Monthly Archives: August 2024

Around the Island of Efate

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It was time to explore the island of Efate by car.  This island has a rugged coast line with a single road that circumnavigates the entire island.  There are fast flowing rivers, cascading waterfalls, isolated sandy bays, lagoons, and white and black sand beaches.  The coastal road meanders around the perimeter of the island.

This is a long post as I shared all of our stops on this all day adventure.  Here is a recap of the places we stopped on our day around Efate:

  • Secret Garden and Cultural Center
  • Tanna Coffee Cafe Distribution House
  • Mele (Tebakesa) Cascade Falls
  • Roawia Turtle Snorkeling Adventure
  • WWII Museum
  • Top Rock Views and Snorkeling
  • Hot Hot Natural Springs

My friends on Moana (Rena, Chris, and Helena) rented a mini moke for the day and I came along for the adventure.

Secret Garden and Cultural Center

We did not have an itinerary or any specific destinations.  We just wanted to see what we could see along the way.  Our first stop was the Secret Garden and Cultural Center.  Unfortunately, it was closed and had been closed since covid.  It was destroyed during Cyclone Pam and has not been rebuilt as there is no labor on Vanuatu.  Evidently, Australia and New Zealand recruit young Vanuatu workers and pay them more.  So the young people don’t want to work in their own country.  The woman who lived and worked here was lovely and super happy for the company.  However, we could not walk around as everything was falling to pieces – so very sad.

Tanna Coffee Distribution Center

Tanna Coffee is pretty famous here in the Pacific.  We visited what we thought was the distribution place while we were in Tanna.  However, we found out that was an offshoot of the original Tanna Coffee which has a distribution place in Efate.  Terry the owner was very kind and gave us a tour.

Terry employs 16 workers who are responsible for a plot of land in Tanna.  They grow, harvest, pick, ferment, pulp, and prepare the coffee beans and then send them to Terry to complete the processing, packaging, market, and promote the final product: medium roast, dark roast, and expresso.

He cooks/bakes his beans in these machines below.  25-30 seconds for medium roast.  Another 25-30 seconds will destroy the bean.  Expresso is just half medium and half dark roast. The beans below show the “raw” bean, then the dark roast (shiny with a little natural oil), and the medium roast.

Time to Cool Off at the Cascade Falls

We stop at Mele Cascades aka Tebakesa Spring Pool and Bar.  There are several, clear, aquamarine pools that you can enjoy along with dozens of small cascading waterfalls.  We arrived on a Sunday and even though it was open, the restaurant and bar were closed.  No matter as it meant fewer people so we had the place to ourselves.

I loved that these local young boys were taking a bath.

The facilities include changing rooms, showers, toilets, restaurant, and bar and lots of seating areas.  The fee to get to the pools was $1500 Vatu but if you wanted to hike to the waterfall you had to pay the Chinese owner $3000 Vatu ($30USD).  We opted not to pay for the waterfall.

The water was very refreshing and absolutely beautiful.

My leg is still healing from an infection so I could not actually jump in, but Rena, Chris and Helena had a fabulous time.

Roawia Turtle and Snorkeling Tours

We stumbled across Roawai Turtle Snorkeling Tours which was a nice surprise.  Totally off the beaten path, not on the main road, and a wee bit hard to find.  A super nice woman explained that they offer snorkeling tours where you can see their coral restoration project, nemo city, turtles, and giant clams.   Afterwards she treated us to a nice lunch.

WWII Museum

This was incredibly disappointing and in my opinion, disrespectful to veterans.  This super small building with “rust in peace” on the outside is a major tour destination and stop.  Inside this disorganized shed are tons and tons of bottles.  Mostly coca cola bottles.  But among the bottles are a few relics which he claims are from WWII.  

There is a good chance they are really from WWII as the U.S. had an encampment on Efate and several U.S. planes crashed right outside this bay.  However, the displays are dirty, unkept, not labeled and totally disorganized.

Top Rock and Look Out

Terry from the Tanna Coffee recommended we stop here and we are sure glad we did.  Had we not already had three swimming excursions, we would have snorkeled here too.  This is extremely well kept rounds, with lots of signs, and well groomed paths.  

You can go to the look out point where there is a local restaurant with spectacular views.

The hillsides are made of coral and the waters were crystal clear.

You can also go down to the water where you can snorkel in their fish filled waters and visit a cave.  

Natural Hot Springs

Our last stop were the natural hot springs.  These are not normal hot springs as they are not maintained, kept up or really very clean.  But there were locals who braved the extremely hot temperatures (we dipped a toe and yelped).

A map around Efate.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind schedule.  This blog post occurred in Mid-June 2024.  In our last blog we showed you how Efate wow’s us with their fire show!

Efate is on Fire

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We leave Anatom (Aneityum) at 0630 to start our overnight passage to Efate, Vanuatu’s main island.  we have 170nm (as the crow flies) to get to Port Vila, the largest town in Vanuatu.  

Our friends on sv Moana (Rena, Chris, and Helena) are following us on their Lagoon 450. We expected a beautiful beam reach sail with moderate 1-2m seas.  What we got was a lumpy, bumpy sea 2+ meters on the beam and 25kts of wind forcing us to pinch hard at 35degrees.  I was ill prepared and did not take my sea sick medicine.  It was a miserable journey for me, but after 23 hours we covered 179nm and arrived at daybreak. 

Port Vila

Port Vila is the main town on Efate, the main island of Vanuatu.   Despite this being the capitol and economical hub for the entire country, the outer communities are low key and symbolic of true village life.  Normally, this is not the type of place we like to go (city-type) but we had to accomplish a few things here that required a stop.

Mainly, we had to get our cruiser permit which allows us to cruise to other islands.  The cruiser permit we got in Tanna was only for the “southern islands.”  This new permit will be good for the middle islands (Efate to Santo) and then we will have to get another permit for the Northern islands.  Fun, right?

We also needed some fresh produce and boy oh boy did we score.  They have a HUGE fresh market every day, although Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the biggest days.  People from the outer villages come on the big days.

This is what I would call a “proper town” in island life.  They had loads or Au Bon Marche markets which were well stocked!  It was so much fun exploring these markets and finding products we had not seen in over a year (like whipping cream to make ice cream). 

I gathered all the important intel for the Vanuatu Compendium (store hours, locations, contact details).  I also picked up some medication and medical supplies at the pharmacy as they don’t require a prescription (cool, right?) and pampered myself with a pedicure.

Efate on Fire?

One of the best things about coming to Port Vila, Efate is the famous fire show at The Beach bar on Mele Beach.  Our friends on Moana (Rena, Chris, and Helena) and another friend, Amy joined Matt and I for the spectacular event!  Be sure to check out our svSugarShack instagram account as there are some amazing videos from this fire show (posted 18 June 2024).

They warmed you up with some “basic” fire tricks like juggling and tossing the flame sticks around.  Each act was set to either “popular” music or local music.

Gradually the stunts got harder and more exciting to watch.

There are two people playing with 10 fire sticks at the same time in these photos.

Then really, really long fire sticks came out which they slowly and artfully lowered over our heads. The bright colors are the laser lights that they had on during the show.

Some of the fire shots came out really crazy on camera – but I kind of really like the effect.

They had a few women come out and do the traditional local dance with fire sticks. They also had a man who tried his best to do a silk contortion show.  Really it was clunky and difficult to watch but kudos to him for trying!

Efate is known for this famous fire show and I can see why!  They did the limbo, they had 3 jumping under a jump rope and had several mystifying stunts.

After about an hour the show was coming to the finale.  Lots of fire, lots of sparks, and lots of “oohs and awes.”

Sparks and fire were flying everywhere and all I could think of was the splendor in front of me!

And then the fire went out….

The dancers stayed around so we could take photos and play with fire ourselves. Lucky for me I did not burn my hair off.  But I was never a baton twirler….

Super fun night with good friends, tasty food, and amazing entertainment at The Beach Bar on Mele Beach, Efate, Vanuatu

Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in mid-June.  In our last blog post, Matt walks 12 miles to a waterfall on Tanna.

A Massive Waterfall Hike

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Anatom / Aneityum Island is pretty darn remote and there is not much to do besides enjoy the beauty it has to offer.  So, when another cruiser mentioned an all-day hike to a beautiful waterfall we were all in!

Unfortunately, I had a massive leg infection and I was told by my doctor friend (Rena on the boat “Moana”) that I need to sit this one out.  I was heartbroken, but I made them tell me every single detail so I could share it with you!

Rena, her daughter Helena, and Matt left around 0730 and walked up the one main logging road (the logging company that used to deforest the island built the road).  They met their guide Elisha and his brother John at the last village at the end of the logging road.  This is about a 45 minute walk from the beach.

This is where Elisha and his family live which is a really beautiful home!  He has an immaculate and flourishing garden with both flora and vegetables!

Rena is like me, she loves flowers!  Anatom is super lush and covered in over 80 types of orchids.  I am so grateful to her for taking so many beautiful flower shots!

Here are a few more shots of his very extensive garden.  He even has an old piece of equipment from the logging days.  Matt said it was an old bulldozer.

And the Hike Begins

The beginning of the hike, well after they made it up the hill to the last village, was pretty easy.  They walked along a wide road until it turned into a dirt road.  Most of the river crossings had “bridges” and the trail was obvious.

Then the trail became more in the moderate to advanced level where you crawl under fallen trees, cross low rising rivers, and trapse through the forest.

At this point, Elisha decided to start handing out pieces of sugar cane.  He had been carrying it with his machete and cut it up for each person.  This kept everyone hydrated and sugared up.

Then the challenging part begins.  Elisha had to use his machete a lot to clear the path that was severely overgrown.  Not a lot of locals come up this path and very few tourists make it up this far.  

Lots more challenging and difficult.  Now, you are balancing on very wet, slippery rocks/boulders to cross the river and or go up the river.  It made for slow progress, but the water was crystal clear and very refreshing.

The Reward

After 4-hours, the group made it up to the beautiful waterfall.  Pictures don’t do it justice, but everyone was in awe of her beauty.

It did not take long for everyone to jump in and cool off after the long hike.

Then it was time to get some lunch.  Elisha and John caught crawfish / prawns in the fresh river!  They caught the larger ones under the rocks and the smaller ones in the falls.  They simply scooped their hands up the falling water and put them in a bamboo shoot.

Then they made a small fire, steamed them, and served them up for lunch.

On the way back, which took 2.5 hours, they stopped at Elisha and John’s village to load up on fruits!  Elisha literally climbed up the trees (barefoot) to shake down the pomplemouse, passionfruit, and bananas.

He also showed off his new vanilla plantation.  We all scored with the fruit!

The Results

  • Distance:  12 miles / 20 km
  • Elevation:  1200′ from sea level
  • 8hr and 29min moving time

This shows their track into the interior of the island.

And then they were blessed with an amazing sunset.

I sure missed out on an epic adventure.  I hope I did it justice for you all.  Elisha said that they were the 2nd group to do this hike since covid.  Not surprising since the cruise ship people who visit aren’t really going to go on an all-day hike and the villagers have other things to do.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in mid-June.  Don’t miss out on our last blog to the very famous Mystery Island.