Our arrival in the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu just so happened to coincide with Air Vanuatu, the nation’s flagship airline, going out of business.
This meant that we had no easy way to travel domestically from island to island, apart from taking industrial ferries that require passengers share the boat with cargo.
Years ago, when I wrote Vagabonding, I noted that “the secret of adventure is not to carefully seek it out, but to travel in such a way that it finds you.” Indeed, what is packaged as “adventure travel” – activities like rock climbing, rafting, or paragliding – rarely yields experiences as memorable as the simple act of forgoing a few comforts and traveling within the local economies of countries unlike your own. Our inter-island ferry journeys in Vanuatu definitely qualified as this kind of adventure.
We boarded an industrial ferry to the island of Malekula alongside a cohort of local folks headed home after spending time in the capital. The overnight journey took us 16 hours, and – since the interior seats proved stifling in the South Pacific humidity – eventually found us camped out on the open deck with a laid-back cohort of Melanesian families, itinerant laborers, and piles of cargo.
Note: “Dispatches” are short vignettes, profiles, and mini-essays written and posted from the road, often in tandem with my Instagram account. I don’t host a “comments” section, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts via my Contact page.
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