August 26

Yesterday was my birthday. Jordan invited the boat "Chewink" with Cabot and Heidi for dinner since it was Heidi's birthday too! It was lovely - he made a lamb cutlet coated with a hazelnut spice mix, green beans and a risotto. Yum.

We are currently in the Meskalyn Islands which is on the southern tip of Malekula in Vanuatu. It is a lovely anchorage tucked behind a reef and a small island. We did some dives in the main entrance. It was ok - not great but I always find stuff to look at. At the beginning of the dive we saw a huge turtle which was cool.

Some locals come by in their dugout canoes - they are all very friendly and nice. Some ask if we want to buy vegetables. They live on the little islands but have gardens on the mainland. The other day I went to the little village on the island right near us and gave the kids books and pencils. They were thrilled.

It has recently been fairly cool and I am wearing a sweater at night. Its weird but kind of nice. I suspect I will remember this fondly as we move closer to the equator in the next couple of months.

I think we are headed for Pentacost Island next - also part of Vanuatu. We were going to stop in Ambrym which has two large active volcanoes on it. We have heard that the ash is very corrosive and heard of one boat who has to polish all the exposed metal after visiting there SO we are going to miss it.

I am looking forward to Pentecost and Maewo. Surprisingly I am looking forward to stopping back in Luganville despite have been there last year. It's a very mellow laid back town with out any of the tourist tack of Port Vila.

We have met another boat going to the Marshall's called "Wind Runner" and Jordan has going fishing with Martin although they got skunked both times.

Jonah is enjoying the area. We have done a bit of snorkeling and hope to do some more tomorrow. We had a beach Pot luck one night with the other boats and we built a big fire and he loved it. We are working hard at school as we are finishing up 1st grade and reviewing for the final test.

Today I babysat for Moorea on the boat "Valere". Her parents went exploring with their kayaks. They are leaving tomorrow but we are going to move slow as we have lots of time so why not. We hope to catch up with them later on as we enjoy Craig and Carol a great deal.