Cafe life - dinner and dancing and chat - expats in Port Pila

Tuesday 9th August

It is fun living in the middle of a café, really. The only disadvantage of being moored in such a very public position is that you can’t just wander out onto deck in your bedclothes, scratching your head and yawning. The people sitting at the tables only a mere or two away are thrilled to catch glimpses of Life Aboard but…we really have to censor our public appearances.

Last night we invited Egills (from Panache IV) and his new crew member, Harry, for a drink at our floating café table – I was going to say after work at five but…oh bliss – I meant after not doing very much at all at five o’clock. Harry’s sister-in-law Barbara joined us. She is originally from Launceston but now is a property manager on the Gold Coast, with her husband. They also have built a hotel here, The Moorings, and they run a couple of nightclubs as well. Her son Justin and daughter-in-law Kate live here permanently with their little children and they enjoy it all very much. We have met a few Australians doing this sort of thing. The people running the bookshop, which only opened four weeks ago, after a few years of bureaucratic fumbling, are also here for the foreseeable future. The children all go to the International School and learn French as well as English, but possibly not any of the local dialects…

After our very delicious G & Ts we all walked the plank to the restaurant where we had beautiful meals. Harry had some sort of rack of lamb which was absolutely enormous; I think it stonkered him! Egills had beef curry which looked rich and wonderful, while Pete (yes Pete, the non-fish-lover!) had fresh mahi mahi with vegetables, cooked just perfectly. Barbara and I had the same and enjoyed it very much.

There was live music – a very pleasant low-key singer with a synthesizer. These local boys certainly sing beautifully. All middle-of-the-road stuff. Pete and I were inspired to get up and have a bit of mild dancing to Stand By Me, and later I had a whirl around the dance floor with Fred, who had joined us for after-dinner beer – (Smooth Operator – the song, not the man). We all then walked the plank (a bit more wobbly…) and sat around talking, ofcourse, about sailing. Egills, Harry and Pete can, as you can imagine, talk about sailing for hours on end, happily reminiscing or contemplating this or that adventure, this or that bit of gear. Fred, who must have sailing conversations with every single new lot of yachties who roll into Port Vila, got sick of this, and said, impatiently, “Let’s not talk about sailing! Let’s talk about sex!” This broke up the party instantly.

Fred has lived here for 22 years and has a very big boat (62’, I think,) called Drydock. He is from Arnhem and frequently speaks Dutch to me, which I do understand, mostly, but am incapable of reciprocating. Fred is totally rock & roll, a very Mick Jagger character, with wild grey hair and a very deep tan from many years on the water. He works as an engineer on big building projects here. Tonight he is going to take us to a kava bar. Egills and Harry recoiled at this but he said, firmly, “You don’t know what you are talking about. You will enjoy it very much!” The kava here is ground with some sort of pulverising implements; the kava on Tanna, on the other hand, is made by young boys’ spit…they sit around chewing it and spitting it into a bowl… NOT so attractive a prospect.

It is very hot today and Pete says we are going to WALK to hardware shops and Au Bon Marché Numba 2.

Yesterday we wandered long our new neigbourhood and had a chat to George From Tasmania who runs sunset tours on his ex-Hobart fishing boat. We had watched and admired this boat from our anchorage coming back at night, all lit up with neon blue partylights, looking fabulous. He has lived here (on board) for many years, has got used to the warmth. So many expats!