How quickly this week in Vanuatu has flown by. Suddenly it's time to leave... We set sail tomorrow and it'll be a long haul until we hit land again. Maybe too long. I'll be ready to be on land, and stay on land for a while...

So many things have just become part of life since I left Atlanta 3 weeks ago: Wearing flips flops. All the time. Transportation by dinghy. Meeting at the the yacht club. A hot sun. Shopping in markets. A pocketful of foreign change. Getting wet. Being wet. Coconuts.

Some new Australian and Kiwi friends and I went to the kava bar last night. It was just one of those things that I had to try - it would be a shame to be here, where the kava is "famous," and not have a go at it. We wandered through dark streets and alleys to the nakamel (Bislama for kava bar) which was recommended by a local. The definition of "bar" as we know it does not apply to the drinking of kava. It was nothing more than a tin-roofed shack, with a red light on the street in the front of the structure to let us know it's a kava bar. Brings whole new meaning to red light district... We went "inside," and in the darkness and hushed tones we could barely see a bunch of ni-Vanuatu men sitting on wooden benches. Besides the conversations in Bislama, there was a lot of hacking and spitting on the ground. The reason for this became very apparent to us very soon. Glad we had shoes on. The only light in the place came from a single lightbulb behind a counter where another ni-Vanuatu gentleman was dishing out the kava. We placed our order and were handed gray-dirty-dishwater-looking liquid in dingy Chinese plastic soup bowls. Drinking kava was a tradition/custom where you drank kava with tribal chiefs out of special coconut shells during a ceremony. Evidently, its evolution as a daily social activity brought on the Chinese soup bowls. I sat there looking tentatively at the gray murky liquid and sniffing it, as if it were wine. Troy, Sonia and Daniel had all had it before in Fiji and Tonga, so knew the drill. We all said "cheers" and downed the bowlful like a shot of liquor. Shock to the system. Once you got over the horrible taste oozing down your throat, and the silty residue that the stuff left on your teeth (hence the hacking and spitting), you just sit there in the dark, chatting and waiting for it to take effect. Slowly, your teeth and lips start to go numb. The Vanuatu kava is particularly potent - 10 times more so than anywhere else in the South Pacific. It's technically a narcotic which is used as anesthetic in some places, and outlawed altogether in other places. You get very mellow and chill out, and it's actually a pretty relaxing experience. After a few more bowlfuls, we all could feel the effects and were spitting ourselves. You can't really help it. I felt like I was having a slightly out-of-body experience, where my hearing and sight were on a time delay. Daniel and Sonia both felt like they were on a Gravitron ride - the carnival ride where you're spun round and round and the floor drops from beneath you - and they felt a buzzing sound in their face. Troy was just kinda quiet. We had some pretty weird interesting conversations, though I don't know if it had anything to do with the kava - eating worms and moths, the Brady Bunch theme song, trying to remember the name of Judy Jetson's dog... Getting up to walk back was a hoot. You feel unsteady and can't really stand still and balance for too long. Falling asleep was no problem last night and there wasn't a "hangover" this morning. It was fun talking with all these guys while in a haze, but I doubt I'll go back for more tonight.

The Soren Larsen has been anchored here (check out sorenlarsen.co.nz) since we've been here. What a cool boat/sight to see on the horizon. It's a 150-ft "pirate ship" (I think it's called a tall ship) that looks like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean - a wooden boat with large square sails. They take passengers on voyages around the world who chip in as crew, sailing like they did in the olden days. Everything is manual and it takes every single one of the hired crew of 13 to run the ship. 5 people to pull up the mainsail, no winches. Seems like a cool experience, though they work pretty hard. The crew sign on for 1-year stints, everything from first mate to sailmaker to cook. Everyone I've met has been very adventurous.

Just in this harbor I've seen boats from all over the world - San Francisco, Bristol England, Seattle, Canada, Oz, and NZ. Cool names like Ceilidh, Lightspeed, Albatross, Kim-Thu, Matucada, Anteaus. Apparently it's bad luck to re-name a boat once it's been christened - lots of pressure, naming a boat.

Went scuba diving a bunch while I was here and it was amazing stuff to see. A cyclone came through earlier this year and damaged a lot of the coral reef so it was pretty brown and colorless, but even so, the fish life was great and it was cool to see the coral start to regenerate slowly. One guy I dove with had just run into a "du gong" (manatee/sea cow) while snorkeling the other day. All kinds of stuff down there... I also dove a cool wreck called the Konanda - it was a trading ship that was damaged in a cyclone and was sunk about 30 years ago. Advice: cyclone season is not a good time to be in the South Pacific.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any of the other 80 islands that make up Vanuatu, and am sad that we haven't cruised to other places. There are live volcanoes, cool villages, bush, and lots of amazing scenery all around. I may just have to come back one day. I hadn't even HEARD of Vanuatu until 3 months ago...

We found out this morning that Jo has literally jumped ship. She went out clubbing last night and met some guys who offered her a job in Vanuatu as a bookie. She's a brave girl to take them up on it - I don't think I could do it. I guess adventures are all about going with the flow. Kinda sucks for us though - it'll be a lot of hard work and little sleep to get ourselves the 1,800 miles to Darwin. At least I know there will be lots more experiences to share and stories to tell when I sign on again in Australia... :)

Until then, hope all is great where you are. Keep the emails coming!
Judy