28 Oct 2014

Vanua Lava, Vanuatu

There was a bit of movement aboard the ship as we approached Vanua Lava this morning and it wasn't the crowd at the buffet. We arrived at our anchorage in Port Patterson at 0630 and quickly identified the customs officials as they were standing on the shore waving a large white sheet. Once aboard, they cleared us for arrival into Vanuatu and we prepared to start our day. By that time the weather had changed and the SE swell was rolling right into the anchorage we needed to use for our visit to Lalngetak Village, so back to Sola and our sheltered anchorage we went.

What a revelation Sola turned out to be. We found exceptional birding along the main street with many of the endemic Vanuatu species to be seen within just a few metres including the Vanuatu Honeyeater, Streaked Fantail and Vanuatu White-eye (seen below).

Some of our party headed into the beautiful forest with Moshe and discovered a world of medicinal plants while another group explored with Suzanne. They took a walk along the shore and then found themselves enjoying a kava ceremony and having a ‘sing-sing’ with the locals. So we went from what threatened to be a quiet day due to the weather, to a truly memorable day filled with unexpected experiences.

The Spirit of Enderby is now crossing the short distance to Espirito Santo where the birders will be going ashore at 0500 on their last early start for this voyage.