Hi All,
We’ve been having a good time in Port Vila adjusting to “island time” and getting our selves organized.
After 3 (working) days, we finally got completely checked in with our extended visas (they only give 30 days first) and cruising permit and internet and cell phone (from 2 different providers because 1 won’t work everywhere). Whew! And oh yeah, we fueled at US$5.25/gal versus duty free in NZ @ US$2.84. Ouch! But, everyone is very nice while enjoying island time and prices!:))
Other than that, we’ve mostly been looking at our itinerary and trying to get our heads around some sort of, dare I say, schedule? And Wednesday was our anniversary….#39 this year….Dear God, we are old!! We had dinner with Val and Stan on Buffalo Nickel and a representative from the World Health Organization that was working closely with the Sea Mercy boats. We went to a Stone Grill and it was very nice and a unique experience to cook your own dinner on a hot lava stone. And, the Vanuatu beef is quite good….rivals New Zealand is the best we have had in the South Pacific!!!
But, we thought we might need to add some fire to our relationship for our anniversary:))))…..well, that is what Kathy wrote a friend….yikes…..so we flew to Tanna to see the Mt Yasur volcano. Wow, that was a highlight…powerful, magical, mother nature speaking!!!! We stayed at a small resort and took a 2 hour 4WD trek over some of the bumpiest roads ever to the volcano. You get there a little before dusk and stay to well past dark…maybe 2+ hours. We were mesmerized the whole time. Yes, in today’s world, you can see more spectacular scenes of nature on the internet/TV but this was experiencing the real deal!! We were stunned at the noises…..rumblings, sounds like thunder, the spatter of molten lava coming down and hitting other rocks, spewing sounds the eruptions make, the crackle of the eruptions like fireworks….and of course, the amazingly display of the eruptions….it was on our bucket list for all the right reasons!!!
Tanna is about 140 nm south of Port Vila (we passed it the night before we came into Port Vila) and was one of the hardest hit by TC Pam. Some of the aid organizations say the emergency/life threatening crisis due to Pam is over and Vanuatu is into a very long recovery while others say Vanuatu is still in an emergency situation. From our very, very small interaction on Tanna (maybe 10+ locals and the resort people) we were very pleased to see the people in very good spirits and no one was hungry or homeless. People told us of their homes being destroyed, losing all their possessions like clothes, cooking gear, bedding etc and depending on aid organizations for rice, which they normally do not eat. Now, most homes have been rebuilt, although maybe not as good as before, and their gardens are producing, mainly root crops and some vegetables. There is still no fruit….we saw banana trees in good shape but no fruit and surprisingly, most of the coffee trees survived….albeit stripped of most of their leaves but they still had most of their beans. We saw lot’s of building damage, many fallen trees and tops of trees broken. But, after only 2 months since the cyclone, the trees are budding again and the forests have a greener color than the denuded brown color.
We did have a bit of drama on the plane landing in Tanna. The landing was smooth but on the runway it seemed it was bad brakes grabbing. The pilot stopped the plane and jumped out and came back and said that’s it folks, we have a flat tire….whoa!!! The next day our flight was delayed about 5 hours as they were still changing the tire and wheel….they had to get the parts and mechanic from Port Vila….island time:)))
We hope to leave this Sunday…..we are only going about 20nm up the coast on Efate (the island we are on now) to a little island called Lelepa….hope to do some snorkeling and maybe diving while we still sort out our itinerary and where to deliver some of the Butterfly Trust supplies.
Hope all is well!!
John
View of Port Vila, there is Mystic close to the island to the left of the beach!!
First glimpse of Tanna….small plane!!
That is the White Grass resort on the left where we stayed!
Blown tire…a fist for both of us!!
A family sang for us to greet us to Tanna…..most of their homes were destroyed but yet that are giving us flowers as a greeting!! We had a good discussion with them and they are all safe, have rebuilt their homes and are now eating vegetables from their gardens!!
Our first look at Mt Yasur
You can see the trees are just starting to leaf out
We saw a lot of this type of destruction!
The ash field!
The crater as we walked around the rim!
Let the fireworks begin!
There were 3 visible pools of lava
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