Photo: Banks Island dancers, Oyster Island
We finally cleared the outer reef of Fiji just after 17:00 on Sunday evening and settled into the sail for Vanuatu. The trip across was 600nm and all of it with the wind from dead behind and whilst it was light to start with, we ended up with 30 plus knots for a good time and building seas. Dol rolled down the following seas a bit but we just adjusted things to make it as pleasant as possible. Speed was excellent though and we were regularly doing 9 - 11 knots under a deep reefed main and yankee. We had a very fast trip compared to those that left with the fleet 30 hours in front of us. Major downer for the trip was that we lost out gen set again just 2 days into the passage so we needed to run the main engine at least a couple of times a day for the freezer/batteries etc. All this after spending 2 weeks getting it fixed. We arrived in Vanuatu, effectively at 5.00pm on Wednesday night when we passed the outer islands at Pentecost Island, but we then had 70nm to go to the customs clearance at Oyster Island, a special arrangement for the ICA fleet. We had a pleasant overnight sail in flat seas and about 15 knots, with reduced sail so we wouldn't arrive too early. We actually timed it well as we were off the entrance to Oyster Island at 7.00am and were anchored in the bay at 8.00.
Vanuatu, despite going almost directly west from Fiji, the weather in Vanuatu seems very different, more humid and not as cool at night. We had become used to the hot sunny days and cool nights in Fiji, great for sleeping, here it is hot and humid all day and night. Our first impressions are of a materially poor country but one that is rich in culture, the people are very friendly and helpful. The villages we have passed through on our trips ashore are more organised, tidier and cleaner than Fiji and Tonga. The only town we have visited, Louganville, is definitely cleaner, with rubbish bins on the street, not seen elsewhere. There is more agriculture here, beef cattle can be seen in large herds and Louganville has a large, modern agricultural college.
We are anchored off Oyster Island Resort. The place is lovely, a beautiful setting behind small islands, totally protected from wind and swell and beside a lovely little resort called Oyster island. Very hot, not much wind, and pretty humid. The first 2 days were spent with Graham, an engineer in the fleet who worked with Brian to get the genset running again. They found some very ordinary work had been done in a couple of areas by the engineers in Port Denarau. We now hope it keeps going for the next 3 months when we will be replacing it with a new one in Australia.
Apart from fixing the gen set ( Brian is completely over having himself in the engine room), Gail went kayaking (Brian was in the engine room at the time) up the river to the northern blue fresh water pool, we both went snorkeling to see several WW11 aircraft wrecks in about 5 meters of water on the outer side of Oyster Island, then onto some of the best coral we have seen anywhere and took the dinghy up to the southern blue water hole, a great trip in company with others. Monday morning saw Brian head off with several other divers for a wreck dive on the vessel "SS President Coolidge". She was a huge "cruise liner" converted to a troop carrier, which hit two mines in 1942 off the entrance to Louganville here in Vanuatu and went down very quickly. She carried more than 5000 on board and only 2 were lost. The size of this ship underwater was amazing and whilst we only saw a small portion of it, we still dived to more than 30m. For those of you interested in seeing some photos, Google SS President Coolidge. On Monday night there was a cultural dance performance by a group from the Banks Island Group. The warrior dancing was performed by the men and boys in traditional costumes, see the picture at the top of the blog. The ladies performed water music, wearing traditional grass costumes they entered the water and "played music", it was awesome the sounds they could make with their hands, it sounded like drums or the sound blow holes make. The following day we went to a river on a nearby farm, jumped in with life jackets for protection and floated downstream for about 40 minutes, through rapids and pools to a waterfall, where we exited the river by climbing up the waterfall. Dinner that evening was at Turtle Bay resort near Oyster Island which is run by an Australian acrobat. The resort has its own big top and trapeze. Following dinner there was a 30 minute acrobatics and juggling show with some magic thrown in.
The following day we hired a taxi van with several others and went to a fishing village, another blue hole, Champagne beach and stopped for drinks at the bar in Velit Bay on the way home. At the fishing village we walked across a sand bar to a deserted island, beachcombing for shells. The blue hole was a great place for another swim, again fresh water, although this one did have salt water feeding in as well. Not sure if all of Vanuatu has these blue holes or if it is a feature of Espirito Santo, must do some research and find out. From the blue hole we went to Champagne Beach for lunch and a swim. What a glorious place, crystal clear, blue water and white sand. We spent the best part of the afternoon in the water, swimming, playing with Frisbees and generally fooling around. Velit Bay on the way home was an unexpected delight. It is a little bar on the beach in a secluded bay, a place picture postcards are made from, it has only been open a month and the owners have larger plans for it.
It's now time to leave Oyster Island, so tide permitting as the entrance has a very shallow channel and we have to time the tides right (the tides are small at the moment) we will hopefully leave here tomorrow and head for new locations and experiences. Not sure when the blog will be updated again, it may not be till we reach Port Vila mid to late September.