Sailing with Nine of Cups

Now that we have internet for a week, it's hard to get moving first thing in the morning. We're more inclined to check emails, surf a little and have that extra cuppa rather than getting down to boat chores. We did, however, update the website with all new Vanuatu pix and text, so if you're inclined...check it out at www.nineofcups.com.

Our second day in Port Vila was primarily spent foraging for food. I know, I know...unless you're a cruiser in a third world country, there's no frame of reference for this activity. It includes walking from store to store trying to figure out who has what, whether you'll like the unfamiliar brands of canned veggies and other things you find, figuring out what you'll need for the next month or two since you won't have access to any more supermarkets and then trying to haul it all back to the boat. Today was the first foraging day. Buy a can of this and a package of that; try to remember where you bought it so you can potentially buy it again (or avoid it) and then figure out if you can talk the store into delivering it to the dinghy dock if you buy enough. The largest supermarket here is up the hill about a mile's walk from the dinghy dock along a narrow sidewalk. The hillside overlooks the anchorage which was a pretty sight as ambled along. Au Bon Marche is excellent and very well-stocked although their meat department was "closed" today. Not sure why or for how long, but that put a damper on buying fresh chicken for dinner, for sure. The store manager was off for meetings, wouldn't be back until 3pm and no one had any idea about possible deliveries. We did, however, find pickles, capers, rock salt, OJ without sugar added and a multitude of other delights. We also found a Leader Price, discount grocery outlet, during our travels and purchased a few things there as well. Not as well-stocked, but it offered some different items we hadn't seen in Au Bon Marche. Whatever we can't find in these two stores we either don't need or can be found in one of the multitude of Chinese stores downtown.

Doesn't sound like we accomplished much, but this foray consumed most of the day. We thought we'd have lunch out, but found the Waterfront Cafe here to be a bit too pricey for our tastes and since we had all the groceries with us, we figured lunch at Cafe au Cups would be just as fine. We took solar showers (read that cold water) ashore at the marina before heading back to Cups for a very late lunch (early dinner) and a quiet evening aboard.