Island of Nguna, Village of Utanlang
May 13
May 13 - We got up early and headed into town to buy a few last minute supplies and then met the boat (The Azur) at the pier. It was drizzly but warm and there was no wind. Here's Brendan as we head out of Port Vila.
The cabin of the boat. This boat is a large Japanese fishing boat, but its used to transport cargo between the islands. Everyone aboard was a crew member, all ni-Vanuatu! There was one man who spoke fluent English so we spent time talking to him.
I'm bracing myself as the wind picks up! We saw TONS of flying fish on the way to Nguna. Some were small and looked like butterflies but others were as big as birds!
The onboard toilet which I did NOT use.
After about 2.5 hours we passed Hat Island which is on the west side of Efate.
Howdy Captain!
After 5 hours we finally made it to the Island of Nguna (NOO-nah).(
SEE MAP)
The village we stayed at is called Utanlang (OOH-tuh-long). The Azur met up with the Oiseau Bleu, a fishing boat owned by LTP, and we got aboard so that the Azur could keep going north. The captain of the Oiseau Bleu, Phillip, said he would be taking us to the village because he knows the owner of the guest bungalow. The Oiseau Bleu got us in closer to the shore, then we got in a small dinghy that brought us all the way in. This is the first look we got of our accomodations.
The guest bungalow's owner's name is Jimmy and he's very proud of his bungalow. They don't get very many visitors though.
Here is the picnic table adjacent to the bungalow where we ate all our meals.
The landscape of Nguna.
This little girl was washing a pot with sand. I found out later that the little kids were all on school vacation. There is a small school in the village. The beach is long and crescent shaped but is made of dead coral rather than sand, so unless you have tough feet, you have to wear sandals.
The Oiseau Bleu from the beach
The seasickness pills we took made us very drowsy so we took a nap once we'd had a breif tour of the village. The thatched roof leaked right on Brendan's bed, you can see his shirt is wet in the middle.
When we got up there was a beautiful rainbow - it looked like a scene from a movie!
