My longest dive ever

Aug 7, Sunday. Up early to pack and fly to Vanuatu. We have a pear, carrots, tomatoes and bread for the plane. Our taxi ride to the airport is uneventful. Chick makes a friend and has good conversation while we wait for our plane. The flight and landing are uneventful though we will hear of the airport nightmare in a couple of days.
During our taxi ride after our flight the friendly driver invites us to attend his 7 year old son's coming out ceremony. He just got circumcised 2 weeks ago and will be presented at this special celebration. He has spent the last 2 weeks with his peers at a separate place. The party is planned for Friday.
Our new rooms are at Vila Hibiscus Motel, which is spread out on a large piece of property. We walk from one end where our room is to the other where the share kitchen is, by going up and down levels and stairs. We have good A/C. Chick figures out how to turn the on demand water heater on so we don't have to have a cold shower.
August 8, Monday Chick and I take a share taxi 150 Vatu, Vanuatu dollars~$1.50 US. We ride to the nearby town and sign up for a dive trip tomorrow with Big Blue. We also order a cloth wrap around skirt for the little 7 year old. $10 US. It will be a popular local blue color and have turtles printed on it with other local symbols. Then we go to the open air market where we shop for fresh produce, a sweet pomelo, local spinach, cabbage, little bananas and little sweet potatos.
photo #1 Flowers at Vila Hibiscus Motel
photo #2 Cuttle Fish when I first saw him
photo #3 Cuttle Fish when he saw me
photos #4 and #5 Two kinds of Starfish.

photo #6 Wide open anemone with three clownfish
photo #7 Flatworm
photo #8 Hawk's beak sea turtle
photo #9 Little coral city. This is one of my favorite things to see underwater. The small fish will hide in the coral if I get too close then will come out again if I back away and wait. It is a fun water ballet.
Aug 9, Tuesday Today I had the longest dive ever. 91 minutes is a record for me. Usually I only get to stay down for about 45 max 50 minutes because someone in my dive group runs out of air. I had the dive master to myself and Chick warned him that I use air slowly, so he let me stay down. I still came up with more air than him but that is normal because men use more air than women.
When we entered the water a couple of cuttle fish were swimming by. I could only photograph one of them because the clarity of the water is low with wind and chop stirring up silt. He looks different after he sees me and changes color. I saw a baby halibut with its eyes on 1/2 inch stalks wiggling around looking at me. He was only about 4 inches long and the same color as the sand. I got to play with a sponge that looks like an oversized soccer ball. That is a new creature to me. I also saw a leather coral for the first time. It looks a lot like an anemone but is not sticky and no clown fish are in it. I saw a ~ two meter long white tipped shark in its home under a sideways coral fan. It swam in circles nervously as we watched it and finally got spooked and left. I will see it again tomorrow in the same place. I also got to see a baby stone fish about 4 inches long, and several colorful nudibranchs. I had a very good day diving. Chick was allowed to ride along on the otherwise empty dive boat for free.
Mike the Australian dive shop owner tells us that the airport was declared unsafe six months ago, causing all but two of the airlines to cease operations here. Tourism is suffering greatly as 80% of the tourists who came last year are now staying away. At the airport the various panels of concrete runway are weathering at the seams,

making chips which could ruin a jet engine. Now they sweep the runway before each landing or takeoff.
August 10, Wednesday Up early to go diving again. They were 20 minutes late picking me up. When I arrive at the dive shop I realize why. It is swamped with people. The dive boat has more people on it than can sit down. A passenger boat will follow us with the extra people. Turns out that all previous plans are scrapped when a family of 7 joins in along with several other people at the last minute. They run out of gear and I end up with my dive master's gear. Sam dives with gear that does not fit him and without weights. It is amazing because he still maintains his buoyancy with the rest of the divers, seemingly without effort. I think he has some kind of magic. He is also a free diver to 200 feet, without weights, and self taught. He is the one who let me stay down for 91 minutes yesterday. Today I meet several nice people. It is another good day. We dive at a site called cathedral where I get to see electric or disco clams. I get a photo of the bright orange glowing clam but the beautiful blue electric flashing does not show up on the photo. It barely shows in the short video I take of it. According to IFO Science on the web: " researchers discovered that this strobe light effect is not bioluminescence—light production through a chemical reaction—but instead is due to reflected ambient light.
The same bunch of scientists believe that they have determined why these animals show off this electrifying display. It is likely used to both warn predators and attract unsuspecting prey." The first disco clams I saw were at the Great barrier reef and they were much smaller. Our second dive is back to the shark under the fan but today he rests quietly and watches us from his overhanging shelter. The water is clearer today and the site is like new because I can see much more.
photo #10 Angel fish
photo #11 White tip shark posing for photo

photo #12 Disco clam This is the best shot I have gotten for a disco clam. Previously I only got to see a flash of light with some electric blue pulsed crossing it midway. I can't make out the shape of the clam but the light is pretty amazing. A short video I took did catch the blue light.
photos #13 and #14 Wooden drums collected from this and nearby islands. Up the stairway is a marine collection of sea shells and a water craft.
photo #15 Chick looks in a case containing forms of currency called navilah. They are used for ceremonial gifts, to pay for a bride, compensation for killing someone or to settle a war. The big clam shell pieces were believed to have been handed to ancestors by the Spirits. They are treated more like treasures than common money and part of their value is spiritual. The largest big pieces of clam shell are 5 feet in circumference and can weigh up to 50 pounds.
photo #16 More wooden drums.
photos #17 and #18 Sand writing. Two locals practice sand writing. They do not seem to be doing it for the visitors, but for themselves.
I pick up the circumcision gift and a few more groceries then get a ride back to our room. Chick has gotten a new roll of Toilet paper. Its name is in pidgin English, one of the languages spoken here. "NAMBAWAN" We see pidgin signs often. In the airport we see ads for an electric company. "Kolem 33425 Laetem up fiuja blo yu." (Call 33425 Lighten up future belongs you.)
August 11, Thursday Today Chick and I worked on the internet and read in the morning. I was able to upload a couple of photos. Yippie, none yesterday. The internet is very slow or absent. About 11:00 AM we take a share taxi to the museum that houses a display of various ritual objects from many of the local islands. Masks and big wooden drums are the most prevalent. Many signs are in English, French, a local language and in pidgin. There is a detailed report with photos of the burial excavation of the King Roi Mata who united the local tribes

and islands in the 1500s. He was buried with his wife, his assistant and wife, and his favorite clever man (medicine man). On top of that burial are the bodies of 50 women. At least one of them was buried alive because she is bound and appears to be struggling and raising her head as she dies.
We also get to see a couple of locals doing sand writing. It is very nice to watch them draw intricate designs with their finger, never raising it once they start till they are finished. All of the sand writing is done with a single line. They appear to be recreating specific patterns that they have learned.
After the museum we share taxi again back to the big market where we have lunch, get our gift wrapped and buy some groceries for tonight. We make a stew of lentils, rice, carrots, bok choy, green onion and spices. We have cherimoya and papaya for dessert. We also try some very fat ~3 inches across bananas which are more bland than the ones we eat at home. The little short bananas are both sweeter and more tart than the ones at home.
August 12, 2016 Friday I go for my third day of diving and am disappointed because we do two very tame wreck dives. One is a small cargo ship that is just the empty hull. There is a lot of lovely growth on one end that I suppose has been sheltered. The other wreck is a 2 seater plane that crashed on a banana farm and was sunk here as a diving curiosity. It has been broken up and scattered by the cyclone.
photo #19 Backlit diver in the cathedral where I saw the disco clam.
photo #20 Sammy the dive master tells me this is a sea sponge. I cannot find it online. If you know it please tell me about it. I think it looks like a soccer ball.
photo #21 Produce is brought to market in palm frond baskets.
photo #22 The lady that makes my $3.00 lunches.
After my dives I go to the market for another delicious $3.00 lunch. When I get back to the hotel Chick tells me the circumcision

ceremony has been delayed for 1 day.
photo #23 I take a photo of a mural with a man painted in black and white horizontal stripes. We are told these are people who worship that little black and white snake I posted a photo of some days ago. We saw photos of men naked and painted the same way when we visited Patagonia, South America. I wonder if they are the same people. What sailors.
photo #24 grounds at Vila Hibiscus Motel
August 13, 2016 Saturday. We are ready for our Around the Island Tour by Atmosphere tours. We have a really good visit at a local village which is trying to preserve their native way of life. They open their village to tourists and earn some cash while preserving their skills of how to live off of the land. They feel it is important to teach their children by example and pass down all of their knowledge of how to use the plants and animals around them. We are given a very entertaining talk and demonstration about hunting, fishing and making the cords that they use for fishing from the hibiscus tree. We get to see a local spider and are told how spiderwebs are used in fishing.
photo #25 We walk through a large banyan tree that this small village sheltered in when the cyclone hit 16 months or so ago. It is strange to walk through the roots of the tree that are above ground and open wide so that we don't even have to duck as we walk through. No apparent trimming was done to make this opening.
photo #26 Village women show us how they are weaving a mat.
photo #27 and #28 We are shown a spider and it's web and told all about it.
photo #29 Firewalking "Chief for us" explains what he will do.
photo #30 Guide and his son.
photo #31 spit spraying chewed magic plant on fire walker's feet.
A group of men perform a simple dance for us and then we see fire walking. The "chief for us" explains that firewalking was done to test

young men before they became warriors. We are also told that the men would abstain from sex for a few months before battles too. (Not like the American custom of getting married before going off to war.) First the feet are covered with a chewed magic plant that is spit sprayed on to the bottom of his feet. Then he uses a long walking stick to help him balance, as he walks quickly across the smooth river stones that are covered with ash. The fire was burning well when we arrived and the rocks are definitely hot. The man walks on the hot rocks using just the callus part of the bottom of his foot. He walks across 4 times taking 5 steps with each crossing. It was very impressive. Water boils when thrown on the rocks after the walk.
The internet says firewalking is possible by having a layer of ash on the hot coals. The internet also mentions that the short period of time that he is in contact with the hot surface prevents the heat transfer through the ash.
photo #32 Little ones look at tourists.
The rest of the Around the Island Tour is of a beautiful shore and farming country. We pass coconut farms as we drive around the one road that circles the island. There are no interior roads. The interior land is reserved for the future.
When we get back to our motel we meet and talk to Pastor David, a missionary who is staying here. He is friendly and pleasant and we spend about 2 hours talking travel stories. We are disappointed that our ride never shows up to take us to the circumcision celebration and we decide that the father has enough to do and we will not call to ask why we were not picked up. Tomorrow we go to the next island, Tanna.
August 14, 2016 Sunday Port Vila, Vanuatu We arrive early to the airport and when the desk opens we are one of the first to check in for our flight. Things get busy and the airport is crowded when we find from another traveler that she just came in from Espiritu Santo on "our" plane. It landed on a single engine. She had to land in the

braced position because one of the engines failed. Our flight is cancelled.
Chick and I patiently wait for things to get sorted out. Chick does his waiting in front of the check in desk but does not make any demands. I wait in one of the seats. Chaos reigns. A local older man chuckles about things every 20 minutes or so. These really are pretty happy people. Lots of foreigners talk with impatience.
As Chick is identifying our luggage he is told "I might be able to do a miracle for you." Sure enough those of us who have not already rebooked, nine of us, are quietly escorted outside to a chartered 10 seat air taxi. All foreigners, I know there is a story here about that. We believe it may be that the patient, unfailingly polite foreigners get the special treatment. I do not know what happened to the other passengers, foreign or local. We only lose 3 hours of our day and are very grateful to get to our destination and not have to deal with cancelling and making new reservations for the night.