Port Resolution. Five years ago in 2007, we sailed on board the former Whitbread racing yacht Alaska Eagle from Suva, Fiji to Port Resolution, Vanuatu, then on to Port Vila, then to Sydney, Australia. Port Resolution and its people touched our hearts in a big way then, and we promised that we would return. Last Tuesday, we did just that. It has been a very emotional experience for us because we were remembered here, too.

We haven't written all week because we have been "taking it all in". We left Anatom on Monday after the weather had turned to rain, and we thought that "Well, if it is raining (and it did continually for nearly a week) then we might as well wait out the rain while in Port Resolution. So we left Anatom in the afternoon, sailed all night, in constant rain, to arrive at first light at Port Resolution.

Port Resolution is home to the very active volcano Mt. Yassar, and although it was dark, about five in the morning, and we were about three miles out of the bay, we could hear Mt. Yassar greeting us with his incredible booms and explosions. We were nearly back, but it was dark and raining. We saw the lights of the boats at anchor then they were gone. Damn. We slowed down so that we would have light when we got to the entrance of the bay and into the anchorage. Gradually, we could see a little more, and a little more. It was still raining, but we were closer, being helped along with the radar, forward looking sonar and the waypoints provided by the Rocket Cruising Guide to Vanuatu. The chart here is very incomplete and its position is very inaccurate.

Finally, we were in and the anchor was set. We were back in Port Resolution as we had promised five years ago. Now, when we were here then, we had met a number of people. Perhaps the most significant person was a young man named Stanley. Stanley was the son of Chief Ron, and was very instrumental in helping all of the yachts get rides to the volcano, to the village where the fire walker did his show, and much more. Jan, on Jenny, had arrived the day before, had met Stanley and told him that we were coming. Stanley did remember us. In fact, Jan had Stanley on board when we made an HF radio call. He had Stanley talk to us on the radio. It was magic, and we were excited to see him again.

Soon after we were anchored, we conked out, very tired after an all night, rainy passage. But soon, we were awakened by our old friend Stanley knocking on our hull. As it turned out, Stanley saw our lights as we made our way in, but it was cold, and wet, and he has no rain gear. He said that he had paddled his dug-out canoe out to meet us, but that it was so cold, and the rain was making us go so slow, that he had to go in, and get warm. But, he had been there to meet us in our pre dawn arrival!

So, we have had a wonderful reunion. He is married now and has two little girls. Yesterday, we had the whole family on board for lunch. It was a mixed success really. His wife had not been on a boat before, the anchorage is rolly, of course, and got seasick. Daughter Naomi didn't really like tuna noodle casserole (no worries - Stanley liked it and finished her portion). But what a reunion. It is special beyond expectations.

Stanley is not yet chief, but hopes to be soon. He is still the man who understands the yachts, their needs, and the business potential associated with them. In many ways, the local business scene would be chaos without him, and we suspect that that is a desirable quality in a chief. While reconnecting with Stanley, we shared photographs we had taken of other people we had met back in 2007. One guy is a musician and has moved to Port Vila, one young kid was lost in a diving accident a few years back, and so on. We had a photo of our friend and Alaska Eagle shipmate, Jeff. Stanley remembered Jeff as being the friend of his brother, Johnson.

The other day, while walking in the village, we met a guy named Sam and his wife Jocelyn. Sam happens to be the chief of the neighboring village, and he invited us to a festival being held on Monday. They are very nice people, and we are going!

Today, we hiked out to Sam's village, but he wasn't there. But, we met other people on the way, while hiking through the jungle on little footpaths. This is a National Geographic environment. The people still live in grass houses, wear no shoes, and paddle dugout canoes. There are 15 different languages spoken here, so the people in a village only a mile or two away cannot speak with each other, unless they have gone to school and learned Bislama, English or French. But! A new development is that they have cell phones now. One of the things we yachties are able to do for the locals is to charge their phones. The guys paddle out, drop off the phone, we charge it, and either wait for the owner to come back and pick it up, or I prefer to dinghy out to the owner and deliver it. I did this for a guy yesterday and then he showed up at the boat this morning with four beautiful papayas. How wonderful is that? I couldn't just accept them without giving something, so I gave him one of my polo shirts.

We did our requisite trip back to the volcano the other night. We went along with Jan and Elie, their two guests from Britian, and a host of other people we did not know , all from other boats. The Vanuatu transportation is like this. You arrange (usually through Stanley) for a driver and vehicle to be somewhere at a certain time. The vehicle is a small four-wheel drive truck with a rack on the back. You sit in the back and hang on to the rack. We had 16 people in our truck for the volcano! Along the way, we passed a village where the local boys came running and laughing along side the truck. I held out my hand to them, and we all exchanged high fives and we trundled along through the jungle footpaths now being used as "roads". At one point Stanley pointed out to me a section of fairly improved road where the side slope had been neatly cut back. He said that his village had built that section of road - all by hand. Women and men, all working together with hand tools. Amazing.

After our hike today, we ended up on the beach where we met a guy who has just opened a little resort that looks right at the volcano. He said that when you sit for dinner, your table looks right at the spectacular fireworks put on by Mt. Yassar. His name is Morris and his email for information is: volcanoislandparadise@gmail.com I promised him that I would tell you about his place. He was a very nice man and at the beach with his young daughter and son. A good dad.

It goes on. We love these people and their island.

Oh, other highlights. The skipper of the South African catamaran, Goodie had a saxophone on board. At one point, when we had fourteen boats in the anchorage, he sat on his boat with the sax, I sat on ours, with electric guitar, and we had a cross anchorage jam session. Lots of fun, and the local fishermen in their canoes gathered around for the spectacle. Mt. Yassar continually erupts and belches out fine black ash, and one morning, our boats were all covered by it. I suspect that we will be cleaning this for the next six months!

We will probably leave for Port Vila on Tuesday, but it will be hard.

This is, "Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" wishing you the best!