06/14/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah
14/6 Today we did 2 full ReefCheck surveys. One was in the tabu area in front of Lelepa village and another at a traditional fishing grounds opposite on Efate. The results of these surveys as well as one done yesterday at another tabu area will be presented to the village on Sunday after Church. Today we were joined by new OceansWatch member Nelia Swayze from the yacht Caledonia. Nelia joined just a week ago and met the crew from Magic Roundabout in Port Villa. Nelia has a lot of diving experience and spent the last few days learning about ReefCheck and the Indicator species so was a great help to us. Also assisting was Felix from Mangaliliu village and local Vanuatu Fisheries representative Katie. With a team of 6 we had the surveys completed quite quickly.
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06/13/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah
12/06 Today we went to Mangaliliu village where we learnt about how ReefCheck is used in Vanuatu and were shown some of the local indicator species used here. These indicator species are Surgeonfish, Rabbit fish and Trochas shells and are included as they are often harvested for food. We did a practice ReefCheck transect and were impressed by the quality of the shallow reef. The people of Mangaliliu have declared a tabu area about 500 metres along their foreshore. This a cultural tabu, rather than for conservation purposes but the villagers are now becoming very interested in conserving their marine resources so we hope to do ReefCheck's in the tabu area and outside it to see if there has been much effect. The village was hosting a Vanua-Tai meeting. Vanua-Tai is a group of "resource monitors" that formed a few years ago from a turtle tagging initiative. We were very fortunate to have arrived at this time. Chris was invited to address the meeting and gave a 10 minute talk. Co-incidentally the OceansWatch logo has a turtle on it and Vanua-Tai is very focused on Turtle conservation so our logo was met with much enthusiasm. The Vanua-Tai members were very interested in working with OceansWatch in the future and we were asked to go to three villages next year to help them with ReefCheck and support their wish to create Marine Protected Areas.
After the meeting the Magic Roundabout crew were presented with some lovely cloth, a traditional gift from the village. In the evening we joined the Vanua-Tai participants and the village for a shared meal. Mangaliliu and it's nearby sister village have a population of about 700 and a language all of their own!
13/6
Today we did our first ReefCheck survey. This was in the tabu area at about 6m. It went well but we were all a little disappointed at the lack of hard coral in the deeper water after seeing so much in the shallows. On this dive we were joined by Felix from the local village. Felix will be trained to dive by OceansWatch in July. We presented him with a wetsuit that had been donated by Dive! Tutukaka and was much appreciated. After our dive we took Felix out for a sail.
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06/11/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah
A full on day today starting with a 7:30 meeting at Vanuatu Fisheries. We discussed how OceansWatch can help Vanuatu Fisheries both for this project and long term. It seems that they have very little information on reef health and fish populations from many of the outlying Islands and that is something that OceansWatch can really help them with. This season we will have Katie Thompson on board for most of the project and have been asked to undertake ReefCheck surveys on Efate, Pentacost, Maewo, Santo and Malakeula. We will also provide PADI training for Fisheries staff and local community members who wish to undertake their own ReefCheck surveys. We anticipate starting by just doing ReefCheck surveys in 2008 but expect to help provide more detailed surveys in following years. Today we sailed to Port Havannah for the night and will be doing our first surveys along the coast just south of here over the next couple of days. Over the weekend we will be meeting with the local village and observing how they are developing their marine management plans.
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06/09/2008, Port Villa
We arrived in Port Villa on Thursday 5/6 after an 8 day passage averaging just under 6 knots, not bad for an overloaded 34' yacht ?
We spent Thursday and Friday sorting out officialdom and changing the boat from delivery to dive boat mode. At mid day Friday we waved goodbye to Jessica, who found a boat to hitch a ride on back to Brisbane. We all wish Jessica the best of luck in following her ambition to be the youngest person to sail around the world unassisted.
We are all enjoying Vanuatu very much but we have not got accustomed to the heat yet so it's still sapping our energy a bit.
Today we are testing the compressor and getting ready to head north and start doing some ReefCheck work.
Picture is of Jessica Watson, as we approach Port Villa
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06/07/2008, Espiritu Santo to Banam Bay
30/6 Changeover day today. Chris departed and Mel took over as skipper for the trip back to Efate.
29/6 Sunday was a fairly easy day for us. We did a lot of overdue boat and person cleaning and were joined by Brian (an experienced sailor and diver) from Australia who is helping out for the Santo to Efate trip
28/6 Arrived at midday and went to town in the afternoon to do a bit of shopping and catch up with emails.
27/6 Today we went back to Leone and managed to get a full ReefCheck transect done as the rain had eased off and visibility improved. We did a shallow transect with the help of 4 men from the local village. This survey went very well with the local's spotting for us whilst we filled out the data sheets. In 2003 this village had been given some Trochus (Tectus niloticus) by Vanuatu Fisheries with the aim of the community protecting them in order to develop a sustainable harvest in the future. The Trochus is used for button making as well as being collected for the Curio trade. We were very encouraged to learn that the community had imposed a tabu on Trochus collecting that was still in force and we found many Trochus on our survey. In Vanuatu we are using a modified ReefCheck system that monitors additional species that are important in this economy including the Trochus. After completing the survey we quickly entered the data into the ReefCheck templates, which produce some nice graphs. Kate Thomson made up a PowerPoint presentation for the village that included information about ReefCheck, OceansWatch and what we had found on their survey. We were invited to the village Nakamal (meeting house) by chief Nathaniel to speak to the community. We brought along petrol and oil for the generator which after a couple of hours trying eventually wheezed into life. Whilst waiting James and I joined the men in grinding Kava root which has the reputation of being the strongest in the Pacific. It's expected that male visitors to the Nakamal join the community members for a shell or two on special occasions such as our visit. Luckily it has little effect on me apart from numb lips for 10 minutes or so. I found this visit very interesting. The Nakamal is the centre of the community and the village all meet there often, houses general do not have a lounge area as such so people visit the Nakamal for socialising. The women do all the cooking inside on open fires or in earth ovens. Unfortunately every meal seems to consist of Taro, Manioc or plantain but for a special treat we were given some canned Mackerel! Katie's presentation was well received and one or two questions were asked. We were asked to come back next year to do more detailed surveys as well as to train some of the community to do their own surveying. We left the Nakamal at about 9 pm and had an overnight sail to Santo.
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06/03/2008, 19 57'S:169 11'W, Pacific, heading to Vanuatu
Hi all, I'm on Magic Roundabout to get up a few sea miles and a bit of experience because its my dream to become the youngest person to sail around the world, have a look at my blog ''www.youngestround.blogspot.com'' I`ll be putting some pictures on soon. Right now we're steaming along at 6 and a half knots under jib with an ETA in Port Villa lunch time tomorrow, the trip is passing much too fast, we're almost there! Shouldn't talk yet but so far its been another of thoses perfect trips. Apart from a lovely collection of bruises from bouncing around in a 3m sea! Yesterday we pulled in two very eatable tuna which I helped to filet, I'm a bit slow but practice makes perfect! Looks to be a big eating day today with all the fresh food that has to eaten by tomorrow, the menu includes Tuna! Brisquit, Sushmi and fresh bread! Jessica
Hi all, I`m on Magic Roundabout to get up a few sea miles and a bit of experance cos its my deam to become the youngest person to sail around the world, have a look at my blog ''www.youngestround.blogspot.com'' I`ll be putting some pictures on soon. Right now we`re steaming along at 6 and a half knots under jib with an eta in Port Villa lunch time tomorrow, trip is passing much too fast, we`re almost there! Shouldnt talk yet but so far its been another of thouse picfect trips, apart from a lovley colection of bruses! Yesterday we pulled in two very eatabill tuna wich I helped to filet, I`m a bit slow but practis mackes pirfect! Looks to be a big eating day today with all the fresh food that has to eaten by tomorrow, the menue includes Tuna! Brisquit, Sueshemey and fresh bread! Jessica
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06/02/2008, 22 05'S:170 06'W, Pacific, heading to Vanuatu
Hi Readers :) Are there any readers I wonder, hope so! We have 277 miles to go to Efate in Vanuatu and are about 300 miles east of New Caledonia. After a bit of a shaky start with a few engine problems we have not had any mechanical failures for awhile now and are gaining confidence in the boat. One of the early problems was the diesel return line coming undone, which resulted in 100 litres of diesel pumping into the bilges. Luckily we had another 100 litres in Jerry cans and there is plenty of wind at the moment. The Autopilot has been working really well, not a hitch so far in some quite difficult conditions (quartering sea and 25 knots). All the systems are working at the moment, though the satphone data transfer is tediously slow. We are eating like kings, thanks to Mel and James who have been turning out gourmet meals daily :) MahiMahi green Thai curry last night and home made soup for lunch soon :) We are very glad to have bought a pressure cooker, which is saving gas and producing some lovely quick stews. The added advantage of course is that it can leap off the stove and not spill it's contents. Just caught 2 nice small yellow fin Tuna, Mel is salivating and will have it turned into sushimi before it's cooled down at this rate. Jessica is having a go at the filiting today.
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