Thursday,
25 August to Friday, 2 September 2016
We
left our mooring at Aore Resort at 0645 planning to anchor at Vanihe Bay on
Ambae Island and then going into the volcanic crater anchorage of Lolowai on
the high tide the next day. Unfortunately, the light SE wind turned to the NE
as we approached Vanihe and the anchorage would have been uncomfortable and
unsafe. We looked briefly at Lolowai but the back lead in could not be seen so
we decided to keep going to Asanvari on Maewo Island. We had been told this was
ok to enter after dark which we did at 1900.
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| Waterfall in Asanvari |
Next morning, we awoke to rain but
went ashore in one of the breaks. The chief was away at Lolowai with the school
teacher and nurse. Lizzie, the nurse aid showed us around the village and also
accepted the donations from home for the clinic.
Both the clinic and the school
had lost part of their roofs in a mini storm that hit the island earlier this
year. The hospital could no longer have maternity patients or others requiring a
stay in the clinic. They were transported 10nm to Lolowai hospital in a long
boat – not a pleasant trip if you are in labour I suspect. On the way back to
the boat the teacher, Charity and nurse, Olivett arrived back from Lolowai and
we arranged to bring some more donations in the next morning.
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| Lizzi with some of the donations |
The school and
clinic were definitely the poorest condition we had seen and the villagers were
very appreciative of the donations. We left the anchorage at 1000 on Saturday
morning for Homo Bay on Pentecost Island. We wanted to make some progress south
before the next SE change in a few days. We had a good run, even getting the
spinnaker up for a couple of hours. We had no sooner dropped the anchor at 1600
when Chief Sam paddled over to see if we wanted to buy some freshwater prawns. He
had them netted off in the creek in some way because he was back in short time
with a bag full for 1500Vatu and was keen to demonstrate how to cook them.
We
ate them hot and they were delicious. He then offered to take us to see the
land diving tower in the village (for 1000 Vatu) – Chief Sam was a good
salesman. We gave him some rope and donations for the village clinic.
The land
diving happens in April, May and June only as this is when the vines are strong
enough. In 1972 Queen Elizabeth II came to their village in July and they
decided to demonstrate the diving. Sam was present and unfortunately one of the
young men was killed.
From Pentecost Island we motored down the east side of
Ambryn Island heading further south to Lamen Bay on Epi Island. Steam and smoke
from the 2 active volcanoes on Ambryn were very easily seen on this beautiful
clear day. We dropped anchor Sunday
afternoon and watched as boatloads of villagers returned from Lamen Island
where they had had a 3 day festival organised by the church. Crowded long boats
with the occupants happily singing were wonderful to see. Sunday night the
anchorage was calm in contrast to our last visit here.
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| Emily is 13 months and already learning some life skills |
On Monday morning we
went to see Chief Sam and Mary again and take more donations to the schools and
clinic. Clothes we gave to Mary to take to the Women’s Group to distribute to
those in need. After lunch we decided to head 10nm south to Revolieu Bay, which
is rated a better anchorage in the SE winds expected over the next few days. We
spent 5 nights in Revolieu Bay, moving further in behind the hook in the reef
after the first night. This proved to be a great anchorage in the 25 knot SE
that was blowing and we enjoyed our time here. Another yacht from the ICA fleet,
Varakai, joined us in the anchorage after the first night.
The Varakai crew met
Lucy while ashore and arranged for us to visit the chief the next morning. We
gathered some donations for the clinic and some goods to trade and ventured ashore.
Lucy explained that there were 2 chiefs in Masimia – Chief Barron and Chief
Willie. After trading for some fresh fruit and vegies we did a tour of the
village and arranged to come back the next day to buy some bread (Lucy is also
the local baker).
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| Tree fell on the church while we were doing our tour |
Next morning, we were met ashore by someone who was concerned
that Lucy had received goods that should have gone to the chief. We explained
that Lucy was going to take some donations to the clinic which was located at the
next village. We met with Chief Barron, signed his book and gave him a gift. We
explained about the goods for the clinic and also that we had some things for
the Women’s Group (which Lucy ran). She is also opening a small store so is
quite the village entrepreneur. It seemed to end well however the politics of
the village was interesting to say the least. We later found out that Chief Barron
is Lucy’s brother-in-law!
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| A nice walk through the old coconut plantations |
On Monday, we went for a 40 minute walk to the village
of Mabfilau where the primary school is to deliver some more donations. Chief Gideon
explained to Warren about the coffee they are now growing. They have 7000 trees
and plan to expand to 20000 by 2020. They harvested 50kg this month and hope to
have 100kg next month. The beans are blended into Tanna coffee. It is easier
work than producing copra and much more rewarding for the village. Here was a
village with one chief who had a clear vision of where he wanted it to go.
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