Shelter from the Storm (Efate, Vanuatu)

This morning I was awoken by, not the gentle lapping of the waves, nor the raucous chirping of the grey-eared honeyeaters that roost in the palm outside the villa. No, this morning, dear reader, I was propelled from my bed by a rain cell that came bawling in from the north-west. Lying there in a semi-conscious state, I was aware of thinking, hmmm, the breeze has picked up. Then the rain hit. Out of bed to rescue my favourite boardshorts lest they might be picked up by the wind and deposited on a nearby island. That was about 2:15 am. Needless to say my sleep was fitful at best, after that little surprise.

The real morning came with a little more decorum, although as mentioned, the birds outside make a serious noise in contrast to their size. That wakeup call was around 4:30 am and then off to sleep again until the staff arrive at the water activities hut to set up for the day. Usually this is around 6 am. And so goes the rhythm of life. Once I was governed by bells and timetables; not anymore.

Today is our penultimate day in Vanuatu and the plan is to spend most of it snorkelling. I opted for a light breakfast, tropical fruit and coffee, with the intention of returning for lunch. The coffee machine, a form of island lotto, did not present for work today and we had to settle for ‘plunger’ coffee. There are worse things.

Last night’s storm proved to be a cleanser. The day was bright and clear, very little cloud and the sun was making its intentions felt early. It was hot and humid. The water looked a treat. Crystal clear and coloured by varying shades of blue as the depth increased or the seagrass and coral intruded on the sand.

A perfect day for snorkelling

Post breakfast brought the usual round of sunscreen application. Enough said. Then a brief hiatus to allow it to soak in before we hit the water. We snorkelled in the same direction as we did the first time, south-west toward the point to re-examine the coral and marine life there.

Although we didn’t swim directly there, we had decided to make the return swim the exploratory leg. However, that didn’t stop us deviating if we found something of interest. It wasn’t long before we did. Jayne had suggested she was glad to meet the Banded Sea Krait on land and not in water. Today, she met the snake on its own terms in the water. It looked bigger, which I assume was the magnification effect of the goggles. It was as disinterested in us in the water as it had been on the water’s edge. Still impressive and I was happy to keep my distance.

What I had supposed to be coral down on the point was a coral graveyard. The water was very shallow and there were masses of dead coral everywhere. There were also extraordinary pockets where fightback was evident. Fields of staghorn coral that looked dead except for the ends of each branch showing an iridescent blue glow. And anywhere there was a coral formation there were fish. The smaller the coral growth the smaller the fish. The bigger the reef, the more variety: spaghetti worms, eels, anemone, fish from minnows to some I would have liked to have seen in the kitchen.

The swim back was more leisurely and we ventured further out to the drop off. There were some huge expanses of coral there all shapes and sizes and colours. It is just magic. There appeared to be more fish life today, perhaps the sunshine, they do sparkle, perhaps the current, who knows? Sadly there were no turtles that we saw or dugongs. After over an hour in the water it was time to plunge into the private pool and float in a more intimate environment until lunch.

Lunch, as I mentioned previously, follows a similar pattern to dinner. An amuse bouche, three choices of entree and main and two choices of dessert. We were sipping on our aged French Chardonnay and staring out at the water when I thought something moved. A turtle I thought, there is some seagrass close to the beach below the restaurant. A few minutes later there was enough of a water disturbance to have me move to the grass for a better view. As did the lady from the next table.

It was there a minute a go

It was not a turtle but a young dugong. It was also enjoying lunch, unusually on its own. The lady that had joined me on the grass to watch said that a herd of dugong had moved through here yesterday (while we were picnicing on Moso). We decided that we would do some more snorkelling after lunch and return here. Both dugongs and turtles had been seen here now.

There is no need to describe lunch any further dear reader, it was superb. We then wandered back to the villa and relaxed into the plunge pool before resting on the lounge to do some blogging.

Then it was snorkelling time again. Sunscreen on, yuck. The tide had turned and the wind had picked up - a portent of things to come. There was nothing really to report from this excursion, no turtles or dugongs, just the coral, fish and another eel, not a moray. There was a lone jellyfish floating on the current that had to be successfully negotiated but that was it. Back to the plunge pool.

For some reason I was delayed in dressing for dinner. I can't remember why, perhaps I was still fighting the technology to finalise a post. Anyway, about the time we would normally be seated in the restaurant another storm cell launched itself from the north. Doors were hastily closed and shutters locked down, the pool was filling quickly to overflowing. We were sheltered from the storm, today's title a 1975 classic from Bob Dylan. We might wait for the rain to ease, we thought. Good move cancelling the sunset cruise.

It was much worse than this

Umbrellas unfurled we sloshed our way to dinner. There seemed to be an unusual number of people milling about the foyer. The tables were set for dinner, but lacked the usual white linen tablecloths and napkins. "Enjoy the storm?" one of the staff giggled. It was then explained that the restaurant, which is open walled to make the most of the view and the breeze, was flooded by the torrential downpour due to the fierce wind blowing the rain in. The tables and linen were saturated and had to be changed. Although they were not quite as wet as the couple that did go on the sunset cruise.

Despite the delay, dinner and the service were as excellent as they have been since we arrived.

To bed and that majestic view and soft slapping of the waves for one more sleep.

Until next time.