I have returned from Vanuatu

Well I have been gone for a while [ left on the 7th] and Bloss was thinking I would never return, but here I am , back to the world of responsibillity [ yuk].

Had a glamour passage across, glassy calm all the way, heap's of fish,hooked into a few marlin and saw them jumping, but never had a hope in hell of landing and adventure a plenty on arrival in the Island's.

Visited lot's of villages setting up contract's for cray's and crab's, spent a bit of time at arguably the best resort in Vanuatu at no expense as the boat owner was good mates with the resort owner.

http://www.bokissa.vu/

Had a Cyclone on the 28th March, my Birthday, which had us heading down to Port Sandwich on Malakula to try and secure a good anchorage, we did well, a few other's were less fortunate and ended up on the reef, no lives lost though.

Can't wait for the next trip hopfully before Xmas to take the next boat across and feast on Cray's and get into some Kava again at the Nakamal on Bokissa Island

Pic of typical sea state on trip over and some fish caught on the way, the last pic you can see a bit of shark action on the smaller yellowfin tuna to the left.

BB

Some more pic's of the rock's at the very top of New Cal and the big game reel's we used that could not stop Marlin, a big coral trout, and the boat on her mooring out the front of Nambawan Cafe at Port Villa.

BB

Looks like a great trip BB

I've had a few trips to Santos Isl. to dive the Pres. Coolidge.

Welcome home BBoy. The fish caught in the second pic; did you catch them with a blow from the bat? Got some interesting dents in it.

turk said:

Looks like a great trip BB

I've had a few trips to Santos Isl. to dive the Pres. Coolidge.

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Next time you go check out Bokissa Island eco resort.

Sensational, and they do all the sites and have nitrox for tech dives as well.

They also have a nice walk off the beach wreck in about 20 metres, do night dives and shark dives.

BB

Brenda Irwin said:

Welcome home BBoy. The fish caught in the second pic; did you catch them with a blow from the bat? Got some interesting dents in it.

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Some of them were'nt happy to see us and they did need subduing.

Large thrashy fish, sharp teeth and hook's.

BB

BoatBoy said:

Some of them were'nt happy to see us and they did need subduing.

Large thrashy fish, sharp teeth and hook's.

BB

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Ahh, so it's a meat tenderiser.

Just had a pic sent by my mate there (nice fish, shame about the dick togs) theres a song in that http://www.lyricsdownload.com/monks-nice-legs-shame-about-the-face-lyrics.html

He is making noise about another trip this time bringing a 65 ft ex-scallop boat over from Melbourne, so again, fish all the seamounts on the way, go Via the Bottom of New Caledonia this time and then come up through the bottom of Vanuatu via Tanna and Yasur Volcano.

Might get to see Osama Bin Laden while i'm there.

Dave

Things are looking more promising for the trip, and have just been listening to some Ni-Van music again to get me in the mood.

How can you not like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDq2sHCtwU

The other Lautano 2 songs are great as well

Dave

Gee Dave you are having a tough life

What does Bloss do while you are off slaving?

Chris

BoatBoy said:

Things are looking more promising for the trip, and have just been listening to some Ni-Van music again to get me in the mood.

How can you not like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDq2sHCtwU

The other Lautano 2 songs are great as well

Dave

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Is that guy the Elvis costello version for port Villa?

Someone has to earn the money mate, but I will certainly be wanting her to take the big silver bird over for at least a week (if not 2) this time.

Had no fund's whatsoever last time which was a bit sad, but this time things are looking a whole lot better

Should be the same as last time, free airfare for me and a free bungalow at "Pacific Lagoon Appartments" which my mates partner manages.

http://www.pacificlagoon.com/

On the other side of the Lagoon is Erakor Island Resort which she helps with as well.

http://www.erakor.vu/resort.htm

There is a free ferry which takes you across the lagoon right next door to Le Lagon Resort, which is about 100 metres from Pacific Lagoon

http://lelagonvanuatu.vu/

I am really looking forward to getting Bloss over and spending a few Vatu on her as we have been so incredibly frugal with our money to date,(the last 15 years) and she really deserves a bit of pampering, and what better place.

(just had to listen to that song again while typing this)

Dave

Dave

Looks fantastic, those resorts are just amazing. Hope Bloss gets over there.

Chris

We spent a blissful week at LeLagon Resort in August with the two kids - was fantastic, and pretty cheap! Such a great place for a relaxing holiday, and the locals/staff were lovely. And massages in the hut overlooking the lagoon - now that is pampering!

Next time (without kids) we would love to go to the outer islands and see the volcanoes and do some scuba diving....

Nadia

Onya Boatie,
Looks great!

Just figured out how to use youtube, so I have posted a video of the sharks swimming around the boat while cleaning fish on a seamount 500NM offshore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrxR_a8A9A4

Note how calm it is.

You can see the bottom as we were in 100 ft of water, and a couple of hundred feet away it dropped straight down to 12,000 ft.

The fishing here was sensational.

I have a few other snippets of vid there as well.

Dave

Well, I got an opportunity for another run to Vanuatu.

This was the one that I was trying to get Simon along for, but the owner of the boat is not known for his organisational skills so the notice was very short (eg, what are you doing next week ? )

Then the "Bring Bloss with you, as we are going in company with a 75 footer" http://www.sheerdelight.com.au/ "and she can ride on that, and we will stop at all the good spots again for a fish and party, Accom. when you get there, trip up to Santo, Bokissa, Malleculla, etc etc and flights home as usual" Cool, how could she refuse

That date then got shortened to "We are going tomorrow" and then pushed out and bought back in....................and then the other boat gets waylaid with owner having back probs (no worries, Bloss comes on the smaller boat)


Much last minute running around like idiots, no time to get liquid supplies like last time (even though they had been here for a month finishing the boat) but a date was picked and we had customs arrive with .....................................drug sniffer dogs.

One of the "fools" coming over (and recently obtained Vanuatuan citizenship) had a pinch of the green weed on him and the dogs took an instant liking to him and decided he was their new play thing, so the big song and dance from Customs, all aboard get treated like crims, boat became training ground for the rest of the day and "The Fool" had a court date for the next day.

My mate (the owner of the boat) has a wee drinking problem, so dissapeared never to be seen again, leaving his phone behind and we had been given a time to be gone by customs, so much effort was spent trying to track him down and get him onboard, even if that meant knocking him out and locking him up (as per his GF's instructions), but we had no joy tracking him down and it became obvious that he was deliberatly avoiding being found, so it was then that we discovered that the other main guy onboard Ben (my mates girlfreinds brother) was infact a financial partner in the boat now, and had the boat in his name and paying passengers lined up in a few days. His wife had also had a kid in Vanuatu a few days earlier and he had'nt seen them yet, so............................ he made the decission to go and we left my mate behind

Needless to say a tin of worms was opened, and we had all sorts of phone calls come in over the next hour or so which made us turn back to pick my mate up from the dock, where he was apparently now waiting ( wasnt there when we arrived and waited), so this time we left for real.

He wouldnt speak to us when we arrived in Port Vila, wouldnt even come down to meet us, his partner who was providing accom. reckoned we couldnt stay with them either, but she organised accom. for us here instead http://www.poppys.com.vu/ (much nicer anyway).

The rest of Bens family were grateful Bloss and I were onboard as they had no real confidence in him as he had done no big trips, just in and around Vanuatu stuff, so now my mate thinks I'm a Ba$tard for helping out in getting him left behind (its all my fault)

Ben gave us a car to explore with while he did his first trip to Santo, but the roads are non existent, so not much exploring done and after a week of Tuskers, Poulet fish, Batards (like baguette) and Kava we came home as we felt decidedly unloved.


The boat is doing the run from Santo to Port Villa with stops inbetween and carries up to 60 passengers and the "other" scallop boat in earlier posts still has to be taken over but allas, I feel I won't be going.

Sorry Simon

Pics ...
Fresh Cargo, the boat we took over and the other, Sheer Delight, the boat Bloss was to be on (it arrived 5 days later)