Our last day in Vanuatu dawned bright and clear, the sun rose and illuminated a vision of a tropical paradise. Our destination for the day the tiny island of Lo in the Torres group, an island which only rarely receives visitors. The Zodiac landing was at a small cove with the softest white sand beach, fringed by coconut palms beneath a tropical blue sky. Behind which was a small village which had made extensive preparations for our arrival.
The first event of the day was a chance to attend the village church service, which provided a fine opportunity to see another side of life in Vanuatu. Then the music and dancing began in earnest, first from the Lo Islanders and then a special performance by a group of musicians from the nearby island of Gaua. These women have developed a unique style of water music, standing waste deep in the ocean and using their hands and mouths to create an amazing percussive performance. Trying to describe the sounds is beyond my skills here, and while there is no doubt video of their performance available online, it was one of those moments when you really had to be there to understand. As much as anything, because of the setting and because of the atmosphere created by the locals. The entire village turned out to see the performance, clearly as excited as we were by the opportunity.
After our morning ashore it was time to move on towards our next stop and a new country – Santa Ana in the Solomon Islands. At some levels it seems unimportant that one group of islands is in Vanuatu and another in the Solomon Islands. It would be easy to believe that these people know or care little to nothing of life in Port Vila or Honiara. Whatever their nationality, it is a pleasure to travel and meet these open and friendly people.
