A first for the Paul Gauguin

Actually, a first for any cruise ship. On June 4th, the Paul Gauguin was the first ever cruise ship to make a port call at Tanna in the Vanuatu Islands. A holiday was declared; a elaborate welcoming ceremony which lasted all day with traditional dancing took place and the tribal chief gave a speech how their prayers have been answered with the arrival of the pg and hopes for further visits in the future and he asked us passengers return with our friends.

I am happy about that. I saw a tv show "Meet the Natives", where five men from Tanna visited the USA.

That's great because 4 years ago when we got to Vanuatu for the first time ever for the PG we were met by local officials who extorted $5000 from the ship to let us anchor there as we were getting out the way of a typhoon. It was not a scheduled stop and as karma can he a bitch, an earthquake hit Port Vila 30 minutes after we left the next day.

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I remember when Aloha Airlines started service to the Cook Islands (before they collapsed) we were on the very first flight, it was a big party in the plane and when we got on the ground, a great memory .....

That's great because 4 years ago when we got to Vanuatu for the first time ever for the PG we were met by local officials who extorted $5000 from the ship to let us anchor there as we were getting out the way of a typhoon. It was not a scheduled stop and as karma can he a bitch, an earthquake hit Port Vila 30 minutes after we left the next day.

 

 

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:eek:

What a great experience on Tanna! You are probably aware of the John Frum/cargo cult in some communities on Efrate and Tanna?