Royals 6

As for the soloists, Sebastian Scala played steel drum.  Colby Dean was a country guitar/vocals with Akubra or similar.  Gemma Rose was a piano-woman bar soloist, treating feminist anthems and more to a whisky bar world.  On board musical director and pianist Jane Milliken played at least one solo set.  Argentinian House band guitarist Gabriel Colman played latin.  DJ Trademark turned up later at night for DJ sets, and occasionally for feature dance sets, not least ABBA.  A few offboard performers included Alipati and Mitiele who performed for the pleasure of tourists in a particularly upmarket Suva establishment.  There were some other performers on board.  I missed a few but did catch Elizabeth Hytton mezzo-soprano running for the local Voice competition who had appeared on the Australian national Voice TV show (which I have never seen but it hard to totally avoid, Daniel Thompson who led a House Band country quartet in an interesting tribute to Johnny Cash and comedian Jarred Fell.

Royals 2

I’m learning that cruises can be quite unpredictable. I remember one where there had been a coup in Fiji so the prices dropped throughout the Pacific and we went given the kids cost virtually nothing.  This time, our cruise cancelled New Caledonia due to separatist activity over recent months.  I can understand the wish to separate, but it can have costs. (Is that why Australia remain loyal, I wonder, or just laziness and Howard’s manipulation).  Anyway we now have favourable memories of Vanuatu including visits to Parliament, plantation tours and soccer championships and kava and Library visits and more.  Thus it was that we arrived at Mystery Island, Vanuatu, and it was a wonderful day in the sun.  Simple, fairly lazy.  Some swam, I walked the full periphery (it takes ~40mins), had a few swims, chatted variously, and sang with the local welcoming group, the Nepel Unique.  Funny to sing pop-US-country material but we did amongst the more traditional fare, and also some strained harmonies, but this was a classic islander welcoming choir and a great pleasure.

Nepel Unique Choir sang on Mystery Island in Vanuatu.