Laguna Vista Port Vila

... room to change my mind.<br><br>A group of 10 crew members climbed into a cab and headed in to town for some sightseeing. The rest of the group headed to a local island, by water taxi, to go swimming in a resort pool. I had no aspirations for swimming today, I've been having fun capturing images for all of you for these blog postings.<br><br>I wandered around the bustling town for probably about an hour to an hour and half ...

... lot of reading done. So now I am here in Port Vila awaiting orders. Natalie (the person I will be working with from OceansWatch) will call tomorrow with their location and we will then figure out when and how I will be meeting up with them. In the mean time, I get to spend the rest of the day relaxing. I will try to write again once I find out what my next step will be. <br>I'm thinking of everyone!<br>Love, Lindsey 

... up from travel brochures, tourist information and Van Air's 20th anniversary in flight magazine). The country was formally known as the New Hebrides (ah now you know where I mean) and was ruled jointly by the English and the French until about 1980. It consists of 83 islands in a sort of archipelago, mostly extinct volcanoes, but some of them have survived, as you will see in my photos. Its other interesting role in history was that it was the site of a large ...

... by the sea you know. The local language here is quite entertaining. It's a kind of pidgeon English. All fish are called 'Fis', all road vehicles are ' Truks'. One of the photos here is of a sign we saw today - can you follow the translation? Well as we're running out of time on the internet we'll leave you until the next installment. Until then... Love Barry &amp; Emma x

... to the hotel desk. No Youth Hostels, no Backpackers here says the Lonely Planet guidebook. The Coconut Palms hotel offers a 50% reduction and sounds affordable. The taxi ride offers the complete crossing of the town and guess what ? a ride up a hill ! Never mind, a long sinuous climbing road but no steps. I review my "preconceived" European ideas of geography and geology in the Pacific. The truth is that if it is a true island it will be a mountain ...

... gracious and kindly accompanied us around different classrooms, introducing us to teachers, and students, as well as the school director. She explained that under the condominium there were both French and English schools. French nationals living on the islands sent their children to French schools, the English to English schools, and the local people who were officially stateless did whatever they could. After independence this double track state of affairs ...

... life, enjoying a sense of general well being. Several cupfuls can cause a minor form of double vision and a desire to sleep. I stopped after one cupful.... Unlike alcohol which can make people aggressive and irresponsible, kava seems to have a calming effect, producing amiability, peacefulness and acceptance of life. I don't think we'll start growing it back in Cincinnati, but it was interesting to try once. As we enjoyed dinner by torchlight, we listened to local musicians singing ...

A bright and sunny morning we arrive at the port of Vila, Vanuatu. Markets set up at the dock show the range of grass skirts and jewellery etc available right throughout the island. After a short trip into the centre of town, there is plenty of very cheap duty free available that was even delivered straight back to the boat for us. Plenty of cheap knock off shirts and boards shorts, enough to pick up a few pieces for the fam. We paid for a driver to take us up to the lookout; which I for ...

... water, tv, radio, nothing. We drop everyone off at their villages, and when we do the kids are all waving and smiling. We continue on the dusty bouncy roads, past trees that are so huge that other plants and trees are growing inside them. As we pass other villages children chase after us and smile and wave more and throw heaps of fresh flowers inside the truck... either a war just ended, or we're on our way to our grave, or they just never see people - the latter is the ...

... a busy morning with the buying of stores, the pickup of VCs and general ship tidy, but also went alongside Star Wharf to collect the 400kg anchor and fill up with water. There was a congregation of locals sitting on the side of the ship, around our mooring lines and alongside on the wharf watching the on goings of the ship. Once we finished lunch and had crew introductions, we motored towards Havannah harbor for our evening anchorage. After breakfast ...