James and Isabelle
26/10/2010

We arrived at the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, after a three day sail from Fiji. We had two days of beautiful sailing in calm seas, spinnaker up, sunny days and moonlit nights. Then, after a period of calm, the wind started building and the last 24 hours was fairly rough but quick.

Tanna is an island down near the bottom of the chain of islands that make up Vanuatu. Captain Cook, in the Resolution, came here to the bay we anchored at, Port Resolution.

The island is one of the most primitive we have seen. The villagers nearly all live in thatched huts still. Oddly though, many have mobile phones ,having made the leap straight from no phones to mobile phones, skipping land lines in the middle. Huge Banyan trees dominate the forests with sprawling branches and canopies, and endless root systems shooting down from the branches. They reminded us of the trees in the film Avatar. The Island is known for having one of the most accessible active volcanoes in the world and at Port Resolution the villagers were able to cook some of their food in the hot springs, boiling eggs, yam and other vegetables.

We came here mainly to see the Volcano 'Yasur'. We went at dusk yesterday. It's about 350m above sea level. We drove most of the way and then it was a short walk to the rim. As we were climbing up, there was a deep rumble in the earth below and we saw a rock flying out sideways from the top! Walking up towards the crater, the earth was strewn with boulders which had been spat out at an earlier stage, just a little disconcerting. It was all black sand/dirt and rock, desolate. Like you'd imagine the moon to be.

Standing on the rim, we watched smoke billowing up and then heard a roar like a jet engine followed by a boom, felt a shock wave and then a shower of molten rock came flying up from the central crater. Enormous amounts of lava would fly high into the air, and we saw big, glowing blobs of it separating in mid-air like toffee on a confectionary hook. It was incredibly spectacular. Awe inspiring. The sonic shock waves kept hitting every 30 seconds or so. Sometimes it was quiet for a while and then there'd be a great big rumble, boom and a huge explosion. Sometimes a mushroom cloud of ash would drift towards us causing our throats and eyes to sting with sulfur.

Our local guide told us that they rate the activity of the volcano on a 1 to 5 scale and the day we went was a 2. He said if it had been a three, we wouldn't have been able to go.

We just kept thinking, we would never be allowed to do this if it were in Australia. The guide told us of a number of tourists who had been killed visiting the volcano. One just last year.

As it got darker it became even more spectacular. The best fireworks show we've ever seen.

Comments [4]

Isabelle
19/10/2010, Somewhere between Fiji and Vanuatu

The first time I got really bad sea-sickness was last year when we made an attempt for the Galapagos, planning to cross the Pacific in all of five months. There was no wind on the west coast of the Americas and we were being thrown all over the place by the swell just outside of Panama. I was violently ill. It was horrible. Jamie couldn't stand to see me so sick and so he turned the boat around and took me to land. We headed up the coast of Panama planning to cross the Pacific next year when there would be better winds in the ITCZ.

This year we made the leap and all went well. I tried taking Kwell tablets but found they made me even sicker. I was sick for the first three days of our crossing but only mildly.

Between Central America and the Tuamotus there weren't any completely protected anchorages and so going to sea again wasn't such a big deal for me because my body was already acclimatized to the rolling motion of the waves. But as soon as we began to anchor within the lagoon protected anchorages, I began to get sick when we left them.

It was in the Society Islands that I began to dread going to sea. The thing is, it's not just the sea-sickness you have to deal with but also lack of sleep. We keep watch so that someone can always tend to the sails if there is a change of wind but more importantly to prevent collision with another vessel, mostly cargo ships.

We usually do three hours on, three off during the night and it can be rather tiring on the body. Sleeping is one of those things that I love doing but am dreadful at. So even if we say we are getting three hours sleep, I tend not to fall asleep for at least the first hour, and thereafter there is so much motion that I sleep only lightly.

Jamie on the other hand can fall asleep when he chooses to and doesn't get in the least bit sea-sick. Lucky him but lucky me too for having such a travel companion. But of course these aren't the only things that make him a great companion, he is also an extremely skilled sailor, fun company and when at sea he has a glow to him which I am convinced comes from the fact that he is doing exactly what he has always wanted to do. His date scones are also a plus.

Anyway, although I kept telling myself that all these wonderful places are worth getting a little sick for, I couldn't escape the feeling of dread at going to sea as my sea sickness was getting worse.

I told Jamie of this and he suggested I try some different drugs. So I did. In Fiji I bought some tablets called 'sea-legs', active ingredient 'Meclozine Hydrochloride' and lem'me tell you, it works!

This passage is going splendidly and I have not barfed over the side once.

The moral of this story, Take more drugs.

Comments [2]

Isabelle
14/10/2010

How sad. That's what I thought when I realised that I've become a blasé traveller. I'm really too well travelled. I often don't batter an eyelid when something happens that (in consideration of where I come from and my native culture) I really should find strange, hilarious or at least amusing.

Here in Fiji, I have made a conscious effort to be a normal Australian in a foreign land and I have two stories and one photo to show for it.

First story
I go to the shop to buy some weet-bix and tokens for the washing machines. I approch the counter with the weet-bix and stand there waiting to be served. The lady is two feet away and facing me but she does not look up from her book. She has dark skin, short black frizzy hair and like most over 50 Fijian women she is wearing a traditional looking dress. She has served me the past few days with a smile but not today. I'm still waiting. 20 seconds later I say "Hi". She keeps reading for a few seconds then looks up at me with a frustrated face and says "I'm nearly finished! What did you want?" I tell her I would like three washing tokens and to pay for the weet-bix. She begins to rummage around in a drawer. "You know, I am nearly at the end of my book but no-one will let me finish!" "Customers can be a real nuisance" I remind her. She looks up at me and shakes her head. "There is a girl who saw the dead body of a man. The dead man had been killed by another man who the girl happens to run into and this man knows that the girl is the only one who knows the man is dead so he tells her to go into the barn. When she is in there he locks it and lights it on fire. There are some little kittens and she puts them in a bag to protect them from the smoke and is looking for a way out and then you come and ask me for some washing tokens!" I can't help but laugh "I'm so sorry". She holds up the cover of the crime novel for me to see, puts the tokens on the table, takes my money, says thankyou, sits down and opens her book.

Story two
I am in a shop wandering around quite aimlessly. I happened to be walking past a stand of lipstick when a shop assistant pounces on me. She is Indian with a strong accent and is wearing a sari "I think this colour would suit you" she holds up probably my least favourite colour, which is a pale vomit pink. I find it hard to hide my disgust but she doesn't notice, in fact she looks encouraged. "Yes" she nods, looking at me in a quizzical manner and I can see the artist is born and there will be no stopping her now. She picks up a black pencil "You see this" she asks. "Quite clearly" I wearily reply. "Well, you can use this to draw your eyebrows on with!" I look at the pencil, then at her. "But... I already have eyebrows!" I am truly puzzled. She looks at me and lets out a high pitched laugh "Oh no, those won't do, they are the wrong shape! You need to shave them off and draw them back on with this pencil. I have a friend who can shave them off for you if you like". I look at her and I'm lost for words. To my horror she goes to pick up some other cosmetic, but before she says another word I've realised that I'm late for lunch and have left the shop.

Comments [2]

James
14/10/2010

Suva market

We arrived at Suva in Fiji during the yacht club's sunday afternoon yacht race. We accidentally ended up anchored right in the middle of one of their short legs near the finish line and had boats coming as close as they dared to us to cut the corner. The state of some of the boats did not inspire confidence in me and i was hoping that no sudden gust of wind would turn any of them on to a collision course with us.

After the officials came to our boat the nexy day to clear us in ( and bonded our 3 litres of alcohol!) we were free to go and explore Suva. It was the biggest city we had seen since Papeete in Tahiti. It was great to have supermarkets with more than one selection of each product, a ginormous fruit and vegetable market ( about half an acre!), shops where you can buy just about anything, and some great Indian food.

Everyone is very friendly in Fiji and greet you with a cheery 'Bula', even the prisoners at the detention centre across the road from the yacht club. We'd heard some bad press about Fiji before we arrived but soon learnt that things aren't quite as reported in the press and in parliament.
Most people we spoke to seemed quite upbeat about their country.
The political situation is stable and Commodore Banimarama seems quite popular and is doing what needs to be done to get the country back on track: weeding out corruption, completing public works projects, stamping out crime, looking after the citizens of Fiji. Once the processes are in place, then they can think about elections. It's working, and they don't need Australia telling them what they ought to be doing. It is still a developing country and the general population find the cost of living relatively high ( even though we find it quite cheap). Their wages are something like $5-6 and hour on average. I think they will improve gradually. There is a lot of potential. Probably best if they are supported by nations like Australia.
Enough politics though.

I got some stainless steel work done and after having no luck getting our starter motor repaired, ordered a new one from the US and started tracking it's slow progress to Fiji. Let it be known though, that despite being $300-500 dollars cheaper, the US postal service (USPS) is no slower than the big specialised couriers like UPS and Fedex!

Again we met friends, new and old. Like David, a singlehander on a beautiful Bowman 48 with a great attitude to life; Ed and Fi on Sula, young Aussies who had spent a year working on aid projects in Tonga and who we spent an afternoon with helping them learn to fly their spinnaker; Michael and Jodie on Savannah and their lovely cat Logan who reminded us so much of ours; and Ed and Ellen on Entre'act who are making another cruise after their earlier one, 30 years before. They gave us a DVD of their earlier cruise which covered the Carribean, Atlantic and Europe. It has turned in to one of my favourite films. A masterpiece on a micro budget. A photo essay with words and self-composed music.

A sail training ship was also in port, the Picton Castle. We were invited to go onboard for a tour one evening and had a most interesting time. The ship was built around 1929 and has been refitted as a sailing square rigged ship. It is on a circumnavigation, having started on the east coast of the US. They have a professional crew and a paying crew of about 50 who come for adventure, experience and to learn age old skills. They were making some new sails in teh yacht club while we were there and i was glad that I didn't have to make sails out of 14oz canvas, but even more glad that I didn't have to hand sew some of the other sails like we saw onboard that had taken them three weeks to complete.

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James
14/10/2010

Neiafu Harbour, Vava'u, Tonga,waiting for customs clearance.

While in Tonga, the starter motor for our engine finally gave up the ghost. It had been getting harder and harder to turn the engine over and eventually the starter would not crank at all. When i took it apart it was obvious what the problem was: it was burnt out and breaking up inside. It was soon clear that it would take several weeks to get a replacement of one sort or another, so it was pure sailing for us from then on.

It was actually much more fun, peaceful and a good learning experience. For instance, I was never exactly sure just how you were meant to sail up on the anchor in order to retrieve it. After experimenting with mainsail only, headsail only, combinations of the two, steering or not steering, we became quite adept at the procedure. Turns out you can use any combination of sails but usually some headsail helps. We let the boat sail out to one side as far as the anchor chain would allow; tack the boat, or let it tack itself; then pull in as much chain as we could while the boat was heading off to the extent of the chain on the other tack, and so on until we sailed past the anchor and pulled it out of the seabed. The trick is in not sailing too slowly or not letting the boat get up enough momentum ( if the chain is getting too short) and also in not sailing too fast and past the anchor. Moderation in everything!

Similarily, we learnt to drop anchor and dig it in under sail. Again, getting just the right speed was important. Too much sail and too fast meant a runaway chain. Scary. Too little speed and the anchor wouldn't be sure to dig in. Usually, we would sail through the anchorage and pick our spot, approach from upwind, drop the mainsail and turn to run downwind over the spot where we wanted to place our anchor, have just enough headsail out to give us the right momentum, lower the anchor and feed out the chain as Isabelle rolled up the headsail, I'd then snub off the chain at the scope we wanted and as the anchor bit Isabelle would swing the bow to the side the anchor chain was coming off. By the time the boat was around head to wind we would have the anchor nicely dug in.
It was also very satisfying to be able to do all this under sail and we regarded with a little pity, the other boats that always resorted to their engines for the same operations, feeling that they were missing out on something.

We resolved to sail on to Fiji and finally sort our starter motor problems there, where there are more services. We had to wait several days for the weather to settle a bit but then we had a rather pleasant sail, especially the last two days of the three day passage, in conditions that reminded me of the way the first days of spring feel when at home.

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James
14/10/2010

Time for a sundowner.


Beveride Reef to Tonga, a little over 300 miles.

We had quite a rip to go through as we negotiated the pass to leave Beveridge, but managed to find a relatively clear lane more to one side.
We had about 20 to 25 knots of wind behind us most of the way and gusts to over 30 on the second day with some of the more impressive waves we have seen to go along with it.

We had the mainsail double reefed and this was all fine except that the upper part of the sail occassionaly got caught behind the side stay that holds up the mast. That third, windy, wavy morning, Isabelle was asleep below and the sail was caught as described. All it would take to fix it was a little gybe to get the wind on the other side of the sail and then back again. All was going to plan when a wave hit the boat at the critical moment of the gybe and flung the boat around broadside to the waves and wind and tipped us suddenly. I looked below just in time to see poor, asleep Isabelle flung right out of her bunk, clear across the boat to the bunk on the other side without so much as touching the floor.
What a rude awakening. She sat there rather stunned for a while.

We arrived at Tonga in the middle of the night and spent the early hours hove to outside the sheltered harbour as it was much too dark to navigate by eye, with rain squalls added, and we were also unsure of the accuracy of the charts compared to the GPS. Turns out we were wise to not trust the GPs as there is quite a discrepancy between charted position and GPS position in Tonga. About 0.2 of a nautical mile. Enough to put you ashore in a narrow pass.

The part of Tonga we had arrived at was the Vava'u group. A beautiful group of many, many islands and anchorages without very many coral dangers. The anchorages were tranquil and close to the wooded shores. It was unusual for us to hear birds singing in the trees while we sat at anchor. Something we had not heard for about seven months!

The Tongans are very friendly people and we enjoyed our four week stay there. Some of our highlights were: Fish and Chips (for the first time since leaving home!) and being able to eat out at reasonable prices for the first time since the Galapagos, snorkelling over the best coral we had seen all trip, hearing whales under water, Isabelle's swim with the whales as detailed in another post as is Mariner's Cave, catching up with friends we have made along the way, and making new ones, enjoying the peaceful anchorages and sundowners on the beach.

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