With plans to snorkel a reef that had excellent reviews we made an early move eleven-ish miles north. As soon as we were comfortable with the anchor we paddled into shore. It took a bit of searching but we found a very direct route with a steep up and a steep down into the village in the next bay. A man was feeding his pigs and soon we learned his name was Frankie and he could take us to a chief (which much later we learned was his father). He was super friendly and had pretty good English skills, which was more unusual as they speak French in this part of the country (along with their native language Bislama). Turns out Frankie is a teacher at the nearby secondary school teaching social science and French.
Tomorrow there is a big conference with a hundred politicians arriving to deliver speeches all day, so the villagers were all out making the village look sharp. A bonus for us, since they were outside, was lots of conversations. We met Frankie’s cousin before wandering in the direction we had seen lots of people coming that were carrying various cow parts. Turns out the village slaughtered a cow for tomorrow’s conference and everyone was getting their share. Definitely a pecking order as some received stomach/intestines while other much choicer cuts of meat. One villager with bloody hands came up and shook our hands (everyone we walked past would shake our hands). Right away he offered us some of his beef. Incredible. We graciously declined his offer and while talking vegetables he walked us over to meet his wife. Next thing we know he is filling a bag with taro root, huge yams, and two other vegetables. What did he want in return? Absolutely nothing, just a very generous person.
Reaching the end of the village we turned around and returning to Frankie’s cousin, he chops off a couple of green squash/bean vegetables. Again, just being generous, wanting nothing in return. We headed back to Frankie’s home and met his wife. Next thing we knew she was giving us vegetables too. With too much we trader her the casava for what she had given us. On went the tour, as we were led to an easier trail back to Sky Pond. We checked out the Catholic church and village primary school before diving into the jungle and around the rocky point. Yet another incredible experience with friendly and incredibly generous Vanuatuans.
In the afternoon there was a break in the clouds, so Carl and I hustled out to a reef to free dive. The swell was quite intense and it took a bit to find a piece of dead coral to tie off to. Into the water, I immediately realized this was going to be a great dive. Tons of colorful coral, so many different colors. We were near the edge of a wall and reaching it found lots of very large fish and more beautiful coral along the wall. What made this dive amazing were the caverns formed by the coral. Some big enough to swim into and around while others only a foot or two across. Keeping a tight eye on the dinghy, that it hadn’t come untied, we continued on and just kept finding new surprises. The best was having hundreds (300? 400? 500?) large parrot fish pour over the top of the reef, down the wall side in front of us. It was spectacular watching them split left and right of us. They just kept coming and coming.
The visibility was 60-70 feet and looking out I kept expecting to see a shark or two. But nope, just fish. Around one point Carl spotted a huge grouper, maybe 5 feet long. Worrying about the dinghy we began our swim the way we came enjoying each of the spots again. Neither of us was ready to stop so after seeing the dinghy was safe we swam downwind checking out more. About where were turned around was a large trigger fish. A bit skittish it didn’t stick around too long but long enough for a good look.
Our first attempt back to the dinghy was over the top of the reef but with the 2-3 foot breaking waves it was just too big of a risk getting pounded into the coral, so back to the edge we followed the wall. One last surprise in store, was a large white tip shark cruising the bottom just before the dinghy. He didn’t pay us any attention and that was a good thing. Into the dinghy and back to Sky Pond with huge smiles and an excited conversation about our dive.
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