Mystery Island and The Great Sunburn of 2016

written 2/3/2016

You guys, cruises are awesome. I gave up on trying to blaze our own trail, and I’ve resigned myself to happily being herded to the beaches they’ve chosen, then back onto the ship.

A bit about ship life:

Ken and I are famous for two things on the ship: 1) Eating a lot, 2) Being newlyweds. At the meals we go two, it’s not unusual for us to each order two peoples’ helpings, or get asked, “Are there more coming from your party?” “Umm. . . nope, just us.” We wore our “Just Married” shirts the first day on the boat, so whenever anyone sees us being gross and kissy, or they hear we’re on our honeymoon, they ask if we’re the newlyweds that were wearing the shirts the first day.

We’ve also become art conosuiers. Actually, that’s a gross overstatement. Art enthusiasts. We’ve gone to two art auctions and an art lecture. The auctions are funny, because Ken and I seem to be the only people there that are excited. Even when someone buys a paining for thousands of dollars, they don’t even crack a smile. If you weren’t excited about that painting, you probably shouldn’t have bought it. Just sayin’. Speaking of buying paintings, Ken and I got one! You can come over and see it anytime. Except now, because they’re shipping it and it won’t be there yet. Also, Ken and I are on a cruise and will not be home. But we’re really excited about our little painting! It was way less than we expected, and I was secretly a little offended by how low it was compared to the others. I wanted to tell everyone, “don’t you see how great this is??!! It’s WAY better than that one! What do you mean that one is ten times more??” But I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want anyone else to bid on it. And then we won.

On port days, we seize the day early and are in the first group of people off the ship. Today, we went to Mystery Island, which is a tiny little island with a population of zero. You can walk around the whole island in about 30-40 minutes. Picture the most picturesque island you can imagine: clear blue waters, tropical plants, white sandy. Yep, you’re picturing Mystery Island. The locals that work there (glass bottom boat tours, snorkel gear rentals, etc.) all come over from the main island across the way, which is much bigger and also super beautiful.

View of Mystery Island from the ship

So, we unloaded onto Mystery Island and Ken and I rented some snorkel gear ($10 each for all day!!). Then we covered ourselves in sunscreen and started snorkeling, and it was awesome. This was day three for us of snorkeling, but still totally enjoyable. Reefs everywhere, fish everywhere. Super cool.

We were trying to stay aware of where all the snorkel and glass bottom boat tours were going, thinking maybe that’s where all the cool stuff was. We noticed that they were all out near where the waves were breaking. I estimated that was probably about a five minute swim, and suggested we go out there. Ken was game, so we had our quest.

Okay, so instead of waiting ‘till the end to let you learn the lessons of the day, I’m going to let you learn them right now:

1. I’m bad at estimating distances
2. Currents/tides make things harder
3. Sunscreen containers mean what they say about lasting 80 minutes

It turns out, it wasn’t a 5 minute swim. Ken even wisely recommended that we headed back mid way, for the sake of sunburn, but I said, “No! We need to win!”

If you’ve been a reader for a while, you’ll know that I don’t like hiking, and I always forget that I don’t like hiking. (See: Ghana, Peru, Costa Rica, China, etc.). This ended up being a similar. Once the quest began, I needed to finish it. Regardless of if parts along the way weren’t totally fun, or if I wasn’t prepared, or if I almost cried (don’t tell Ken).

So, remember how I thought it was about 5 minutes? It was slightly under two hours until we hit the point we had our eye on (which ended up being a sunken ship – totally cool!). Granted, we were looking at cool things along the way, so it’s not like we were bookin’ it straight out there, thank goodness! I don’t think I would have had the strength, especially with the current working against us. Here’s some of the stuff we saw on the way out: sea slugs, fish, fish, fish, fish, giant sea urchins, fish, etc.

On the way back, after exploring the ship, we saw even more cool stuff. I saw a huge sea turtle! And we saw a fat, grumpy fish that looked like a huge tadpool. And we also saw a giant clam. And, of course, lots and lots of fish.

Ken estimates he his head was about 10-12 inches across. Maybe 2 feet long. Pretty cool! I thought the swim in would be a lot easier because now the current would be with us, but it turns out I saw still kinda wrong. The current was at a diagnol, so even though it did help some, it still required significant effort for me to make it to shore. Which is not to say it was a great feat for a normal human, but this is coming from a girl whose favorite and best swimming strokes are dog paddle and float. Meanwhile, my fishy husband (how fun is THAT to say) helps me when I get tired, and that’s great. I was near crying at the end because I was so worn out, but then he held my hand and we swam the rest of the way.

When we reached land, I felt like the girl at the end of Gravity, except that we crawled up onto slippery rocks, which is kinda  a hard way to end it. But that’s okay.

Ken thinks that it was probably between 2/3 of a mile and a 1 mile out to the ship wreck, but I’m fairly convinced that it was about half way back to Australia.

Back on the beach, we sat until we dried off (not long. It was SUPER hot) and then I reapplied sunscreen, and Ken jumped back in the water.

We were feeling pretty burned out, so we gathered up our stuff, and moseyed our way to the other side of the island where the tender (little boat that brings us to our cruise ship) was. Along the way, we got coconuts to drink/eat, which were delicious.

Then back to our ship and into our room to shower. This is when we were able to confirm what we had only suspected and feared: that the sunscreen bottle was serious when it said 80 minutes in the water, and our three hour escapade had long exceeded the limit. Ken and I are both burnt to a crisp on our whole backsides. Ken also wants to add that coral scratches on sun burn don’t feel good – poor guy. We’re now all Aloe-d up, and are laying very still on our beds.

Overall, I would call today a success!!!! We found the shipwreck (which, honestly, we couldn’t even see ‘till we were half way out there), we spent time on a beautiful island, I  saw a turtle butt, we saw a giant fish and a giant clam, and we enjoyed some fun time together. Sunburn was totally worth it! 

Ken’s thoughts: That island was so beautiful. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe we were there. How can people be so willing to spend money on stuff, but not on experiencing things like that? It really was something special. Sunburn was totally worth it. That sunken ship was really damn cool. I’ve only ever seen that in movies. I’ve never discovered a sunken ship before, overgrown with sea life and coral. I should have checked in side for treasure!

Update with hindsight (2/10/2016)Ken was totally right - we should have turned back when we had the chance. The sunburns were brutal, and we're both peeling quite a bit. He says it was worth it, but I think he's just being nice to me. But nothing we can do about it now. We're now half tanned, saw a sunken ship, and have a great(?) story to tell.  :-)