Greetings from Wala Island
Sea Mist > Sold to New Owners July 2016
John and Cheryl Ellsworth
Fri 14 Oct 2011 20:18
We have been really enjoying the more remote Northern Islands of
Vanuatu...particularly > Avokh Island in the Maskelyne Island Group and Wala
Island.....we have had chances to become quite connected with the local
communities...assisting them in photographing and creating/printing
documents for school, promotional materials for their tourist events
etc...and supplying them with some tools, materials and foodstuffs that we
could spare from Sea Mist's inventory....and welcomed into their homes for
traditional eating. We also shared/exchanged Kava drinking on their grounds
and beer drinking on Sea Mist....and lots of nice fresh fruit and veggies
came our way from their gardens.
We stayed at Wall Island long enough to experience the transformation in the
small island when a cruise ship arrives and 2000 Australian tourists
disembark for a day of "island action"...that's a lot of people added to the
island population of 300. Everyone expressed having a good time....the
island showed its best with everything tidied up and dozens of stands
available with fresh fruit, ice cream, beer/kava/soft drinks, fabrics, stone
and wood carvings, hair braiding, massage, etc etc.....and hundreds and
hundreds of the cruisers enjoying the wonderful white sand beach and
swimming/snorkeling. The highlight for us was to see the many custom dance
presentations in the forest on the island.......which is unto itself a very
beautiful tranquil environment....when the custom dance/drumming/warrior
action is not underway.
Today we sail a short distance to Vao Island (famous for its wood carving)
and then onto Espiritu Santo tomorrow or Monday. We want to get connected to
the internet in some way if possible so that we can get an opportunity to
see and evaluate the forecast weather....we now need to decide on our timing
for the passage to Australia in the coming days. We have not seen any
weather information on the grand scale since leaving Port Vila a couple of
weeks ago.
That's our update...it is now approaching 7 am and, while I was writing this
blog entry, we have already had some locals come by in their dugouts to see
if they might be able to get something like rope from us....we are all out
of giveaways ...but some friendly morning chat anyway.
Cheers to all....the Seamisters