Carnival Spirit - May 2013, Day 8 Port Vila, Vanuatu

This is the Pilot boat - he helps our captain not crash :-)

Vila - we love Vila! This is my 4th visit and my sisters 3rd! All by cruise ship. Seeing as you're only at each port for the day, generally 8hrs, we haven't really spent that long in Vila so it certainly doesn't worry us coming back on each of our cruises! This time we had decided to go to Erakor Island as recommended by a friend of my sisters. After googling and trying to work out where it was and how far away it was we felt we'd be fine once at Vila to find a driver to take us there. (and to not be overcharged!). It took us a couple of tries but we finally found someone who understood what we wanted to do and not tell us what we should do! Be firm but friendly.

Being able to walk off the ship makes it a lot faster to disembark than when you have to catch a tender. Over breakfast we worked out our game plan, head to Erakor (after finding a driver) after Erakor go into town for a bit of shopping (Mr 11 was after some Nikes!) and then back to the markets near the ship - our day was sorted! It was hot so we made sure we had some water with us and plenty of sunscreen and just be warned, the drivers always say they have airconditioning. Some have real airconditioning and some have Vanuatu airconditioning - a window!

The Carnival Spirit checking out the markets!

Off the ship and heading towards the markets

After you get off the ship you head out the gates into the markets. On previous visits the taxis and buses were all lined up along the road here but this time they weren't allowed into the market area and were waiting at the end. Possibly it was a safety reason but it just meant we had to walk further to find a driver! (it was hot remember, very hot). After finally negotiating a price we were on our way. Our driver was to drop us off at the wharf to get to Erakor Island and then pick us up 3hours later to take us into Vila. We don't pay until the end just to ensure they come back and get us! (He did)

On the boat heading for Erakor Island

Erakor Island - here we come!

Erakor Island - this side is very sheltered

Kids playground - this is the otherside of the island (the island's only about 100m wide)

Ordering lunch!

Erakor Island is only about 5-10minutes drive from the ship and then a 5min boat trip across to the island. It's only small but it was lovely and so peaceful. One thing with a cruise is that generally wherever you go there are always going to be hundreds of other people there as well so this was a nice change. I think there was only couple of people from our cruise there. Are, the serenity! To get across to Erakor you do have to pay (the kids were free) but then you can use that to pay for things on the island. We hired some snorkle gear and also got some food and drink as we wouldn't get back to the ship until well after lunch (shock horror!). We did spend a bit more than what our voucher was for as we'd done the exchange rate a bit wrong but it was only a few extra dollars. I think we paid about $40 for the 6 of us to catch the boat across and back. We could have stayed all day but we did have other things to do - Nike shopping for one! The snorkling wasn't quite as good as Hideaway Island (we went there on our 2nd cruise on the Dawn) but there were still plenty of fish and starfish to see. The starfish were everywhere! We all agreed it was a lovely place to visit and Mr 6 even went so far as to say it was his favourite island of the cruise!



Back in the airconditioned van heading for Vila

The Carnival Spirit (in the distance) and someone's finger!

Our driver was waiting for us when we left Erakor (phew) so into Vila we went. As you can see and hear by the video below our van had 'Vanuatu' airconditioning and it's not the newest of models! 



We had thought our driver was going to drop us in town and then pick us up an hour later but he had other ideas. He did drop us in town (in the middle of the street) but he wasn't going to take us back to the ship, we had to find another van to do that. We paid him $30 ($5pp) so it wasn't too bad and there are plenty of taxi's and van's in Vila offering to take you back to the ship! Off Nike hunting we went! Vila is hot and humid and the people there don't seem to like to use deodorant - you have been warned!

After a success shopping trip we head back to the ship. The markets are stilling going so we have one last look just in case we missed something the first time! The kids wanted to buy a few things, like bows and sling shots, so we'd thought it would be better to get them now than this morning - saved us having to carry them around all day. These get taken off you when you reboard the ship and you collect them on the morning of debarkation - it's because they are classed as weapons. You do have to declare these so customs can check and make sure they're ok to bring back to Australia. All the ones we had were fine. We also had some beer holders that we bought at Mystery Island which were made from reed, customs also checked these - they made it through too. Time to get back on our ship - final boarding is 4.30pm with sailaway due at 5pm.

We all went back to our cabins to drop of our purchases and a quick shower and then back up top to watch us sail out.

Cheers Port Vila - we WILL be back!

We didn't need to rush as it turned out. There was a medical emergency with one of the passengers who had to be taken off the ship. We did watch them leave and at least they were waving as they were stretchered off and loaded onto the waiting ambulance. Bit of a disappointing end to their cruise though! We left Port Vila at 6pm. Seeing as we were now heading back to Sydney I don't think it made too much of a difference to our schedule.