Life as a Duck !!!!

Off to Vanuatu.  This started as an inexpensive way to stay 6 more months in Fiji, it became a week vacation with plans to dive and visit a very active volcano.   When you enter Fiji you get a Visa for a 4 month stay.  For $96Fj, you can get a 2 month extension.  Then the 6 month extension costs almost $800 Fj pp and entails a good deal of paperwork.  So we opted for the $644 return airfare.

We left Bruce at the Tanoa International and we went off to Vanuatu for a vacation from our retirement.  We arrive to grey skies, a sign!  Hmmmmm.  We were very pleasantly surprised when we saw Breadfruit apartments, they matched the pictures, perfect!  So after unpacking we walked down the street to Bon Marche Supermarket.  French cheese, duck breasts, baguettes, and local beef…haven!  With a glass of wine, beside our pool, we toasted our vacation. 

Saturday was a walk around town, Port Vila.  We booked diving and an around the island tour.  At the local market we scored RASPBERRIES!!  Yummmy, Yummmy, Yummmmmy!  Back to our apartment for an afternoon swim and a glass of wine.  Life is good.

A quick check of the weather, and oops, what do we see?  Potential for a Tropical Cyclone, and we are just north of its track!  Hmmmm. 

Next day, around the island.  Not our best tour, besides the weather was not our friend.  The island is lush, yes, that means it rains a lot!  A good deal of coast plane, perfect for beef production and we can attest to that.

Early to bed as we are getting picked up at 7:30 for a dive.  We did a wreck dive, Konanda Wreck, sort of cool.  Then a nice shallow dive, twin bombies, with good fish and some corals.  The water temperature was awesome, no need for hoods or gloves, a nice treat.  It started to rain between dives and was getting heavy by the time we got back.  And that was the start.

Wine anyone




Mirror Mirror  on the wall okay in the sea

Hey Little buddy which way do we go??? A little puffer fish

It got heavier, then only a downpour, then heavier and then heavier and then lets describe standing behind a waterfall and looking out!  Get the picture?

Tuesday we check the weather, we are supposed to be flying to Tanna, then a four wheel drive and a hike to the volcano.  Cheryl called and they said the trip was on.  Meanwhile we are looking out the window and we can’t see a break in the waterfall.  We get a call back about ½ hour later cancelling the trip.  So in a break in the rain we go to the dive shop.  No they are not diving because of rain and the winds are forecast to increase.

This way Karen I have the camera :)

So what do we do?  We play cards, watch TV, read books, watch TV, play cards,  read, watch TV, we are so caught up on TV!  When the rain stopped we went for a walk,  that was on Thursday, got back to the lake, which use to be our road, just as it started raining again!  And then we watched TV, played cards and read!

We did have two lovely meals of duck, local beef twice and ate out on our last night.  Have you ever had wild pigeon?  All we can say is:  where is the beef!

A star is born

If you were a duck, it was a great week.  We have to go back.

Oh, by the way, flying back to Fiji the captain comes on to say that there is a lightning storm and we may have to circle for a while before we land!  Instead we landed and then couldn’t get off the plane as the airport had a no movement order because of the storm!  This time, no TV, thank goodness!

 

 

 

                                                                 Quack, Quack!