Coral, and fishes, and wrecks, oh my!

9 May departing Santo, Vanuatu. I spent a couple of days of liberty going ashore to explore the sights. I’m accustomed to traveling alone so it’s annoying to me to comply with the navy security requirement to have 1 or 2 liberty buddies - you must be within eyesight of your buddy(s) at all times except in the bathroom. So finding someone(s) who want to leave and return to the ship when you do, and do what you want to do ashore can be a challenge (switching partners after departing the ship is not allowed). But we’ve all got the same rules so cooperation is necessary. The first day my liberty partner mistakenly changed too much money into local currency, so we shopped until we dropped, meaning that I bought a cacao pod and a papaya at the fruit market, a hand-painted sarong, tea, toothpaste, chocolate cookies, and a Cadbury chocolate bar (I was in major need of a chocolate fix!). Shopping is limited - despite there being many small variety shops in Luganville, they carry nearly identical merchandise. My liberty partner the second day wanted to go to Catholic mass before the snorkeling trip. Men and women sit on opposite sides of the main aisle and the singing was beautiful. We then met up with a group to go to a lovely resort for Sunday brunch and snorkeling. There were Cattleya and Dendrobium orchids growing on the trees at the resort. The Dendrobium were blooming with pale green and purple flowers. I asked a couple of local women what they call the flower, and after conferring with each other they responded “orchid”, so there’s no interesting Pidgin name for an orchid. The sky had turned cloudy and the breeze had kicked up by the time we got out on the water but the snorkeling sights were still great. Not as many fish as I expected but very good quantity and variety of corals, most of which looked quite healthy. Pieces of wrecked airplanes from WWII were visible, including propellers with and without engines, and assorted pieces of fuselages. Coral growth on a cross-section of fuselage resulted in an interesting structure. We finished off the day with my second trip to the excellent French restaurant for escargot appetizer and warm chocolate souffle dessert.

We’ve finished the first segment of the 3-part mission, and left Vanuatu today. We’re heading for a few days of liberty in Noumea, New Caledonia, which is a former French colony. Some personnel will be leaving for home and will be replaced by new faces. Santo was a great experience - lovely people, very long lines of patients, remote villages, helicopter rides with spectacular scenery, good snorkeling. The most unusual medical condition I saw, probably for most others as well, was leprosy lesions on a woman’s face (as pointed out by an Australian physician who has seen previous cases of leprosy). I’ve started spending a couple of hours on my non-work days shadowing the ship’s independent duty corpsman (medic) in the medical ward, which is similar to an urgent care clinic, to get additional experience. He’s a good instructor and I’m enjoying it.
Cheers to all!