Sometimes our fantasies of paradise suddenly pop out of the realm of dreams and appear right in front of us, just waiting for us to walk in, pull up a cocktail and kick back in the shade of the palm trees. This morning we could see it all coming true right before our eyes as we approached tiny Rao Island, off the northern tip of New Ireland. Rao is a perfect vision of a tiny tropical island – a few palm trees, one big casuarina where a pair of osprey were nesting and a golden sand beach, all enclosed by a beautiful coral reef and crystal blue water. On the side of the island opposite our anchorage lines of white breakers were curling in from the Pacific.
Our morning began with a delicious plunge into the sea from the anchored platform, swimming or snorkeling along the edge of the reef. Once again it was a world-class experience. An amazing variety of corals were crowded the shallows of the reef top and continued down to the sand about 40 feet below, a riot of wonderful shapes and rich colors glowing in the brilliant ripples of sunlight. All around, above, below and within, were bouquets of beautiful fish. “There’s an ornate butterfly fish, and a rabbit fish, and bunch of bright purple anthias!” …On and on as we swam from one spot to another. Best of all we found a small coral tower festooned with anemones and five different species of anemonefish living together in a little palace of diversity.
Later in the morning we all went ashore for strolls around the little island and a superb beach barbeque set up under tents and umbrellas by the hotel crew. Ribs, fish, sausages, burgers, salads, desserts, cocktails and juices added even more to the paradise of our private fantasy island.
Many of us enjoyed a short nap to begin the afternoon before returning to the snorkel platform for further explorations of the coral kingdom beneath the surface of the warm blue seas. Everywhere we swam, everywhere we looked, we discovered more to see – a group of small squid, bright blue sea stars, corals like castles and little blennies peeping from holes. Even after a full day in the water we were reluctant to return to the ship, until we got the call for sunset cocktails on the aft deck, a perfect end to a perfect day on a perfect little tropical island.
