Farewell to Fiji

Since we left Fiji over three weeks ago, we have been out of internet range.  I was able to post the weekly blog from our Ham Radio, but this does not allow any photos.  Now that we are in Port Vila (the major centre of Vanuatu, I'm able to post the photos that go along with the Ham Radio commentary for the first two weeks.  These are the photos from our first week and then our second week follows - the commentary for both weeks follows the photos.

Our final night at the Sunset Bar at Vuda Point Marina - saying goodbye to our friends

Doing the official check out at customs

Sadly....taking down the Fiji flag as we head out to sea

Hooray....landfall in Vanuatu

 Our anchorage for the next week

Raising the Vanuatu flag (and the quarantine flag which we kept up until the customs officer 

came aboard and cleared us in)

Our first evening at anchor in Vanuatu

The local village

A local family dressed for winter (it was about 23 degrees c/75 degrees f)

The elementary school

Unit on turtles

The kids loved the supplies and games we brought them. Flashcards were the big hit! Di in the background

Highschool - we gave them crosswords, suduko and other puzzles.
Most of the students had never seen these before

Other forms of housing in the village

  
Ancient site from the first missionaries

Buying stamps in the village (the only store except for a bank without an ATM)

There is a supply boat that comes once a month.  It arrived when we were there.  It took two days to unload it, as there is only the one boat that does the transfer of supplies.

Although Vanautu is generally a safe destination there was a murder during the week that we were there.  We didn't learn about it until after we left, as the locals were quite ashamed of it and kept it quiet.  A woman was killed by her boyfriend and he dumped her in this river.  He cut out her heart and apparently ate it, which is a sign of black magic.  The murderer is still hiding out in the woods.

 
The beach

Dug-out canoe

Adorable kids

 They caught a little fish and were delighting in playing with it

Missing the little grandkids

Our anchorage

The view from QuickStar

Our parking spot on the island

A short dinghy ride away is the beautiful island called Mystery Island.  It is completely surrounded by a white sand beach.  The island is deserted as the locals believe that it is haunted.  You can have the island all to yourself most days - except for when a cruise ship is at anchor and the island comes alive with markets and tourists.

Walking path

Trees blowing in the breeze

A cool shelter

Outhouses on the island

Playing tourist

Coffee break

Market open during cruise ship visits

 

Just two views  of this great 360 degree beach

 

 

Pretty big spiders

 

Island trees

We had a great first week in Vanautu.  Our next stop was Port Resolution on the island of Tanna.
 Photos and commentary below.

Until Friday....don't take yourself too seriously.

My memory isn’t so good anymore, so I changed my password to “incorrect”.  That way when I log in with the wrong password, the computer will tell me “You’re password is incorrect”.