11/05/2009, Espirito Santo, Vanuatu
Having said our goodbyes to Tin Soldier and Airstream we dropped our mooring line at 5:30 the following morning and headed out the channel for Asanvari Bay on Maewo Island, about 50 miles to the east. We had heard wonderful things about this bay from other cruisers so we wanted to check it out before heading back down to Port Vila where we would check out of Vanuatu.
The trip across to Maewo- although to windward- was mostly pleasant and fairly uneventful. We opted to go to the north of Ambae Island and were therefore protected from the swell and much of the wind for most of the trip. Just as we cleared Ambae and the wind started to pick up the clew on our staysail blew out- probably due to UV damage to the threads sewn through the webbing. A bit of excitement but we got it rolled up without any drama and continued on our way.
Asanvari did not disappoint. It's a beautiful bay: emerald-green vegetation, white sand, crystal clear blue water- we could see our anchor clearly in 40 feet of water. The star of the show though is a two-tier waterfall that cascades down to a small pool, before emptying into the bay. The fresh water comes from a spring higher up on the island and so the cascade is plentiful and constant.
We anchored around 3:00 and though we were quite tired we knew it was right and proper to go ashore and pay our respects to the chief. Chief Nelson was very friendly and welcoming. We chatted for a bit while Maddie and Sophie handed out little toys and goodies to some of the children. After our visit to the village we got back in the dinghy and made the first of what would be daily excursions to the waterfall. (We've never been so clean!)
The following day Chief Nelson's son, Nixon, came by in a dugout canoe and visited with us. He later gave us a tour of the village explaining to us some of the rituals and beliefs of his people. There is an interesting dichotomy with the people of Vanuatu: thanks to the missionaries they are devout Christians who go to church regularly- but they still have very deep-rooted superstitions full of black magic and things "tabu".
We ended up staying in Asanvari for several more days, hoping for the wind to moderate or shift to allow us to get down to Port Vila. Port Vila makes for a much better wind angle- and shorter distance- to New Caledonia than leaving from Luganville on Santo.. Unfortunately we were in a period of "enhanced trade wind conditions" (yet, again!!!) and getting down to Vila would be a total bash. (Not the good party kind of bash, but rather a beat-up-the-boat-and-crew-as-the-boat-tries-to-force-her-way-into-strong-head-winds- and-big-steep-waves kind of bash.)
We continued to pull weather and it looked like there was no end in sight to the current conditions- we were apparently sitting in the middle of a "squash zone" with a huge high pressure system to our south and a low pressure to our north. We finally decided that Port Vila wasn't in the cards for us. if the weather eased up enough for us to head south we needed to use that window to make for New Caledonia, or risk being stuck in Vila waiting for another opportunity to go south. So we upped anchor and headed west, back to Espirito Santo.
It was strange coming back to Santo. When we'd been there a week before there were lots of other boats, but they seemed to have all vanished. In fact, we were getting a bit weirded out: this was the first time that in the 2 years of cruising that we'd felt so ALONE. Where was everybody? Well, of course the answer is they've moved on to Australia or the Solomon Islands or whatever. Two big rallies had left the previous week and that flushed most of them out. Also, we are fast approaching the start of hurricane season so it is time to get going. So the plan is to ready the boat and wait for the weather that will allow us to head south the New Caledonia.
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10/21/2009, Aore Island, Vanuatu
After about a week anchored in front of Oyster Island we followed Tin Soldier, Airstream and Kairos out the pass and down to Segond Channel, the entrance to Luganville and Aore Island. Tin Soldier and Airstream were getting ready to check out of the country and head for Australia, Kairos was going to check out and head north to the Solomon Islands.
We picked up a mooring in front of the Aore Island Resort and spent a few days enjoying the pool at Aore, and crossing over to Luganville in Santo to do some shopping and sightseeing.
Luganville is interesting because, as we learned, it was home to 500,000 U.S. servicemen during World War II, and was, for a time, the largest US military base in the Pacific Theater. The numerous corrugated-iron Quonset huts they left behind are still standing and you see them throughout the town. We snorkeled "Million Dollar Point", so named because this is where the U.S. dumped tons of their military equipment after the war. I had great expectations of snorkeling over tanks and aircraft but the reality was a little less impressive: lots of unidentifiable scraps, some building materials. Only a few times I saw something I could actually recognize. John and Maddie saw a complete Caterpillar earth mover and someone else saw a nearly intact Jeep, so that was kind of cool.
More impressive I'm sure is the dive on the S.S. President Coolidge. The Coolidge is an old luxury liner that was converted to a troop and cargo transport during the war. Unfortunately as she was steaming in to the base in Luganville she was misdirected and steamed right into the field of mines that guarded the channel entrance from Japanese subs. The subsequent explosions had her sinking fast. Luckily the Captain gave the order to ground her on the nearby reef where she listed for about an hour and a half- long enough to get her crew off- before slipping off the reef and sinking beneath the sea until she finally came to rest on her side in about 180 feet of water. She has become one of the world's premier wreck dives. .Bill and Janet dove on it about 6 times- always seeing something new: the cargo hold (still full of jeeps), swimming pool, the engine room, etc. Glen and Jaryd dove on it twice. They bought a DVD about the wreck which told the history of the ship with excellent footage of her in her heyday as a luxury liner and as she sits now, encrusted with coral and home to exotic sea life.
It was a bittersweet couple of days as we realized our time with these cruising buddies was drawing to a close. We were all going in separate directions, and this time we are not going to end up in the same place. Particularly difficult was saying goodbye to Glen, Marilyn and Jaryd on Tin Soldier. We've been sailing with them off and on since we met them over 2 years ago in San Diego and we will surely miss them.
Next up: Maewo Island.
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10/19/2009, Peterson Bay, Espirito Santo
We left Uliveo Sunday morning, sailing up the east coast of Malekula Island towards the island of Espirito Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu. We decided to break the trip into two easy day-sails so we dropped the anchor Sunday night in Crab Bay, a beautiful isolated anchorage with very flat calm water. There was a rather heart-stopping moment when we came close to bumping the keel on coral while we were scouting the anchorage. One minute we're in 15 feet of water (with poor visibility) and the next moment we have large angry coral heads poking up at us and less than a foot under the keel. That's the kind of excitement we can do without, thank you very much.
An hour after arriving, Rick and Terry from Morning Star arrived and anchored nearby so we had them over for a barbecue.
The following morning the wind had completely died and the forecast called for continued very light winds, so we debated whether to go (knowing we'd have to motor the whole way) or wait a day or two for the wind to fill back in. Rick and Terry wisely decided that light winds would make it a good time to head east, into what would normally be prevailing winds, and get to Pentecost Island, then Maewo and then on to Santo. It was a good plan but we had fairly committed ourselves to meeting up with Bill and Janet from Airstream on Santo so we stuck with "Plan A" and had a very pleasant motor-sail (mostly motor) up to Peterson Bay.
On the way we had the best day fishing we've ever had (the bar's not very high, though): We caught 3 Wahoos (!) a very tasty, firm fleshed, white-meat fish. The fish themselves were not huge- probably 2 to 3 feet in length and very slender- but we got quite a lot of meat from them. I broke out the vacuum sealer to package and freeze what we couldn't eat right away.
After checking the cruising guides and talking to Bill we knew that the entrance to the Oyster Island anchorage in Peterson Bay could be a bit tricky, but was definitely doable. What makes it tricky is the way the pass cuts a twisty, narrow path through the coral, and the depths get quite shallow: arriving at or near high tide is critical. According to the guides there are sometimes, but not always, markers placed to guide you in (a bit like gates on a slalom ski course). Fortunately for us, Bill came out in his dinghy as we approached the entrance and he guided us through the three sets of navigational sticks and into the inner bay in front of the Oyster Island Resort.
Oyster Island Resort is a tiny but pleasant little resort- no real amenities for a cruiser other than a welcoming restaurant and bar, but the anchorage is very well protected and it's conveniently close to two of Vanuatu's famous "blue holes" (What? You haven't heard of them?).
Shortly after dropping the hook we jumped in our dinghy to follow Bill and Janet up a twisting, turning river to the first blue hole. The distance from the anchorage to the hole is about 1 km. The water becomes increasingly clear as you move further along- until it's so clear you could read the date off a dime 10 feet below.
The dinghy ride itself is straight out of Disneyland's Jungle Safari ride. We kept expecting to see hippos surface nearby (hope the ears aren't wiggling!) or see some natives staring out at us from the bushes along the river banks. Oh wait, we did see that. Of course, they were wearing Nike T-shirts and gym shorts. and they weren't holding shrunken heads. Instead they jumped into the river to clear a path for our dinghies, ripping away the floating vegetation that was clogging the river. As if that wasn't nice enough, they gave us coconuts on our way back down the river!
After about a 20 minute dinghy ride we arrived at the blue hole. The "blue holes" are formed by underwater springs pumping fresh clean water into a huge limestone "pool". The clarity of the water inside these 30+ feet deep pools is startling. And the color (think blue Listerine) only adds to the magical effect.
As I said, there are two blue holes accessible from two separate river outlets to Peterson Bay. The larger one is a bit more magical, certainly more pristine. The one we found ourselves returning to again and again (along with Airstream and later Tin Soldier and Kairos) was the smaller one. the one with THE ROPE SWING! I must confess I never worked up the courage to take the plunge myself, but John and Bill and most of the others had a thrilling time climbing out on the branch (about 20 feet up?) grabbing hold of the rope and doing their best Tarzan impersonations before dropping into the clear sapphire pool.
In all we spent about a week at Oyster Island, doing school in the morning, making a few trips in to Luganville for provisions, and cooling off in the afternoons at the blue hole.
Next up. Aore Island.
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