Mystery Island

October 29, 2012

Mystery Island is a little sand spit in the lagoon that we anchored in at Anatom. The island is haunted—or so the locals believe—and this makes it uninhabitable for any ni-Vanuatu. The interesting thing is that they don’t mind going over there for the day to sell cheap “made in China” trinkets to cruise ship tourists. They get a lot of opportunities to do this too as a cruise ship pulls in every 3-5 days (in season) to barf out a few thousand pink gaudily dressed tchotchke-hungry consumers. As a result the island has been “developed” into a kind of Survivoresqe theme park, part tasteful thatch shelter, part gauche photo-op, but all very interesting if you happen to go over there when the show isn’t on.

We happened to hit the island the day before a cruise ship was due and the locals were busy setting up for the big day. We got a chance to hang out on the pristine (just raked) beaches, enjoy the “Cannibal Soup” photo-op and basically have a pretty ideal I-can-almost-believe-this-isn’t-a-put-on deserted island experience. I would rail on it a bit more but the pictures tell the truth, we had a great time, it was beautiful, and we didn’t get shaken down for a single vatu (.1 penny).

3 comments

  1. Comment by sarah

    sarah October 30, 2012 at 11:18 pm

    you all never cease to amaze me. i’m so inspired by your family adventure and commitment to a dream.

    thanks for sharing and bringing us along for (part of) the ride! x

  2. Comment by Chris

    Chris November 4, 2012 at 11:16 pm

    Mystery Island sounds like a survivor show theme. The pics are amazing and it’s good to see all your smiling faces with or without the amazing backdrop. Two questions, that cannibal soup looks like it could use some seasoning and maybe a carrot and potato, do you need me to send you some? And what’s up with Miles, that’s unsanitary getting into that pot naked, and also what’s up with Ruby? She wears a bathing suit top now? Holy moly. How things change. Haha. Good chatting with you guys on fb tonight. Sleep well! Bring me back a china trinket!

    • Comment by Tucker Bradford

      Tucker Bradford November 5, 2012 at 12:01 am

      Yeah Ruby is strange about when she thinks it is absolutely necessary to wear a top. No seasoning needed now, we are about 10 days away from having Oz take everything away.

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