We nearly went to Sea! (Appologies to A Ransome)

This is the day that Hamish, Kate and their friends Nancy and Molly nearly ended up on their way out to sea. Hamish had made friends with a very nice guy who worked at the nearby resort. He generously invited Hamish and co. to go out for a ride on the resort jetski and their rubber donut. They took off at about two pm. I took some of these photos as they left. I was waiting for them back at the resort and started to get a bit worried when they didn't come back by three. I was watching to see if Lindsay had come back from town as he had the dingy with the 8 horse outboard and I could get him to go and look for them. At four o'clock a women came out and told me that they had broken down and that they were sending out a rescue boat. About half a hour later they arrived back seemingly none the worse for their "adventure". It did turn out that they had started to drift down past Port Vila and that the youngest had got frightened as they floated past the chanel markers and were heading towards the harbour entrance markers. Hamish had suggested to lie flat to stop the wind catching them and they had tried kicking to stop the drift. It all sounded like a modern day version of the Arthur Ransome story "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea."

Still trying to load photos

These photos are small as it seems to be the only way to publish them here.This is when we visited the Mele Cascade Gardens in Vila. It was a lovely day. We all swam at a beautiful, refreshing, limestone (I think)waterfall.

More photos - Village Visit

This is the day we visited a village on the lagoon side of Port Villa. These people lived right beside some very nice modern Villas. They were very friendly and let Hamish join in a game of soccer and Kate and friends got to see their 4 new puppies. Hopefully I can add some more pictures soon.

Photos at last

Hamish looking for the green flash at sunset. He missed it because the Island of Efate was in the way.

Sitting at Nambawan Cafe trying to update the blog! See Blue Heron in the background. The cafe is named after the section of the port that it is located. When the Americans were here during the second world war, the port was divided up into areas one, two etc. When they left the name stayed. Cool, eh?

Welcome to Vanuatu

We arrived in Port Vila after a 3 and a half day sail from Lautoka, Fiji. On the first evening just after a nice meal of smoked fish Blue Heron caught the biggest fish since we owned her - a lovely Mahihi or Dolphin Fish. So we ate fish for lunch and dinner for the rest of the trip! I ran out of ideas of different ways to cook fish.

Vanuatu is very different from Fiji and so are the people. They are very quiet and pleasant. They have an amazingly diverse culture. We are really looking forward to exploring the islands. So far we have spent our time catching up on business and school work. The children have made some good friends and have made the most of their time together.

Next week we hope to head north to Santos.

Photo's to come!