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Yesterday, as usual B and I were up at dawn and had a swim before breakfast. Then dropped the dinghy in the water and headed to shore. The manager of Ratua resort, meet us on the beach and told us a bit about the resort that was owned by her family since 2016. She invited us to look around the island, which we did. We strolled along the beach, then inland where we came across the horses. Guests are able to ride along the beach.

We returned to the bar where we were told how the resort came about.
A Frenchman came to Vanuatu and fell in love with the island and the locals. He owned a small village in Bali, so he disassembled the village and shipped it here. This is why the resort has a Bali feel.

In the afternoon while B and I sun bathed and snorkelled from Imagine, Robert and Valerie went ashore to check out the island.
This morning it was aufwiedersehen to Robert and Valerie as they decided to spend a night at the resort before going to Luganville for their plane. We then set sail south, making our way to Port Stanley before dark.

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We spent yesterday in Palikulo bay. The wind was still high so we didn’t do any snorkelling. Valerie and Robert went ashore exploring the beach. In the evening they made dinner, pancakes (Robert’s Mum recipe).

This morning we set sail heading south again. With the wind just off our nose we made good time. We arrived at Port Lautour, just off Ratua Island. It wasnt long before turtles started popping up to say hello.

We snorkelled around some bommies nearby. We saw sting rays, a turtle and lots of colourful fish. Then on deck we soaked up the afternoon sun. Tonight B made a very good Pad Thai Beef for dinner and Robert gave her one Imagine Michelin Star. 

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We spent two days at Port Olry. We went into the village to see if we could buy some bread and fresh veggies but came back with only pomeloes (actually asked locals if we could get some directly from the tree!). We had a walk on Thion island and practiced with the casting net, so next time there are fish swimming around Imagine we could catch some (yeah right?).
Next we headed south and back to Hog Bay for a few days. Robert and Valerie explored the Bay in the kayak, while B and I went out into the Bay in the dinghy with the fishing rods and feed the fish. We all did a bit of snorkelling and laying around in the sun. 

Robert and Valerie invited us all out to dinner at the resort restaurant. The resort (Lonnoc Eco Beach Bungalows) was built by a local 35 years ago and had just been handed over to Alex the manager. We all enjoyed the delicious meals and couldn’t resist to the pancakes with local fresh fruits for the dessert.

Yesterday the rain had set in again so we headed further south and back to Palikulo Bay. It was a long trip back going against the wind waves and tide. It was dark by the time we got here so we didn’t attempt to go though the reef to the anchorage. We anchored just outside in 20m of water.

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Yesterday it rained all day. That didnt stop B and I going ashore to check out the beach and resort in the Bay. We came back soaking wet, our raincoat are not that waterproof. After lunch we watched a movie then played lots of games of cards.
This morning we took the dinghy around the corner checked out the resort on Champain Beach. When back on Imagine, while having a coffee a turtle came to say hello and invited us all to go snorkelling. We spent about an hour exploring the coral. 
It was almost lunch time when we hauled anchor and headed north. We ate lunch on the way. Lunch was interrupted by Robert catching a mackerel (which is being prepared for dinner).
We arrived in Port Olry in time to have a swim in the beautiful sunshine. The rest of the day has been sunbathing. I fell asleep while on deck. When I awoke I discovered my toenails are now coloured. I wonder who that would have been??

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Valerie and Robert arrived last night to join us for a few weeks. It was an early start this morning. We had to haul anchor and make our way over the reef at high tide, which was at dawn. The idea was then to move to a bay an hour away, but the wind and swell had other ideas. We then tried the next bay with no luck. By lunch time we had made it to Hogs Harbour. This had more shelter from the wind, but there is a slight swell rolling in.Robert set up three rods with his special lures hooks and gigs. Roberts first attempt caught a nice piece of coral. Andrew and Robert then went off in the dinghy. They returned an hour later and Andrew got steak out of the freezer for dinner.

Two young ladies in a double kayak stopped to tell us that Imagine looks beautiful. As they sound very French ( remember we have our French specialist on board!) B thanks them in French and there the conversation started with Alice and Anne-laure. They are from Sydney and they were staying in a bungalow in the Bay for short holiday….Maybe they will come on Imagine next holiday!

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We have just had two qiet days. Yesterday we had a grey day with few small showers, so not much we could do outside. However between some cleaning, cooking, napping we had a little bit of spare time for fishing! At least tried ! After three months we can confirm there are no fish in Vanuatu. Except for the Dugong spotted this morning by Andrew.  Today we had sunshine with our breakfast and we were hopping for napping on deck after lunch ( we are desperate to get our sun tan back! hahaha). After a little  sunbathing we did some more exploring and had a look around another wreck, then some snorkelling.

We did some research on Vanuatu and found out that today was Independence Day:First visited by Europeans in 1606 by the Spanish. They named it La Austrialia. They didn’t get on with the natives. They didn’t stay long and never returned.Next was  Louis de Bougainville in 1768, then James Cook in 1770. It became The New Hebrides. The New Hebrides had a joint British and French administration and colonisation. On 30th July 1980 The New Hebrides gained independence and changed it’s name to The Republic of Vanuatu (Our Land Forever). Vanuatu has a population of approximately 40,000 spread over the 82 islands.

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We were doing a little bit of cleaning after breakfast when we heard a dinghy come along side Imagine. We raced out on deck to see Tess and Brett from Complicité. They are both from Australia but they bought Complicité in Fiji from a previous French Canadian owner and kept the French name, easy to translate anyway.We had met them in Port Vila. They had recognised Imagine and came across to say hello. They had been here a few days and told us where to go ashore to catch a taxi/bus to town. They also showed us how to get Imagine closer to shore winding through the bombies.Not long after they left we made our way through the bommies and dropped anchor near Complicité.
We took our dinghy to explore the bommies and made our way to the beach. Then we went across to what looks to be the wreck of a ferry before heading back to Imagine. 
Tess and Brett spent the day learning how to use their new kite surf’s. Tess invited us for sundowners and to check out their boat.

The weather is still not wonderful with the south easterly and cloud cover some there was no stars or moonlight.

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Today was a busy day running against the clock to move from that bloody anchorage. It has been 2 nights without much sleep as the swells against the tide make that anchorage very rolly.Anyway this morning it was time for Gina and Alex to say goodbye and Andrew dropped them at the Beach Resort just before 7am for them to catch the taxi to the airport. We were hopping for a dryer day but the rain didn’t agree and we had to lend Alex and Gina some wet weather gear to go to the beach in the dinghy. We cannot thank them enough for their positive attitude during their time with us as the weather hasn’t been great during their stay.After they departed we went back ashore with the laundry. The resort did our laundry for us while we went into town to get a few things to restock  Imagine.As soon as the laundry was ready we hauled anchor and set sail to a more protected bay around the corner.To get There we had to pass Million Dollar Point. It dosent look like much on the surface but below the water lie millions of dollars worth of goods dumped by the Americans at the end of WWII.

Million Dollar Point

After WWII the British and French colonizers thought the Americans would leave their goods behind, for using their island as a military base.To spite the British and French, the military made the rash decision to drive all of the vehicles, food, clothing, drinks, and other equipment to a wharf on the southern coast of the island. The army then drove all of the vehicles into the sea, used bulldozers to dump the rest of the supplies over the wharf, before also driving the bulldozers into the sea, ensuring that the European countries would not be able to get their hands on the items at all, free or otherwise. As a result of the dumping, the waters were contaminated with fuel, rubber, metal and other waste, leaving the local Vanuatuans shocked at the carnage, though they salvaged what they could once the Americans had finally departed. Today, you can make your way to Million Dollar Point and take a snorkel or scuba dive through the wreckage, should you desire to swim through this odd memorial to political spite. 

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This morning was grey, but not raining, so we decided to check out the town. Dinghy ride ashore then a walk through the resort brought us to the main road. There are no footpaths, we just had to walk on the edge of the road. On the way we past a sign promoting don’t litter Luganville. Then we came across a girls school just leaving on a school trip somewhere. You couldnt transport children like that in NZ.
The town was similar to Port Vila, shops that sell everything, supermarket and a fresh garden market. B and I went back to Imagine for lunch. Alex and Gina spent most of the day wandering around town.

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We got up to a grey sky and it was a bit chilly for the morning swim, so we had breakfast first. As the sky seems to clear up a bit we all decided to have a go at snorkelling around the boat and thinking of getting to that Bommie close by.B took too much time trying to adjust her snorkel mask and the sky turned grey again, Andrew wasn’t so keen anymore and only Gina had a quick wonder around Imagine.We then decided to leave that magical bay and go to Luganville on Santo. B helmed while Andrew slept. It only took two hours motoring to get to the other side of Aore Island and across to Santo.
Then the rain started and it rained and rained and is still raining. The was a short period about 4pm, where the rain eased a little, so we jumped into the dinghy and went ashore. We had anchored outside a resort, so we went to check out how Alex and Gina could get to the airport Thursday morning. The resort booked them a taxi. We found we could use the resorts laundry and bar. It would have been rude of us not to use their bar facilitates, so we ordered drinks. Unfortunately by the time we had finished the rain was bucketing down again. Yes we got soaked getting back to Imagine, but that’s boat life.