Rain is tumbling down here in Port Vila, (Noni tells me Sydney is rather damp too) but a boatload of about 30 school kids just lifted our spirits, motoring past us in the pouring rain on a barge type vessel with open sides, waving arms and balloons to noone in particular and singing at the top of their gorgeous little lungs. Again, these island communities continue to dumbfound us with their happy and generous natures in the face of so little material wealth. My guess is that they were singing Sunday school type songs, on a Tuesday but whatever they were on, we want some!!
We had a super couple of days sailing around the western and northern sides of Efate, the main island of Vanuatu. On Saturday we arranged to meet Hannah who was accompanying Jack on a fishing trip to Hat Island. We were in the neighbourhood and decided a couple of hours of motoring (alas, no wind) was worth it to spend some time with our blossom.
Witnessing Jack’s spearing battle with the dog tooth tuna was one of those mixed emotion experiences. Within 15 mins of us meeting up with their fishing boat, and with Han now on board Resolute, Jack surfaced with a big thumbs up which Han translated to mean he had caught something. She was quite visibly excited and seemed to understand things we didnt. Apparently he had signalled that it was huge! He promptly disappeared underwater again and seemed to be thrashing around and about, up and down… not at all easy to watch, as we were truly torn between distress for the fish, whatever it was, and Jacks safety. Jack had his hands absolutely full, underwater again trying to give the death knell to this massive 33kg fish and simultaneously keep watch for opportunistic sharks. The battle only lasted a few minutes whereupon this magnificent beast (it really was a beauty) was dragged and hauled, with spirited defiance I must say, up and into the fishing boat. Despite our united grief watching the beauty die, we were blown away by the resulting sashimi and grilled tuna steaks that evening. OM Goodness, a mouth watering treat was prepared, an absolute highlight of the weekend.
Other highlights:
Lazy dinghying and swimming around the turquoise coloured lagoons between islands. Coral heads abound, and on occasion Paul had to tow us and the dinghy thru the shallows as the tide was too low to motor. It was so idyllic, so it was.
Snorkelling with Hannah near Hat Island. The fish and coral were beautiful, but it was the colour of the water that makes me go ‘Awwww..soooo pretty’.
Meeting Susie from the village Sifiri, who led us to the inland cave which, although interesting, was hardly momentuous. Fascinating that with a little plug from the Lonely Planet book and TripAdvisor web site, the destiny of this village was changed forever. With its $5 entrance fee and an average of 10 tourists a day in good weather, that’s great sustaining income for a little village. Way more fortunate than most. We learned that there were 20 families belonging to Sifiri. We could see a couple of cars and a quite impressive Presbyterian church. As it was Sunday, we met the minister who was between gigs at the altar and had quite a chat about life and his universe. He didn’t seem at all interested in us but then again he must be meeting plenty of foreigners with this little inland cave caper going on. Go them and long live the cave!
Time has simply evaporated. The Kennys have departed, Resolute is squeaky clean all ready for next guests the Williams, and as the weather is rather ordinary, we’ve changed our flights and are leaving first thing tomorrow, Thurs, for our 10 day holiday at home. Quite excited! See you soon folks! xx