Beachcomber Lodge Vanuatu

... think of every song I could remember to pass the time. The wind died down a bit toward the end of my watch, and I only ever had to make small changes to the helm throughout.
Things are going well on my new boat. It was fun to finally be doing so sailing, we didn't really do that much of it on Fifth Season. Sam has been really nice, and I think is excited to have a couple people on board to talk to after so much time as a single ...

... I'm excited about the change though. Sam is a
very experienced sailor, so I should be able to learn a lot. Plus, he is really
enthusiastic about being able to help out with OceansWatch. We have also
received word from the captain of the other sailboat that wants to help out,
Frank. He is en route to Santo from Fiji, and we are all anxiously awaiting his
arrival because he has a compressor on board!! It would be a shame to come ...

... old home Rasa Manis while we were there. It was nice catching up
with Tom and Ellen.
Anyways, we had a relaxing day and a half of sailing getting up to Gaua, with
plenty of time to read and take naps in the tramp on the front of the catamaran
(which I have decided is my favorite spot on the boat). Our first stop in Gaua
was Lakona Bay, were they have a local Reef Check team that we got to do a
couple ...

... turtle and
garden eels. The people here are so receptive to the work we are doing, it's so
exciting to see. Many people have seen the reefs degrade within their life time
so they want to be able to do what they can to help. And it seems like we will
never go hungry either. Every time we go into a village to give a talk or do a
training we walk away with arms full of fruit: papaya, pomplumos, lemons,
coconut, banana.it's great! Today will be our last day at ...

... it seems), so neither of us are that ready to spend hours in the water conducting surveys. So we have decided to stay here one more night, then tomorrow move up the coast to the next anchorage were they supposedly have some blue holes, which are fresh water holes where you can swim, but more importantly, do laundry. Apparently , there ...

Our favorite go to bar and restaurant is the Waterfront Cafe. Kim and I on this particular evening decided to pop in for just a drink. We met some great locals, Rosemary and Shawn, and Mario an Italian from Australia. It was a fun night of talking Italian food, dancing and Kim punching someone in the face.  To set up the scene Kim and I were hanging out with Mario, Shawn and Rosemary. At the restaurant there was ...

... Except of course for the fact that the plane we got on was actually supposed to land in FIJI!!!!!!!! Everything was going as usual on a budget airline. We refused to buy anything out of principle and were happy to read/chat/eat munchies as it was a relatively short flight. We did see beautiful islands with sandy beaches however the closer we got to the airport the weather got worse and worse. We circled a couple of times and then ...

Hi everyone, It's been a while since my last update but I've been busy trying to sort myself out for my 6 weeks here. I've some interesting stories to tell... Life here has to be the slowest pace you ever encounter. Everything is "tomorrow...." Etc. No one worries about anything and if you try to get anything done you will fall flat on your face. At long last I have managed to rent a place to live. The claims of accommodation provided by the school ...

... area of jungle where the ground was alive with hermit crabs. The bathrooms were alive with geckos... big ones. We snorkelled for a while, which was pretty cool - saw a good amount of fish - but the water was much colder than I expected... it was refreshing, but nothing like Thailand or Mexico or Costa Rica or the Caribbean at all. We changed then went down to the restaurant on the beach and the evening turned fabulous again. The guy who runs the hotel was a chef ...

... of the dry season this wouldn't bode well. After playing the role of estate agent, our driver dropped us off at the Cascade waterfall. It proved an arduous hike up to the top of the waterfall but the sight that welcomed us made the sweat and toil worthwhile. Starved of waterfalls in the UK I'll never grow tired of seeing them while we-re away. Other stops included a 'traditional' village where if you photographed a ...