Hotel Santo

... conservation strategies in place here. The reef here is
beautiful and extensive and I am so excited to do some snorkeling, and it is set
aside as a no fishing area for most of the year. So far I have not been able to do
any diving; Fifth Season does not have a compressor onboard. But the snorkeling
is good, because it allows us to involve the locals in the surveys.
Anyways, that's about it from here. We ...

... rays of the overhead sun
were piercing through the thick canopy above, illuminating the canyon with a mesmerising warm glow. We passed pretty waterfalls showering down from either side of the canyon, marveled at the amazing beauty of the canyon walls and the greenery all around, and watched in amusement as our aussie companions climbed rock ledges and proceeded to do their best tarzan impersonations. These were moments when you wished the canyon would go on ...

... leaves with everyone in the village. It was a really cool experience. Then we spent a couple of days traveling to an anchorage off shore of the village of Nebul on northern Ambrym, where we stayed for a three day festival that involved an amazing mix of singing, dancing/stomping, and pig killings. I took lots of pictures, and I will do my best to post them. The island of Ambrym is absolutely beautiful though. The foliage of the ...

... volcano's edge, I could see down into the crater and the boiling pools of magma that lay at the bottom, casting a deep red glow on the clouds of smoke and ash above. Every few minutes, with a noise like a thunderclap, a fountain of fire would shoot hundreds of feet into the sky, molten lava erupting upwards and outwards and crashing downwards - a burning two-finger salute to any man-made roman candle.

The next day was taken up with a trek ...

... In this format it did only 4 missions until approaching to significant US military base in Santo. Ironically as the captain was a civilian, he could not receive "important" information regarding the minefields surrounding the base. Consequently the ship struck two friendly mines and sank into the harbour in less than an hours time. Luckily there were only two casualties. Bad luck for allies then, but dream for divers' now the ship lies 20-70 ...

The Race is On!!! Kim and I placed a bet with our traveling campanion Longshot. The bet was we would beat them to Oyster Island off of Santo, a 30 mile trip from Malakula. Longshot started first with a 20 minute lead. After two hours of sailing we finally caught up and passed the vessel. As we passed them Kim and I threw gloves filled with ...

... around every corner. There are also guided multi-day kayaking tours for the more ambitious. Having always been a keen cyclist, kayaking has a lot of appeal. It feels like cycling but with your arms. No particular skill involved - just methodical, rythmic windmilling. Punch, punch - never forgetting its about pushing not pulling ...

... the person who says "Jock I really like your $40.00 Arunta Sportsmans Club polo shirt" (not in so many words but you get the idea) happens to be a 5'6" brunette wearing a size 10 black off the shoulder number. Oh well, in for a penny. After much soul searching, a kilo of cooking lard, two shoe horns and some help from my mates I reappear at the bar looking rather sweet in my newly aquired little black dress that won't quite do up around my chest. Everybody of course thought that ...

... your house. Riding in the back of a ute with SCUBA tanks, locals, crates of gear, sacks of coconuts and a dog is fun. However, it's not recommended for one's longevity. Who wants to live till 30 though? - The Americans went to a great deal of effort to establish a number of artificial reefs in the area. The Americans predominantly managed this by running their boats into mines that The Americans had strewn ...

... laptop. Now that ****** me off. Second, when it rains so heavily, the mosquitoes are having wild sex parties, without condoms. That means many, many new mosquitoes will soon be around. There are days when I have a mosquito coil lit, and saturated myself fully with bug spray, and still get mosquitoes buzzing around me. I use about a bottle (~usd$10) of bug spray every 10 days and 2 mosquito coils every day. That's unacceptable. In some ways ...