Rowan had organised a trip with Marcel to go and see the dugongs, turned out Marcel was operating from Australia and it was his Dad Kalo, here in the village who was taking us. He picked us up off the boat at 8am and we set off to the reefs, near the entrance to the channel we arrived at yesterday. We did two long drift snorkels with his two lads who were in the water with us looking for the dugongs. We saw some nice coral and fish, a few turtles, and a couple of sharks deep down. We got back in the boat and went to a second spot and swam for ages with lovely coral, so we were not too disappointed. We saw a lovely flock(?) of 9 Eagle Rays, 3 appeared to just lie down on the sea bed as we hovered over them. Finally we saw a dugong in the distance, but only fleetingly and Rob missed it altogether. We got out again and finally spotted some air bubbles, they are mammals so come up for air, we got back in and found 4 mums with calves and two solitary dugongs, maybe the males. Breeding season is December so Kalo said the calves were about 6 months old. They were very cute and never left their mum’s sides. They also had remora fish attached to them, they clean off all the parasites off the dugong’s skin. They are herbivores and eat the sea grass, not threatening at all, but they are protected and not to be touched or get too close to. They swam around with us for quite a while but soon took off. They were very special to see and a great way to end the morning.
The villagers out in their boats, crossing to their farm lands
Kalo
Karlo’s son driving and the two snorkelling scouts
Rowan’s brilliant video, starting with sunrise over the village, the dugongs and the coral reef
We got back to the boat around midday, and finally had breakfast. Karlo had given us delicious fresh coconut juice on the boat, which was very refreshing. Carlroy, who came around yesterday, arrived a little later with loads of bananas, limes, pawpaws and coconuts for us. We asked if he wanted to trade with us or money. He chose to trade. Rowan gave him some old clothes including a fleece vest and some shoes, he was over the moon with his loot!
Around 3pm we went into the village with Rob and Frances to go for a walk. We met a delightful well spoken man called Stuart who offered to take us around the whole island visiting the three villages. He was a teacher, but not teaching as they were on strike. It didn’t sound like he had much option in the matter, he was incredibly eloquent and friendly. We met loads of his family on our walk. The island has 1200 people living on it, a big primary school with 300 pupils and the older kids go off to boarding school. All the villages have a grid of streets that are all beautifully maintained. Between the villages are big wide pathways, used by bicycles, but not a single vehicle on the small island. The homes and gardens were all beautifully maintained, definitely a huge sense of pride and everyone is so friendly. It was a wonderful walk, the vegetation is so lush and shady in the heat. There is no wind and it was really steamy.
Coming into the village on the dinghy
An outdoor kitchen
The village streets on a grid
Mainly traditional houses
PolePole from the village
The school…solar panels unattached to batteries
Stuart our guide, on the main road between the villages, for bicycles and walkers, no vehicles on the island
Wonky palm trees from the cyclones, swallows everywhere, one caught at the top of the picture
Skinny little, hairy pigs
Another village street
All the villages are on the water
Stunning gardens, with lawns all mown by strimmers
Lots of mangrove swamps
Shady road between the islands, with crab holes everywhere
A very smart house
A meeting shelter
Very strange cloud building up
Last street back to the dinghy
Poor little colourful reef fish being sold, we wouldn’t buy them as there is a lot of ciguatera poisoning about, but they ignore it
Canoes returning and youngsters swimming, all very jovial and hearty. Just sad to see so many mobile phones creeping in.
In the evening Kalo invited us to bring our supper to share with his family. His wife Nina, prepared a laplap for us, cassava base with a chicken curry on top with red hot stones that gets wrapped in layers of banana leaves and then cooked underground in a stone oven. It was a brilliant full moon, very atmospheric. We started with a cava drink, the most potent we have tried so far! Tastes incredibly bitter, dries out your mouth and leaves a slight tingling sensation. Kalo owns some bungalows that her rents out to tourists, he has an idyllic spot on the edge of the village. Next week end is a big religious ceremony for locals and the entire island is booked out with 600 guests. Glad we timed our visit right! Kalo was an interesting guy, he was chosen to be trained as a sailing skipper in NZ, he was part of a rally of traditional sailing outrigger canoes from the islands, that sailed to Hawaii, sometime around 2010. They steered and navigated without any modern instruments. Quite incredible.
It was a delicious laplap, she squeezed fresh coconut milk onto it, after the unwrapping. His family was pretty big with 4 adult kids and 9 grandchildren to feed. You need a lot of the cassava gloop with one chicken to go around that amount of people. I brought a big leek, tomato and bacon pasta dish with cheese to spread on top. Frances brought a loaf of bread and a creamy feta dip. It was a very special dinner, finished off with the usual pawpaw and pamplemousse palate cleansers. Finished eating and the evening was over. They have a few solar lights but that is it. We are fully embracing early nights.
Cava drinking
Kalo’s own little bay
Nina unwraps the laplap, she is wearing a traditional Vanuatuan dress
Opening up the Laplap
Finally the chicken curry has the hot stones removed and fresh coconut milk squeezed over it
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