29Aug2009, Port Moselle
The Easterlies that were forecast came in more or less as advertised - a half day late and a little variable at first, but within 8 hours they were consistent and accompanied by only 1.5 metres of swell. The end result was a nice beam reach to Havannah Canal. We wanted to arrive about 06:30 to catch the ingoing tide - this was important as the outgoing flow there can be very strong, and against the Easterly air flow would be pretty uncomfortable as well. And so it eventuated - by reefing the main and partly furling the genoa we slowed "Destiny" down a touch and so we arrived just on slack low tide and rode the incoming flow right through to Canal Woodin and into the North-West lagoon.
We were shadowed in by a small French warship that kept exactly one nautical mile astern of us, as measured on the radar, all the way in through the Canal - we wondered if they were going to hail and stop us, as they then came closer and closer once we were through. There have been some civil disturbances in Noumea lately and we knew that army, navy and police reinforcements from mainland France have been called in and thought they might have wanted to identify us. We waited for radio contact but they just pulled out, as if into the passing lane on a freeway and glided past us before opening up their throttle, pulling away at rapidly rising speed, and leaving us in their wake. Turns out they just didn't want to startle or disturb us by speeding past! The crew were all on deck and waved, yelled and took photos of us as they passed.
Coming through Canal Woodin we were treated to a display of breaching, flipping and spinning by a large whale who just seemed to be enjoying the eary morning sun and having a bit of a stretch - they come in to Baie du Prony to calve at this time of the year.
The breeze had dropped off during the early morning so we motor-sailed into Noumea Harbour, tying up at Port Moselle about 14:00. Quarantine and Immigration formalities completed, we set about catching up with Migaloo, Saw Lee Ah, Sassoon and other friends whom we had not seen in a while.
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25Aug2009, Port Vila
It's Tuesday today and we've been back in Vila since Saturday. We've topped up the diesel, the water tanks and the cellar. In fact, as we're heading out-of-country to New Caledonia, we have been able to add a little Islay Malt and Tanqueray gin to the ship's stores at reasonable cost, duty free.
The weather models are all showing consistent Easterlies for several days, so this is an opportunity to get south to Noumea painlessly, one that can't be turned down. We would have liked to stay here a few days more to catch up with a few friends, but Aeolus has spoken. It was nice, however, to walk down the main street today ("Reverend Doctor Father Walter H Lini Highway") and to come across our friend the artist Aloi Pilioko. He is the same uncomplicated, gentle and sunny individual we remembered, and is well although a little frailer than last year.
We met a local Natangora carver yesterday, quite by chance; this is the ancient art of carving intricate patterns in the hard, ivory-like nut of the Natangora tree. It's a little like scrimshaw, and very attractive - we purchased one of his works and will treasure it.
Doug from "Windcastle" is here and is threading his way through the bureaucracy to arrange the repatriation of Sylvia's body - he is coping well but is obviously under a huge strain.
We checked out with Customs and Immigration, bought our duty free diesel and nectar, and said goodbye to Lemara, manager at the Yachting World office. We like Lemara a lot - at home she would be a very successful businesswoman, but the way things are here she is an exceptional employee in a very good business owned by an expat Aussie. We're going to miss this lovely country and its happy, open and innocent people.
We spoke tonight on the HF radio with Rod Caple on Saw Lee Ah - he left this afternoon on the same track we will be taking tomorrow and told us that conditions are good and comfortable - reassuring!! So we are off to Noumea in the morning - hopefully leaving before 06:00 - and we'll next be in touch from there.
Best wishes to all at home!
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21Aug2009, The Seawall, Port Vila
They say a gentleman never sails to windward - it's not the most comfortable point of sail anyway. But sometimes it must be done - we came down from Luganville this week, most of it with the wind forward of the beam. But the swells were less than 1.5 metres all the way and it was fine and sunny, so we managed to enjoy most of it and caught up on some reading. Without intending to we ended up stopping at most of the anchorages we visited on the way up.
At Port Stanley we managed to snorkel on the coral gardens, where there are some very pretty fish and some remarkable giant clams. Further south we caught up with Dave Churcher in Banam Bay. Dave sails a Jeanneau; he is an Aussie dentist and does clinics around various islands and villages - he works with Project Marc, an American charity.
Saling from Malekula to Epi we had to tack back and forth all day but we were able to skate along the south coast of Ambrym and got some great views of its volcanoes and also the one on Lopevi Island which is quite close to Ambrym. Just like Mt Yasur volcano on Tanna Island, the glow lights up the night sky for many miles.
At Lamen Bay we heard about the sad passing of Sylvia Fink - a lovely, vivacious and generous Mexican woman who sailed on "Windcastle" with her partner Doug. We knew her and were very upset at the news. She succumbed to an acute illness in a matter of hours, and of course in Lamen Bay help was just not available. Doug has made a small and very touching memorial to her at Lamen.
Last night we came in through Peremeu Pass to Havannah Harbour. This is tricky at any time, but at night with total cloud cover and no moon it can be harrowing. But we had our past track on the chart-plotter and with the radar we felt confident and had no problems. The pass is only a few boat lengths wide, and "Te Vaka" went aground there a week ago - so it's a test of navigation!
We are now back on the sea-wall in Port Vila and will be having haircuts, shopping and provisioning for a few days. The wine's running a little low so unfortunately we will be replenishing the cellar at Vila's inflated prices. Tonight we are belatedly celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary with a night out ashore - we were beating to weather and a tad wet and salty on Monday which was the blessed day.
It's looking like we will be making for Noumea mid next week as there is a good Easterly forecast for three days - this should get us down to New Caledonia in comfort and that will make for a good angle of attack to get to East Coast Australia when we finally leave there - maybe even as far South as Coffs Harbour. But of course that's up to Aeolus!
Check out the photo gallery.
Cheers from us
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13Aug2009, Luganville, Espiritu Santo
Well we have had a pretty interesting time in Luganville. It's a fascinating town. It's the second biggest population centre in Vanuatu, and in many senses it's the Northern capital. There are strong reminders of World War 2, and of the American presence at that time. Throughout the business district and in the surrounding areas one sees everywhere old military Quonset huts being used for anything from car repair shops to Scuba diving centres. Much of the harbour infrastructure is based on US foundations, and even superstructures, from 1942 - 1945.
Luganville is a typical Melanesian town - sleepy, dusty, dowdy and slowly deteriorating. Almost all the retail businesses are owned by ethnic Chinese from various parts of Asia; most of the service businesses such as the dive shops, the hotels and real estate offices are run by Aussies or Kiwis.
We are anchored off the Beachfront Resort - a moderate-priced hotel catering for a market slightly ritzier than backpackers but definitely not 5-star material. The management (Aussie) are very welcoming to yachties - they go out of their way to make us feel as if they value our presence. We are anchored about 75 metres off the brown sand beach in 6 metres of water, and when we go ashore the dinghy is very safe right in front of the resort. The staff are happy to do our laundry for 1000 vatu, and for 200 vatu we can deposit our accumulated garbage from the last week or more. We are a long walk from town, but as the taxi fare is only 200 vatu, we have been taking a cab; the cabs in Luganville are all very small Korean hatchbacks often decorated inside and out to suit the driver's personality - posters of Ronaldo cross-kicking a goal or of Bob Marley looking inspirational are stuck to the roof inside, and acrylic blue flames lick the outsides of the engine bay.
The Mecca for cruising yachtsmen here is the Natangora Café. This is a laid-back all-day coffee and meals joint - great lunches, good coffee, fresh local juices and a fair range of light Japanese food (the owners are Aussie and Japanese). The ambience is relaxed and most tables are outside on a broad verandah and under a big banyan tree. The staff are really friendly, especially Eri the cheerful Japanese maitresse d'. And best of all, as long as you are sitting in front of a box of sushi or a lovely fish pie, you have free fast wireless internet.
We have had a couple of days of diving on the Coolidge, covering the bow section, the promenade deck and the cargo holds. The holds were really fascinating - intact jeeps and 18-wheelers, stacked guns, cannon and aircraft drop-tanks, and some awesome sea-life including the very uncommon Fire Clam which has visible electric currents running between its shell edges in the dark.
Now we are (surprise!) awaiting appropriate weather to take us South again towards Port Vila. We'll be in touch in a couple of days.
Cheers from us!
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Safe sailing
10Aug2009, Luganville
This morning we were picked up at the anchorage by the crew from Aquamarine Diving, and drove around to the area of coast where the SS President Coolidge sank in 1942 - a luxury cruise liner prior to WW2, she was taken over by the US Government as a troop transport. Through a misundersanding she entered Luganville Harbour right through the minefield which had been laid by the US to keep Japanese submarines out. The inevitable happened, and she struck 2 mines. The skipper had the presence of mind to steam her onto the reefs lining the nearby shore, giving the 5,000 men on board time to evacuate - only two lives were lost.
The wreck lies from about 21 metres where the bow is, sloping down off the reef to seaward - the stern lies in about 65 metres. We looked over the bow, foredeck and promenade decks today. Tomorrow we will enter the cargo holds. All this in a dive of only 36 metres depth!
There are all sorts of memorabilia on deck and below - guns, gas masks, china, cutlery, medical supplies, trucks, jeeps, ammunition, luxury light fittings, all the trappings of both military and civilian shipboard life. Really fascinating. Along with all this, lots of beautiful fish, and a very tame Moray eel nicknamed "Nessy". We'll be happily occupied with the Coolidge until we leave here and head South - which will be when the wind is right - at present this looks like early nextweek - but you never can tell.
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xxx
07Aug2009, Luganville
Following our last post, we stayed another day in Banam Bay. We managed a bit of overdue boat tidying and maintenance, then spent a few hours snorkelling on the reef which guards the entrance to the bay. There was a mixture of bright live coral and some older dead stuff, but a large variety of extremely colourful reef fish and some nice clams and stars. The locals had assured us that their bay has no sharks other than small reef sharks, and we found this to be the case. We dined with Mike and Lynn from "Wombat" and continued the Great Malekula Scrabble World Series, locked two-all at present.
Next day we headed North again, a longer leg this time, and made Port Stanley. This is a large harbour with several branches and numerous reefs and islets within it. We arrived mid-afternoon, and went ashore at Norsup on the promise of fresh bread. We asked where the baker was, and were greeted with blank stares and smiles. The penny dropped and John told them we "Cherched" the "Boulangerie", and were pointed vaguely South along the bay; Norsup was the French administrative capital for Malekula and remains determinedly Francophone. The legacy of the dual British-French condominium administration has been this crazy, inefficient situation where different towns, areas and even families in the same village speak French or English as their school language. But neither side gives way - national pride and colonial hubris have a lot to answer for!
We walked a way down, and couldn't find any bread. We visited a little shop and were pointed a different direction, then asked a couple of schoolgirls, who shyly giggled and seemed to think we were oddly amusing - finally we found a little "Magasin" which had a pile of fresh, crisp-crusted loaves as well as French-style baguettes. But Norsup Bay was far to rolly to be a comfortable anchorage overnight, and we moved around to Central Bay (despite the name it is way off at the edge of Port Stanley inside the fringing reef with nothing but coconuts, bananas and mangroves on every shore). However it was a blissfully calm anchorage - like parking the boat in your garage and closing the door. We were anchored there alongside "Finale", a Kiwi family we had met further South earlier in the piece, "Wombat", and a Dutch boat crewed by a single-hander Christophe. We had also met Christophe further South - his weather-fax programme on his laptop had crashed and John helped him re-install it: Christophe has ZERO English (we think his first tongue is Walloon), and the installation guide was in English, so the whole process was carried out in French, with John and Christophe doing their best to understand the instructions and each other!
So it was that yesterday we headed North again to Espiritu Santo Island, where we are now anchored. Luganville, where we are, is the capital of the island and the province. It is also the second largest town in Vanuatu (population near 15,000) after Port Vila. The harbour is huge - up to 100 US vessels anchored here at any time during WW2. We arrived about 17:00 yesterday and dropped anchor off the Beachfront Resort (the term "Resort" is used fairly loosely in Vanuatu). Here one can go ashore - there is a sign saying: "Welcome Yachties 2009". This is both encouraging (Us? Dirty, Tim-Tam starved, disreputable-looking sea-gypsies - WELCOME?? - justice finally!!) and at the same time worrisome ("welcome" probably means our it is our money that will be welcome!!). Oh well, after almost a month of Gold Star Days (GSD = no money spent) we figure we should participate in the economic recovery the rest of you are struggling with - so today it's ashore to cafes, a supermarket, dive shops and internet access. Hopefully some photos will pop up in the photo gallery (the link is at the top right on this page)
As Pauline Hanson might have said, if you are reading this you will know we have succeeded in our quest.
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