The day after the wedding, we left Nguna and had a lovely sail back to Port Havannah for a couple of days, meeting more locals and getting Poulet Fish, which is a dense white fleshed fish, apparently similar to chicken breast, hence the name. We also checked out The Havannah Resort as a potential venue to celebrate Katie’s 21st birthday (and decided it definitely was…try looking it up, The Havannah Resort, Efate, Vanuatu!) and arranged to pick up a mooring at the Havannah Beach and Boat Club, which has a tiny marina, but is in walking distance from the Havannah.
Then we headed back round Devil’s Point and anchored off Hideaway Island, a very busy spot, with tourists heading back and forth to the island, jet skis and a number of other yachts. We went ashore to the Beach Bar and chatted to the Kiwi barmaid for a while, before having dinner there.
The next day, it was back round to Port Vila and onto a mooring at Yachting World. Got loads of laundry done and had to restrain myself from running over the drying green to inhale the delicious smell of sun-dried sheets. However, they were still warm and all folded when we got them back onto the boat.
We refilled the gas bottle, topped up with fuel and water and I finally got my hair cut…a fairly entertaining experience! I had been recommended to go to ‘Head Hunter” by another yachtie and was delighted to find that it was next door to the printer, where I was getting photos printed for some of the islanders. When asking if I needed an appointment (the place was empty), the large mama looked at my head and said I could get it cut now and quoted a price. Ignoring the one person wearing a uniform, she called to a young guy slouched in one of the seats texting, who looked more surprised to have been given this task than I was! He sat me down and brought out a couple of trolleys. He then picked up some electric clippers and said “Numbatu?”. Considering I cut Simon’s with a ‘Numbathree’, visions of a skinhead cut flashed before me. I blurted out ‘No!’ and tried to indicate what I wanted, by holding up my hair and showing how much I would like cut off. I was quite anxious by now! He then picked up a comb and scissors and with shaking hands began to cut my hair incredibly slowly. I removed my specs so he could do the sides and, when he had finally finished, put them back on, only to see that one side was fully an inch shorter than the other (and yes, I am that short-sighted!). I pointed this out, and he proceeded to cut the short side shorter. My squeals brought the girl in uniform over and she explained to him what to do, resulting in very short sides. He then asked if I would like it washed, and showed me over to long bed style couches with a sink at the end. These looked very comfy, but my head did not reach to the sink and in order for him to wash the back of my head, I had to hold some very long abdominal crunches as the freezing cold water was liberally squirted around. I was then taken back to my seat, with my hair dripping, and he started to blow dry it. At this point, the mama came over, grabbed the hair dryer and brush and for about 20 seconds tried to dry my dripping hair, before throwing her hands in the air and walking off. Finally, the girl in the uniform took over, drying my hair, tidying up the varied levels and even using hair straighteners and curling tongs. There was a slightly persistent sprout of hair sticking up right on the top of my head, and instead of damping it down…she cut it off! Finally, I left, slightly traumatised, but with a reasonable hair cut. I then found the other, very smart looking ‘Head Hunter’ salon, which was the one I was meant to go to. Silly me, not thinking there would be two of the same name within 100m…..
On Friday we were up really early, cleaning and tidying, before catching a bus to the airport to meet Katie and Angus. Their flight was on time and it was very exciting to see them walk across the tarmac from the plane. A string band met them at the entrance and there were big hugs all round before we caught the bus back into town. It took 2 trips in the dinghy to get them and all their luggage on board, but we had lunch in the cockpit, and they enjoyed washing it down with fresh coconut. We spent the afternoon talking and looking at the things they had brought, before going ashore for a look around and ending up at Happy Hour. That evening, we took a bus over to the Beach Bar at Hideaway Island, where we joined the crew of ‘Two Angels’, a large private motor yacht, who we had befriended out at Nguna. Gary, Jeremy and Harry live aboard. Delivering the yacht to various destinations at the request of the owner, who seems to join them very infrequently. We watched the Fire Dancing by ‘Fire Vanua’, part of One Smolbag Theatre company. They were excellent and at the end Katie and I were up dancing on the beach, while Angus had a go with one of the fire sticks. It was a great night!
Fitting four of us and everyone’s stuff on board was a bit tight and quite hot, but manageable.
On Saturday, Katie, Angus and I went ashore, leaving Simon behind to fit the new water pump which Mike had bought (thank you) and Katie had delivered. We went round the shops and market and also to the supermarket. Coming back to the boat, firstly, we got swamped by a fishing boat (wet pants AGAIN) and then the rollock broke off, necessitating us to flag down some other yachties in their tender, who kindly towed us back! An afternoon of repairs, saw us gently row ashore for showers and Happy Hour, with further repairs being needed overnight!
Sunday morning at 6am, we left Vila and headed off for Devil’s Point and Havannah. It was flat calm and about half way to Devil’s Pont, Simon spotted a whale spouting. We headed over and spent about 15 minutes in the close company of a humpback whale. It was wonderful to be so close to such an amazing (and large) creature. Carrying on, and sailing by now, we were joined by a pod of short finned pilot whales, who played in the bow wave like dolphins and we could watch them surf down inside the large waves beside us. The seas calmed as we headed into Port Havannah and we picked up the mooring as arranged. Snorkelling from the boat was amazing….you could easily see the bottom in 15 m. We all saw turtles and hundreds of fish, swimming around the large coral bommies and amongst the soft corals. In the evening we all cleaned up and dressed up before rowing ashore and walking to the Havannah Resort. It is a beautiful setting and we enjoyed our cocktails and then dinner to celebrate Katie’s 21st, which is actually a week after they get back. It was a lovely evening…great setting, great food and great company!
We sailed up to the top of Port Havannah the next day, accompanied for a while by a pod of dolphins, where we anchored along side ‘Two Angels’. Angus was delighted to have the opportunity to go jet skiing with Jeremy and the pair of them hooned around the bay for an hour or more! Katie and I went ashore for a walk and to buy some fruit and veg. We all swam and in the evening went for cocktails (moon downers) on Two Angels. Gary’s wife Sherry had joined the ship, along with another couple, so it was a big party. The ship is amazing, with a huge indoor galley and a similar outdoor galley on the deck above. The 5 guest cabins are all en-suite and the crew quarters very comfortable. There were flat screen TVs all over the place, fridges and freezers, ice makers and air conditioning. They have a water maker that can make 120 gallons an hour! It made our little boat seem very small as we got back on board! However, the next morning, Sherry wanted to sail, so Gary reversed ‘Two Angels’ up to our boat (eeeek!) and she hopped off and Angus hopped on! We had a lovely sail up to Nguna, and Sherry enjoyed helming and sitting on the bowsprit!
Katie and Simon went ashore for a bit and we snorkeled in the marine reserve area, Great snorkeling, but turned out we were not supposed to be there. However that was all sorted before we went ashore for dinner with Shem and the locals and the string band played again. Angus has been filming everything since getting on board and took enough footage (he hopes) to make a short music video, which he will send back to them. We then had drinks on board Tuarangi, the most people (10) we have had on since our open day before leaving Nelson! It was very hot, but fun!
We sailed back the next day in increasingly strong winds, and everyone was quite glad it was a bit overcast and we had a fairly quiet afternoon. Katie and I baked, Angus sorted out photos and Simon caught up with some boat chores. Dinner was followed by a great game of Scrabble, with all of us howling with laughter at several creative words being presented.
This morning we were all up early again, so that the children could catch a bus into Port Vila, where they have a couple of things they want to do before catching a flight down to the Volcano on Tanna for the night. They were very excited, but it is extremely windy today, so I hope that the trip goes to plan. We have had a bit of a tidy up and are appreciating the space, although missing the company! We will try and get the boat back into Vila tomorrow to meet the kids, but may need to wait another day until the wind settles down a bit. We have a heap of contingency plans in place should we not get back to Vila…none of which need more than a bus journey!