10-12 April
Sunday
We’ve got another action packed day today: a sailing/snorkelling trip. We’re picked up just after 8am for a half hour drive round to Havannah Harbour. We’re going out on the Golden Wing, a trimaran.
We get the boat loaded up and chug our way out of the harbour. There’s not enough wind about to sail, so we’ve got to make do with the engines. It’s a bit bumpy – there’s been a lot of bad weather about which has stirred things up – but not too bad. We’re headed for Hat Island:
You can see where the name came from. It’s a World Heritage site and has got some pretty interesting history. If you’re interested have a read here: http://www.sailawayvanuatu.com/indexs.html
We anchor just offshore. The water is beautifully clear and blue. Some of the others are diving, but us snorkelers just jump in. There are a couple of big fish kicking about and almost straight away I spot a turtle. It’s beautiful. We spend an hour or so snorkelling along the long reef and then back again.
Back on board it’s time for lunch. The scraps get fed to the waiting fish.
We cross over the bay and this time it is windy enough to get the sails up. We’re more exposed here, so the sea is getting rougher. We anchor just off some remote beaches. The visibility is no good for snorkelling, but we swim to shore for a walk on the beach and a break from the rocking.
After swimming back to the boat (this is the most I’ve ever swum in my life) we move to our final spot more or less halfway between Hat Island and the ‘mainland’ (Efate Island). There’s a reef here, Paul’s Rock, more or less in the middle of nowhere with deep water all around. This is probably the deepest and the roughest water I’ve snorkelled in, but it’s fun and we get to see bigger fish. Once we’re all back on board it’s time to make our way back. It’s been a gorgeous day, but I’ve about had enough of the rocking.
Janet adds: and still rocking (in my head) now that we’re back on dry land. Yurk.
Monday:
We’re both absolutely knackered and finding it hard to get going. The weather isn’t inspiring either – there’s a downpour outside. We decide to just take it easy and potter about. There’s washing to do, photos to sort, a blog to write. We’re sat in the apartment watching a telly on Nick’s computer when suddenly there’s a massive flash of light and what sounds like an explosion outside. Lightning has struck just outside – it’s so close the soles of my feet are tingling.
It dries up enough for a walk to the supermarket, but it’s rained so much the road is flooded.
Along the way we see what is possibly the most evil looking fly ever.
And then it starts raining again. It eventually clears enough for us to have a walk into down. We do a bit of shopping at the market and then have a few happy hour beers on the waterfront. The rain starts coming down again, so we make a dash across the road to a steakhouse – Vanuatu beef is meant to be good and I’ve been promising Nick a big steak.. It’s still raining as we leave, so we catch a bus home.
Tuesday:
We’re flying to Fiji this afternoon to spend a week on a beach. We decided we needed a holiday from our holiday (it’ a hard life) and we’re going to be offline for a week. We’re packing our bags and checking out, then we’ll have a few hours to kill downtown.
Janet adds: Love love love Vanuatu. Can’t think of a bad thing to say about it. The people are lovely, the scenery is beautiful. Busy planning when/how I can come back J
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