Wow. Vanuatu is fantastic and considering it was the country I wanted to visit more than any other and therefore had the highest expectations of, I am definatly enthralled with this country and wish we could have spent more time there.
My first adventure was in Port Villa on the island of Efate. The city itself was not very exciting. Noting all the duty free shops on the main street (all selling the same thing of course) you could tell it was very geared towards the cruise ships that came into town. I did however manage to entertain myself. I had never before riden a jetski, so when I saw the sign advertizing rentals I took advantage of a way to escape the heat and monotony of town and feel the cool ocean breeze once again. Loren, the exective director of SALTS, was on the boat with us for the first two weeks of this leg and the two of us rented a 2 stroke jetski and went bombing around the harbour. It was hilarious. We both had different driving styles. I liked to go fast and run straight over wakes of other boats (but usually chickened out and slowed down at the last second). Loren liked the fast turns and I was whipped off the back, twice! But both times managed to hold onto my sunglasses and chaco flops. I never did get him back....
Next island was Ambrym. This was the most interesting place for me. Aside from all the things one can read about in the log (salts.ca) I had a very interesting chat with an aussie girl named Ally who was living there working on a council in charge of 12 villages and teaching the local women to take over. This is a very radical concept considering it is very traditionally patriarchal, but they wre voted in, and so far less corruption, although Ally didn't seem to think a lot of progress had been made otherwise. I was fascinated by the culture though and all the "kastom" (custom) that prevailed their lives, right down to who could sit higher than who (male versus female). Ally's experience was definately a rich one, but one could liver their for years and not understand what was going on. The villages are very steeped in black magic and to a degree it runs their lives. Ally was told not to hang her washing out over night in case someone came and put magic on her shirt. She said she had seen things there that she can't explain. It was kind of eery, but at the same time so fascinating. We talked for a while. I think it was nice for her too to have "westerners" to talk to as well. She had may stories to share and was thrilled to be able to hang out for a bit. She even participated in an impromptu mug-up on the beach after a pig roast.
The last place we visited in Vanuatu was Louganville, on Espirito Santu. I made an amazing dive here on the President Coolidge, one of the best and most acessible wrecks in the world to dive on. It was definately the most technical dive I have ever made. I was fully inside the wreck (it was 650feet long) and could only see in some rooms with the aid of a light. We went down to kiss "The Lady" who was a portrait/frieze on the wall in the dining room, saw toilets still intact, although on what appeared to be the roof because of the orientation of the ship, and went into the chain locker as well. Also I got cut, not immediately interesting, but what I found fascinating, was the fact that because you lose colour as you go deeper in the water my blood was bright algea green! Red is one of the first colours that you lost as you descend, so while if I shone my light on my arm the blood was red, to just look at it plainly it was green. strage. luckily too, the cut has healed nicely and not got infected, which seems to happen to easily in tropical climates, especially when dealing with coral.
The passage over to the Solomons will be remembered by all because of the 6 meals of fish we ate. We caught a 8 foot marlin, and while we tried to release it, damaged it too much, so were forced to take it onboard and eat it. Marlin, is okay, not the most amazing fish ever, a little tough, but the resident fisherman Chase and Scott were able to be quite creative with ways to cook this fish (which I'm sure the cooks Gillian and Katie welcomed with open arms) We had fish steaks, fish sausages, fish nuggets, fish burgers, and fish cakes. All very cook, but when we caught another similar sized marlin the day we finished the first one, everyone was keen to let it go.
