet.
He told us there were unique birds that would lay their eggs in nests on the volcano. The heat from the ground would incubate the eggs so the parents could go off and do their own thing. So that volcano was raising baby birds! They sold the eggs at the market. We could buy them and cook them in the hot water right there on the beach!
He said there was an observatory built on the island where they could watch the behavior of the volcanos and warn people when they were about to erupt. Ever since the observatory was built, no people have been killed by volcanoes. They were all able to get away in time.
Ok. Time to climb.
Those guests we saw get off the ship were ahead of us.
They told us to be careful- that the rocks were sharper than they looked, so if you’re going to fall, don’t put your hand down to soften the fall. I looked up and the climb seemed impossible, so I looked down and put one foot in front of the other.
Sometimes there was a clear path and sometimes my foot would slide down the rubble like I was climbing a stair-master and making very little progress. Going up was hard enough. How were we going to get down?! I asked if we were going to go down the same way we were going up. No- they said, we’ll take the gondola down! Every so often I would stop to look around and catch my breath.
I looked back and there was the ship! That’s where we live!
By the time I reached the top I was huffing and puffing. I was drenched. Every piece of clothing I was wearing was a bag of sweat.
The rocks at the top were so cool. The light was just starting to peek (peak?) over the top.
We made it! We climbed over some more rocks to get to the mouth of the volcano.
The rocks were steaming here too, but they’re also covered in white stuff.
The guides told us when to stop climbing in toward the mouth. Of course Ben had to go a couple steps beyond what they said was safe in order to get a good picture.
And then we were back at the top.
Unfortunately there were no real gondolas (nor was there a gift shop, snack bar, toilets or wifi at the top) so we headed down taking roughly the same path that we had come up. It was easier to breathe going down, but it was harder to balance. I could tell that I was using muscles that I didn’t know I had that would hurt for days afterward (I was right – luckily I didn’t have Zumba for 3 days because my right thigh cramped up so tight that I couldn’t even go down stairs!). Tiago and Mao climbed down like spiders. I slid down, holding the hands of the guides. I marveled at how they did this all day into the heat of the day in flip flops! I had flashbacks from all of the times that I attempted a hill that was too difficult for me when I was skiing and I found myself sliding down the hill completely out of control. Except, this time it was hot, not cold, I didn’t have big clunky boots or skis, but the ground was made of needles. I only fell down a couple of times and I loved every moment of it.
At the bottom they gave us coconuts full of coconut water!
We got some eggs at the market but we didn’t have time to cook them there because Tiago was already late for work. We tucked ourselves back into the van, this time exhausted, sweaty and blissed out.
We got back to the ship before my first alarm usually wakes me up to do Zumba, took a shower and a quick nap and then we all went to breakfast before the drill.
Later that day I looked out the window of the Entertainment Office.
See that volcano? With the white stuff on top? I climbed that volcano this morning.
The portals with the schedule of activities had the volcano too.
A couple of days later I went to breakfast, and there was Tiago – he’d given the eggs from the volcano to the chef to cook for us.
These eggs were huge! And they were mostly yolk.
They tasted like regular egg. But the story behind them made them taste better.
Tiago asked what my plans were for the rest of the week. I told him I was off in Kiriwina Island, but I was IPM in Conflict Islands. He was shocked. They were going to make me work on my last port day?! He said the only thing to do for the next two ports was to go to the beach, but Conflict Islands has a better beach. That’s okay, I said. I’ve spent two years in the Caribbean, I’ve done beaches. It’ll be fine.
In Kiriwina Island I helped with the water shuttles in the morning so the rest of the team could practice the sail away celebration with the new cast for the next cruise (since I wouldn’t be there). Then in the afternoon Georgie and I set out for the beach. I was hoping for a tropical adventure like the one they’d had in Rabaul. We ran into some more friends on the water shuttle. When we reached the dock, we were guided straight through the ‘market’ to get to the beach. It seemed like the whole island had turned up for the cruise ship. They were piled on top of each other, shaded by sticks holding up thin fabric selling wooden carvings and jewelry. I felt like we were in a parade and they were crowded on the sidewalks. We got to the beach and found some more of our friends. One of the local girls was sitting with them asking the dancers questions. We waded into the warm water and were soon surrounded by young boys in boats asking us if we wanted a ride somewhere. They tried to start a conversation with us from the boat that gave me the impression that they’d been given the day off of school so they could go practice their English with the tourists. The locals were chewing on something that made their teeth red. Eventually enough people got creeped out enough that everyone got out of the water. Some people went to find food. Some people went off to see if they could find some good snorkeling. I usually enjoy getting to know the locals in a place, but the vibe felt super creepy. I felt very white and privileged and watched. I sat on the beach until I decided that I’d rather take a nap before I had to go back to work.
The next day I looked out the window between activities to see turquoise water and white sand. I’d made a huge mistake again and I knew it. When everyone came back they were hesitant to tell me how spectacular the day had been. They swam through caves. There was the best snorkeling – the most colorful fish and coral out of the whole contract. They stood on a strip of beach surrounded by the most beautiful water on all sides. My only consolation: the food wasn’t very good.
In conclusion, what I learned from Papua New Guinea, is if you have the chance to get off the ship in Conflict Islands, take it – and bring your snorkel. And when you choose your friends for the right reasons – because they are people who you really like and being around them makes you feel like you are being a better version of yourself, you sometimes get to climb a volcano in the early hours of dawn.