Vanuatu

Our trip to Port Vila began at the Vava'u (Tonga) airport. After checking out the Neiafu Saturday market morning, we headed to the airport and checked in early. Quite a few people arrived, most going onto Australia via Nadi, Fiji. When we were on board, we could see that our luggage was on the tarmac and it did not look like it was coming with us. After animated discussions with the cabin staff and then ground personnel, it was determined that the turbo prop plane was at its weight limit and our luggage was going to Nadi via Nuku'alofa. We knew that we had a short wait in Nadi and that meant that we would be without luggage for a little while. Otherwise, the connections to Port Vila were uneventful.

We had 3 days in Port Vila because our air connections to our next destination were only twice a week. Hotels in Port Vila aren't particularly cheap, so we stayed at the low key “Hideaway Island Resort” which was reputed to have decent snorkeling and diving. As it turned out, we had a rain day, so we went into Port Vila to check it out and suss out the shops should we have to replace our luggage and contents (that would be a challenge in Port Vila). I made a few calls to the local Fiji Airways representative and to baggage services in Nadi. By Day 2, our luggage had been located and was put on a plane to Vanuatu, but it didn't get off-loaded so it carried onto Honiara, Solomon Islands. Another couple of days, and the luggage did make it to Port Vila via Air Niugini. There was another wrinkle when our domestic flight out of Port Vila was rescheduled and we were demoted to a wait list and then reinstated to confirmed. Meanwhile, we did enjoy the snorkeling at the Hideaway.

The flight from Port Vila to Mota Lava was one of the most scenic that we have ever had. It was a perfect flight day and the Twin Otter made 5 stops, 3 of them on grass runways. We passed by numerous volcanoes and circled around one of them. After hearing that lost luggage was commonplace in the South Pacific, we took a more cautious approach to checked luggage and carried as much as we could as carry-on. We carried all our snorkeling gear including wet suits and fins with us. Sheila had several clothing layers on, including her rain coat in the tropical heat. There was one other passenger on the Santo to Mota Lava leg and he asked her if she was OK.

When we landed on the Mota Lava airstrip, we felt like we were in a remote place (because it is). Our terrific host, Young met us there. We rode in the back of a pick up track down a bush road. There were a number of people popping out of the bush (returning from their gardens) and walking to the south of the island where the bulk of the population lives.

Then we waited for a boat across to Rah Island. We took “Dugout Taxi #4” across (the boats were a gift of the people of New Zealand, thank-you!). The village of Rah immediately impressed us with its nice, tidy walkways. We later learned, that on Tuesdays, the village sweeps all the paths. We encountered so many welcoming, smiling faces and reached our tidy bungalow. But wait, first the Woman's Association greeted us with a couple of warm songs. We felt so welcome. Rachael made us a simple but delicious lunch and we figured that we had made a great choice on going there. It was fresh fish for lunch and more fish for dinner most day; no complaints from us!

We got to know the place and people. The reef was best snorkeled on the incoming tide because it brought clear blue water from the deep and the fringing reef was easier to cross on a high tide. We didn't really know what to expect, but the snorkeling was much better than anticipated.. The Ni-Vanuatu (people of Vanuatu) have well deserved reputation as friendly. It seemed that most people had a good command of English (though some choose French schooling) and they seemed to be natural conversationalists. On our first evening, our hosts, Young brought us to one of the village kava bars where I met some of the locals and got the hang of the kava drinking protocol. Vanuatu kava is reputed to be the best and strongest in the South Pacific. There weren't many daily stresses in my life but a shell or two of kava is relaxing. I visited the kava bar most evenings thereafter. The Vanuatu kava seemed to have less of the tongue and mouth numbing compared to its Fijian counterpart. It was certainly much better than kava that I have tried in Tonga and Solomon Islands. On the following day, Michael gave us a two hour tutorial on how to prepare kava, Vanuatu style.

During our visit, we wandered around neighbouring Mota Lava a few times. We were really taken by the quaint villages, and the warmth of the people. We chatted with a couple of the local chiefs. I also got to know Chief Brian of Rah as we kept running into him on our excursions and of course at the kava bar. Chiefs on the northern islands are elected, unlike other parts of Vanuatu where the position is hereditary. While we were there, a supply boat arrived from Santos which was a big event because the 2 small shops on Rah hadn't been re-supplied in quite a while, so stocks were low. The islands of Vanuatu all have their own unique culture and kustom (traditional) stories and dances. We arranged to have the Rah snake dance put on (money buys anything; it goes to the community). The guys paint themselves up with coral and charcoal, like banded sea snakes and put on a fun show. We danced with the group for a couple of songs.

Our 5 day visit to Rah, stretched out to a week when our scheduled flight out was cancelled due to a wind storm. The next scheduled flight was also cancelled due to a mechanical problem. I did spend a few Vatu in mobile phone costs contacting Air Vanuatu, but an additonal flight was put on to collect passengers affected by the cancellations. On the walk out of Rah, we encountered an older guy who we hadn't met before. We started to talk, as you do on Rah, and we commented that we were sad to leave. He replied that he could do a Kustom (traditional) dance and bring rain to cancel our flight out. Not that sad, I replied. And then we all laughed. He had a great toothy (all three of them) smile.

Once over to the nearby Mota Lava, we hopped into our pre-arranged truck to the airstrip. There were only two vehicles servicing the local population of 3,000 people. Of course, we had to push start it. The truck doesn't have a working alternator. The brakes don't work very well and best of all, the fuel tank is a plastic gerry can kept in the front passenger seat area with a hose running from it to the carburetor. Classic. Domestic flights in Vanuatu seem to involve long waits at tiny airstrips before finally the sound of a plane in the air signals imminent departure.

Luganville (International) Airport is on the quiet side. We took a taxi into town with Jim. Luganville was more or less built by the Americans in WWII and the streets are wide to allow for tank and armoured cars of those days. The side streets are quite pretty. We checked into the Hibiscus Hotel and I went over to the market to pick a few fruits up. The market stays open all night because the vendors sleep there on mats. Each week a different village arrives and sells its produce to the people of Luganville.

Our time on Santos (Espirtu Santos, but folks shorten it) was limited (because of our 3 additional days on Rah). We arranged for diving on our first full day. People come from all over the world to dive the SS President Coolidge (originally a luxury ocean liner but later used as troop transporter), close to shore. We have to admit that neither of us are enthusiastic wreck divers unless they attract marine life. So the Coolidge was a dud for us. We did an initial dive and poked around inside a cargo hold, but we found it dark, with little life and not especially interesting. We later met a dive couple who had spent a week diving the Coolidge (it seemed to be all about “penetration”) and they loved it, so go figure. We were hoping that “Million Dollar Point” might be interesting as well. At the end of WWII, the Americans dumped all sorts of surplus equipment into the ocean in a great pile. It did feel like an underwater scrapyard, and once again, there was surprisingly little obvious marine life to be seen.

We don't normally go on “touristy guided walks” in the bush, but we had heard that the Millennium Cave hike was not to be missed. And now having done the hike, I would agree. The people of Vunaspef village are the kustom (traditional) owners of the cave and surrounding land. They have set up a tour using villagers as guides and the profits from the successful venture go towards local educational facilities. We found the local people and guides to be enthusiastic and happy to see us, even with a daily influx of tourists. All in all, it seemed a “win-win”.

We had a couple of days to work with, so we hired Jim, our taxi man, with another tourist and went up to Champagne Beach for an overnight stay. Even with a few locals there, it seemed very quiet on a Sunday afternoon. About once a month, a cruise ship arrives and off loads tourists for the day and it becomes quite a different place.

Back at the Luganville airport, we waited for our Twin Otter to arrive to bring us to Ambrym. There was a French group milling about as well and we discovered that they were on a volcano tour of Vanuatu and were also heading the same way as us. It took us a while to figure out that in fact we were sharing the same guide. I had arranged to use Josef a couple of months earlier via text messaging. We weren't sure if Josef was also facilitating or guiding the French group but as our trek unfolded, we eventually put all the pieces together. Although it was a little strange, it actually worked out to be a good thing.

We stayed in a bungalow on Josef's property while half of the French group camped out on the grass. The other half of the French group were expected to fly in the next day (not enough seats on the previous flight) on a charter. The French were paying something like 200Euros a day for the trip and we were paying, shall we say, considerably less. That evening, we all went to the kava bar, where I met the Lalinda village chief (Josef's father) and we could see the red glow of the volcanoes above through the trees.

After a breakfast of instant coffee, bread and jam, Sheila and I set out with our new buddies Kevin & Sam (guides/porters) while Josef and the French group awaited the balance of their group. We managed to get going early before the sun kicked in. Six village dogs jumped in on the action and joined the procession. We followed the course of a volcanic river and then onto a trail through magnificent palm forest up to the caldera rim where a funky camp has been built by the local guides. We left our sleeping bags behind and continued onto the Marum volcano in the afternoon. Clouds had moved in which seem to hold the sulphur dioxide gases to reduce visibility and increase the rotten egg smell by a considerable factor. We had rented gas masks which we put on when we came across noxious gases. The dogs and porter/guides did without. We meandered through the moonscape and made our way to the rim of Marum to peer down at the “lava lake”. Pretty nifty!

Early the next morning, Josef and our two buddies trundled into camp with a boar on a pole. The village dogs had done their work and had found, then surrounded a pig. Kevin had jumped in and killed it. They were triumphant on their return. After the early excitement, we all headed out to the Benbow volcano. The French leader allowed us to us their 200m rope, so when we reached the higher crater rim, we were the first to descend into the interior and up the inner crater rim for a good look at the lava lake which can be described as similar to watching boiling tomato soup. It was a memorable day. We managed to keep ahead of the group for the day, so other than a pack of dogs, we and the guides had the place to ourselves.

The first night at about 800m was quite chilly even in sleeping bags, so we were not looking forward to another uncomfortable night, but we needed not to worry, as the second night was much warmer.

The following morning, we, Josef and Sam returned to Lalinda. A fresh bucket shower followed by lunch and we were ready for the drive back to the Craig Cove airstrip. There is an air of unpredictability with Air Vanuatu flights, so passengers typically assemble a couple of hours early for flights only to find them running late, so we spent most of the afternoon waiting around.

We spent a full day in Port Vila, this time staying downtown between domestic flights. I can't say it was particularly memorable though we did have an excellent Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant.

Tanna is a popular tourist destination and we felt that we shouldn't miss our opportunity to visit Mt Yasur, which is one of the worlds most accessible and “reliable” active volcanoes. Tanna has a reputation of being more expensive than other parts of Vanuatu (a.k.a. a tourist rip-off), so we can't say we weren't expecting it. But there was a fair amount of grumbling by ourselves and other tourists who were all heading to the same bungalow operation which had received glowing feedback on Trip Advisor. The drive in was overpriced, the room was overpriced, the food was overpriced and the “guiding” service (ie how to get to the volcano entrance) was also overpriced. Now that I have got that out of the way, the three evenings we spent at the volcano were terrific (aside from the over priced admission costs, I had to throw that in). It was very nice to stand on the rim and watch the explosions go off in the daylight, twilight and in the darkness. It did lack the adventure aspect of the Ambrym volcanoes but even as jaded travellers, it was pretty neat.

We then headed back towards the NW side of Tanna and stayed on White Beach Bungalows for a couple of nights to wash our clothes of volcanic ash. The accommodation and food was better and we relaxed and snorkeled the reef. Best of all, the mangoes were coming into season.

We had allowed an extra contingency day in Port Vila on our return and we stayed at Hideaway Island Resort again. I was beginning to worry that Sheila considered it one of her trip highlights, you know, staying at a resort. Of interest, was that the resort was expected to be full on the 2^nd night with a New Zealand school group arriving. However, the kids were well behaved and Sheila still liked her resort experience.

Accommodation

Port Vila. All together, we were in Port Vila for 8 nights. We stayed at Hideaway Island Resort just outside of town (reasonably easy to get to) and once at City Lodge to check out downtown life. There really isn't a whole lot going on in town and for the small difference in price, I'd stay at Hideaway. We stayed in one of the “twin share rooms”. Their breakfast was pretty good and the snorkeling was fun (plenty of fish). Staff and management are darn good. The restaurant food was fine and the Beach Club (restaurant) is nearby as an alternative. City Lodge was a decent, central budget choice but I wouldn't want to extend a stay there beyond a night or two.

Rah Island Paradise. This was more than accommodation, it was a very positive cultural experience with surprisingly good snorkeling. Our hosts were attentive and helpful, but not overbearing. The villages on Rah and over on Mota Lava are super friendly and a stay here gives a great opportunity to get to know the locals. Our stay there was one of our 2 month South Pacific trip highlights. It was worth the effort and expense to go to the far north of Vanuatu.

Santos. We stayed 4 nights in Luganville and one night near Champagne Beach. We opted to stay at the Hibiscus (oddly named “ Hibiscus Attraction Center”) in Luganville; if you are looking for budget accommodation, look no further. The room was basic but comfortable with attached toilet/shower and a small kitchen with fridge & stove set-up. The owners, Louis and Marie are excellent, helpful hosts. The market and supermarkets, well, the whole town, is nearby.

Towock Bungalows near Champagne Beach was also an excellent choice. The room was fine, without attached toilet and shower. The food (breakfast was included in the room rate) was excellent and the hostess/owner Janneth a lovely person and good conversationalist. The room rate also includes (free) access to Champagne Beach. We walked over to the beach and snorkeled back; nothing special. The bungalows are on Lonnoc Beach which is also quite nice. The cows arrived in the afternoon to drink the spring water coming out of the beach sand at low tide. Mellow place, not much going on.

Tanna. We stayed three nights at Yasur View Bungalows and a couple of nights at White Beach Bungalows. To start with there are two Yasur View's; one is Bungalows and the other is Lodge. The Lodge is right across the road from the volcano entrance, while Bungalows is a 40 minute walk away. Bungalows was fine, but if I were to do it again, I'd either stay at Yasur View Lodge or better yet, Jungle Oasis Bungalows which is also very close to the entrance. When we were there, some NZ volcano researchers were staying at Jungle Oasis Bungalow. White Beach Bungalows (closer to the airport) room rate was half of what we had paid for very basic accommodation near the volcano, the food was a big step up and it was on a nice enough beach. I'd recommend it as a solid budget choice (we paid 2,500 Vatu or about 25USD a night). Yes, Mt Yasur is worth it; we paid through the nose to see it but it is a great experience and we found each afternoon/evening visit a little different so we were happy to have seen it on three consecutive days.