7/16/18- Monday Night- Mt. Yasur

At about 1500 hours we got into Werry's truck (all 9 of us) and made the 40 minute ride up to the Tanna Safari site where we were taken on the volcano safari by the "village people"!
The tour costs 9750 VAT per person which is paid to the village chief... They give a little talk and dance routine and then a safety briefing before taking everyone up to near the summit in the back of pickup trucks.  A little rough riding in the back of the trucks but we made it up  there safely and during daylight... around 1700 h.  We spent about 2 hours up on the rim of the volcano watching the explosions of the blasts of lava.

We were back at Werry's place around 1930-2000 hours and Thierry had a dinner there prepared by Werry's wife.  There were 4 or 5 Cruisers there having dinner also.

At the entrance to the village area there is a registration area where guests must pay their 9750 VAT and go through the introduction on cultural ceremony asking permission to visit the volcano.  Above is a short clip of the dance.

Travel from the entrance up to the volcano is in pickup trucks.

At the base of Mt. Yasur we unload the trucks and hick up the side of the crater.

All of the guests hiking up the cinder cone to the erupting crater.

7/16/18 - Monday

We are up at 0500 or so and on our way to the airport at 0550.  The French WC victory may cause us traffic problems...
TANNA - it has been a long difficult trek to get there and we aren't there yet.  I have my fingers crossed.

Waiting for our flight to Tanna Airport.

An example of the language of Vanuatu (Bislama).

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On the road in Werry's truck to the main town of Lenakel.

Soccer fans celebrating the French victory in the world cup.

The Wednesday market at Lenakel.

Kawa is a very important part of life in Vanuatu.

Lots of beautiful fruits and vegetables in the market.

100 VT = 1 USD

Back of Werry's truck with some of his purchases.

Werry with a purchase of greens.

On the road down in to the valley leading to Mt. Yasur.. seen in the distance.

Some of the road was surfaced but most of it was dirt and cinders.

A household / family that has a roadside stand.  They appear to be taking it pretty easy today.

Mt. Yasur in the distance.

Some sort of baked nut ... they called it chestnut but I don't know exactly what it was... it does taste like chestnut.

Tanna Island is largely uninhabited and people generally live in small villages.  The track above and below represent the trip required to get from Iminaka Airport in Far Left to Resolution Bay in the far right.

A closer view shows the trip from Tanna airport to resolution bay.  The path took us across the cinder plain around Mt. Yasur on the way to Resolution Bay/

Thierry Work on the Lanai of our bungalow looking out over Resolution Bay.  The boats in the bay are mostly cruisers that are anchored here for a short period.

Resolution Bay.

Werry Narua family compound.

A couple of the rental units.

The grounds of the "yacht club."

The grave of one of the early missionaries that was supported/protected by the Narua family.

A restaurant in the village near the Yacht Club.

The "clubhouse" of the yacht club where we ate a couple of meals and downed a couple of Tuskers.

7/15/18 - Sunday

I had a good nights sleep and awoke at 0700 h.  Got a call from Balazs this morning that he decided he couldn't afford to risk not getting back to Fiji from Vanuatu so he has canceled out on the volcano trip.  Thierry and I will endeavor to make the trip.  They have scheduled us to go back to the airport at 1130 h and check in for a1500 h flight.  We are a bit worried about the flight from Vila to Tanna as we missed todays flight and are hoping that we can get a reservation on that flight tomorrow.

We will see as the day unfolds.

continuing:
We left the hotel at around 1000 h on a bus taking another group of "cancelled flight" customers to the airport.  We got there around 1030 h but the air vanuatu desk didn't open until 1200 hours... anyhow, we were able to check our bags in but they said, because of the large number of people on this plane, that our luggage might not make it on... mine didn't.
So, while we made it to Port Vila ok, I am stuck with basically one change of clothes for three days... not that I am complaining but!!!!!!

We were able to get to our hotel around 1800 hours and got checked in ok.  We went down and had a couple of beers and then decided that we needed some rest.  We are going to get up at 0500 to catch an 0800 flight to Tanna... we hope.  I will let you know what happens but I doubt that there will be any internet where we are going...

What an adventure!!!

The Nalagi Hotel... our home for the cancelled flight night!!

The Air Vanuatu plane in comparison to a Boeing 787-- it was actually a good 2.5 hour flight with minimum turbulence!  Unfortunately, they elected to leave my luggage in Nadi.. there were a dozen or so of us that this happened to.

After we landed at Bauerfield, Vanuatu.

Thierry just coming off of the plane.

The Melanesian Hotel the night we got there... a bit of a cultural show.

Thierry joined in the cannibal dance... 

7/12/18

Left KOA at 2000 h for HNL... to catch a 0125 flight from HNL to NAN (Nadi, Fiji).  All went quite well and we landed to Nadi about 10 hours later after a 1.5 hour layover in Apia, Samoa.  We got some sleep on the plane so we weren't too tired once we got to Nadi.  We decided to take a taxi to down town Nadi and walk around for a while because we couldn't check in for our flight to Port Vila until 1200 h (leaving at 1500 h).  The Pictures posted below are mostly from our walk around Nadi.

However, after we checked our luggage in to Air Vanuatu and made our way through customs to the departure lounge we sat for quite a while in the new airport international flights area.  1500 hours came and went and still not plane... the flight board said the flight was delayed until 1550 hours.  1550 hours came and went and finally the flight board listed the flight as canceled!!!  Our only chance to get to Vila was gone, at least for one day.  We scrambled to cancel hotel reservations while they scrambled to figure out what to do with us for the night.  After about 2 hours we were taken to a new hotel and put in a room with meal vouchers, etc.  They took pretty good care of us but we are quite disappointed.  We have hope (and they has said) that the flight will go on time as scheduled tomorrow but we are not confident that they will get the plane repaired in time.

For now we are just being thankful that we can get a good nights sleep and, hopefully get back on schedule tomorrow.  We received some solace tonight when a NZ airways flight was canceled .... after the passengers had been in the plane and on the tarmac for 4 hours... !!!

Tomorrow is another day!

Our home for 10 hours... not too bad a flight but very cramped and very full.  Since it stopped in Apia, Samoa, we had a LARGE load of Samoan travelers.  I was very fortunate in that I had one of the few open seats next to me (and not a 300 pound S).

Downtown Nadi celebrating the Bula Festival.

Not a very picturesque town... lots of traffic and tourists.

We cam across these Bula Parade participants while we were walking around...

Wood carving souvenires in the handicraft stalls in downtown Nadi.

Handicraft stalls.

The only Sikh temple in Fiji.  There are continuing conflicts between Indians and Fijians.

Interesting little implements.  The Fijians, like many Melanesians were rather warlike.