We had a busy day at Oyster Island on the 18th.  First up the boys caught a taxi into Luganville with our 4 x 25 jerry cans to do the diesel fill.  After lunch we went in and hired a couple of kayaks for the trip to the Malevulu Blue Holes.  We had previously done the trip via dinghy but thought it would make a really nice paddle this time around.  We all had a good swim and bath at the blue hole and this time Rick and Mark couldn’t resist having a go on the big rope swing – boys will be boys.  We had our final catch up with Wild Honey as they are hoping to head back to Oz in the next day or two.  We will look forward to catching up with them again on the Australian Coast at some stage later this year or next.

 

On the 19th we went for the walk around the island which is very pretty and takes you to all sorts of white sand and coral beaches.  Again we were unable to keep Rick out the water and he is in for a snorkel around at Mid Way Beach.  Mark and I just enjoyed the sun and warmth for a bit.  As it looks like we are going to be back in Oyster in the next day or two, because of a funny weather system going through, we decided to head out on the afternoon high tide on the 20th and head back over to Aese Island.  We don’t get in till latish in the afternoon so it is swims all round before a few beers and a barbie on the back of the boat. 

 

We keep ourselves busy on the 21st going for a couple of snorkels and also a walk on the island to see the wreck that apparently came aground quite some years ago during a cyclone.  The snorkelling here is really lovely with plenty of good healthy coral and plenty of fish as well.  The clarity of the water is also excellent.  We managed to find a Moray Eel along with a few tropical fish that we have not seen before and Rick even caught a glimpse of a small white tipped reef shark.

 

As mentioned we have a bit of a nasty looking trough / low coming through on Sunday Night through till Monday so we head back to our favourite haunt, Oyster Island (again), late on Saturday afternoon.  Luckily it is a really great place to hang out and is an excellent anchorage for all weathers.  As the weather is starting to cloud over and it is a Sunday we decide to head down to the Lupi Lupi Resort for a very yummy lunch.  It is a great spot with fantastic views over the beach.  They also have a big screen and have all the Foxtel Sports stations so we are thinking it might be a good place to head to for a viewing of the Grand Final next Saturday! 

 

We keep listening to Radio Australia in the mornings which broadcasts of HF radio.  Apart from getting some snippets of news from home we are keenly following the America’s Cup..  Luckily we also are getting regular sporting updates from Miss Amanda (aka Yummy) so we feel fully informed.  Hopefully the Kiwi’s will get their act together again and finish off the series with a win to New Zealand!  We are. already planning to head over to Auckland in 4 years time to watch the Kiwi’s defend the Cup so they better get their act together soon.

 

Early Monday morning, and as predicted, the heavy rain sets in.   As we are keen to keep the water tanks full we are out of bed at 5.30am to rig up our water catcher (a V Sheet that we tie up on the foredeck of the boat).  It doesn’t take too long and both of our tanks are full again so we have to work out other ways to use all this water coming out of the sky.  We start off by all having fresh water showers.   We then move to scrubbing the decks and washing anything else we can find that looks at all grubby or salty.  It is really nice to be able to get all the salt off the boat as we haven’t had any good rain since leaving Vila a couple of months ago.  As we are pretty much boat bound for the day we decide that we must go in for one last meal at the Oyster Bay Resort before we head off for the last time.

 

The rain eases off on Monday evening and by Tuesday morning the clouds are breaking up and we are back to blue skies again.  We are up early on Tuesday to meet the high tide and then head down to Surunda Bay which is about 6NM South.   The bay is gorgeous with beautiful aqua water (as I think we have mentioned before we haven’t really found any ugly anchorages in Vanuatu....  some are just a bit more beautiful than others!)  On our way in we are greeted by a dugong and also a huge sea turtle.  We take a bit of a walk not long after we drop anchor as their are meant to be some WWII ruins up off the southern point but despite much searching all we find are lots of cows and a few free range chooks.  We went for a bit of a snorkel in the afternoon but the water is pretty turbid (which might be due to the heavy rainfall) and the coral is not quite up to standard although we do manage to find a banded sea snake and Jacques spotted a Lion Fish so it wasn’t all bad.  Mark is currently doing a scrub on the Sally’s bottom in preparation for our departure and subsequent arrival back into Australian Waters.  Australian Customs are pretty keen on Bio Fouling so we don’t want to cause a stir when we arrive in Bundy next month.

 

We are thinking of dropping into Palekula Bay tomorrow which is right around the corner.  We know there is a wreck to explore there as you can see it on the beach so that will be interesting.  It is then back to Luganville as Rick will be leaving us early on Friday morning as he is heading down to Vila for a few days before heading back home – how time flies.  Hard to believe but we have been living on board now for almost 6 months. 

 

Sally’s current position in Surunda Bay is “15:27.49S 167:13.21E”