Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu Trip 2025

As always, the last day of vacation arrived too soon!  We have had such a great time in the South Pacific, that today arrived with sadness - not only because we are sad to leave, but we kind of dread the 34 hour door-to-door return journey (if all goes on time), and we both have to launch into crazy work weeks as soon as we land in Nova Scotia. In any case, we had planned an early rise and some last resort activities before our 11:30AM checkout.  But when we threw open the curtains, the rain was POURING out of the morning sky.  Still, we were at breakfast shortly after it opened at 7AM, followed by a last resort walk, logging 2KM under an umbrella.  The skies dried up sufficiently to enable us to spend the last bit of our morning by the pool.   We checked out right at 11:30AM, squeezing every last drop out of our stay.  Port Vila doesn't have a lot of sights, and even less since the December earthquake damaged or closed the entire downtown core, but we...

Before leaving for our road trip, we couldn’t resist more pool pictures, because the water was incredibly still this morning. This is the 170km route we covered today - in both directions.  But before we get into today’s trip, let’s address the highway. Efate has one highway that encircles the island. We left Port Villa and drove in a counterclockwise direction. Although driving here is on the right hand side, as at home, driving here is not for the faint of heart! If only the entire highway was like this! Hazard #1: Out of the blue, potholes appear that will quickly flatten your tire. Hazard #2: Pick-up trucks filled with people are a common sight.  Hazard #3: People walk everywhere on the highway. Hazard #4: When driving through villages, packs of dogs will chase your vehicle. We saw acres and acres of palm trees, which have been planted in rows. We aren’t sure if they are being grown to harvest the coconuts or for lumber or both.  Another type of tree - but we could no...