Visited Vanuatu & New Caledonia; now in Australia
06 June 2009 | Mackay, Australia
Judy
On May 4, 2009, we departed Opua, New Zealand on a 7 day passage to Tanna Island, Vanuatu. Winds were from the SW or W for the entire week, which is extremely rare since the normal trade winds are from the SE. We seemed to be in our own little weather capsule because the 52 other boats that departed Opua to Fiji or Tonga all experienced very low winds and we had 25 to 35 knots for most of the passage. Our final 2 days were in light winds with a huge swell from the SW that caused our boat to roll a bit, but we were still able to sail without motoring. Finally turned on the motor for the last 8 hours into Port Resolution on the SSE side of Tanna Island.
Port Resolution has nothing but a tiny jungle village nearby. It is not actually a port of entry for Vanuatu, but is normally used by boats clearing in or out on Tanna Island because the official port of entry is Lenakel and that port is untenable most of the time. The sea crashes into Lenakel and it is not safe to anchor there. The only down side is that it is a 5-hour round-trip ride from Port Resolution to Lenakel for clearance; and it is a hard bouncing trip over the mountain ridge while sitting on a wooden bench in the back of a small pick-up truck. Really tough on the butt and back!!!
The trip across the island takes you past many tiny jungle villages and all the locals have smiles and wave to you. You also drive across a very large ash deposit field near the top of Mt. Yasur, the active volcano. There are small boulders strewn all over the ash field that have been spewed out by the volcano. Thankfully "the volcano, he was asleep" on the day we drove across; according to the Stanley, the village chief who accompanied us to clear in. The only reason yachts are allowed to clear in this way is that by their tribal laws the Customs and Immigration officials must take the word of a village chief if he vouches for someone. In other words, Stanley had to be there to confirm where our boat was anchored and what day we arrived. He also is responsible for making us leave on the agreed-upon date or reporting us in violation to the officials in Lenakel. Each village has 2 chiefs -- one to deal internally with the people of the village (called the yemena) and one to speak for his village with outsiders (called the yemen). Stanley is the yemen. His father was the previous yemen until his death earlier this year. His father was named Rodney. Since Stanley has assumed his father's duties as yemen, he also has assumed his father's name. Some of the people in the village still call him Stanley but most villagers now call him Rodney. Within a few years he will simply be known as Rodney.
There were 30 Romanian volunteers in Port Resolution to build a new church. Their building supplies were delayed and they had only brought enough food for the anticipated length of their stay, and they were almost out of food. The butcher in New Zealand had messed up our order and sold us more than we needed or wanted, so we had an excess of meats that would not be allowed into Australia. So we donated a LOT of chicken breasts and steaks and various other provisions to the church volunteers, including pastas, cheese, powdered milk, butter and instant potatoes.
One night we took the pick-up truck ride up to the top of Mt. Yasur. How exciting to walk around the rim of the crater of an active volcano! Not the smartest thing we have ever done because the volcano was belching small boulders and gases and red-hot rocks the entire time. But it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one that we wouldn't have missed for anything.
Our stay at Tanna Island was only a week and then we sailed to Lifou Island in the Loyalty Islands. Boats are supposed to be able to clear Customs at the port of We on Lifou and then have 3 days to arrive in Port Moselle at Noumea to clear in with Immigration. It was a rough trip to We due to bad weather, and when we arrived they turned us away! Sent us back out to sea in gale conditions! The port captain hailed us on the VHF radio as we were lining up to enter the harbor and said that under no circumstances could we enter the harbor. All arriving boats were being instructed to proceed directly to Port Moselle at Noumea. The other 3 entry ports (including We) were closed to all incoming traffic because of fears of the H1N1 flu.
So back out we went. And the next 24 hours were absolutely the worst passage we have endured to date. Winds were 33 knots directly on the nose. That was bad enough; but the really bad part were the pounding stacked waves. Our boat would sometimes broach up out of the water and then pound down into the next wave. the front third of the boat would be airborne and then slam down into the next wave. Sometimes a few feet of water could come pouring down the deck as the bow was buried into a wave. We could only make 2 - 3 knots boat speed. A truly miserable trip that burned 110 liters of diesel.
Finally we reached the southern tip of New Caledonia and turned west. We felt like we had been physically beaten with bats. Once we were behind the reef and inside the lagoon conditions improved dramatically. It was smooth sailing or motoring from that point on. We entered Port Moselle and tied up in the marina about 3 that afternoon. We used Eva Dumas with Noumea Yacht Services and clearance was a breeze. Heartily recommend this agency if you do not speak French. Cost is not that much and makes life so much easier. The photo with this blog is a Kanuk statue in new Caledonia.
We stayed in Noumea for one week, during which the weather was mostly dreary and rainy. We departed Noumea on Tuesday, May 26, for the roughly 1000 NM passage to Mackay, Australia. That passage was comprised of 5 days of okay sailing conditions and 2 days of pure hell when the SE trade winds kicked in. These trade winds mean very rough seas along the eastern side of Australia. The SE winds blow at 25 knots or higher against and across the strong current that runs north-to-south all along the eastern side of Australia. Within minutes of the winds strengthening the seas stack up and begin to toss from every direction. It was like being inside an agitating washing machine with 15 to 18 foot waves swirling and tossing about our 27-ton boat like a plastic bathtub toy. For 200 miles we endured this crap! We entered the Capricorn Channel and about 80 miles later the seas had finally achieved some pattern and regularity. From that point on into Mackay the sailing was great.
Around midnight during the final night of this passage we were nearly rammed by a catamaran! We were the stand-on vessel and they continued on a collision course toward us. I tried hailing them on the VHF 3 times but received no response. Finally I started the engine and powered down hard while Bill flashed our 2,000,000 candle power spotlight onto their boat. Either the spotlight or the sound of our engine must have finally awakened them because they turned at the last second and missed hitting our stern by only half a boat length! That is the closest we have ever come to a collision during all our years of sailing.
We arrived in Mackay, Australia on Tuesday, June 2. Passage from Noumea took one week almost to the hour. Clearance was a breeze. Quarantine took only 3 food items from our boat, so that was no big deal. We took a taxi to a shopping mall and shipped off our failed autopilot linear drive to the manufacturer for repair. This drive had failed a couple of days out of New Zealand, but Amels are build so well that it was not a problem for us. Bill just turned a switch and activated the autopilot rotary chain drive. I think Amel is the only boat manufacturer that puts 2 autopilot drives as standard equipment. This saved us from having to hand-steer for days on end.
We found a bank and exchanged the last of the New Zealand dollars for Australian dollars. Bought a SIM card for the cell phone so now we have an Australian phone. Shopped to refill the freezer and stock up on fresh produce. Then we crashed for a day to recover from the passage.
Early next week our 8-year-old grandson Zachary is flying to Australia from Houston, Texas. Bill will meet him at the airport in Brisbane and they will fly together to Mackay. Zach will sail with us from Mackay to Cairns over the next 2 1/2 months. What an experience for a young boy to sail the Great Barrier Reef with his grandparents during his summer vacation. We are looking forward to spending this time with him.