Day 11 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas Cheekyricho transpacific cruise holiday

We arrived in Vila Vanuatu, it's just over a year since we were last here. In that time the Island has endured a Category 5 cyclone and there is damage evident all around the harbour. Large vessels washed ashore, stripped and abandoned. Resorts being rebuilt trees uprooted. The same friendly smiles on the locals welcome tourists. We bought 1 litre of Bombay Gin for $19 and 1 litre of Jim Beam for $14.50 duty free. If you are travelling back to Australia make sure you buy your Duty Free here instead of being ripped off something fierce back in Australia. 

We caught a water taxi from the dock to town $5aud per person is cheap and relaxing. You see more and you arrive in the middle of town.

The local markets are a great place to grab some fresh local fruit for lunch.

We decided to go on a submarine tour that takes you to the centre of the harbour and completely sinks to a depth of 30m where a scuba diver ties some bread rolls to a rope on the bottom to feed a myriad of colourful fish. There is coral and plenty of photo ops. The crew are very friendly and eager to take your photos on your own camera. You can even pose with the scuba diver as he swims by.

The submarine holds 30 passengers and today it was just us. It was lovely we kicked off our sandals and sat in the cockpit. A private tour in an oceangoing submarine, not everyone can say they have done that.

This is operated by remote control, handheld out on the deck.

Today is my turn to feel a bit better and Richo  looks and feels like chook droppings. So I made breakfast in bed, omelette, toast, fruit, Bircher  muesli and tea. Haha, I would've cooked it if I could but I did deliver it to our cabin. I actually I did the kilometre round trip with a trusty tray to retrieve viddles from the dining room. I massaged his aching back and legs.  Gave him some cold medicine tucked him into bed and took off to the movies to see The Heart of the Sea movie about Moby Dick. I enjoyed the show. The first 20 minutes I spent coughing and managed to clear the row around me. Hey! I went to a whole row by myself and they all sat on top of me, when there were hundreds of spare seats near nobody. What is it with people needing to sit your pocket. I know I'm no longer contagious but I do probably sound like I haveDiphtheria.

 The Royal Promenade is like the Main Street and the dining rooms are at the very end of it and are quite long themselves. There are bridges across like catwalks where dancers perform and speeches are given. 2 banks of Glass bubble like elevators give a good view of the crowds and shops below.

A quick check on Richo and he looked better for having rested for 2 hours so off to lunch we went. Salad, soup, pork stew, veges and sugar free dessert. Tiny portions of each but at least I was able to eat today. Plenty of fluids and I found a free channel on the TV all about autism I have learnt so much, it is so interesting there is so much I wasn't aware of, particularly the diet aspect. I will be further exploring that when I get home. I believe our Cheekyricho YouTube channel has a lot to offer people searching for specific recipes to help  people with Autism. 

After dinner we decided to visit the early evening show. Some magic show from an Australian /USA based artist. We sat in the front row, to get away from everyone and be able to make a quick getaway if required. I never sit in the front row to make sure I am not dragged into the show. Tonight I thought we were pretty safe but Richo got dragged up and spent the next 30 minutes as part of the show. 

He strapped the artist into a straight jacket became part of the juggling team and was taped to a chair whilst