After getting in so late the previous evening we chilled in the apartment and room for the afternoon, had tea in the resort restaurant and made plans to make our way to the main part of town in the morning. Thanks to the photocopied map I found in Reception we found ourselves next to the main Post Office. Being Sunday there was nothing much happening and the advice we received from the resort was that Hideaway Island was worth the trip to get started on our snorkelling. A local bus driver came and asked if we would like to go anywhere so we said Hideaway and jumped in. We chatted on the way out of town, receiving much advice on what to see and do. Eventually, Wilson dropped us off with the promise of picking us up at 2 pm.
To get to Hideaway you wait for the ferry, a flat bottomed tinny, to come from the island. Once you disembark after a 5 minute journey, the signs direct you to a small building where you pay to enter the island. From there its find a table or beach lounge to set up, don the snorkelling gear then paddle out to the reef. The distance isn't very far and there were lots of fish nice coral. You can even dive down to the underwater post office. I guess being Sunday was the reason why it wasn't tended.
The journey back was a chance for our driver to tell us what he could do for us. Eventually we booked him in for a day out to a lookout, through his village, The Secret Garden and the Mele Cascades. The Secret Garden was the highlight overall, with the opportunity of a guided tour through the garden to see some of the animals they had as well as a some village houses and the central meeting area where he explained how the chief summons the villagers. Truly fascinating, eventually prompting us to venture on the Ekasup Village Tour yesterday.
The Mele Cascades were stunning, and we swam under the waterfall. It was very hot and humid so the chance to cool off after a 10 minute walk was refreshing. The Tanna Coffee factory was also a stop off. Great coffee, which you can order online. We grabbed a bag before rejoining our Wilson in the bus. There were very few people around which reinforced the sense of relaxation we were experiencing.
A cruise ship was due in overnight, which meant that the place going to be very busy. We arranged for Wilson to take us in the other direction to Blue Lagoon and other nearby places later in the week as he didn't want to miss the potential fares of the next two days.
Three days were down and we felt like the Gold Coast was a lifetime away. There were big thunder storms that night. Dinner was had at the Nambawan Brewery in the Main Street of Vila with the tropical downpour starting while we were eating.
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