30/09/09

It’s been a pleasant day pottering around the boat, doing odd jobs.  I went for a snorkel on the reef here and the water is very clear with quite a few fish.

We ate last night at the resort and the food was good but not as good as at The Pearl Resort in Pacific Harbour.  They have a sewage treatment system on this tiny island which is supposed to make the final product pure enough to drink—not that they actually do. They used to have water delivered by boat but now they have run a 3” plastic pipe about two miles to a spring in the hills of Beqa and saved the several thousand dollars each water boat used to cost. instead they pay a nominal fee to a local chief in Beqa.  As the spring is higher than the resort island they don’t even have to punp the water.

Unfortunately the treatment system is not odour free and when the wind is from the South as it was last night, dinner is accompanied by a pretty unpleasant perfume.  This apparently is only a problem when the  wind is from the South.  After dinner one of the honeymoon couples invited us to their villa for a drink and a look. The eleven villas are very well appointed with generous rooms and private views as well as the obligatory plunge pool. She very proudly showed us the bathroom with its Jacuzzi and huge shower, but when I saw a huge cockroach scurry away I was really glad I hadn’t paid a fortune  for a week here with Demetra.

The New Zealand couple that run the resort came out to the boat to check us out.  He has  spent many years on powers boats and is hankering for a sailboat.  I don’t think she’d ever realized how comfortable a yacht can be and declared herself ready  to move in.  Demetri had a problem with his diving light and one of the bulbs blew.  Darryl the manager  said he thought he might have one and practically had one of his men rush it out to us.  Very good service considering we’re not actually staying here.  The bulb is a specialist one and not readily available and he even gave us a spare.  They charmed us into agreeing to come again for dinner and even  phoned  in our  choices as everything has to be ordered in advance..

I enclose a few shots of this tiny island and you can see how discretely the villas are positioned.