22nd
June
Here we are, anchored under Mt Yasur, smoke puffing over
our heads from this active volcano. Arriving in Vanuatu was stepping back
in time, real pacific island!
Although Port Resolution is the preferred arriving bay
for most of the yachts, we decided to head for Lenakel, the chief village.
That is where customs, immigration, bakery and bank are located. We
weren't prepared for this: the chief village consisted of 2 huts build
from palm trees and what long time ago was a wharf. We didn't like
the anchorage, not protected from wind shifts and with a rocky bottom.
After much hesitation, exhausted from the passage we decided to go back
half way around the island to Port Resolution after all. What a bad choice
we made, it turned out to be a major job to get around with headwinds and
moderate swell along the trip. The rush was on to arrive before
sunset and to catch customs, who coincidently were here. Despite the rush,
we still couldn't check in as we didn't have any local currency. That
meant a trip back to Lenakel !!! Then we found out how badly we were
prepared for Vanuatu, there are no ATMs here, even the bank doesn't take
credit cards and there are no public transport. All to much after a
passage, we resigned to our beers and to bed early.
23rd June.
Tanna is one of the most back in time places we have been so far! There
are 4 villages here, with total of 400 people. Houses are build from palm
leaves, there is one telephone line for the entire village, no electricity
and water comes from a spring out of taps located on the road and by the
football pitch. There is a school, children can chose between learning
English or French, a small hut with a red cross, presumably a hospital.
They live of taro, paw paw, pumpkins, eggplant also they have a few pigs ,
chickens and cows. We were introduced to the chief, the head of the
village, an old and wise looking man at the circumcision party. The
Tannese have a permanent grin in their faces, are quite shy but very
welcoming and friendly. The concept of tourism hasn't really arrived here
yet. Magic is big part of their lives. So all started when the US
troops where here, one guy, John from America (shortened to Jon Frum
movement), was particularly generous to the locals, giving them endless
supplies of coca-cola , cigarettes, treating them as equals. Once the
troops left , some supporters made radio aerials out of tin cans to
contact Jon Frum. Others built an airfield in the bush and constructed
wooden aircrafts to entice his cargo plane to land. Flags are still raised
each evening to this god of their imagination.
The Mt Yasur...
At 4pm, 8 of us yachties hopped on Stanley's Ute, to drive up to see
the volcano. It can't hardly be called road, but off we went on a
very bumpy ride, we had to grab firmly on to our seats or else we would be
over the side. The Ute passed over local-built bridge, made of 3 logs
either side, and past a couple of tree houses. The landscape slowly turned
in to a desert of ashes. On the foot of the mountain we hopped off the car
and started walking up to the crater. Half way up a massive burp of smoke
covered the sky. The roaring got louder and then magma shot up and spread
against the sky. You can get as close as you want to the edge, and peer
into the crater to see the boiling magma. Touer, our guide, told us that
if the molding rocks got closer we have to stand still to watch where it
lands, never run. But that requires a nerve of steel... As it got darker
the activity intensified and the red hot rocks started to shot closer to
us. Some people couldn't handle the sight and started to head down to the
base, that is when Mt Yasur showed the biggest of his furry and a
huge lump of boiling magma landed 100m from the group! Everybody ran to
look at the magma, but for me that was just a bit to much. There was
a mixture of fascination and fear of the experience, you are aware it can
be dangerous but it is totally mesmerizing like watching flames dance in a
fire. We all agreed nowhere else in the world would let you get this
close, health and safety!
The circumcision party...
Held once a year to celebrate the boy's( between the ages of 9-13) rite of
passage. The boy's
family plan this big event 3 or more years in advance, as they have to
supply food for the entire village. We and all the yachts were invited to
the party, but the actual circumcision happened almost a month ago. This
minor operation is performed without anesthetics or antiseptics with a sharp edge of
bamboo , away from the other villagers. The men come along to clap
coconut shells loud enough so the mother can't hear the boy's scream. The
foreskin is buried under coconut, where a palm tree grows, which belongs
to the boy for life. It all started at 7 am, women were advised to wear
long skirts and to bring little gifts. We took some coca-cola. The Tannese
women and girls had face paint, grass skirts and lots of tinsel. We
weren't aware of what we were going to witness next. The man bought out
the food for the feast: taro, kava roots, manioc and then the pigs came
out. Tied by the feet to bamboo, screaming violently, the pig got hold to
the ground and clubbed in the head with a heavy peace of wood, the
screaming got louder and spasms more frequent until it all went silent.
Then the dogs- not exactly domesticated- came licking the blood pouring
out of its head, some fights broke out between the feral dogs. That
wasn't all , cows came next, they had the throat slit and tumbled to the
floor. One hour later, 2 dead cows and 6 half dead pigs were lying around
us, some of the pigs still had enough life on them to scream a bit . Some
of us were shocked , forgetting to give the gift to the young boys. We
rowed back,- as the outboard is not getting cooled by water (impellor), always something breaking !!!!- to have
a rest. The real party would start in the afternoon.
Before sunset the
men gathered at the Nakamal -meeting point- for the kava ceremony. The
kava was prepared according to the traditional way: chewing into a
mush by a chosen circumcised
virgin boy , the saliva triggers the active mildly hallucinogenic ingredients
. There were 4 kava
circles which made up the four local tribes. Around the Nakamal, during the kava
drinking session, silence is
imperial. The bowlful have to be drunk in one go, then the residue spat
out. Together with the drink , pigs hearts were barbequed on sticks. The
villagers explained that after drinking kava, the man can't touch a women
as that will make him impotent. Meanwhile the women, who weren't allowed
at the kava circles, gathered together to eat the laplap- grated manioc,
taro and coconut cooked in palm leaves under hot stones. After everybody
ate and the man were sufficiently sedated the Kastom dance started. Unfortunately
for us, it was dark and the little lightening from the generator wasn't
enough to see well. But this wasn't a show set up for tourists. The
dancing went on until sunrise.
24th June
After scraping some money
together we managed to pay customs and immigration in Lenekal, it turned
out to be a hefty fee...Otherwise we traded goods for fresh food and truly
ate what the locals did. Whit formalities done, we started to head towards
Port Villa, the capital, two islands up. We offered a ride to an Aussie
couple, Michael and Veronica. They came to the island on a cargo boat and
now wanted to experience a bit of sailing, on the way back. Both were
first time sailors, and although the seas were rough, both coped well with
the new environment. Before sunset we arrived in Dillon's Bay, Erromango.
This island was even more desolated then Tanna. The village had around 100
people and they were pleased to see new faces.
25th June
We went
ashore in search of the famous "Missionary rock". On this rock
the islanders laid Williams body, the first missionary to arrive. They chipped
the outline of his body on the rock before they cooked him. Apparently he was a short and stout man...
The whole island is a jungle so we couldn't find it. But with the
help of a local, Kenneth , we managed to find the swimming hole formed by
the Williams River. Veronica and Michael had a swim while we chatted to
Kenneth. Later that afternoon we caught our first fish after a long time.
After dinner we headed off to Port Villa, to arrive there in the morning.
26th
June
Vanuatu has been a country full of surprises, again we weren't
expecting a city like Port Villa after being in places like Tanna,
isolated from modern world. This one was a modern town with good shops,
ATM's- for our relief- internet, but still very pleasant. We caught up
with Kiwi Dream , who were in Tanna while we were there. After we left
there was huge confusion involving money. Some cruisers donated money to
the village school, but the Principal never saw any of it. Very sad...
29th
June
Michael and Veronica's last night in Port Villa ended up in
Sophie's
Nakamal to drink some kava. The nakamal here is like a kava bar, a bit
seedy, frequented by locals, but with some seriously strong kava, where
women are allowed. After 4 bowls the mouth went numb and walking became
almost impossible.
30th June
Port Villa has got it's charm: the market
,full of dozen varieties of bananas, smells coming from the food
stalls, lively with locals, makes it an interesting place. We found, thanks to Michael
and Veronica, a little Vietnamese restaurant in the Chinatown,
serving delicious food. The waterfront is picturesque. Just 300m from
Villa, in the harbour there
is Irikiri Island. The supermarket has an impressive variety of food, all
imported, so not cheap. Otherwise we had a lot to do, sort visas for
Indonesia and
obviously do some boat repair. Graham managed to fix the outboard but now
we had problems with electricity, either the batteries were dead, or the
alternator broken, anyhow Port Villa offers not much in terms of boat
repair. We ended up buying a generator to keep us going for now. It looks
like we will have to change plans and go to Australia instead of Papua New
Guinea.
01st July
Finally we were ready to go. Around the corner was
Port Havanna, 20 miles from Port Villa. It looks like a long and narrow
bay protected by islands, a very sheltered anchorage. In the evening it
got so dark, there wasn't one light around and also very quiet.
02nd July
Keep
on moving. We left early for a 50 miles passage to Epi. It was a windless
day making the passage very slow. We arrived at the entrance of Revolieu
just after sunset, it was a straightforward entrance only reefs to avoid
each side of the bay. Once the anchor was down, the beer was out and we
watched a boat coming into the bay. It was a funny shaped boat, but as it approached,
torches came out of nowhere and the cheering started ashore. People were
getting quite exited about this boat and we wondered why. It turned out
that it was the cargo boat bringing the so awaited goods for the village.
Maybe these people were the Cargo Cult followers...
03rd July
Still on
the move, this time we had a lie in but we left at 10 am. We were eager to
put a bit of mileage on and also heard that the weather is going to
deteriorate and we wanted to be at Port Sandwich for that. If the bad
weather was coming, there was no sign of it, just another windless day.
We chose Pt Sandwich not just because it is an extremely well protected
bay, but we read that this bay is infested with sharks. No intention of
swimming here, we were content just to see some fins. Not long after arriving
we saw a big fish jump out being chased by a very frantic fin. Later
talking to the only other yacht here we found out that indeed there are
lots of sharks and swimming is not advised. In fact, wherever there is a
village, there are sharks around. The villagers throw the carcass of the
dead animals in the water.
05th July
The village was a 40 minutes walk
from where we were anchored. The people here didn't seem to have much
contact with Westerners. They were all looking at us with curiosity and
some reserve, the kids were all smiles but very shy to say more then
hello. I approached a woman to ask for the bakery, the bakery was in the
church but you had to bring your own water, so they could bake .... Then I
asked if she could sell us some veggies. We returned in the afternoon to
Mary's house, she and her family worked in the Copra trade. I took a bag of
veggies, yams, lettuce, plantain, bananas. But I didn't have small
change so ended up giving 1000 Vatu ( £5), which is probably more then
her monthly earnings.
06th July
Before heading off, John, a local ,
approached us for a chat with the usual questions of where we come from,
etc. He told us about couple of shark attacks that happened here, all involving
tourists, never locals. According to him white men's flesh tastes better...
That got us thinking if Cannibalism is really off the menu (apparently
people in Vanuatu practiced cannibalism right until 1969). He advised us that the seas are rough with
25knots of wind - from the anchorage we didn't have a clue. And it wasn't
far from the truth. The wind rushes through Malekula and Ambrym creating an acceleration
zone, due to the height of the islands. We had some big waves and 25-30
knots of wind. The destination was Pt Stanley, reasonably sheltered from
Easterly winds.
07th July
Not much around here, unfortunately this
anchorage is far from the village or anything of interest. But we decided
to wait a day for the weather to settle. We were greeted by Elder Willy in
his dugout canoe, on his way to the mainland. He had a mobile phone that
needed charging, we offered to charge the mobile if he did a bit of
shopping for us in the village. Then he asked if he could get a ride to
Luganville, in Santo, with us. He sold oysters and needed to get to the town for
that. We had no idea where to store 5 bags of oysters in the boat. Willy
and his oysters came out on his canoe the following day, hopped onboard
and off we went to Luganville.
15th July - The USS Coolidge
This dive
was really one of the best! The shear size of the wreck was quite
amazing, 200 m long and 25 m wide. It was sunk by friendly mines (unusual
for America!) just
next to Luganville's main port, some 50 years ago. But before we dived the
wreck we went over to Million Dollar Point to pick up last bits of diving
equipment. This diving site again was a left over from the war, the Americans
decided to dump all their equipments in the water: bulldozers, airplanes,
engines as they couldn't reach a financial agreement with the Condominium (a
dual administration by the French and English) , then governing
Vanuatu.
The wreck starts shallow but to get a better look it is
necessary to go quite deep, 35 metres. We passed the promenade, the holds, saw some cannons and ammunition and remains of trucks.
Added to that the variety and quantity of fish was unbelievable: dog tooth
tuna, baitfish, clown fish, 2 lion fish. Despite the depth it seemed an easy dive.
For the second dive the instructor took us to see "The White Lady".
Located amidships in the smoking room this porcelain statue was an
impressive 43m deep and in the middle of the wreck. We weaved our
way through the structure of the ship, it was getting quite dark and I
started feeling slightly drunk. It was nitrogen narcosis setting in.
Finally we saw "The White Lady", took pictures and started to
head up (my drunkenness had gone by then). The safety stop lasted more
then 12 minutes, during which time we saw something quite rare: a dugong (manatee,
peixe-boi) swimming by. These animals are endangered, so we were very
pleased to see one.
17June
Next stop is Australia, it will
be a big jump from here. One thing we can say about Vanuatu, it is full of
surprises and certainly has a WOW factor. That included the bill presented
to us for clearing out of the country! Almost 100 AU Dollars, we were gob smacked,
at least its half of what we paid to enter!!!!
