Central Vanuatu - North to Espiritu Santo

Sunday, 14 August to Wednesday, 24 August 2016

We had 3 nights in Port Vila to wash, reprovision and have a very enjoyable lunch with my golf friend Regina and her husband Andy. From Vila we went to Ai Creek in Havannah Harbour then 67nm to Lamen Bay on Epi Island. We had moderate to strong breezes all day and were amazed to pass small fishing dinghies miles offshore oblivious to the conditions. We had started with a double reef in the main but soon shook them out and goose winged the jib. Seas were slight initially which was a bonus as they can get quite messy around here. We had a number of squalls pass through bringing rain but also a boost to our speed. We eventually dropped anchor in Lamen Bay at 1650. That night Sam paddled by in his dugout on his way home from nearby Lamen Island and invited us ashore to visit the village. He is the chief of Lamen Island and we met his wife Mary and baby Emily.

We heard about his family and life and gave them some of our donated first aid supplies and clothes which were much appreciated. After our visit we upped anchor and headed across the passage to Malakula Island. It was 32nm to Banam Bay which was a lovely calm anchorage. We had an early start next morning as we were headed to Palikulo Bay on Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu. It is a tricky anchorage but we followed the Vanuatu Rocket Guide and anchored in the outer anchorage at 1700 after 63nm. On Saturday, we were going to join some of the other Island Cruising yachts at Oyster Island. We had a paddle around the bay in the morning as you need a high tide to get to Oyster Island. We had 3 nights at Oyster Island which is a gem.

We had dinner at the resort on Saturday with 3 other ICA boats to help Lyn (Windflower) celebrate her birthday.  On Sunday, John had organised a minibus to take us to Champagne Beach and one of the blue holes nearby.

It was a relaxing day with a swim (nearly with a dugong but we thought it was a shark so hesitated at first!)

On Monday the ICA boats left while we kayaked up to nearby Matevalu blue hole for a swim. On Tuesday we motored around to Luganville and picked up a mooring at Aore Island Resort for 2 days. The channel is deep here and we wanted to catch up with former neighbours Debbie and Alan who live on Aore. Sundowners at their place last night turned into dinner as we soaked up their advice about places to visit. There are so many options we will have to come back another time.

Today we did the Millennium Cave tour, highly recommended by Brett who did it last year when Wind of Change visited. We were not disappointed. We were picked up at the Luganville wharf at 0800 and taken to the tour office for a briefing and to sign indemnity waivers. From here it was a 45 minute bus ride (I have learnt to grab the front seat) to the first village.

Village kindy supported by the tours

The money raised by this tour directly benefits 8 local villages as they have built schools and community centres. From the first village it is a relatively easy 20 minute walk to village 2 where you leave your backpack and start the 2 hour trek to the cave.

Warren and Yen on the bamboo bridge

The tours have run since 2000 after rediscovering the cave in 1997. We spoke to one of the chiefs while we were waiting and he was one of the ones who found the cave that had been described by his grandfather.

Before we could enter the cave, all first time visitors must be painted with symbols of rocks, bats, waterfalls and zigzags to show respect for the ancestors.

Cave entrance

It takes 30 minutes to walk through the cave, clambering over rocks, torch in hand and hoping you don’t break a leg. It is pitch black when we turn off the torches. We see bats, an eel, stalactites and small prawns.

We have lunch after exiting the cave, refuelling for the canyoning and swim down the river still to come. Canyoning just means more scrambling over rocks using chains and wire handholds in the rocks. My guide for the day was Yen, a tourism trainee on work experience that was worried I might fall so stayed close by. His favourite phrases were – Go slow and don’t worry! The other 3 couples who made up our group were young French tourists who also enjoyed the day. Many of the local Ni-Vans speak French as this was a shared British/French colony before independence and many of the local schools still teach in French.

The final swim/drift down the river between steep walls was the perfect way to finish the day (although we still had 4 more ladders and 2 ropes to climb back to village 2 and a 20 minute trek to village 1 and the bus. We arrived back at the wharf at 1700. We got a lift back with the Ratua Island boat taking one of the French couples back to their accommodation as we had missed the last ferry back to Aore. We will sleep well tonight.

Tanna Island and Mt Yasur Volcano, Vanuatu

Thursday, 11 August to Saturday, 13 August 2016

We left Anelghowhat at 0640 for the 54nm sail to Port Resolution on Tanna Island in company with 8 ICA yachts. Once clear of the island we set our spinnaker in 15 knots of breeze and moderate seas and looked forward to carrying it all the way to Tanna. The breeze was forecast to be 15 knots all day so we were not too worried when it crept up to 20 knots but started to think about the wisdom of carrying it when it got over the 20 knot mark. At this point we were sitting on 11-12 knots and had a maximum speed of 17 knots. We were making great time but decided to drop it and then had a hard time socking the sail as the sock line had a serious twist in it.

We anchored at 1400 in Port Resolution, named by Captain Cook in 1774 after entering the bay in his ship the HMS Resolution. We went ashore with John and Lyn (ICA) to organise transport up to the volcano. 2 utes would pick us up at 1600 at a cost of 2500 Vatu per person ($30). We had been warned that the ride is rough and to try and get inside the ute if possible. Luckily we got a dual cab ute so girls on the inside and boys outside on the timber seat in the back. The road had been graded fairly recently so the 20 minute trip was not too bad (but I was inside). We arrived at the carpark for Mt Yasur, paid our entrance fee of 7500 Vatu ($90), met our guide Sarah and were put in another ute for the 5 minute drive up to the base of the volcano.

At 1720 we started the short walk up to the rim of the volcano, following Sarah who reminded us to stay behind her and that “your safety is our priority”. That was it for the WH&S. Just as we started up there was a serious boom that reminded us all that this is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

We arrived at the first viewing point and got photos as the sparks and lava flew. From here we walked up to the highest point where we could look over the rim and see the 2 vents of the volcano.

The sun had gone down at this point and as it got darker the volcano became more and more spectacular. You could really appreciate the force of Mother Nature as explosion after explosion sent pressure waves, sparks and lava skywards.

The larger ones went well above the rim but we were upwind and the sparks and lava were contained within the crater. They monitor the activity every day and rate activity from 0 to 5. At level 3, they don’t let you go up to the volcano and at level 4 they evacuate the island. It was currently level 2 – active 2 Sarah said, which I interpreted as 2.5! At level 3 the rocks and lava are ejected over the rim into the car park and surrounding areas. It was level 3 earlier this year, but has not gone to level 4 since this monitoring began.

I wasn’t scared, although with each major explosion I did wonder how good their prediction software was! If you get an opportunity to visit Mt Yasur, we would highly recommend it – there are not many places in the world where you can get this close to an active volcano.

On Friday morning we sorted out the spinnaker sock at the Port Resolution Yacht Club before sailing another 54nm to Dillon’s Bay on Erromango Island.

Sailing past Mt Yasur

This was one of our top spinnaker runs ever, wind 15-20 knots and waves 1.5-2m on the stern quarter. We averaged closed to 9 knots for several hours. Our fun was interrupted only be a text from our son, Ben asking us if we were ok after the earthquake off Vanuatu! What earthquake we asked – and is there a tsunami? Luckily there wasn’t and we had a quiet night at Dillon’s Bay before our final leg back to Port Vila on Saturday, arriving at 1830 after covering another 87nm.

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.

We then went to Mystery Island for a traditional welcome, custom dances and a feast. It was a full and enjoyable day.

Port Vila and the Island of Efate

Friday, 22 July to Tuesday, 2 August 2016

On Friday, Geoff and Di (Stylopora) joined us in Port Vila so we celebrated with dinner at the Waterfront Bar and Grill which is part of the Yachting World facility. The meal was very good and our waiter, Stewart, talked us into taking a tour around the island on Sunday in one of his uncle’s busses. With a special price for yachties, an air-conditioned bus (open the windows) and Stewart as our guide it sounded like an excellent idea after a couple of wines! We were joined by Geoff and Di, another Australian couple and Stewart’s wife and 2 young daughters. 24 July is Children’s Day which is an important Vanuatu celebration and starts a week of parties leading up to Independence Day on 30 July.

Our tour started with a visit to the Blue Lagoon where we used a rope swing to jump into the clear water. Stewart turned out to be a knowledgeable guide, telling us about the local history, traditions and environment.

Lunch was at Taka Village, a small village on the east side of Efate, where we were treated to a traditional welcome and dancing before a not so traditional though tasty lunch. From here we continued around the island and visited Ernest and his WW2 museum.

The highlight, for Ernest anyway, was his collection of Coke bottles made in various US towns. Afternoon tea was at Havannah Eco lodge, which was built to accommodate the cast and crew of Survivor: Vanuatu, made here a few years ago. We had 4 days in Port Vila where we bought a local SIM for internet, did the washing, got more local currency (80 Vatu per AUD$, much better than the rate we got at home) and visited the markets to restock the fruit and vegies. Beef at the supermarket was good quality and very cheap compared to Noumea. On Tuesday we headed to nearby Mele before going to Havannah Harbour, where the US navy moored their ships during WW2.

First dugout canoe with vegies for sale by Noel

We anchored in Esema Bay, and kayaked to the Blue Gold, a large steel yacht which ran aground during Cyclone Pam last year. They had been riding out the high winds well until they were hit by the Patrol boat which snapped one of their anchor cables. Locals told us they are preparing to refloat it soon.

They will need some expertise and luck as it is a very big yacht. On Friday we headed back to Mele. On the way, Phase2 ticked over 20,000nm on the log!

We had arranged to rendezvous with Stylopora at Mele to visit the Beach Bar to see the fire dancers.

It was a good show but unfortunately, the week of local celebrations had built so that by Friday night the LOUD music went until 0330! The Ni-Vans (people from Vanuatu) certainly know how to enjoy themselves.

No wonder the music was loud!

On Sunday, Warren, Geoff and Di went for a snorkel at Hideway Island which I had to miss after hurting my back hauling the dinghy up the beach (nothing too serious luckily). We are now back in Port Vila preparing to head south to join the Island Cruising Association rally at Aneityum Island.