As promised we left the anchorage, we dragged ourselves away as it was such a lovely spot, but the wind was changing and we were no longer going to be sheltered there. We moved further north to the top of Efate island, the main island which is where Port Vila is. We came out between the two islands and felt the full force of the wind and the waves. The storm had whipped the waves up, they were huge and bouncy, Rala had warned us as they left before us. It gave us a good chance to secure everything and not get taken by surprise. We finally rounded the top of the island and there is was peaceful and calm.
Rala and Aldabra went to the far corner of the bay, Rowan had spotted a very nice sandy looking spot, so we stopped off there. The colour of the water was incredible, and we were welcomed by dolphins swimming all around, they all charged up to the boat, but when we put the anchor down that chased them away. Rowan jumped in to check on the anchor and tried to go and swim the dolphins, but they were way too quick.
Once settled we went and had a snorkel. There were some lovely big pieces of coral and good fish. Sadly the visibility wasn’t that good, the storm must have churned everything up. I’m also a little wary of the sharks at the moment, shark attacks are more common here in Vanuatu and a person was killed by a shark last week. Not the docile reef sharks we are used to.
I was itching to do some walking to stretch our legs, so late afternoon we headed to the gorgeous white beach. We had to navigate our way carefully through the coral to get in. We tied up and hadn’t walked far when we saw some people gesticulating to us. We went to see them, a woman whose face was deformed from too much botox, with the reddest eyes told us the beach was private and we could not stay. We explained we thought the beaches were public, she said in Taihiti they are but not here. Her daughter was with her and far more stroppy. We apologised and said we would go, she obviously had a change of heart and said we could go for a walk as we were already there but we must not come back again. She said the whole stretch of beach was private, and the same rules apply next door at Cate Blanchett’s house! We went for a walk as far as we could, a couple of nice private homes, with a local property in the middle. Some lovely trees right down to the water. Rowan decided the lady was Russian, they have removed all the trees along their stretch of beach which is very sad.
It was still a great place to anchor, gorgeous blue water and stunning scenery. We had a wonderful sunset with the noise of loads of little birds coming in to roost.
Leaving our Tabu beach
Going out the narrow pass to sea with our sails up
Wild seas outside with big waves
Rough waters
Loads of white beaches
Our anchorage at the top of Efate Island, we left our anchorage near the a of Lelepa Island, you can see the narrow pass we had to go through to get out to sea
Dolphins greet us, in front of the Russian’s house
Swimming up to the boat
Rowan trying to swim with the dolphins, but heads in the wrong direction!
Dolphins swimming in front of Cate Blanchett’s house
Water is a stunning colour
Rowing over the coral
Good pic of PolePole with a volcano behind her
So many shells, especially cowries
Amazing tree hanging in there
A tangle of roots
Evening light
Soft powder white beach covered in shells
Like a mill pond at the end of the day
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