Port Vila, Efete Island

Hello All,

And now I am behind again and find myself trying to remember what has happened, the pictures help but I don't feel like I have taken that many pictures. Anyway, here's a brief reccolection of our time in Port Vila.

After being on Tanna Island we were not expectiong much in the way of amenities anywhere in Vanuatu but were pleasently surprised by all Port Vila on Efete Island had to offer, especially Au Bon Marche, the French equivalent to Wal Mart I think. Pretty much anything you could want at reasonable prices. The anchorage was well protected but too deep to anchor in most places, Yachting World provided moorings for around $12 a day but we found a shallow enough spot so we could anchor for free provided we were willing to put up with the constant banana boat traffic, no problem.

We rented a small car for a day and drove around the island hoping to take in most of the attractions on our own, unfortunately they are not marked very well and we ended up driving past some of them. We did manage to find some nice spots and the blue lagoon was a cool spot to spend some of our day. The entire island takes about 2.5 hours to drive around and for the most part the road is excellent but we did need to keep an eye out when it ventured close to the ocean or a stream as washouts were common and half the road could be gone with only a couple chunks of coral chucked on the road to mark it.

After being there for a couple weeks our friends Kat and Seiorse on Acrux finally caught up with us, they had checked in at Ambrym Island and spent some time there waiting for suitable weather to head north. We had a good time checking out a local music festival together and just hanging out. We have since been sailing with them and our next destination was a two hour sail to Mele Beach and Hideaway island. Guess thats the next post, stay tuned.