Pacific Dawn - Day 5 - Port Vila

Another day and another new port! Super excited - we'd seen this port on the cruise cam so many times, showing the markets, and now we were here - in person!! The Dawn docks at Port Vila so it's an easy walk off walk on port - no tender needed.

First off though, we had breakfast - in our cabin! Room service, on a ship - this is our kinda holiday ;-) After breakfast, well pre-breakfast, we headed up to the buffet for....breakfast. It was going to be a BIG day so we needed energy (this is what we told ourselves anyway!).

Breakfast in our cabin!

Glorious Port Vila Habour

Great parking Captain!

We docked around 8am and it was already hot! From what the locals say, it is ALWAYS hot in Vila (and humid). In the above photo you can see a line of cars and vans - these are all of the taxi's waiting for us. It can get a bit overwhelming once you're in amongst it all as EVERYONE wants you to go in their taxi! Just be firm but nice and say where or what you wish to do, get a price (always haggle) and off you go. We were told not to pay until you were back just to ensure they picked you up again. If you are just going into Vila itself you don't need to worry about getting the same taxi as there are plenty of them zooming up and down the main road waiting to take you back to the ship. We paid about $5pp each way (into town and back).

The Dawn checking out the markets!

Vila markets - watch out for the taxi's!

In our taxi and on our way into Vila

It's only about a 10min drive into town, depending on how many pot holes and other cars there are! There doesn't appear to be any road rules or speed limits - a very eye opening trip :-) Another thing, all the drivers will say they have airconditioning, most of them only have Vila airconditioning - wind down your window!

We didn't have any major plans for our visit to Port Vila so just decided to go into town and wander around a bit. It was very hot and humid but there was a nice breeze coming off the water was it wasn't too bad.

In town looking across the harbour at the Dawn

The markets in town

Fruit & Veg markets in town

The markets in town sold the same things as the ones near the ship - somethings were cheaper, some dearer. We walked across the road from the markets and looked in the shops there. The prices are pretty good but you do have to remember that everything is a knockoff - they have just about every brand you can think off!! We bought a few Billabong shorts and some Gucci sunnies!

In the taxi waiting for the driver

Once we'd finished our shopping we grad a taxi (like I mentioned before, they are everywhere so it didn't take long) and headed back to the ship. This taxi was a little bit scarier than the first as it didn't have much of a floor - we did make it back in one piece though!

Back onto the ship and after dropping our bargain buys in our cabin off we head to the.........buffet!! Lunchtime people :-)

We asked at the Aquahut (this is where you can buy/hire your snorkeling gear) if there was anywhere close by we could snorkel. The girl there said behind the ship is a great place to snorkel - just walk up a little bit to the beach area and away you go. ok - fabbo! We finished our lunch and then headed back off the ship. This time instead of turning left (where the markets are) we went right but when we got to the gate the (not very friendly) P&O guy wanted to know what we were doing. We explained that the girl on the ship had recommended swimming over behind the ship. He wasn't very happy or helpful but grudgingly let us through. He told us that this is where people who have booked tours through P&O go not people like us! He also mentioned that where we were headed was private property so they may not let us swim there anyway. oh dear!

Snorkeling at Vila

No-one had a problem with us being there but the snorkeling wasn't very good. There were a lot of old tires but not too many fish! No wonder there weren't many people there! We haven't worked out why the girl on the ship would have suggested going there though! Nevermind, the water was lovely and refreshing and it wasn't far to walk back to the ship.

Our messy cabin!

Back on board we all had a quick shower and then headed up to the Lido ready for sailaway. We were leaving around 5pm so would have wonderful views sailing out. This is definitely a place we want to come back to - again and again!

Rainbow over Vila

Beautiful Port Vila Harbour

The sun setting on our wonderful day in Vila

It was pirate night tonight - the only one to dress for the occasion (out of our group - lots of other cruisers got into the spirit!) was Miss 10 as she'd made some pirate gear in her kids club.

The Bengal Bar

 After we'd sailed out of Port Vila and the sun went down we head down to the Bengal Bar for a glass of wine. There is often one of the bands or singers on this time of the evening so it's a great place to relax, chill out and talk about the day.

Only way to get us all in the photo - in the lift!

(again, sideways!)

After the Bengal bar and our bottle of wine was finished we head up to the buffet for dinner! We only went to the main restaurant once during our cruise but found it very rushed. I think we were in and out in about 45 minutes! We didn't have time to enjoy ourselves or even take any photos! We have a feeling because we didn't have a regular booking they just fitted us in and needed the table for the 'regulars' - there seemed to be plenty of vacant tables though!

Don't worry the buffets not closing yet!

This photo makes us all laugh! We can't work out why mum and I have such weird expressions on our faces. My sister says it's because we thought they were closing the buffet early!! cheeky.