We met up with an old boat builder friend now working at a remote technical college in Lolowai on the NE tip of Ambae, a very interesting place. He is working with VSA NZ and is on a 2 year contract there, quite interesting. We came across to Asanvari Bay on the South tip of Maewo yesterday and we are parked right outside a large waterfall as it drops into the bay, lovely. We had Sundowners with 5 of the other boats last night which was great fun, lively with the kids running around & us diving under the falls, a very special place here. They still use outrigger canoes like Kioa and most walk to the local school. We are heading ashore soon to get water, do some washing and I've been asked to look at their hydrogenerator which has stopped working. I have seen many well intended aid projects installing hi tech gear like this with no training or follow up, I'll see soon.

I'm working with half a screen on the Toshiba so apologies for the delay. I think the video card is also a bit dozy so it doesnt always give me even half a screen, but I will persist.

Ian & Gail doing great , fitting right in.

Go team ETNZ.

After an action packed three weeks with the "Nubile nymph's" our new crew, Ian & Gail Morrison, have settled into a slower pace of travel as we explore many of the Northern Islands of the Vanuatu Group as we weave our way back to Port Vila. Ian and Gail arrived at night into Luganville Aiport (old WW2 American airfeild), missing Annie & Erin by an hour is all.
Early the next morning, we went ashore & rented a double canoe for Ian & Gail. The objective was to go to a blue hole " which is an aquifer outlet a few kilometers up a winding stream from our bay. I rowed as I had done a day before. After a slow start(& an unintended swim)Ian & Gail got into their stride. The forest here is quite unique, large buttressed tress with amazing root systems, lots of ferns and hanging vines, parrots etc. The scene looks like something you would imagine in the Bayou of Florida, no aligators or snakes though. The blue hole is gorgeous clear water & a huge clear flow into a large basin (abt 100 metres) A large Banyon tree is on one side & the locals have built a rough ladder & a swing. Think Tarzan and you'll get it.
You actually swing quite high from the branch of the tree before you let go the rope, not for the faint hearted.
We sailed from Surundu Bay after seeing several dugongs swimming around us.
Our route was to Ambae Island which is a large dormant volcano directly East of Santo. We had a fresh sail & Gail handled the ship in great style, hard on the wind into reasonable seas at 7.5 knots, she was smiling like Annie was a week earlier, both keen sailors. On the way, another boat called out "whales" on the VHF and as they were only a few miles off our track, we turned and headed towards what we could now see was some great soundings. We came across a large pod (abt 14) of Sperm whales. My World Cetacean book from Pete & Yvonne was used to positivley identify these gorgeous creatures.
We looked at this relaxed family, the big males up to 18 metres long and all were lazing around in the seas. The young ones were spy hopping( sticking their heads straight up and looking around) and other juvenilles ( abt 10 metres long ) were rolling around, and not worried about us. The large sperm whales weigh up to 50 tonnes and I think the two large ones were about that, an amazing experience.
On the way to Lolowai Bay on the North East tip of Ambae, we caught two large Mahimahi with Annie's new lures, yippee. Just sorry we didn't do as well with Pam, Christine, Annie & Erin, next time.
We moved across to a lovely anchorage called Asanvari Bay on the South West Coast of Maewo Island. Maewo & Pentacost Islands form the Eastern barrier to the Vanuatu Northern group & are both long & high islands, with villages clinging on to the coastal shelf & in the usable bays. The main feature of Asanvari bay was a large waterfall which dropped almost in to the bay. We rowed ashore here & were welcomed by some locals who are promoting this place, & caring for the wonderful gardens that surround this pretty spot. We paid 500 Vatu ( abt NZ $7 ) and could use as much as we wanted. We all swam under the falls & I even did a big load of wash in the river that exits the falls. I was washing my shirts, shorts & lavava's alongside a local woman, her washboard & scrubbing brush in hand and her mobile phone on a rock next to her. How 21st century!

We are heading back to Ambrym Island that is known for it's volcanoes, black magic & dancing. We hope to see some Rom dancing on Sunday, will keep you posted.

All the best from Taranui and crew. We've done nearly 4,200 Nautical miles now.

Erin and Annie signing of from what has been an Idyllic Island Paradise holiday.

Tony has been the perfect Skipper, Host, boat boy and "Olfala"
The highlights being the Port Vila Market with the wonderful produce brilliant flowers and the beautiful so happy and kind local woman in there fantastically colourful "mother hubbard frocks". We are wearing ours to Island Night at the Oyster bay Resort tonight. And of course Tony will be in his Lava Lava..
We have had the most perfect sailing weather aft of the beam all the way, sliding along beautifully averaging 7.4 knots on all of our legs. Annie hogging the helm, Erin has had some fantastic runs also along the lee of some beautiful islands.
After long hours of trailing many different lures we finally caught 2 Tuna and of course the big one that got away.
We have lived an Paw Paw for breakfast lunch and dinner and have been baking beautiful bread..The best meal being Tuna Steaks and fried bananas under he stars in the warm trade wind breeze.
We were very fortunate to have an introduction via our friend Annie Shnackenberg to visit her place of birth on Amae.
Were greeting the hugs and kisses and warmly welcomed into the village and shared a morning exchanging our gifts we had bought from home, clothes for the children and supplies for the classroom.
They have so few "white Falas" visiting that they were giggling at our white skin.
We have so impressed with the wonderful relaxed, friendly Ni-Van people, they are proud people who appear to cherish their heritage and culture. The villages are all immaculate, dirt yards swept daily to give the appearance of carpet.

We have been swimming at least 3 times a day starting at 6.30 am, we are all early risers.
The snorkeling was disappointing around the bottom of Afate, due to the crown of thorns starfish killing off the coral.
As we travelled north it has improved and we swam with the turtles on Epi Island.
The snorkeling was brilliant on Ambrym and nearly as good at Champagne Beach. The most beautiful beach we have been so lucky to experience.
We noticed a red glow in the night sky. It was Ambrym Island volcanic activity ( two massive active volcanoes) with the molten lava reflecting off the clouds, spectacular as we sailed towards it the next day and watched the smoke billowing above the cone.

Currently we are moored at Oyster Islands on the East Coast of Espiritu Santo with most of the fleet in and out of here.

We are sad to be planning our departure for tomorrow, we have had perfect conditions, wind from behind and creeping north all the time, the water getting warmer all the way, and the thermal underground waters feeding the bays with even more warmth, we have swimming in layers of warm tepid waters.
Leaving these beautiful Islands with a wonderful feeling of being so fortunate to have met these beautiful proud people.
Tony has been a joy to share this all with and seems to have been very content with his all girl crew for the last few weeks.

Happy sailing to all

Well I'm in heaven, today we are anchored in a magestic bay at Ambryn Island, hot water feeding into the bay and the volcano glowing at night for miles to see. Smells like Rotorua and surprisingly the best snorkeling we've had.
Just making sashimi to have with our gin and tonic and then leaving at 4am heading to Santo "peterson bay" Can't get me off the helm, it's been eased to flat off the whole journey so far. We are all well and very happy crew, T.T. had his 4 sea nymphs for 2 days and now Erin and I, we are a very happy crew and Tony is relaxed and a great skipper and host, except for this afternoon when and Erin cracked up as I ended up half in the water and half sinking the dingy when we were trying to go for a row to the hot water springs.
Taranui is so light on the helm and is a dream to sail. Wing and wing most of the time. Working hard at my Whetu tan and building a few muscles with the work out sailing each day. Don't even want to think about coming home.
Hi to Mollie, and tell her I am feeling 21 again as it is just like being away on T.Q. even the skipper looks the same...

We had some wonderful adventures & great sailing, shopping & dancing with Christine & Pam but they left " Taranui " two days ago on Efate Island.
Annie, Erin & I sailed on to Emae Island, abt 40 miles from Efate.
The volcanic origins of this island group is very obvious here, some wonderful steep volcanic cones sticking straight out of the sea, no villages, too steep! We have seen several vertical rock spires like Sail Rock off the Northland Coast as we sailed by.

We enjoyed meeting many of Annie & Tom Schnackenburg's friends in Marae Village on Emae Island. Gorgeous people who welcomed us like long lost family. Annie & Erin bought bags of clothes & lots of things for the school, all very much appreciated. After touring their very tidy village we were loaded with a lot of grapefruit (here called Pamplemousse), Sour-sop (strange name but delicious), bananas & a local nut delicacy (need my hammer or vice) We sailed yesterday out past the Shepherd Islands and even had Cape Erin in sight before we spun around and sailed downwind (peaked at 11.4 knots with a smiling Annie at the helm) to a new island to us called Epi Island. About 25 miles long and 10 miles wide, very mountainous, big trees, a rugged interior with deep valleys, lots of great beaches & many small villages with tidy coconut plantations. Caught a lovely Tuna which we had as a Sashimi entree & for dinner last night.
We arrived into a lovely place called Lamen Bay on the Northern tip. Our friends on "Blinder", Dave Evans, his son Oliver, sister Jude & Grant were all in the water, diving down & gesturing us in. They were looking at and swimming with a large number of green turtles, some right under the boat.
We have now all been snorkeling in & around the bay and have seen dozens of large green turtles. They come up for air every 30 minutes or so but all feed on the sea grass on the bottom, abt 8 meters below us. These are Green turtles according to Ollie & are up to 1 meter across the shell. They are OK with us diving down & watching them eating the grass, they look at you & carry on. Some have pilot fish attached to them (shell cleaners ?)& are often in the company of puffer fish too! Quite an amazing experience.
We are also on the lookout for the famous Dugong who also feed on the sea grass around these bays. These wonderful creatures are called Manatee in Florida and are seen in some of these areas, although endangered.

We will sail to Ambrym Island tomorrow which has two active volcano's, although we are told that access is not as easy as Tanna. Although it's hot here, the hot water beach has some appeal for some reason.

Vanuatu continues to be an exciting place to cruise & there is a wonderful quality & enthusiasm in the people. We call it pride I guess and you feel it in every village, proud of their independence & their wonderful country.

We'll keep you posted

This report blong Christine and Pamela
Tony finding the bia blong yumi. Mi wantem Tusker (local beer).
Today we sailed from Havana harbour Efate to Undine Bay, with Annie at the helm. Wasn't as fast as the 10.3knots she reached yesterday from Vila but was quite a lively ride with winds reaching 30 knots. Now we know how to make Erin swear.
The yacht was leaning hard over dumping Erin's feet in the water. There will be no more sweeping in the Taranui as the broom was lost overboard, and nearly lost the oars and canopy.
We've just had a fresh dip over the side in an idyllic bay which is meant to be great snorkeling, tomorrow's adventure.
Stunning white sandy coral beach alongside our mooring. Will go ashore to check out the village/tourist accomodation for Tanna coffee. (We've become quite partial to finding a Tanna coffee at local places, missing our Meola Kitchen daily fix)

We flew into Port Vila on 16th, connecting with flight to Tanna. Here we were met by Rachel and Esso who drove us half an hour up the bumpy dirt road, through his village to their tourist bungalows in Central, the highest area of Tanna. A traditional thatched hut,with outdoor toilet/shower block, and a stunning view across Tanna to the volcano smoking away in the distance. Excellent food prepared by Rachel, wonderful family. Played soccer and volleyball with their kids.
Next morning Esso and Rachel, baby Ibrahim, two kids in back drove us to Lenakel, picking up and dropping people along the way. We went by the airport to try and see Martin on his way out, but alas no luck.
Our highlight of our time with Esso was a visit to a remote village, having a traditional celebration for the circumcision of a young boy. This was not for tourists, we were the only palangi's. Hundreds of people, dancing under the banyan trees, women dressed in traditional grass costumes with painted faces - wonderful rhythm as they jumped up and down and chanted.
We then headed towards Port Resolution our rendezvous point with a stop for the night at the Volcano. The volcano was an amazing experience, as Tony has described.

Tony and Barb arrived in Port Resolution bay as we watched from the "yacht club" on the cliff. Port Resolution village was very traditional and basic, but had a grass hut that served Tanna coffee. The people were extremely welcoming, bringing us pawpaws, limes and chokos (Christine can now eat chokos). They really wanted to trade goods, not money.
Barb left us and we spent two more days exploring the area before heading to Erromango about 60 N miles away. We had a fantastic snorkel finding large sponges, lettuce like reminisant of carltonware china. It was a beautiful day sail to Erromongo and anchored near the river mouth in Dillon's Bay.
Went ashore, after being greeted by an outrigger, we met several locals who escorted us through the village alongside the river to their school. Its a more progressive village than Port Resolution and has a strong community, focus on education. Tony came to their aid fixing the school generator and inverter, and advising on solar power.

From there we did a semi night sail to Vila with a full moon lighting the way, a stunningly glorious sail.
Tony managed wonderfully sailing with the two novices on board.
Arriving about 2am trailing our lures into town still not a fish in sight.(mind you the fish that got away is getting larger by the day) Saturday night was celebrations for the birthday boy, we had lots dancing and managed to keep Tony off the table tops.

Been a fabulous trip so far, great company, wonderful locals. Food yumi, markets a riot of texture, colour, people & chatter. Local language is wonderful (some examples in this text) Local name for bikini is "basket blong titi", etc.

Our time is fast coming to an end.

Been a great time, much enjoyed.

Tankyu tumas - Tony

Christine & Pam