A short overnight sail north of Port Vila brought us to an anchorage at Lamen Bay, on Epi Island. There, we caught up with friends and celebrated another boy’s birthday, this time a thirteenth.

A beach had been scouted out where we wouldn’t be posting ourselves right in front of a village or someone’s home. This required a bit of careful dinghy work to get in through the reef. Motors up, paddles out.

Back at home Ali put our almost stale bread to work. The boulangerie back in Port Vila is amazing, but fresh bread doesn’t survive long.

These blue starfish are favorites of mine. This guy even sported an extra arm on his velvet jacket.

While the kids gather on one boat, the adults gather on another to plot out the next twenty miles on our journey. This is the first time in all our years of cruising that we’ve ever had so many cruising kids together at the same time, and it’s been a nice experience for everyone. It’s a whole new world.

I knew dugongs were in the area, so when I heard a big breath nearby one morning, I immediately grabbed my mask. He didn’t stick around long, but he was fun to see. Dugongs have a dolphin style flipper, which differentiates them from manatees.

I hadn’t seen lobster in ages. Four big fat ones hid under this ledge and I expected to see more around the area, but didn’t. Judging by the number of locals out hunting the reef I don’t expect these would last much longer.

That morning we’d been visited by a few locals in their dugouts, and one of them had invited all of us to come visit the nearby village.

The Lavrisi Yacht Club and Kava Bar was open for business. Before kava, though, we’d get a tour of the village and school.

Upon arrival the women greeted us with flower necklaces and warm smiles.

There’s currently a teacher’s strike as the government hasn’t been paying them lately, or distributing their pensions. A union representative from New Zealand was apparently en route to help mediate the dispute between the teachers and the government. The teachers told us the kids were upset not to be in school because there is not much for them to do.

I had my doubts, though. They seemed to be doing alright to me.

Kava served in a dish instead of a coconut husk. If you’re wondering, I’d say kava tastes exactly how you’d expect ground up root water this color to taste. It’s not good, it’s not bad. Kava is the root of a plant, and that’s what it tastes like.