Vanuatu -Tanna, Port Vila - September 2008

We had a good sail across from Fiji, not a lot of wind and what there was, was from a direction which is hard to do anything with. We've been seriously low on fuel due to the excessive motoring but the conditions, for Vanuatu, were great. We were treated to a visit from a curious sperm whale which approached right up to the boat before doing a magnificent dive, flicking up his tail and disappearing under the boat.

In Tanna a small group of us were lucky enough to get invited to a circumcision ceremony in a local village. The circumcision had been done several months ago (two boys aged around 10 yrs) and the ceremony was to welcome the boys back into the community. Locals with good English explained to us what was happening. Some mum's apologized for some of the younger children being frightened of us but they explained that the children hadn't seen white people before, let alone a camera. We were made to feel very welcome and Sascha and I had our faces painted along with all the village females. A great cultural experience, although Daryl thought my 500 photos was a little excessive!!!!

That evening we went up to see the volcano and, although it was fairly active, we feel the truck drive up was more dangerous than the volcano itself!!!!

We left Tanna after dark and were treated to a fantastic view of the erupting volcano as we sailed past. Winds were light (and so was the fuel) but with a full moon it was a beautiful, albeit slow, over night sail to the next island, Erromango. We sailed into the bay amidst a large pod of spinner dolphins.

By 8am we had our day planned including guided trips to burial caves and an ancestral cave with rock drawings.

If you don't think you're into viewing us with human bones, then skip the next two photos. As previous generations in Vanuatu were cannibals, some even up to 1969, they are somewhat more casual than us about the sighting and handling of human bones. In early times they also used the bone to make tools. We found the history fascinating.

The customs and traditions on each island in Vanuatu are quite different and it takes a while to get your head around it all. Adding to this is the change that is occurring due to westernization (for want of a better word). Two boys approached us in Tanna in their dug out canoe and asked whether we could charge their cellphones!!!! Things are changing and makes for some interesting discussing on what is actually the best for these people.

We spent time with the dolphins, did a bit of snorkelling, had time in the village, celebrated Erika's birthday from 'Oz Magic', traded fish hooks for bananas and then it was time to move on.

Fiji - Vanua Levu, Yasawas - August 2008

Cool Bananas reporting in with an update once more.

When last we wrote we were making our way around the main island of Fiji, Viti Levu (with a few island deviations).

We spent a night at a small gorgeous island called Vanualele, which incidentally, for those that are interested, had red footed boobies. They must be relatives of the blue footed boobies we saw in Galapagos. It's always exciting to see something you weren't expecting. Not so easy to get a good photograph though, when you're in a dinghy in lumpy seas.

We also spent a few days in a bay outside a great backpacker typed resort called Robinson Crusoe's. While there Daryl and Sascha went for a dive just outside the entrance by the reef. As they were finishing the dive Sascha tugged on the hose to get Daryl's attention as five humped back whales swam around them. Daryl felt they may have been drawn by the noise of the dive hooker's motor and were curious. The 50ft whales swam around them, then under them and away. Daryl struggled to get photos as they were so big and so close. They both came back buzzing. I'd say it was one of those once in a lifetime experiences for both of them and one they will dine on for some time to come!!!!

Sascha then left us for three weeks to catch up with family and 'find her roots. She had the opportunity to go and see the village where her mother was born and spend time with friends of her late grandmother. She has great photos to take back to share with her Mum – aren't digital cameras wonderful!!!!!

Meanwhile, we were also getting a family 'fix'.

Amanda and Matt flew in for 10 wonderful days aboard. The wind and seas were kind to us and the sun shone. Amanda coped amazingly well considering how motion sensitive she is. She even gets seasick snorkelling!!!! We had lots of R&R – time to catch up on news from home, bridal magazines, wedding planning, games, village visits and water activities. It's funny but it felt like a holiday for us too.

Their highlight was swimming with the manta rays. We spent hours - drifting in the pass with them swimming by…..dinghying back to the entrance…..drifting down……dinghying back. We hadn't realized that the time the manta rays spend feeding there is seasonal and we were there within the last few days before they left, not to return for 7 months.

We spent time in Nalauwaki village and caught up with a family we had met last year. We met and photographed their new addition to the family- a 3 month old baby girl. Amanda gave the older daughter a pile of her old clothes we'd brought over.

We then had Kelly and Daryl's sister Jenny for a week. We cruised in the same area but unfortunately they missed out on the manta rays. Lots more R&R and chatter.

It was lovely to have our 'social' Kelly all to ourselves for a whole week. We caught up on all her career changes and decisions – staying single and travelling amongst them – Go Kelly!!!

This year we feel 'we got to know' Fiji a lot better. We bought newspapers, spoke to locals and expats and gather views on the political and economic situation…..wait for it….yes…. Daryl got quite keen on doing a little investment project…. maybe. He got offered a real estate job but the lure for travelling on coupled with the uncertainty in Fiji won over.

We've now got Sascha back on board, we all agree we've been doing too much eating and relaxing so…… we're checking out and moving on to Vanuatu (and on a diet). Vanuatu is a revisit for us but last year we feel we only just touched the surface and hope that we'll get better weather conditions and can explore further.