Port Vila, Efate Island, Vanuatu

We have spent the past week or so on the hook in the outer

harbor exploring the  rest of the island. We walked all

over the town of Port Vila and visited the  national

cultural museum. We also did a tour of the island by car

and had lunch  at a resort in the spectacular Havannah

Harbor in the north west. There were  some beautiful

beaches and rivers in an unspoiled environment. We had a

new  experience early Sunday morning, namely a magnitude

7.1 earthquake which struck  near Efate at about 0530H,

while on the boat. It was immediately obvious what it 

was and the noise and shaking were not too dissimilar to

that on land.  Fortunately, there was no tsunami. Yesterday,

we went to the Mele Waterfalls  which required a 20 minutes

climb on some interesting trails through rushing  water

from the falls. The weather is a little unsettled at the

moment but looks  like it will improve by the weekend and

we should be able to leave for New  Caledonia by then.