16:20.198S 167:45.404E

We are now slowly making our way up the chain of islands that makes up Vanuatu, visiting many unspoilt bays and anchorages and meeting the friendly residents of "The untouched paradise" (as the local tourist board puts it). For once the advertising blurb does not exaggerate but those marketing Vanuatu as a destination have fortunately not been very successful because there is hardly anybody here!  All the island villages are still very traditional, existing almost entirely on what they can grow or catch. Most of the houses are still thatched huts and the two primary forms of transport are on foot or in a dugout canoe. In one of the bays a fisherman would sail past us each evening on his way home with a sail made of palm leaves......he would wave happily, and we would wave back (hoping he did not have too far to go!). I had seen pictures of this from the early 1900s in the museum in Port Vila but did not really expect to see this still happening today.

The ni-vanuatu (people of Vanuatu) are extremely hospitable and are very welcoming towards visiting yachts. We were kindly invited by a family on Epi to join them for Sunday lunch and they produced an amazing spread of many local specialities. The best known dish is Laplap which consists of root vegetables (yams, taro, manioc) grated, turned into a paste with coconut milk and spices, and then baked in an earth oven.  The result is solid but surprisingly good and also quite filling!  I'm not one to shy away from a large lunch but they produced mountains of the stuff,....piles and piles of it kept appearing out from under banana leaves along with a kind of mild chicken and spinach curry. By the time we had tried everything we were both stuffed but the family just kept on going which may help explain the shape that the ladies of Vanuatu attain with maturity.

This lack of modern development results in the most wonderful and relaxed array of wildlife.  In just the last few days we have had close up encounters  two pods of whales, sharks, turtles, seasnakes, lots of dolphins and even the normally illusive Dugong. Vanuatu is one of the few places in the world where these unusual marine mammals can still be found and I was lucky enough to spend a while snorkelling with one of these friendly beasts. He (or she!) seemed totally unconcerned by my presence and even circled around me to have a good look.

We are now anchored in a bay on the east side of Malekula, an island with a population of 24,000 speaking 30 different languages!  The local history sounds a bit like something out of Gulliver's Travels with the "Big Nambas" living one end of the island and the "Small Nambas" at the other and until the 1930s a permanent state of internecine tribal warfare existed. Cannibalism was frequently practiced by the powerful hereditary tribal chiefs and the last "recorded" case of them tucking in to a vanquished foe took place in just 1969 (no, that is not a typo!) which does rather leave me wondering what has gone on un-recorded since then!!