Phase2: Aneityum Island, Vanuatu

Wednesday, 3 August to Wednesday, 10 August 2016

We left just after dawn on Wednesday for the 175nm sail down to Aneityum Island. Midnight Sun, John and Wendy, were also heading south for the first leg of their trip home to NZ and we stayed in contact with them the whole way. We reached in a 15-20 knots north easterly most of the way, with 5 hours of motoring during the night in light winds in the lee of Erromango and Tanna islands. We anchored off the village of Anelghowhat at 1100 on Thursday. Midnight Sun have done this trip 22 times and they said this was their best by far. The seas can be very confused so we counted ourselves lucky.

Kids are the same everywhere

Ours used to bury themselves like this at Burleigh

On Thursday, a front came through and brought with it rain and an uncomfortable 1-1.5m westerly swell into the anchorage. We motored across to nearby Mystery Island, cruise ship destination but quiet when none are at the island.

View to Anelghowhat from Mystery Island

We did the Aneityum shuffle from one anchorage to the other 4 times before the breeze settled into the SE and we could stay at the main anchorage off the village. While this was happening the Island Cruising Association (ICA) fleet had left Fiji on Saturday and promptly sailed into the 40+ knot front which gave them an uncomfortable start to their passage to Aneityum.

Actually a pot used by the whalers!

While waiting for the fleet, we walked around Mystery Island and visited the village and met Norman. Norman had found a lump of ambergris while out fishing.

John checking the odour of ambergris

He proudly showed us the substance which he is drying to prepare for sale. It is very rare and comes from sperm whales – it is sometimes referred to as whale vomit but it actually comes from the other end. It is used in the manufacture of perfumes such as Chanel No. 5 and is worth $20,000 a kg. Norman thinks he will have about 10 kg when it dries. A smaller piece was found recently and was sold cheaply as they were not aware of the value. They are going to negotiate a bit harder this time!

We also met Keith who is organising the ICA event. He asked our help to take and print some photos of his long boat with Chris catching turtles in the bay. He runs tours when the cruise ships are in and we played the part of tourist while John took lots of photos.

Chris just dived in and caught one

The fleet of 11 boats arrived on the Tuesday in time for the event planned for Wednesday.

Keith and the villagers organised a great day where we learnt how they caught fish in the shallows and walked through the village, learning about the food and history from our guide, Jennifer.

Cyclone shelters like this survived Cyclone Pam
(Perhaps Rob could make one in the front yard Marie)

She explained how they prepared for cyclones, building strong shelters and burying food to preserve it so they have something to eat while the gardens recover.