Vanuatu

We arrived in Port Vila harbour, Vanuatu, on a Friday morning after an arduous 4 days and nights crossing from Fiji. As we called into Customs on the VHF to begin the check-in process, a voice friendly to Ruby Soho came over the radio. Chris from Dragon Fly was already in harbour, a boat that our crew knew well. He gave us the low down on getting into the country and a warm welcome, zooming over to greet us in his dinghy.

It was a relief to be in such a beautiful, protected harbour after facing the swell of the open ocean. The crew took immediate advantage to pop a bottle of bubbly, and to clean boat and bodies before relaxing aboard. And all could rest easy by the way, as Chris delivered the news that Obama had won the U.S. election.

We took the dinghy to shore and were very excited to be on terra firma once again! Also, Port Vila turned out to be a very cute little town, with a small souvenir market and a great coffee shop with free wifi and a view of the harbour, where the crew spent a few caffeine-fueled sessions of email catch up.

After mooring Ruby Soho at the dock, we took advantage to run a few errands including stocking up on fresh produce at the local market, where the people were very friendly and relaxed. It was the lowest pressure from sellers that we had encountered throughout our trip, which made for a fun experience of exploring the options from the local gardens.

We continued to re-discover our favourite little coffee shop in the harbour to carry on catching up with “real life” on the net. So funny that free internet cafes, which were so hard to find in Australia, were so easy to find in less developed countries like Cambodia and Fiji!

We arrived in Vanuatu on a Friday night, which meant we started things right with a thorough exploration of the happy hours around town. We bought some tasty Vanutian beef that we made into shish-kabobs for an early dinner, and then the evening started at 5pm with a visit to the Grand Casino Hotel patio for happy hour drinks with a view.

At 6pm we promptly moved up to the other bar in the hotel where there were free canapés (woohoo!), and once again, happy hour. It certainly doesn’t take much to make a thirsty crew of seven happy!

We then wandered down the street in search of entertainment, which we found aplenty at the Anchor Inn.  With a live band and livelier dance floor, we settled in to drink and dance the night away.  The ladies dominated the dance floor, and occasionally they were even able to get the boys out to cut the rug for a few of the songs. Jen proved her worth as a valuable “wing woman” and managed to score a good-looking girl for our friend Dan, and with her friends she added to the merriment of the evening.

The next day we had plans to rent a car and drive around the main island of Efate, part of the Vanuatu Island chain, and the island that has Port Vila and the International Vanuatu Airport.  Things started off normally, as we made our way to the Cascades, a series of inland waterfalls. However, as we pulled into the parking lot, Alex suddenly made the last minute excuse of having to meet up with a local carpenter who would be working on the boat while we were in town, and left us with plans of returning in an hour. We were sad that he had to go, but it was a beautiful spot and we enjoyed walking along the pathway towards the falls.

When we reached the top, the scenery made the entrance fee more than worthwhile; the waterfalls were gorgeous, and made a fantastic backdrop for our “Vogue cover shoot”!

We splashed around for a bit, then headed back down to enjoy a drink at the bar, where Alex met up with us again. The next plan was to head towards a beach for snorkelling, and given that it was not a very large island, we were surprised when we got lost on the way and ended up at the airport. Alex jumped out to ask for directions, while Adey went off in search of a drink…things were getting decidedly strange. Suddenly, we see a familiar brown figure running towards us behind Alex – it was our good friend, Ashlin Alexander, all the way from Australia!!  We had been completely duped, and it was great, as we had no idea that he was coming to spend a week with us on the boat.  Also, he met a lovely girl on the plane, Jude, and we all ended up hanging out that afternoon as well as the following weekend when upon our return we partied with Jude and her girl friends who had flown in separately.

That night we went out again on the town after a “big family” Vietnamese Pho dinner at the local restaurant. We met some local Rastafarians who were super friendly, gave great recommendations for a local bar and ended up spending the night hanging out with us.  We moved on to Shakers, a cool bar with dance floor, and then ended the night at a kava bar.  This was a really interesting experience, as kava is a local root that is ground and strained into a cucumber-mud tasting concoction.  It is very popular with the locals, especially the men, and Vanuatu has a reputation for having very strong kava compared to places like Fiji.  It numbs the mouth, gives a feeling of relaxation, and is supposed to be taken with no alcohol.  A very weird and interesting drink! The kava bar was also quite colourful with a bunch of locals hanging out in the dim light of candles.  We mosied up to one of the kiosks and had the usual three cups, which are essentially chugged because of the bad taste. It was cool to find a “real” kava bar through the locals (there were definitely no other tourists around!), and afterwards we all stumbled back to the boat for a good night’s rest.

The next day we got up early and took the rented car for a four hour drive around the island.  We found a natural hot spring and mud baths where we could splash and roll around for a small fee.  Run by a family of locals, the water minerals and mud were reported to have healing powers, so we all got down and dirty. This classy affair and the surprise arrival of Ashlin provided the perfect backdrop for a classic man-meet photo.

Vanutian Spa Life!

We returned the car rental at noon and then spent the next few hours getting ready for a short overnight crossing from the main island of Vanuatu, Efate, to the more northern island, Epi.  The plan was to spend a few days in the north and slowly make our way back down to Efate in time for us to catch our plane back to Canada, and for Ashlin to head back to Australia.

The crossing started off well, with beautiful sun and calm winds, and we had a chance to admire Dan’s new tattoo, a gorgeous bit of art that covered his entire calf.

However, it wasn’t long before the seas were tossing us to and fro again, and we went back on our shifts for the overnight sail. 

We arrived at Epi in the morning, and it was a beautiful island with black volcanic sand, a bay teeming with turtles and a cute, clean and quiet little village.  We went ashore to meet the chief, and brought Fijian kava as an offering.  After receiving permission to explore the island, we snorkelled with the large turtles around our boat. A family from the village paddled by and we had the fun opportunity to donate clothes as a memento of our visit to their waters.

With the underwater exploration coming to an end, the boys got to do some bonding Zoolander style, seductively showering together off the back of the boat.  Ahhhh!!! The ladies were obviously powerless against this performance...

We went back ashore in the afternoon to explore the island and meet some of the locals. Adey and Ben struck up a friendly soccer ball circle on the pier with one of the older boys, and the younger kids would run around just waiting for the chance to jump into the water to be the first to grab a stray ball, and also showing off their own formidable soccer skills.

The girls sat on the pier and chatted while watching the beautiful sunset. It was a peaceful afternoon that continued with some cheap beers and dinner at the only hostel on the island.

We spent the next few days boating around, and Ashlin got a chance to practice his seamanship by going up on the mast to help with some maintenance work.  Of course safety is first on the boat, so he had on the full get up, and dangled off the mast with ease…

Ashlin also got to compete with Alex and Ben’s fishing trophies, reeling in a whopping…3 inch fishy. Way to go, Ashlin!










All were later duly impressed when Ashlin was selected to grace the cover of Yachtsman of the Year magazine...

Patricia tried her hand at jibbing, which was an unproductive but relaxing pastime on the boat.

At a smaller village on another island that we passed on our way back towards Vanuatu, we stretched our legs with a hike up to a telecommunications tower on a hill. We had met the locals the previous night, when the boys got to enjoy a typical kava ceremony, with the added benefit of the concoction being strained through a pair of old shorts. Yum. On the upside, a local came on our hike the next day and showed us the hidden paths to get around. Our walk to the top was rewarded with beautiful views of the ocean.

We arrived back to the main island of Efate on Friday, with our planes home leaving the next day. That night we partied it up, meeting with Jude and her friends for some crazy dancing at the yacht club.  Adey had declared a “hair-off” earlier in the trip between himself and Ben. That night the completion was extended to include Jude and an impressive crazy old party guy, who easily took the crown. 

It was a full night of fun, and we stumbled home in a happy daze to jump into our beds and dream about sunny seas.

The next day we had to say our goodbyes to the amazing crew of Ruby Soho. The sailing ship was headed on a 10-day crossing to Bundaberg, Australia, and our incredible journey was drawing close to its end! It had been a wonderful three weeks of adventure on the high seas. Our sailing knowledge had increased by leaps and bounds, and we were so fortunate to have had a “real” crossing experience.

As we boarded the plane, it finally hit us – we were actually going home! After a year of travelling around the world, on a trip that we had been dreaming about for a very long time, we were feeling a mix of emotions. It had been the most wonderful, amazing experience, but it was also great to be heading back to our favourite city in the world, Vancouver.  We have realized how fortunate we are as residents of Canada in such a beautiful setting, and despite visiting many surreal places during our trip, none were as pleasing to us as our own hometown.  This realization has been one of the many benefits of this trip.  We are also more aware and grateful for what we have, and after spending months in tiny hostel rooms, a campervan, and a boat, our Vancouver apartment and our usual possessions will seem very grand indeed. 

Thankfully we had a visit with our friend Amanda Potts during a stopover in LA to distract us from thoughts about our return home. We met her at the restaurant Encounters beside the airport, and it was an excited frenzy of stories and catching up on each other’s lives while we took full advantage of our limited time together.

Another way to have an easier transition to coming home is to have a friend surprise you with an airport pick-up and arrival gifts, which is exactly what our good friend Brydone did. It was so great to see a friendly face in the arrival lounge, and to be able to just relax on the way home. It also didn’t hurt that we had the most amazing tenants in the world, who left our place professionally cleaned, with brand new bedsheets, pillows, towels and bathmat, as well as a bottle of wine and flowers. Very nice!!

On reflection during those final flights home, we knew A Year In the Life had been well spent. It was a wonderful, fantastic, amazing, stupendous, glorious, unforgettable, crazy, impulsive time. But an experience such as this is only worth undertaking when you’ve got amazing people to share it with. In the end, that’s what really matters.

Thank you to our friends and family who followed us and supported us on our adventures - you were with us in spirit every step of the way.  What we’re most looking forward to is coming home to you!