Vanuatu with Ollie

We arrived in Port Resolution – another one of Captain Cook’s anchorages - in the southeast of Tanna Island after a lively 500NM crossing from Fiji.  Cook was attracted by the glow of Mt Yasur, a volcano that has been continuously erupting for 800 years!

Laurie’s brother, Ollie joined us on Moana Roa. Gale forced winds caused his plane to abort the landing three times and fly to Fiji and back to Australia!

Vanuatu is like stepping back in time – almost primitive.  Here we have the new and the old.  Laurie’s Tahitian outrigger fascinated the paddlers in their dugout canoes 

The bumpy ride to the volcano in the back of a ute

As we approached the landscape changed dramatically from jungle to a lava crust and black sand

As we approached the landscape changed dramatically from jungle to a lava crust and black sand.  Mt Yasur, one of three volcanoes in Vanuatu that are continuously erupting

The tour took us right up to the rim of the crater.  We peered directly into the fumaroles experiencing the power – watching the lava being thrown 100m into the air, feeling the blast of the eruptions, and smelling the sulfur

The power was amazing!  The eruptions were potentially dangerous and we made sure we watched the lava rocks very carefully – the rocks landed a way from us but another yachtie reported that one nearly hit him on another occasion!

Time to explore one of the local villages with their grass huts and thatched roofs, subsistence - a very simple and natural lifestyle

Vanuatu has been given the name “The friendly islands” and they lived up to their name – very gentle, unassuming, and respectful people.  We got to know many people and we were invited into their villages

Sow in her pen of sticks

Trading some of our clothes and food for bananas, and bows and arrows for Kara and Beau

Kara the warrior girl…

Kids waiting for their dad to take the canoe fishing

Children coming home from school – the principal was happy to accept some of our documentaries on the only school computer

Fellow cruisers arranged a Happy Hour at the “Yacht Club” at Dillon’s Bay, Erromango Island

John William’s was a missionary from London who was killed and eaten here. Vanuatu has been strongly influenced by Christianity and we noticed many denominations represented throughout the country.  There is also the John From and Prince Phillip cargo cults – very fascinating!

At Erromango, we were taken to see the gravesites of the ancestors in caves, which were difficult to access

These are the bones of the village chief and his two wives and family.  Our guide spoke to the spirits before we entered

Time for Kara to relax and read

Cold coconut water is very refreshing – a shot of rum makes it even better!

Moana Roa beyond the mangroves at Lutes Village, Maskelyne Islands

Drinking Kava with the village chief and Stewart, our guide

When passing through Port Vila we met a couple who were running eye-glasses clinics for the Lions Club in Australia and asked us if we could continue them in the northern islands

We ran two clinics and fitted about 60 pairs of glasses.  It was a great privilege for the kids to be involved in this service work

Travis is helping an old man, apparently aged 105, with a pair of glasses!  He took the most powerful glasses but unfortunately his cataracts didn’t help

The AFL footy was a winner among the kids

Sonia and Kara with a newborn baby

Catch of the day – reef fish caught with a “musket blong solwater” (Bislama for a musket that belongs in the salt water i.e. a speargun)

We paddled and sailed to an offshore island to see the giant clam sanctuary

A local French-speaking family taking some of our “cargo” – as we are starting to clean up the yacht for our entry to Australia

Fog in the morning at Port Sandwich, Malakula Island

We visited a boarding school where the 13-year-old village kids are sent, if the families can afford it

Peering through the louvres into the classroom and talking with our kids about their return to normal school - only 4 months to go…

Port Luganville, Espititu Santo Island was a major WWII base and at “Million Dollar Point” we snorkeled on the heavy machinery, trucks, and tanks that were dumped by the Americans after the war