Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Grande Terre, New Caledonia
We had the perfect crossing---front sail only with 18 knots of wind behind us and travelling at 6-7 knots we arrived after dawn into the lovely bay of Hienghene—we are sure to have to pay for the easy sail someday soon.
The Island of Grande Terre is only surpassed in size by NZ and New Guinea and can be circumnavigated totally inside the reef surrounding it.
Hienghene is in an inlet surrounded by huge limestone cliffs which are really beautiful—the entrance is the hen and chicken rock on one side—see pic—and the sphinx on the other.
We arrived on Sunday and as we had assumed the village was closed. The town appears to be an appeasement to the local tribe’s people with a huge fancy school, a grouping of small well built stores and marina. This was the centre of the uprising against the French for independence in the 1980’s led by a local hero who along with his deputy were both assassinated. New Caledonia is very rich in minerals—nickel mining is alive and well—and the French did not want to lose ownership to these mines. New Caledonia is still on the United Nations list for countries to become independent. The French were forced to give concessions to the people outside of Noumea---unlike Vanuatu where nothing filters beyond Port Villa.
There appear to be very few houses in the town which is a centre for the multitudes of small villages in the area. There is a bank—only the ATM was open the whole time we were there??? The patisserie was not open any more only a small grocery with basics and a snack shop at the bus stop which had cold coffee and none of the advertised “pain chocolate”??? —I assume that was from the days of the patisserie.
Monday morning we went into the tourist bureau where we can check in our boat but have 6 days to get to Noumea to have our passports stamped. A very short sighted policy on their part as it definitely cuts into the tourist dollars spent by sailors who need to travel quickly. If there are a number of boats the yachties will share the cost for one person to go to Noumea—bus or plane—and take everyone’s passport to be stamped. Makes it even harder to understand why copies can’t be faxed as our boat papers were and OK’d for 30 days. We are on our own as the six other boats that left Port Villa with us opted to go straight to Noumea so will have to do our best to get to Noumea by next Monday.
The local people are Melanesian—kanaks—and are once again friendly with smiles that light up their whole faces. It was definitely a very easy check in with the agricultural man showing up at 3pm happy that we took in our garbage and token vegetables as he had no desire to come out to the boat.
We took the dingy up the huge river going up the valley which is sparsely populated but very pretty. We are now at 20 degrees latitude—more south than we have been since leaving NZ and the hills are more reminiscent of NZ than the tropics. The coconut palms along the shore reminded us that it is still warm here.
The following day the winds that had been forecasted arrived and we were happy to be in this sheltered bay. We took a taxi to the dive shop where we took a kayak onto a small lagoon nearby and kayaked around the magnificent rock structures as it was too windy to dive.
Had delicious coffee and croissants at the hotel nearby—we are quickly finding out that anything operated and owned by the French is well worth paying for but the locals other than adopting baguettes and high prices have learned little else!!!
The local market is a disappointing contrast to Vanuatu and Fiji. I was able to buy tomatoes, pumpkin and bought the only paw paw, pineapple and small bunch of bananas available. Perhaps we will end up using some of our emergency canned vegs we have carried since Panama!!! I had thought we would give them away in Vanuatu as we knew they had nothing but it would be like giving igloos to the Eskimos!!!! Maybe we will give them away here!!!
Next morning we were picked up by the dive company to dive the reef which has a great reputation. We have been spoiled by the amazing dives we have done and were a little disappointed. We did see some lovely fan coral and a huge wahoo along with many tiny sea creatures but only the reef in the shallower waters was really live. We were about to go in for the second dive when the boat started taking water in through the drain holes in the cockpit and the two girls who had taken us out decided to take us back to shore. We were not too upset as although we had enjoyed the first dive we felt it was enough in this area.
The following day we had to depart for Noumea inside the reef with winds in our face---we knew we would pay for the passage from Ouvea!!! The winds were not forecast to be strong and we managed to sail and motor the 67 miles we had set out to travel the first day. We sailed past lovely sandy, coconut covered little islands and were sad we would not have time to stop at these.
By doing such a long passage the first day we were able to do half the distance the next day allowing us to stop at one of the island for the afternoon and night.
The second day allowed us to anchor at a pretty beach lined with coconut trees backed by pine trees---New Caledonia—where the coconut and pine trees meet.
We were inside the inner reef so had a great snorkel and relax in the sunny warm weather.
Next day back to motoring all day between more idyllic islands, the mainland is very hilly and unfortunately the topsoil has been cleared by mining. The minerals are very shallow so they can just scrape the top layer off, sadly the last 100 years has taken its toll and it is very scarred. They have recently put in more environmental conditions but it will take many years clean it up.
Our last night at anchor on passage was at another idyllic bay lined with palm and pine trees. A family having their weekend cottage beckoned us ashore and plied Ken with Scotch and we had a great few hours visiting with them. They spoke little English and we spoke little French but it was enough to enjoy the camaraderie ad they have invited us to dinner at their home in Noumea---hmm how to manage the language barrier on a telephone!!!!
We arrived in Noumea on Monday morning to check in at immigration—were told that we should have been here in three days, not the 7 we had taken---oh well, we said sorry and they told us “next time three days”. Of course we agreed.
It was once again “old home week” in Noumea. Many of the boats we have been travelling on and off with all season as everyone is congregating here to leave in the near future to Australia or NZ.
Barb and Frank on Destiny are here and leave tomorrow to go to Bundaberg. We hope to catch up with them again some time in the not too distant future.
We will spend the next week or so taking advantage of the French food—yummmmmmy and ready ourselves for our next step in our adventure.
The Island of Grande Terre is only surpassed in size by NZ and New Guinea and can be circumnavigated totally inside the reef surrounding it.
Hienghene is in an inlet surrounded by huge limestone cliffs which are really beautiful—the entrance is the hen and chicken rock on one side—see pic—and the sphinx on the other.
We arrived on Sunday and as we had assumed the village was closed. The town appears to be an appeasement to the local tribe’s people with a huge fancy school, a grouping of small well built stores and marina. This was the centre of the uprising against the French for independence in the 1980’s led by a local hero who along with his deputy were both assassinated. New Caledonia is very rich in minerals—nickel mining is alive and well—and the French did not want to lose ownership to these mines. New Caledonia is still on the United Nations list for countries to become independent. The French were forced to give concessions to the people outside of Noumea---unlike Vanuatu where nothing filters beyond Port Villa.
There appear to be very few houses in the town which is a centre for the multitudes of small villages in the area. There is a bank—only the ATM was open the whole time we were there??? The patisserie was not open any more only a small grocery with basics and a snack shop at the bus stop which had cold coffee and none of the advertised “pain chocolate”??? —I assume that was from the days of the patisserie.
Monday morning we went into the tourist bureau where we can check in our boat but have 6 days to get to Noumea to have our passports stamped. A very short sighted policy on their part as it definitely cuts into the tourist dollars spent by sailors who need to travel quickly. If there are a number of boats the yachties will share the cost for one person to go to Noumea—bus or plane—and take everyone’s passport to be stamped. Makes it even harder to understand why copies can’t be faxed as our boat papers were and OK’d for 30 days. We are on our own as the six other boats that left Port Villa with us opted to go straight to Noumea so will have to do our best to get to Noumea by next Monday.
The local people are Melanesian—kanaks—and are once again friendly with smiles that light up their whole faces. It was definitely a very easy check in with the agricultural man showing up at 3pm happy that we took in our garbage and token vegetables as he had no desire to come out to the boat.
We took the dingy up the huge river going up the valley which is sparsely populated but very pretty. We are now at 20 degrees latitude—more south than we have been since leaving NZ and the hills are more reminiscent of NZ than the tropics. The coconut palms along the shore reminded us that it is still warm here.
The following day the winds that had been forecasted arrived and we were happy to be in this sheltered bay. We took a taxi to the dive shop where we took a kayak onto a small lagoon nearby and kayaked around the magnificent rock structures as it was too windy to dive.
Had delicious coffee and croissants at the hotel nearby—we are quickly finding out that anything operated and owned by the French is well worth paying for but the locals other than adopting baguettes and high prices have learned little else!!!
The local market is a disappointing contrast to Vanuatu and Fiji. I was able to buy tomatoes, pumpkin and bought the only paw paw, pineapple and small bunch of bananas available. Perhaps we will end up using some of our emergency canned vegs we have carried since Panama!!! I had thought we would give them away in Vanuatu as we knew they had nothing but it would be like giving igloos to the Eskimos!!!! Maybe we will give them away here!!!
Next morning we were picked up by the dive company to dive the reef which has a great reputation. We have been spoiled by the amazing dives we have done and were a little disappointed. We did see some lovely fan coral and a huge wahoo along with many tiny sea creatures but only the reef in the shallower waters was really live. We were about to go in for the second dive when the boat started taking water in through the drain holes in the cockpit and the two girls who had taken us out decided to take us back to shore. We were not too upset as although we had enjoyed the first dive we felt it was enough in this area.
The following day we had to depart for Noumea inside the reef with winds in our face---we knew we would pay for the passage from Ouvea!!! The winds were not forecast to be strong and we managed to sail and motor the 67 miles we had set out to travel the first day. We sailed past lovely sandy, coconut covered little islands and were sad we would not have time to stop at these.
By doing such a long passage the first day we were able to do half the distance the next day allowing us to stop at one of the island for the afternoon and night.
The second day allowed us to anchor at a pretty beach lined with coconut trees backed by pine trees---New Caledonia—where the coconut and pine trees meet.
We were inside the inner reef so had a great snorkel and relax in the sunny warm weather.
Next day back to motoring all day between more idyllic islands, the mainland is very hilly and unfortunately the topsoil has been cleared by mining. The minerals are very shallow so they can just scrape the top layer off, sadly the last 100 years has taken its toll and it is very scarred. They have recently put in more environmental conditions but it will take many years clean it up.
Our last night at anchor on passage was at another idyllic bay lined with palm and pine trees. A family having their weekend cottage beckoned us ashore and plied Ken with Scotch and we had a great few hours visiting with them. They spoke little English and we spoke little French but it was enough to enjoy the camaraderie ad they have invited us to dinner at their home in Noumea---hmm how to manage the language barrier on a telephone!!!!
We arrived in Noumea on Monday morning to check in at immigration—were told that we should have been here in three days, not the 7 we had taken---oh well, we said sorry and they told us “next time three days”. Of course we agreed.
It was once again “old home week” in Noumea. Many of the boats we have been travelling on and off with all season as everyone is congregating here to leave in the near future to Australia or NZ.
Barb and Frank on Destiny are here and leave tomorrow to go to Bundaberg. We hope to catch up with them again some time in the not too distant future.
We will spend the next week or so taking advantage of the French food—yummmmmmy and ready ourselves for our next step in our adventure.
Hello New Caledonia
We planned our New Caledonia sojourn which included wanting to go to the Loyalty Islands which meant we would not be legal. We should go to the mainland and check in but to return to the Loyalty’s would be impossible with our time frame and point of sail.
We decided to do what the French do and just go and worry about explaining it later to the authorities if we were challenged. We are used to French sailors not paying attention to “the rules”---Canadians are the most law abiding but this time as we were sailing into French territory we would emulate them.
We had a fast passage and arrived to go through the pass into the lagoon of Ouvea in the middle of the day. It is a low lying atoll surrounded by sandy lowlands on which grow the native pine as well as coconut palms.
It was a Friday afternoon so we felt safe from authorities—the work week in all of the South Pacific does not go much past lunch on Fridays. Saturday morning we ventured onshore to find the chief who we hoped would OK our stay so we could justify our being here to the French Navy in the unlikely event they showed up.
We found the chief’s brother at the sports field where the villagers were watching a local version of cricket game —apparently the chief was in Noumea—he told us we were welcome to go anywhere. With his almost non existent English and our almost non existent French I think he wondered why we had bothered. The local people are more Polynesian than Melanesian, having relocated from Wallis Island and are very friendly. None spoke English so am having to search my brain for the little French I remember.
The Atoll has a huge white sandy beach along the shore and a paved road runs parallel. There is a huge difference from Vanuatu—they have power, cars and boats with outboards, and are well dressed—oh to be a French protectorate!!! The huts are round with thick thatch walls and roof rather than the square woven huts of Vanuatu. They have ornate carved poles in the ground which are very interesting—hmm one more thing for Salt Spring??
We were offered a ride and ended up at a very fancy hotel for lunch--$500 a night rooms!!!
The lunch was lovely—a crab for appetiser with one enormous claw. On another table was an ice bucket with champagne and white wine and red wine beside it---there was no charge for the wine---oh to be a French protectorate!!! The 3 course lunch was about $35 so I assume they felt the wine was covered.
We hitched our way back to the boat and decided to leave on an overnight passage to the mainland as there is a big storm forecast in 2 days and this is not the anchorage to sit out heavy winds.
It would have been fun to have had another few days here but such is the life of a sailor!!!
We decided to do what the French do and just go and worry about explaining it later to the authorities if we were challenged. We are used to French sailors not paying attention to “the rules”---Canadians are the most law abiding but this time as we were sailing into French territory we would emulate them.
We had a fast passage and arrived to go through the pass into the lagoon of Ouvea in the middle of the day. It is a low lying atoll surrounded by sandy lowlands on which grow the native pine as well as coconut palms.
It was a Friday afternoon so we felt safe from authorities—the work week in all of the South Pacific does not go much past lunch on Fridays. Saturday morning we ventured onshore to find the chief who we hoped would OK our stay so we could justify our being here to the French Navy in the unlikely event they showed up.
We found the chief’s brother at the sports field where the villagers were watching a local version of cricket game —apparently the chief was in Noumea—he told us we were welcome to go anywhere. With his almost non existent English and our almost non existent French I think he wondered why we had bothered. The local people are more Polynesian than Melanesian, having relocated from Wallis Island and are very friendly. None spoke English so am having to search my brain for the little French I remember.
The Atoll has a huge white sandy beach along the shore and a paved road runs parallel. There is a huge difference from Vanuatu—they have power, cars and boats with outboards, and are well dressed—oh to be a French protectorate!!! The huts are round with thick thatch walls and roof rather than the square woven huts of Vanuatu. They have ornate carved poles in the ground which are very interesting—hmm one more thing for Salt Spring??
We were offered a ride and ended up at a very fancy hotel for lunch--$500 a night rooms!!!
The lunch was lovely—a crab for appetiser with one enormous claw. On another table was an ice bucket with champagne and white wine and red wine beside it---there was no charge for the wine---oh to be a French protectorate!!! The 3 course lunch was about $35 so I assume they felt the wine was covered.
We hitched our way back to the boat and decided to leave on an overnight passage to the mainland as there is a big storm forecast in 2 days and this is not the anchorage to sit out heavy winds.
It would have been fun to have had another few days here but such is the life of a sailor!!!
Farewell Vanuatu
Our final chapter in our Vanuatu adventure had us arrive in Asinvari Bay on Maewo Island. As the seas were calm we persevered tacking for 22 hours to get as far south and east as we could.
As we anchored Crazy Diamond, another yacht we had crossed from Panama to NZ two years ago with came out to let us know we were invited to a feast commemorating the 1 year anniversary of the death of the chief’s son---oh more lap lap!!!
We went ashore where Nixon the chief’s surviving son explained that the yacht club had been built by his father Chief Nelson many years ago and had become a hub for the yachties.
We were able to purchase beer as this is much closer to civilization than we had been for a while and enjoyed a “cold one” which helped wash down the stodgy lap lap and taro.
The next morning a canoe came by selling bread which was very welcome. We were not approached by any other canoes in this bay other than to greet us, a welcome relief from the north.
The bay is lovely with a white sandy beach—most beaches here are black volcanic sand—and a lovely waterfall which also allows us to have a fresh water shower. The bay is very calm and the swimming is delightful—Darlene who liked to swim for exercise would have loved it!!—Oh we heard on the morning “net” that Doug on Windcastle had flown with her to Vila and reported he had a great time---no secrets on SSB radios!!!—romance is in the air!!!
That evening we joined the other 4 yachts which had arrived for a restaurant meal in the yacht club. This turned out to be a western meal as Nixon had worked as a chef in Luganville and luckily one of the yachties had caught a fish on the way in so along with freshwater prawns supplemented the somewhat tough but tasty chicken.
The next morning Nixon took us for a couple of hours walk to a village up the hill.
On the way he showed us the various plants which could either be eaten or used to cure or cause illness. He also took us to the huge nutmeg trees where we collected nutmegs and will endeavour to dry them.
He explained that the last cannibals on the island were buried here in 1920. They had apparently killed and eaten a young boy from the village by the sea and served him to the child’s father in lap lap. When the father realised that it was his son he returned to his village and aided by other men killed the cannibals—at that stage the chief had declared there would be no more cannibalism again and they were buried rather than eaten.
We had also understood that Nixon’s brother had been killed by “black magic” a year ago. We asked what that meant and were told that the brother had been an island administrator and people were jealous of him. They believe that he was poisoned somehow by a local plant. He had died being transported to the hospital from Luganville to Vila on the plane.
The new administrator was subsequently killed within 3 months and some locals retaliated and killed 2 brothers they believed to have done the killings. They buried them at sea and nothing was reported to any authorities. One can only hope that that the brothers really were responsible—that this is still happening today adds to the exotic flavour of the Vanuatu culture.
The weather looked good for our passage to Ambrym for our next sailing sector so we sadly pulled up anchor at this idyllic bay.
Once again we lucked out and had a fast passage directly to Ambrym. We had arranged for Chief Massing to complete a tam tam he had been carving for us and we will somehow ship it back to Canada along with all of the other carvings and baskets we have collected—our place on Salt Spring is going to be very crowded!!
We went ashore to find he had told everyone we would come that day—he apparently took the casual promise to return about that date literally and it was ready for us. Thankfully it was not as big or heavy as we had dreaded and we will be able to afford the shipping!!
We stayed overnight but the season is getting later and we feel pressured to move on so in the morning pulled the anchor up. As we left he was waving from the shore which is something we have had happen before and reminds us how heartfelt and generous the welcome we have been offered is. It is very humbling and gives a pang of guilt that we can blithely drop in on their lives in our fancy sailboats and just leave when the mood takes us. We can take comfort from the fact they obviously love us coming and we do bring them items they would not have otherwise.
We had hoped to sail back into Pankumu Bay where our knives had been stolen through the porthole in the galley. The chiefs had said that they would do their best to get them for us if we returned and we felt that we should come back to make a point if nothing else. However the seas came up from the east and when we were 6 miles from the bay we decided that not only would the anchorage be untenable we may not even be able to land the dingy so we bore off back into Port Sandwich for the next night.
In the morning we left early with more strong winds and rough choppy seas and just as it looked as though we would make it all the way to the west side of Efate the wind dropped but the seas stayed uncomfortable and we took a break at Epie overnight. We made Havanah Harbour in yet more strong winds and seas the following day and were able to enjoy a snorkel in the calm provided by the reefs.
Finally the following day in another rocking rolling sail in 20-25 knots of wind and heavy seas we sailed at 9knots around the point into Port Vila.
We understand why the people of Vanuatu were never a sea faring or fishing nation. They were from the inland of the islands until the missionaries resettled a lot of them along the coast. However the seas and winds are strong and unlike Fiji have few reef protections.
As we sailed into the harbour we felt like it was “old home week” with many of the boats we have sailed with this season already here. Both Cloud 9—last seen in Mexico---and Cats Paw IV who we sailed from Vancouver with are here too.
The season is winding down and boats are coming to check out from here to continue on. Many will go as we will to New Caledonia for a month and then will either head to Australia or New Zealand for the cyclone season.
Happy hour on shore with Cats Paw and Doug on Windcastle was a treat as was the steak dinner we ordered.
The supermarket was mind boggling after so long without shopping choices, full of so many luxury things—we will stock up once again before leaving.
The next few days were spent updating ourselves on the internet and restocking for our passage to New Caledonia.
We also managed to call our family members which is always nice—we have not had the luxury often in Vanuatu. Aaron and Ashley announced they are pregnant –yet another grandchild –will make 9!!! We are happy for them and Ken is looking forward to meeting Grace in Feb when he will visit.
One sobering day reported the loss overboard of a US sailor from his boat off the south west coast of Malekula. He was apparently towing his dingy—not a good idea in these kind of waters—and was worried about it banging his boat. He then climbed into the dingy with no life jacket and no harness to his main boat when the dingy flipped trapping him underneath. The woman with him was totally inexperienced and threw him a life ring which he grabbed and then she never saw him again. She made her way back into the bay and alerted Ors on Better Than Shares who contacted the authorities and went out himself to search. The French conducted an air search but were hampered by the weather as were the vessels searching—3 metre waves and 30 knot winds. He has not been found at this stage and almost certainly perished—a lesson to all of us who tend to get blasé at times!!
We left Vila with a mass exodus to New Caledionia—the weather looked good so 6-8 boats all left together.
We sadly left Vanuatu with mixed feelings. This has been the place where we have been included in people’s lives more than anywhere we have been before and it has been an incredible experience---thank you the people of Vanuatu.
As we anchored Crazy Diamond, another yacht we had crossed from Panama to NZ two years ago with came out to let us know we were invited to a feast commemorating the 1 year anniversary of the death of the chief’s son---oh more lap lap!!!
We went ashore where Nixon the chief’s surviving son explained that the yacht club had been built by his father Chief Nelson many years ago and had become a hub for the yachties.
We were able to purchase beer as this is much closer to civilization than we had been for a while and enjoyed a “cold one” which helped wash down the stodgy lap lap and taro.
The next morning a canoe came by selling bread which was very welcome. We were not approached by any other canoes in this bay other than to greet us, a welcome relief from the north.
The bay is lovely with a white sandy beach—most beaches here are black volcanic sand—and a lovely waterfall which also allows us to have a fresh water shower. The bay is very calm and the swimming is delightful—Darlene who liked to swim for exercise would have loved it!!—Oh we heard on the morning “net” that Doug on Windcastle had flown with her to Vila and reported he had a great time---no secrets on SSB radios!!!—romance is in the air!!!
That evening we joined the other 4 yachts which had arrived for a restaurant meal in the yacht club. This turned out to be a western meal as Nixon had worked as a chef in Luganville and luckily one of the yachties had caught a fish on the way in so along with freshwater prawns supplemented the somewhat tough but tasty chicken.
The next morning Nixon took us for a couple of hours walk to a village up the hill.
On the way he showed us the various plants which could either be eaten or used to cure or cause illness. He also took us to the huge nutmeg trees where we collected nutmegs and will endeavour to dry them.
He explained that the last cannibals on the island were buried here in 1920. They had apparently killed and eaten a young boy from the village by the sea and served him to the child’s father in lap lap. When the father realised that it was his son he returned to his village and aided by other men killed the cannibals—at that stage the chief had declared there would be no more cannibalism again and they were buried rather than eaten.
We had also understood that Nixon’s brother had been killed by “black magic” a year ago. We asked what that meant and were told that the brother had been an island administrator and people were jealous of him. They believe that he was poisoned somehow by a local plant. He had died being transported to the hospital from Luganville to Vila on the plane.
The new administrator was subsequently killed within 3 months and some locals retaliated and killed 2 brothers they believed to have done the killings. They buried them at sea and nothing was reported to any authorities. One can only hope that that the brothers really were responsible—that this is still happening today adds to the exotic flavour of the Vanuatu culture.
The weather looked good for our passage to Ambrym for our next sailing sector so we sadly pulled up anchor at this idyllic bay.
Once again we lucked out and had a fast passage directly to Ambrym. We had arranged for Chief Massing to complete a tam tam he had been carving for us and we will somehow ship it back to Canada along with all of the other carvings and baskets we have collected—our place on Salt Spring is going to be very crowded!!
We went ashore to find he had told everyone we would come that day—he apparently took the casual promise to return about that date literally and it was ready for us. Thankfully it was not as big or heavy as we had dreaded and we will be able to afford the shipping!!
We stayed overnight but the season is getting later and we feel pressured to move on so in the morning pulled the anchor up. As we left he was waving from the shore which is something we have had happen before and reminds us how heartfelt and generous the welcome we have been offered is. It is very humbling and gives a pang of guilt that we can blithely drop in on their lives in our fancy sailboats and just leave when the mood takes us. We can take comfort from the fact they obviously love us coming and we do bring them items they would not have otherwise.
We had hoped to sail back into Pankumu Bay where our knives had been stolen through the porthole in the galley. The chiefs had said that they would do their best to get them for us if we returned and we felt that we should come back to make a point if nothing else. However the seas came up from the east and when we were 6 miles from the bay we decided that not only would the anchorage be untenable we may not even be able to land the dingy so we bore off back into Port Sandwich for the next night.
In the morning we left early with more strong winds and rough choppy seas and just as it looked as though we would make it all the way to the west side of Efate the wind dropped but the seas stayed uncomfortable and we took a break at Epie overnight. We made Havanah Harbour in yet more strong winds and seas the following day and were able to enjoy a snorkel in the calm provided by the reefs.
Finally the following day in another rocking rolling sail in 20-25 knots of wind and heavy seas we sailed at 9knots around the point into Port Vila.
We understand why the people of Vanuatu were never a sea faring or fishing nation. They were from the inland of the islands until the missionaries resettled a lot of them along the coast. However the seas and winds are strong and unlike Fiji have few reef protections.
As we sailed into the harbour we felt like it was “old home week” with many of the boats we have sailed with this season already here. Both Cloud 9—last seen in Mexico---and Cats Paw IV who we sailed from Vancouver with are here too.
The season is winding down and boats are coming to check out from here to continue on. Many will go as we will to New Caledonia for a month and then will either head to Australia or New Zealand for the cyclone season.
Happy hour on shore with Cats Paw and Doug on Windcastle was a treat as was the steak dinner we ordered.
The supermarket was mind boggling after so long without shopping choices, full of so many luxury things—we will stock up once again before leaving.
The next few days were spent updating ourselves on the internet and restocking for our passage to New Caledonia.
We also managed to call our family members which is always nice—we have not had the luxury often in Vanuatu. Aaron and Ashley announced they are pregnant –yet another grandchild –will make 9!!! We are happy for them and Ken is looking forward to meeting Grace in Feb when he will visit.
One sobering day reported the loss overboard of a US sailor from his boat off the south west coast of Malekula. He was apparently towing his dingy—not a good idea in these kind of waters—and was worried about it banging his boat. He then climbed into the dingy with no life jacket and no harness to his main boat when the dingy flipped trapping him underneath. The woman with him was totally inexperienced and threw him a life ring which he grabbed and then she never saw him again. She made her way back into the bay and alerted Ors on Better Than Shares who contacted the authorities and went out himself to search. The French conducted an air search but were hampered by the weather as were the vessels searching—3 metre waves and 30 knot winds. He has not been found at this stage and almost certainly perished—a lesson to all of us who tend to get blasé at times!!
We left Vila with a mass exodus to New Caledionia—the weather looked good so 6-8 boats all left together.
We sadly left Vanuatu with mixed feelings. This has been the place where we have been included in people’s lives more than anywhere we have been before and it has been an incredible experience---thank you the people of Vanuatu.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
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