Friday 13th of September was cruise boat day in at Luganvile.  We decided to keep well away from town but still managed to come across some of the cruisers that chose to come out and spend their day out at Aore Island.  In the afternoon we went on a snorkelling trip, again with Santo Divers, with the promise of seeing some good coral and fish.  It still wasn’t quite up to the standards of the Great Barrier Reef but it was pretty nice and we even got to see a turtle!

 

Rick actually arrived in Santo from Melbourne this evening but because of the logistics he spent the night in Luganville and we headed over on Saturday morning to meet him.  Although it might seem a bit rough to leave him over there until Saturday we figured it probably was for the best as it started to rain in Luganville just as the flight arrived. Tiger Lily (a cat from Sydney) that is also sharing the anchorage with us headed into pick up there daughter and ended up quite bedraggled once they arrived back at the boat. 

 

I headed into Luganville early on Saturday morning to get something down with the hair as it is starting to look a bit of a mess.  Mark had his hair and beard clipped off the other day and now feels much better so figure it is  my turn next.  Also from all reports the hairdresser (a gay chap from the Philippines) is quite good.  All the hairdressers in Vanuatu seem to be from the ‘Head Hunter’ franchise. When we went there for hair cuts in Vila the locals seemed a bit miffed at what to do with my fine straight hair.  There seemed to be plenty of spectators and a fair bit of debate as to handle the situation but in the end they let me go with what seemed to be an OK job.  We have just found out that there are 2 salons in Vila, one for expats and one for locals and it seems we went to the one for locals hence the lack of confidence when attacking my hair with the scissors.  Anyhow the chap from the Philippines did a fine job at fixing up a few woopsy’s that had apparently occurred in Vila so the hair is getting back to normal again although a little darker than perhaps the last time you saw me!

 

We caught up with Rick (aka Jacques or more recently titled ‘Spare Parts Man’) who was wandering around the mean streets of Luganville and grab a spot of lunch before catching the ferry to Aore Resort.  Apart from bringing out a new regulator for the wind generator, that has not quite been doing its thing since leaving Melbourne, he was giving the job of getting a few spares for the boat including a new fuel pump for the gen set.  Mark spent the afternoon installing the new pump and the gen set is again working like a dream *yay*  Rick was quickly into the water for a snorkel hence the nick name of Jacques Cousteau!

 

We booked the trip to the Millennium Caves for Sunday so we are on the early ferry and get picked up by our driver in Luganville for the trip out to Vunaspef which is the village from which the tour starts.  We were not 100% sure what the trip involves but everyone we have spoken to says it is a must and we now agree.  The cave was opened up for tourists in 2000 hence it is called Millennium Cave.  They have done a lot of work since it opened to tourists to make it a lot safer which we were very pleased about.  The first part of the trip involves a nice walk down to the entrance of the caves.  Naturally we are given torches and a few instructions before entering the cave which has plenty of little bats and swallows as residents.  The cave runs for about 300mts and it takes us about 30 minutes to walk and kind of stumble through as we are wading through water for most of the time which has a few lumps and bumps in it to manoeuvre around.  Once we are out of the cave we have a quick pit stop and then we move on to the rock climbing section.  It is really well laid out with steps carved into the rocks and lots of chains and ropes in just the right places to make you feel very secure plus the guides are fantastic and make sure you feel very comfortable.  After the rock climb the guides don some kids floaty toys (we are already wearing our PFD’s) and we all start to float down the river which is just fantastic and incredibly beautiful.  At the end of the river section it is a pretty steep climb out but they have put in some bamboo ladders which makes it all pretty easy and back to Vunaspef.  If ever you are in Santo it really is a must thing to do. 

 

After a busy day it is back to Sally for a spot of dinner and we are all in the sack pretty early after a big day.

 

Monday and we are back into Luganville to do a bit of provisioning before heading out for a spot of cruising around Santo.

It is a nice warm day so after shopping it is back to the boat and Rick decides it is time to tackle the wind generator.  From the initial review it looks like the replacement regulator has done the job however, we will reserve final judgement until we get to a nice windy anchorage to see how much it produces but so far so good.  It is then into the water for another snorkel before heading into the resort for a dip in the pool.  Did we mention how tough this resort world really is!

 

Tuesday and we are on the move again.  We decide to head back up to Oyster Island as the tides are right to make an entrance at around 14:00H.  Once again we make a safe passage in without touching bottom.  It is a little different to our last visit when we had the ICA fleet in as we are now only sharing the anchorage with 3 other boats including Tiger Lily and Wild Honey who are both from Sydney.  We first met up with these two boats when we were in Noumea so it is nice to catch up with them again to compare notes on our cruising adventures to date.

 

We had a bit of a thunder storm go through last night and a bit of a shower.  This morning is also looking a bit grey so this morning we emptied the jerry’s of diesel into the main tank and they are now of their way to Luganville to fill up the 4 x 25lt jerry cans.  Seems a bit odd but it there is a lot less lugging and easier to catch the taxi into the fuel station from here and back again compared to taking the dinghy across the rather lumpy channel in Luganville and lumping the fuel a few 100mts up the main drag.

 

Hopefully the weather will fine up a bit later as we are either planning a snorkelling trip around to the other side of Oyster Island or we might take some kayaks up to the blue holes for a swim.  Either way think we will be in at the resort this arvo for sun downer's and maybe even a spot of dinner.

 

 

Mustang Sally’s current position at Oyster Island is “15:22.29S 167:11.45E”