Monday, August 1st, 2011 Aneityum Island, Vanuatu

Colin the customs guy showed up at 1000H today and
did the customs clearance. He was very pleasant and
did not seem interested in searching the boat for
hidden booze supplies, which is just as well. The
quarantineguy should be here tomorrow and Colin said
that we can wait until we get to Port Vila to do
Immigration. The rain is pouring down again but the wind
has settled down. There was a brief respite in the rain
this morning and we were able to go ashore for a few hours.
We changed some US dollars into Vatu at the tiny bank and
toured the village. They are still in the midst of their
Independence Day celebrations and today was Sports Day
with local teams competing at soccer and volley ball
accompanied by deafaning Reggae music. We were invited to
lunch but declined.
Vanuatu became independent of Britain and France on
July 30, 1980 and used to be called the New Hebrides.
The people are Melanesian and the speak Pidgin English,
proper English or French depending which village they
come from. We will stay here another day or two until
the weather clears. Next stop is the island of Tanna
where they have an active volcano and the have guided
tours that get to within 150 meters of the crater.
Should be interesting. The jib furler is fixed.
It broke another belt and fortunately I have some  spares.
All other maintenance jobs have been completed
and I have plenty of time for Admiral to beat me at
Scrabble again today.