First stop: Vanuatu

Our first stop of the cruise was on the island of Espírito Santo, the largest island in the Vanuatu group, in the port of Luganville.

Initial impressions are that this is very similar vibe to the Cook Islands. Very relaxed and no one is really in a hurry. Unless they are driving. Then everyone is in a hurry!

We were booked for a canoe ride down the Riri River and a swim in one of the blue holes. The canoes were outrigger style and came with our own paddler so it was very easy.

At the end of the river was a large swimming hole. Very blue and very deep. The limestone makes it difficult to walk without shoes and makes the water very blue.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best and we had intermittent showers but we still had a good time.

The ride back to the ship was interesting. We were in a mini van type thing and needless to say we were fairly moving along but our van (there were three of them) had an issue in that it overheated. No problem. They have a bottle for just this issue and there are plenty of rivers and creeks so we just filled the bottle a few times and off we went.

After a late lunch and a shower we had to have a relaxing drink and chill out for a few hours. The ship sailed at 3.30 for our next stop Port Vila.Read more