We arrived here early in the morning on Friday 25 September after 4 nights at sea and, within a few minutes, realised what a different sort of place it was. Our friends on White Hawk have been here a while and are raving about how fantastic it is.

Port Vila is the capital which apparently is quite a busy port but we decided to check in Lenakel on Tanna which is the southern most island in the group. It's on the way to New Caledonia where we go next. We arrived at about 9 am but it was already too late to go on the hour long truck ride over to Lenakel to see Customs, Immigration and Quarantine so couldn't check in till the following Monday. It didn't matter though. Everyone is quite happy for you to wander about for a few days without having checked in! Can you imagine that happening in UK or Australia??

Vanuatu used to be New Hebrides after Captain Cook decided it looked like Scotland. The people of Vanuatu probably came originally from the people migrating from Asia on their way to the Pacific and look quite different from the other islands we've visited. They are quite darker and have wider foreheads and flatter noses. They were exploited by the Brits and the French for several centuries but finally got independence in 1980 but still learn English or French at school and speak Bislama, a pidgin language amongst themselves.

We had had four disturbed nights sleep so I had promised myself I wouldn't rush ashore to see the place like I usually do but would relax and get some sleep and go and explore the following day. Not to be. Lyn on White Hawk has been invited to one of the local's little daughter's birthday party and we are all going. There are six other yachts in the bay, all of which we have been travelling with for some time now, so 17 of us set off to help her celebrate (whether she wanted us there or not!) We thought it was in the nearest village and went ashore to meet Johnson, the acting Chief, pharmacist, midwife and nurse who was going to take us there. An hour and a half later having walked in 30+ degrees C, we arrive in the village to be greeted by all the villagers. If they're surprised there are so many of us, they don't show it but welcome us and put woven mats on the ground for us to sit on and give us coconut milk to drink. They live in wooden huts with palm leaved roofs and cook outside. There are little pigs and several scabby dogs roaming around and dozens of children who are too shy to look at us at first but are soon are smiling and giggling. Lyn and Raidun from Hilde have baked birthday cakes and put candles on the top for Regina, who was probably 4, but no one was quite sure. She looks quite bemused as we sing Happy Birthday and make her make a wish. We have a few gifts for her but have given them to the chief who distributes them as he sees fit. All the villagers queue up to give her and her family presents and it was interesting to see that some of them were the gifts we'd brought. It was lovely because everyone had something to give.

We were about to leave when Johnson said we had to stay for the feast that had been made especially for us. Then we were shown the 'lap lap' where a small piglet (thought one had gone missing!) and masses of vegetables, taro, pumpkin, choco, and sweet potato had been cooking on a fire topped with hot stones. They dug all this up and laid it out on woven mats on the ground along with fish curry, chicken and rice. They all watched us eat, waiting to have theirs when we had finished. When we left, they plied us with vegetables to take with us and promised to bring us lobsters the following day. Unbelievable generosity from people who have so little.

The following day saw us walking to another village to see the little show that they put on for the few tourists that they get. We watched Caroline weaving baskets out of palm leaves and one of the men fire-walking. They charge 700 vatua for this (about A$ 8, 4.50 GBP) and this goes to the upkeep of the school.

Sunday morning and I was going off to church with some of the others. (I haven't suddenly seen the light. It's just a really good way to see a bit of island life). Andy has refused to come. A Catholic upbringing has left him, let's say, unwilling to enter any building of the religious kind! However, I nagged him this time as I had a feeling it might be quite special and he agreed with bad grace. Another walk along the sandy lane and up a very steep path to the village. The chief of this village greeted us and took us to see Pastor Bruno. The village had been waiting for us and took us into their wooden airy church. All the girls had made us flower garlands to wear and asked us to introduce ourselves. Then they sang some hymns with Pastor Bruno playing the guitar. The sermon was taken from Corinthians and was about love between all people, whether black or white, all spoken in Bislama, the local pidgin language. We were all a bit touched! Afterwards every villager came and shook our hands and wished us 'Peace'. Just an absolute delight to have been there. Even Andy looked a bit misty-eyed at one point!

On Monday we were picked up by Ernest and taken in his Ute, a Toyota pick-up, into Lenakel to check in. The journey was fabulous with all the adults and all the kids on the way to school shouting hello. Lenakel is a small little town with a dusty supermarket and a bank that doesn't actually give you money. We hadn't taken any currency to change so had to borrow some from one of the other cruisers (thanks, Peter!) There was a colourful market as usual with pretty basic stuff but everyone incredibly friendly.

Later that day at about 4 pm, Ernest picks us all up again to go and see Mt Yasur, one of the world's most accessible, active volcanoes. As you drive up to it, the landscape becomes more like a moonscape with sand dunes and gulleys and all the vegetation covered in gritty dust. You walk to the crater rim up a steep path (no safety fence of course) and look down into the crater which is about 300m wide and 100m deep. At first there is just an occasional rumble and a whiff of sulphur. Then you feel your legs shake, hear a deafening explosion and a huge shower of molten rock and smoke soars up into the sky. Lumps of lava land, some might consider, a little bit too close for comfort! Then it goes quieter for a few more minutes and sort of builds up again. It's only at level 3 at the moment (level 4 is too dangerous to visit) though I read in the book later that level 3 is also considered a bit on the risky side! Some of us walked around the ridge to a higher view point where you could look down and see that there appear to three vents that take it in turns to explode. As it gets darker, the display becomes more and more impressive with glowing boulders being hurled into the air and lumps of red hot magma shooting up like fireworks, accompanied by deafening bangs that you can feel right through your body. As the young Kiwi, Dub Step DJ that I was watching with said "Awesome, Dude!"

The following day was a little bit gentler. I went snorkelling with Lyn and Fernley while the men went to the village to do a few jobs. Andy and Ian fixed the generator at the church so that they can have lights, Pete and Gary put a new window in the village Ute and Paul sorted out why the lawn tractor and trailer that was a gift from some New Zealanders wasn't working. We were really pleased that we could give something back to the village but needless to say, lobsters and fruit and vegetables appeared again for them to bring back.

On our final day, we had planned to leave at 5 pm to do the trip to the Loyalty Islands which we thought would take about 38 hours. We noticed in the morning that the tide was incredibly low and rocks were showing where we had never seen them before. One of the local men came out to us in his canoe and told us that this was very unusual and might mean there was a tidal wave coming. We weren't quite sure what he meant but, just in case, upped anchor and left at midday. The next day we had e mails telling us about the devastation in Pago Pago in Samoa and Tonga.