Port Vila, Saturday May 12th, 2018

Our last day on the Island of Tanna was magnificent. In the morning, we met Stanley, the village chief at the “Yacht Club” and he showed us around in his village. We met his big family and learnt a lot about their way of living and their history. There are only 300 inhabitants in the village of Port Resolution and 3000 on the whole island.

In the afternoon we were picked up by a 4 wheel truck and taken to the Tanna Volcano Center. There we were told about the volcano, Mount Yasur which is one of the few active volcanoes where you can come close enough to see the action. They also did som traditional dances to please the volcano before our visit. We were then brought up to the rim of the volcano. We had to hike a short way up to the top and by the time we got there it started to get dark. It was an absolutely amazing sight to see the 10000 C hot magma being thrown up in the air accompanied by large rocks and a roar of thunder at every outburst. We were covered with acid ashes after a while and the sulphur smell was a bit irritating. But what an experience, we´ll never forget this.

When we got back on board Lisanne we set sail for the island of Efate with its Capital, Port Vila. We had a great night sail with good SE trade winds and arrived Port Vila the following day at 5 PM, just in time for another Oyster Party. It was great to catch up with the other boats again and hear all the stories about the crossing from NZ.

Port Vila is a nice little town. Cruise ships call in here sometimes so there are a variety of shops and a very good market where you can buy almost anything. Some very nice resorts around too.

Yesterday we went on our first dive and I got a chance to try out the new dive camera I got as a birthday present from my friends back home. It was great, easy to use. We dove on a wreck at 31 m, Star of Russia” and had a nice reef dive at “Bobs Alley”.

We are now waiting for our boom to be repaired. We have had a new gooseneck pin made and will hopefully get it in place today, Saturday so we can sail tomorrow to the islands north of here.

  Sunrise arrival at Port Resolution after six days at sea.                                     Port Resolution Yacht Club

   Stanley, village chief and his new house in build.                          Stanleys wife and kids

   Their house. Open fire cooking.                                                        The “hot tub” around 30 C.

   Dancing to please the volcano.                                                        Mount Yasur, spitting out magma.

   10000 C.                                                                                                Helen and Mike ready to dive.

   “Star of Russia” 31 m.                                                                         “Bobs alley” reef diving.