Snorkelling crystal-clear turquoise waters of Vanuatu’s Mystery Island, is therapeutic! Midst various shapes of brightly coloured exotic fish: luminous blue, bright yellow, pencil thin upright and “see-through”, you can be in the moment, untuned into world troubles. Not that those ever go away: Burglary at home is far less significant than serious health issues of people close to us. Sometimes being far away is tough!

After wonderful Port Vila, 13^th March 2020 our world closed down overnight. No Pentecost Island to see legendary original bungee jumpers dive off trees with vine tied ankles. No Champagne Beach nor other “next” destinations. COVID changed all – for all of us!

Vanuatu, meaning “Our Land Forever”, is an 83-island archipelago, 65 inhabited – primarily by Melanesian people migrated to Oceania from Africa thousands of years ago. Invention of bungee jumping; cannibalism until relatively recently; Prince Philip worship; excellent diving; accessible volcanoes and “world’s fourth happiest country”, has primarily rural dwellers who integrate kastom (custom) with Christianity to guide daily life.  Kava their ubiquitous drink: spicy, bitter, relaxation inducing, mildly hallucinogenic.

Particularly exciting on 29^th January 2023 to anchor off Champagne Beach and “Tender” ashore in lifeboats three years after the aborted previous schedule.  Named for underwater champagne like bubbles, this beautifully set, white sanded beach repeatedly features in top 50 global beaches lists. We enjoyed but experienced dissonance, with performances: Women’s water dance; the impressive sunset fire dance. Culturally specific, skilled, different, entertaining – yet somewhat contrived and commercialised for affluent Western observers! Nevertheless, with tourism a key industry, Silversea company’s contribution surely makes some positive economic difference to this devastatingly poor country.

Excellent pre-arrival presentations educate about the background, history, living conditions and impacting forces, including global warming, which make many Pacific islands vulnerable to future flooding.

Our own identity, home and homeland are central to our lives, but sense of perspective is an important learning as we travel across the South Pacific with its multiple Island Nation homelands, languages and identities. Remote to us – but for 300 000 Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu people), it is their home and land forever!