Travelblog July Part 5 The weekend in Luganville was extremely restful and allowed me to reorganize plans for the rest of the month. Alanna left us on Monday, and I sent Will and Iza to Vila where they had planned to spend the rest of the month. By Tuesday all the original expedition members had flown off to their destinations, so that same day I caught a truck up to the Big Bay Bush, and by Thursday I had a new set of volunteers. The first trip to the Big Bay Bush was to survey the roads for safety, before taking [View Full Entry]

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Travelblog July Part 4 “If you come across an 30 inch tall, naked infant that is holding a 36 inch blade vertically over his head as he stares you in the face and cries his little eyes out in fear…you may be in Sulemari Village.” On our first night in Sulemari, the boys in our team went to the river to have a swim and wash the road dirt from our backs. On our return to the village we were shirtless, dripping wet, and showing a great deal of exposed WHITE skin. When we stumbled out of the jungle and into [View Full Entry]

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Travelblog July 2009 Part 3 On our first day in the Pareo Valley our team split forces. One group headed up the steep North side of the valley to survey the villages there while another group stayed on the valley floor for the villages there. Another group yet stayed with our newly laid camp. The hike up the North side of the valley is a very steep climb. The distance as the crow flies is less than 6 miles, but you’re also moving from sea level to well over 2000 ft in elevation. We knew better than to carry full packs [View Full Entry]

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By day five it was time to move on to our next base camp. We hired some local porters to guide the team and carry some of our extra gear. Carolyn, a teacher at the school, and her husband walked with us for a great while and were a great help. Most of the hike that day was on flat ground or beach, but the final push to get us to the Jungle Mountain Clinic was up a bit of an incline. We took our time and got up the hill to the JMC, but it was a struggle with all [View Full Entry]

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So one little thing that happened during this first bit of the month involved a wayward canoe. I'd almost forgotten about it until the photo popped up in one of the other volunteer's picture caches. On our second day out of Luganville we were motoring up the coast to Wusi in a water taxi. Near the end of our trip I spied a dugout canoe floating idly off the shore. There was nobody in the canoe and it didn't look like anyone was swimming around it. I would have been more surprised to see a local Ni-Vanuatu swimming in the ocean [View Full Entry]

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All volunteers assembled, we were ready to head off. Some had come before others, but time was of the essence and much training was to be done on the fly. We had a fire-building seminar on the beach the day before leaving and the camp pots had been broken in. The volunteers were fit, the hikes ahead were rough, and thankfully the maps were still dry. Before we drove off into the sunset and away from Luganville, however, there was one little hiccup. Our transport for the run had fallen through and a new ride had to be arranged. The company [View Full Entry]

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Travel Blog 6-24, Luganville. It’s business…It’s business time… “That’s why they call them business socks…” I arrived in Luganville yesterday morning after two weeks in Port Vila, taking care of business. I don’t actually own business socks, but I did bring along a single shirt that would be appropriate to wear in an office. Let me tell you, in the past few weeks that shirt has gotten a work out. For those of you that don’t know me in my natural habitat, Vanuatu, it should be noted that shirts, shoes, and shaving are unco [View Full Entry]

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Well everyone, it’s time to start up the ‘ol blog once again. I made it to Vanuatu after a couple hours in transit (37) and luckily all my luggage made it through too. There was a bit of hassle at the Brisbane airport that forced me to shill out a heap of cash that I didn’t want to spend but all-in-all things worked out in the end. I guess the airlines don’t like it when you travel with as many bags as I do, especially when they weigh as much as mine. Oddly, less than 25% of the gear was actually [View Full Entry]

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Today begins the last month of the year and many things are coming to an end. Among the list of wrap-ups is my time here in the South Pacific. Tomorrow I head back to the states with a short stop in Fiji for a couple of hours. I love flying East over the dateline because gaining a day always makes me feel so time efficient. I'll spend 22 hours in transit and still land 3-4 hours before I left. Back to the Future indeed. Last month in Australia was not as productive as I would have preferred. My dream was to [View Full Entry]

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Rivendel II is a 43 foot yacht and has been in the Project MARC family since the beginning. In the early days of the organization, Rivendel II served as the main office, main transport, main storage facility, and main clinic. Together with the Henk and Nelleke Meuzellar this boat was a founder of Project MARC, and like the retiring human founders it is time for her to get a break. While Rivendale will not be decommissioned as a sailing vessel it will be taken off the front lines of Project MARC's expeditions and sold to a good owner in Australia. To [View Full Entry]

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