Blogs from Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu, Oceania

In September 2012, Paul and I had one of the most amazing holidays in Vanuatu. We had the pleasure of staying four nights in Port Vila. We went to relax and chill out, yet we experienced so much more! Vanuatu has the friendliest people and beautiful, natural landscapes I've seen. In our time there we got to drive buggies through the jungle, spend time with local villagers, swim in the Cascades Waterfalls, visit the Secret Garden and eat at a Melanesian feast, plus much more! We stayed in the most beautiful and secluded resort in Port Vila called Paradise Cove. It was 25 minute drive from the centre of town and only had 10 bungalows.The resort is set in an established tropical garden and on a beautiful reef, which is great for snorkelling and swimming. We ... read more

I've dragged myself to write today's blog, and yesterdays blog for what I can remember of it - well most of it was spent in the office so not much to say! I think there will be more periods where i'm just unable to write a blog every night, mainly due to being too tired or just too busy. So I might do it every other day or so. Yesterday (19/08/11) consisted of waking up at 6am again (naturally) packing my bags, having breakfast in my room, sorting out a few things with important things in safe pockets/distance from me and so on. I then checked out from the over priced hotel, 7,500 vatu per night. Which comes to something like £40-50 per night! Really isn't as cheap as i expected it to be at all. ... read more

Hello again everyone! Today I find myself back in Port Vila in the hospitality of good friends and familiar faces. Project MARC's 2011 season will officially kick off in a couple weeks, but Dr. Hilbert and I are here early for prep and planning of our August expedition. Keep up with us here for further updates on our progress with the expeditions or follow us on Twitter for blurbs from the bush! Thanks for the support and for keeping interested in Vanuatu! ... read more

Back in Efate again - at least this time it is not raining - WOW it looks so much nicer. As usual we had nothing booked on arriving at airport, after trying one place (too expensive) we ened up at the Nirvana. Great place but empty - as usual we were the only guests. This place had a coral beach, although the same issue of only being able to swim at high tide. We worked out the last day would be great as the tide would be high around 10am, it was really not warm enough to swim prior to that. On our way to this resort we went past a Surf shop - and yes they DO surf. I had never heard of surfing in Vanuatu - but then I had not heard anything much ... read more

While most people are familiar with Tahiti, not so many have been to some of the more remote South Pacific islands. Although on the surface most of these islands look the same—palm trees, sand and verdant mountains--they are in fact very different both culturally and economically. So as we hopscotch across the Pacific we get to experience Polynesian, Melanesian, French, English and Indian lifestyles and influences. Our first port was supposed to be Samoa. However, en route we encountered the tail end of a cyclone and had to cancel that call. We had been looking forward to visiting the fabled Aggie Grey’s hotel and also to check out the effects of the recent tsunami. The tsunami struck without warning in September and caused tremendous damage and loss of life. I’m sure an infusion of tourist dollars ... read more