We had another great day today. We went on a tour to Pele Island, to the North of the island of Efate. We were picked up at 8.30 by our guide, John. We drove up the western edge of Efate, through many villages. We passed the site of the Survivor Vanuatu series and Havanah Harbour, where the US Army were based during WWII. Shiann took the opportunity to lie on the back seat and rest during the drive up, as she's still not 100%, and she wasn't sure if she'd want to go snorkeling. Finally we arrived at Emua and caught a small fiberglass boat across the Undine Bay to Pele which took about 15-20 minutes. We saw two turtles on the trip over, they were so cute!

On arrival to Pele Island, we were greeted by the Island Chief in traditional tribal dress. Chief George welcomed us to his island. After a refreshing drink and a snack of fried banana & kumula chips, we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed to the boat. Shiann was feeling refreshed by the fresh sea breeze and decided she wanted to snorkel. :)

The boat took us about 100 offshore, and we all jumped in. Chief George showed us edible sea plants and pointed out different types of coral. The water was so clear and there were so many beautiful fish! Even though the day was overcast, the water was much clearer than it had been at Hideaway Island. John found a Pumpkin Starfish for us to hold and the kids were delighted. We floated with the current that flowed between Pele and Nguna for about 40 minutes, then hopped back on the boat.

The kids had loved the snorkeling again, and were both super excited. Shiann said she didn't think she'd do anymore though because she felt tired. The boat took us east along the southern coast of Pele and then it was time to get in again, this time we were looking for giant clam. Shiann decided she'd go in again!

When we got in the water, John gave us each some bread to feed the fish and the frenzy began. There were thousands of fish, ranging from tiny little ones the size of your pinky to huge wrasse, swarming around us in the hopes of scoring a scrap of bread. If you were patient enough, and held the bread, they would come and eat straight from your hand.

When the bread ran out, we swam a little eastward and soon found a grouping of giant clams. They were the size of a car tyre and all different colours in the fleshy open part. John swam down to them and disturbed the water above them and they closed up, they were really quite cool. We swam a while longer, then headed back to the village for lunch. It had started to rain lightly and we were all pretty tired after a very exciting morning.

Lunch consisted of a delicious potato salad, which had sweet potato grated over the top, steamed veges, two types of rice, sausages and chicken & steak marinated in a yummy sauce. It was really good, and everyone went back for seconds, including Shiann who still hadn't really gotten her appetite back. After lunch we were shown through the village and John told us of the Manu uses for the various plants found around the village. One plant can even predict, reportedly with 100% accuracy, the sex of a baby! We bought a couple of beautiful shells from the villagers and made a donation to the church fund. After the village tour, David and I went for another quick snorkel off the beach, while the kids played on the beach and found hermit crabs.

The rain had really set in by now and there was some really magnificent rolls of thunder, so we decided to set off back for the mainland before it got any worse. It was a very wet and windy trip back, where we all donned raincoats and huddled together, but we never felt as though we were in any danger, so it was kinda fun.

We got back to shore and quickly changed into whatever dry clothes we had before getting back on the bus and heading home. On the way home, we stopped at Havanah Harbour to see the WWII Museum and display pieces of wrecks. Basically, this was a collection of items which had been collected over many years by the funniest curator you're ever likely to meet. The collection was housed in a roadside shed, and consisted of bullet shell casings, pieces of airplane propellers, bomb tails, medicine and perfume bottles and s***loads of coca-cola bottles! Accordingly, back in those days, the bottles were stamped on the base according to where they had been made, so this guy had a couple of hundred coca-cola bottles, minted from different factories. It was easy to tell this guy was passionate about his collection and knowledgable about the war and in particular, Vanuatu's role in it.

From there we headed back to the motel, wet & tired, but very happy. When we got back, we found the hotel grounds staff busily scrubbing the window boards used to cover the windows in a cyclone! We're not worried though, John explained to us on Pele that the breadfruit and the sea turtles tell the villagers if there will be cyclones and they have said there will be no cyclones this year. Let's hope they're right.

Tomorrow we have booked for the round island tour which, as it sounds, takes us right around the island. Let's hope the weather allows it ;)