Vanuatu Snapshot

As I am writing this we are anchored off Lelepa Island off the coast of Efate. We are opposite a small sandy beach with a white cliff near it, sounds from the village (chickens and laughter) are echoing across the calm waters. The sky is clearing with a three-quarters moon and the stars are just starting to come out. This morning we were anchored further down Havannah Harbour in another very nice spot. With blue skies and no wind we decided to go for a dive at Eretoka Island. First though we collected some fresh water in barrels for our 'showers' on deck. Approaching Eretoka (also known as Hat Island -guess why?!) we could see the bottom at around 40m, the water is a lovely clear beautiful blue. We went for a snorkel and then two dives. Amazing visibility and gorgeous hard coral (blue, turquoise, purple). Not so many fish as we have seen before but still plentiful and colourful -parrotfish, damsels, anthias, surgeonfish and even a white-tipped reef shark cruising around. Lovely canyons in the second dive. On our return from the last dive and snorkel we found the wind and tide had made the anchorage somewhat choppy, our main concern was not to damage the coral, so we motored back across to Lelepa Island.

I will update the blog with what we have done since Tanna and hopefully updates will be more frequent in future but hope this gives you a taste of things in the meantime.