Our last post was from Sulua Bay, where we had anchored after a nice quick day-sail from Havannah Harbour. Unfortunately during that night the wind really piped up - still a trade wind from the SE but quite strong. The topography of Emae Island is a central low area, where the village sits on a small stream leading into the bay; flanking this small plain-like area are two large mountains which sit at either end of the island like pillars. Such is the orientation of the island that when the trades blow strongly, the wind funnels between the mountains and is accentuated in strength and tends to whip around in the bay in eddying bullets. This makes for a very uncomfortable time at anchor, and we had a pretty lousy night's sleep, so we decided to move on first thing the next morning. That was a pity as we wanted to meet the villagers in Sulua, who are not often visited by outsiders. The nearest anchorage North of Sulua that looked on the chart as if it would be relatively protected was Revolieu Bay on Epi Island. We set a reefed main and made Revolieu in a brisk 5 hour downwind run; the breeze was dead astern so we made a series of long gybes to keep the boat's motion comfortable. We trolled lures all the way, including over the 100 metre line as we skated around the South-west corner of Epi, but pulled nothing. About 3 in the afternoon we dropped anchor in Revolieu, just after Matind'Or and Wombat. Another Kiwi boat was there, and the anchoring was quite tight - a big bay but lots of coral heads intruding into the useable space and big reefs at both ends of the bay. But we found it a safe and comfortable anchorage after we all set bridles on the anchor chain to bring the bows into the prevailing swell, which found its way into the bay around the reefs. Ashore at Revolieu are three villages - the first is at the head of the bay itself and consists of just four families. They were very friendly and hospitable; the chief was working in the gardens when we came ashore but we met him later. The usual handshaking and broad smiles accompanied the exchange of names - they always want to know your name, and always remember it! Then some small gifts both ways - some small items of clothing from us to the women for themselves and the kids, then some fresh vegetables, delicious ripe fruit and some coconuts to us from the villagers. One of the boys, 12 year old Phillip, took us under his wing and guided us down the track about 3 kilometres to Mae Mora, a much bigger village which lies South of Revolieu and which has the school serving the area's villages. Mae Mora was delightful - a really tidy village with a good man as chief. The head teacher was Jonathon and he showed us the school and we met the villagers who were preparing timber, bamboo and palm branch stands for Independence Day celebrations (today, July 30 - more of that later). Head Teacher Jonathon was extremely grateful to receive two soccer balls for his students, and some stationery materials sent by people at the Skin and Cancer Foundation at home. We did some snorkelling in Revolieu Bay, and had a great afternoon towing Phillip and his friends around the anchorage, tethering their canoe to the dinghy and hooning about. The village in the other direction is Burumba, where there is a small store selling a few snack items, some basic household items and the inevitable canned corned beef and canned tuna. John walked there with Mike from Wombat and Allan from Matin d'Or. We didn't really need or want anything there, but did buy a couple of snacks from Ishmael the owner as he was really keen to get to know us, and ignored several local customers while questioning us closely about our home countries and our lives, our yachts and our plans while here in Vanuatu. Three days there saw us moving on, but only a couple of hours sail North, to Lamen Bay. This is a very pretty and sheltered bay with a village on the beachfront. Relative to the smaller villages, Lamen Bay is a bit of a metropolis. A small hospital, a high school which serves all the primary schools in the region, an unsealed airfield for the weekly plane from Vila, and even some lighting in some of the dwellings at night (until 9:00pm) provided by a community generator. There is a small on-demand restaurant run by a local mover and shaker called Tesso. We let him know that a bunch of yachties would want to have a meal there last night and for about the equivalent of $10 a head he prepared a huge smorgasbord of local delicacies, with kumara in coconut sauce, island greens, rice, manioc chips fried crisp in coconut oil, tuna, mahi-mahi and Dorado in various sauces and in a curry, salads and some kind of fruit pie which we couldn't identify but which was superb. Today is Independance Day and many of the villagers have gone by truck to a village a bit further East - we would be imposing if we tried to squeeze in, so the yachts are all going to have a quiet day exploring on foot and taking in the magnificent scenery here. We'll be in touch in a couple of days - best wishes to all. Cheers!