Another day in paradise. Today we visited Port Vila. Sam booked into a Snorkelling and Kayaking tour. I had a lovely sleep in… late enough that I missed breakfast and was too early for lunch so armed with a cup of coffee and my laptop I settled in to a morning of people watching, writing and just generally veging out. Port Vila was covered in a heavy smoke. We are told that it is caused by an erupting volcano. My hair is an absolute fright. I don’t think the conditioning treatment they gave it last night did it any favours. Thankfully I’m on holidays and these people will be distant memories in a few days time… although they may not forget me so easily, some may indeed have nightmares for some time to come!
I notice that a young man sitting next to me is sketching. Before he becomes too engrossed I introduce myself and ask permission to photograph him while he works. He is rather surprised but happy to oblige. His name is Zack. He is a uni student from Adelaide cruising with his mum and dad. The sketching is part of an assignment.
I am fast learning that even though I am far from Elle McPherson or Kate Moss that there are bodies of all shapes and sizes getting around in the world and when one comes on a holiday such as this one gets to see all of them in varying degrees of dress or undress. I admire the ladies who are much larger even than myself who proudly strut their stuff. Most people do not judge, in fact, it is so true that we are our own harshest critics. If we walk tall and proud we are far less obvious than if we cringe away as though we are ashamed of our bodies and don’t want to be seen… something I’m still coming to grips with after years of feeling like a beached whale, even when I was young and slim.
There are a lot of elderly aboard and I can understand why cruising is so attractive to them. We are waited on hand and foot, constantly being told that we must relax as we are on holiday and must let the wait staff take care of us. The variety in the food is impressive and only a couple of places are not included in the initial fare. There are some people complaining about the food but I get the feeling that they would complain regardless of quality.
I watched as a an older gentleman taught a young French couple how to do card tricks. It is great to see people interacting, even when there is a communication barrier.
When Sam returned from her snorkelling (which she was rather disappointed in after the spectacular experience of Lifou) we explored the markets. It was Sam’s turn today to enjoy the massage while I strolled through the stalls. So many stalls selling exactly the same wares. One wonders how they make money from them. During her massage Sam noticed that the daughter of the lady who was massaging her was wearing a pair of thongs which were paper thin. She delighted the girl by giving her her own thongs which still had plenty of wear in them. Such a generous soul is my girl. As I wandered I had a local man introduce himself to me as Tony who entertained me with a rendition of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport for a small donation. This time we also remembered to take our passports ashore so that we could have them stamped for a fee of $2.
Back on board the ship I settled in again with my laptop. Others look at me as though they think I am crazy sitting here banging away at the keyboard but it is such a relaxing way to spend the day, sitting here writing. The cocktails help also!
There are so many sunburned bodies on board! Thank goodness we are not amongst them.
This afternoon and into the evening we were fortunate enough to be entertained by two young men calling themselves ‘Double Trouble’. Both singing and playing acoustic guitars doing covers. I could have listened to them all cruise. It is always wonderful watching people do what they love doing… there is so much more passion in it than just a performance. I saw them after their show in The Pantry having dinner and yes, I did do the groupie thing and tell them how much I enjoyed their show. They informed me they are playing again tomorrow in one of the places below deck… yes I will be there!!!
It is White Night tonight. Sam has even made an effort to change into white for the short time we will be up. After donning her white attire she ventured into The Pantry for dinner and came back out muttering about a conspiracy… why are they serving roasted beetroots and spaghetti bolognese on white night?? Thankfully her white dress survived.
It was lovely sitting up on deck this evening. Sam took herself off to bed and left me to my own devices. I sat and watched the children’s party, all the little girls dressed up in their lovely dresses. There were two groups of people sitting beside me and would you believe it? They were all from Adelaide. We have also discovered that there are people here from Port Augusta! On the very first day just after we boarded we were lining up for our lunch and a woman said to Sam “You’re Parky’s missus, aren’t you?” Small, small world!
Another day amongst the Pacific Islands done and dusted.
Indigo's Musings 