From
Vanuatu 2014
Uh oh, I'm a little delinquent with this blog again but I attribute it to aging; I don't get as much done as I used to. But we've been having a good time with some slow days in between. We really enjoyed the time spent exploring the island of Santo with Mark & Anne and Rankin & Sandy. It had several really protected & beautiful anchorages with things to do as well. During WWII, the USA had a large air force base on Santo called Fighter One. One of the anchorages had two gorgeous fresh water springs (blue holes) that we dinghied up to and one of these was once the fresh water source for the base. Going up the river, you could see bits & pieces of old concrete structures, remnants of the war. We had great swims at these blue holes, played on the rope swings and snorkeled around like we were in an aquarium. They even have fresh water hermit crabs. I pondered what it would be like to cruise in fresh water where everything you do is actually CLEANING the boat, dive gear, wetsuits, etc. What a concept.
From
Vanuatu 2014
Santo also has a great newly paved road (Australian provides much needed aid for these kinds of things) that runs up the island and the scenery is endless cattle farms and coconut palms which are Vanuatu's main export products. We took a long, peaceful ride with Mark one day and while we were dreaming of ice cold slush puppies or huge ice cream cones, we had to be satisfied with a warm can of soda from a little store at the halfway point. We were lucky to get that!
From
Vanuatu 2014
We really liked the northern anchorages of Hog Harbor & Port Olry which offered some nice diving spots. Mind you, we usually have to find these spots on our own. Since each boat has their own dive compressor, we can head out with full tanks looking at the topography of the island to see where there might be a steep cliffy area with a corresponding reef wall. We dinghy around poking our head in the water here & there until we find something that looks good from the surface. If so, we anchor the dinghies and plunge in! Most of the time it's a success and we've gotten better & better at finding interesting places. Between the 6 of us, we usually find at least one new type of creature on every dive. And as much as we hate it, we have taken the crown of thorns flour sack and hook out and plucked a few off the reefs as needed while snorkeling. It's no easy task getting some of these into the bag and Jon has managed to puncture his thumb twice now. It works best when I'm holding the bag open but he still has had two run-ins. The spines are poisonous & produce significant burning pain and while we usually don't worry too much about cuts & scrapes from the water these actually really do kill the surrounding skin! So far, healing is going OK, I think!
From
Vanuatu 2014
Since we were anxious to meet up with Jan & Rich on Slip Away and they had gotten reasonably close to us, the 6 of us set sail one morning for Maewo to surprise them in the anchorage. And that we did! We rolled in at dusk where they sat alone in the anchorage. We enjoyed dives together by day and dinners by night catching up since New Zealand. I loved looking back along the wall on our dives & seeing all of them lined up, absorbed. Anne frequently comes up to me and takes her regulator out of her mouth to chuckle or smile which I rarely do since I figure I'll flub up and inhale or something. But we did pose for a pic with regs out which was funny for some reason. Good practice even. Then we got Sandy to do it too. We did a night of Paella where we all chipped in on the ingredients and I made my mom's recipe. Then another night was pizza night where we each did the best we could making pizzas in our small ovens. Yum! We also attended a dance performance at Asanvari which was the best we've seen in quite a while. It wasn't traditional kastom dancing but I think we all liked it even better. The costumes were pretty, the big, Ni-Van smiles were perfect and the choreographed dances were welcome. The ladies were there hours before decorating the performance area that sits beside the waterfall that plunges into the harbor. Beautiful!
From
Vanuatu 2014
From
Vanuatu 2014
The running joke has been that Rankin really wants us all to sit down and watch the movie South Pacific since we're following in James Mitchener's footsteps so closely. Coincidentally, my dad just finished reading the book again! Mitchener spent quite a bit of time on the Fighter One base during WWII and his famous Tales of the S Pacific record the beauty of the area and of the people of Vanuatu. We settled on watching an interesting excerpt from "60 Minutes" (probably dated) rather than the 3 hr movie during our gathering. A lot has changed but then I think a lot is just the same. Over 90 percent of Ni-Vans outside of Port Vila and Luganville don't have any electricity and being here as we are, we witness their very simple way of life. While we're not the best at seriously immersing ourselves in the village life, we do spend time getting to know a few people as opportunities arise and it is here that we get some questions answered and better insight into what it's like to live here. We value this way of traveling through these countries because you can't see & do what we do if you're on a cruise ship or being whisked away to a touristy hotel. In some of the islands we visit, we are not a usual sight to see. Therein is the window to experiencing this place the way it really is. We took a walk with Mark & Anne a couple of days ago and when we saw little kids, we offered them a lollipop. Big smiles, running to tell their parent we don't know what. As we walked back to the boats, a father & son whom we'd given a lollipop caught up to us and handed us each a drinking coconut. We chatted a minute and then said goodbye, feeling good.
We've been here for two months now and we're getting antsy to head to New Caledonia. So, the inevitable happened and we, along with Mark & Anne, parted ways with Gypsea Heart & Slip Away. We all have our own schedules. In hopes of having a better trip to New Cal than we did last year, we decided to get back to Port Vila where we would be 100 miles closer and have a little more west in the rhumbline. Although we were completely dreading the overnight trip to Vila, it ended up being pretty easy. We motorsailed to windward making good speed hugging the islands of the chain for wave protection. The glow of Ambrym's volcano (that we didn't see on our hike up there) lit up the sky in place of the moon.
This life leads to mood swings. A fantastic day of diving or gathering of friends doing something fun can be a 10 and we feel high as a kite. On other days where we're missing loved ones, feeling cooped up (and fat) or really just want to do our own thing without regard for weather, local customs or etiquette or even fulfill a food craving, we get to feeling low. Anticipating a rough night on the passage, we turned our thoughts to the camper and our plans for land travel someday. Spending time with family and not missing important milestones tugs at us. It is always on our mind. Just like anything, nothing is perfect.
Meanwhile, we got to Port Vila after a really nice overnight and once again picked up one of Yachting World's peaceful moorings. It's really nice here. Well, there is the constant smell of the burning, but, that's island life. The burning never stops! Our timing was good because today, July 30th is Vanuatu's Independence Day- since 1980. We went to Patriot Park and watched a slow, but heartwarming celebration with a marching band, the military branches all in uniform and important officials including both the President & Prime Minister. I was really interested in hearing the PM's speech but I couldn't really understand his words. Afterward, we stopped at the food stalls and got a piece of banana cake in lieu of the BBQ chicken lunch I associate with July 4th . We enjoyed ourselves and it was a great culmination of our time here in Vanuatu.
Since there looks to be a weather window for tomorrow, we're all fueled up and checked out, ready to depart for New Caledonia, 300 miles away. It's exciting to have a new country to explore but a little bit sad to say goodbye to these islands and their people. Cruising here has been a wonderful & memorable experience that we'll never forget.
From
Vanuatu 2014