Waiting in Villa

Port Vila Panorama

I am writing to you from our favourite water hole “The Waterfront Café” where we are enjoying a couple of Tasker beers on tap and an occasional Kava-colada, which makes your gums numb and your walks uncertain. In the Waterfront Café there is no shortage of cruisers and tales from the seven seas. There is also no shortage of yachts on anchor and in the inner bay the moorings are full with new arrivals and a few “wrecks” hanging on with a rotten rig and half eaten mooring robes. It is not for nothing that the locals refer to the inner bay as “the bowling alley”!

A Cruise Liner arrives in Port Vila

Veggi market in Port Vila

Harry and Yadranka at the Waterfront Cafe

Port Vila is a busy place with rattling busses and taxis racing back and forth spewing exhausts making breathing difficult. The outdoor tourist shops are full of people trying to sell you colourful garments and the crowded veggie market is a 24 hour business. In the local supermarket “Au Bon Marche” you get a touch of the French influence with excellent cuts of meat, cheeses and pate’s. There is no shortage of good wines and the language spoken is a truly mix up. The hustle and tassel gets even more exciting with the arrival of huge cruise ships with thousands of tourists. An arrival is usually announced on channel 16 early in the morning when the captain is calling “harbour control” a million times before somebody is awake enough to answer the call. In Port Vila there is not much space for these modern giants and interisland traders and visiting vessels are pushed out on the anchorage. At night the flashing light of the large TV screen on the upper deck shines through the coconut groves in harmony with the only other major light sources from the tall casino and the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu! People here do not pay income tax felt by cruisers when visiting the customs in the shade of the moored cruise liner. An otherwise inconspicuous building carries the sign “Customs & Revenue” with the word “revenue” highlighted!

Yadranka enjoying a Tasker on tap

Aeolus has spent a couple of months on a mooring in the far end of the bowling alley. We used the time to do varnish work and other maintenance. The genoa is a rag, but this has to wait. Otherwise Aeolus is in good shape. We have met a lot of “new” cruising friends and many “old” from Mexico, Marquesas and Tahiti. The mix of nationalities is pronounced and many come from Europe after crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific. We met Jan and Joanna on their boat “Joanna”. Jan is an expat Dane living most of his adult life in NZ. Joanna born in South Africa, but is now a Kivi with a keen interest in Mollusca taxonomy. Their cabin is full of mollusc identification literature and stacks of shells neatly sorted and packed in sealed plastic bags, an impressive collection! The couple has sailed around the world for eight years and are now on their last leg back to NZ! We are on the last leg (of the first section!) back to Australia via the P2P rally, a two week passage. In the horizon of the setting sun the customs and quarantine are waiting with their pockets wide open. A large welcome committee of sniffer dogs, yacht evaluators and termite inspectors are lining the dock. Maybe New Zealand or Antarctica is a better option?

Joanna and Jan