Vanuatu - Tanna and Erramango

Vanuatu - 13 August -16 August

The volcano as we approached Tanna

Our biggest fish yet!

On route to Tanna from Aneityum Catherine caught our biggest fish so far - a Mahi Mahi which took some effort. Otherwise an uneventful journey but as we approached Tanna you could see the Volcano which was one of the main attractions to come to Tanna.

Tanna 13-15 August

The attraction of going to Tanna is the active volcano which is one of the few places you can go and

Remains of the guest houses

The Yacht Club

see an active volcano just two hundred metres below the top. There were six boats that sailed with us to Tanna and we all met in the Yacht Club that night for drinks and arrange two 4WD trucks to take us the next day. The yacht Club was a traditionally built structure made from bamboo and leaves and had withstood Cyclone Pam although the three guest houses had nothing but their foundations left. Very friendly people and we had a good evening.

A coffee shop and not bad coffee!

In the morning a number of the boats came ashore to deliver some of the aid we had brought from Fiji – mainly rice, flour and sugar. The plan had been to take it to the school but this was closed so we found the community centre where we could leave it for them to distribute. We were surprised to see a coffee shop in the village which served very good coffee grown in Tanna. There we met a French trio who were staying in the village, on holiday from New Caledonia, who wanted to experience village life. This is something that the village offers to bring in tourists but you would need to be seasoned travellers as it is very basic living with no mod cons just earth toilets and buckets for washing.

In the afternoon we were getting ready to leave for the volcano when we got a call on the VHF to say that we all had to clear immigration before we could go back on the island. Immigration officials happened to be in the bay and they decided that we must clear immigration immediately, despite being told in Aneityum that we did not need to do this until we reached Port Vila which is the capital.  It was clear that the Immigration Officer would not let us on the island until he had gone through the clearance of all the boats with 30 minutes before the trucks were due to leave to go the volcano  and he had 10 boats to clear. Despite his earlier somewhat hard-line approach, he cleared all boats within 30 minutes and we went to get in the trucks.

In the back of the truck

Getting 10 people into each truck which was designed to carry four people was an experience with six of us sitting in the open back of the truck. They did provide some cushions which were needed for the 90 minute ride along pot holed tracks through the jungle. All part of the experience but I was glad when we arrived at the foot of the volcano. 

The final 300 metres was on foot to the rim of the volcano where we were greeted with explosions of magna shot high into the sky as we walked along the rim just feet away from a drop into the volcano. You could see the orange magma boiling in the centre of the volcano with huge explosions every few minutes. It was even more spectacular as it started to get dark with the orange magma showing up clearly as it fell back to earth still molten. The noise of the explosions and the tremor of the ground added to the effect and it was a fantastic sight. Worth a few hours of being shaken to bits on bumpy tracks wondering just how well maintained these vehicles were.

Erromango 15-16 August

In conversation with the other boats we decided to stop off at Erromango – we had cleared immigration now so getting to Port Vila was less pressing.  It was 80 miles so we started off early in the morning to arrive just as it was getting dark.

Children wathcing us come in

Erromango was one of the worst hit islands by Cyclone Pam and is not visited by tourists (unlike Tanna and Aneityum) so we decided that we should take most of the aid there. Food aid from Port Vila had stopped two months ago David was their spokesman (as he spoke very good English) and arranged a trade – they would not accept the aid as a gift but wanted to trade for it. So the next morning we were all invited to the village community centre where we greeted with the children from the village singing traditional songs. The women had got up as 4am to cook us some traditional food so as to be able to offer some hospitality. We were all taken back by this as food was still in short supply as the trees had no fruit and their crops were only just starting to bear fruit, but this is their nature.

In return for the aid, all the villagers brought something from their gardens – tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, taro and kava. We felt bad about taking anything but it would have been very rude not to so most people just took a few things and left the aid that we had brought. We were then taken on a tour of the village and you could see the devastation still with trees still having no leaves where the Cyclone had stripped them bare. Such warm and friendly people and so generous despite everything.

Yacht Club in progress

In the afternoon, David took us to see the Yacht Club he is building to attract more yachts to stop at the island. It is work in progress and he is funding it by donations and buying material from Port Vila when he can. It will help bring in more people to the island and with it some much needed currency for the village to buy staple foods such as rice.

We were taken in the afternoon to the Cave of skulls which is a burial site of the chiefs of the island (until the missionaries stopped this practice along with throwing the dead in the sea). We took a 30 minute boat ride along the coast before negotiation a very tricky reef to get to the beach.  A walk up to the first cave was steep but walkable whereupon we climbed into the cave to see the bones of the bodies placed there.

The second cave was a climb up a sheer wall, using the tree roots

Climbing up to the cave

The Chiefs looking out

and vines to make our way up and along a narrow path to the cave which overlooked the sea. Here the heads of the chiefs were arranged so that they could watch over the sea for any enemies arriving.

The next night we left for Port Vila with the aim of an easy sail overnight so that we would arrive in the early morning and have the day free. One of the yachts took a father and his son to Port Vila from the village to visit the hospital as the son was ill and there is very limited medical care on the island. There is an airstrip on the island (courtesy of the Americans from WWII) but the cost of flying to Port Vila where the hospital is located is prohibitive. The alternative is to wait for the weekly supply ship but again the cost is too much for most of the villagers so it was fortunate that we were there.

Vanuatu Aneityum

Vanuatu: 7 August – 12 August

Journey

We were delayed five days in Musket Cove waiting for a weather window as the unseasonably strong winds and rain continued. We left on Friday 7 August with north winds predicted for the first day and then south easterly winds – all fairly benign according to the forecast. Indeed the first day was good sailing in the north winds and then the winds turned south at midnight and we found ourselves going to windward in 22-28kn winds with steep 3m seas coming towards us. After 24 hours or waves crashing over the boat and very uncomfortable conditions, the winds eased along with the waves and the rest of the journey was very straight forward.

One of the boats, Sweet Disorder, lost its rudder halfway on the journey and without steering was forced to call the New Zealand coast guard who co-ordinate rescue operations in this part of the South Pacific. The nearest vessel was a fishing boat that went to give them a tow back to Suva which was the fishing boat’s destination.  However, they would not agree to provide the tow until they had confirmation that they would be paid which delayed getting the tow in place. The insurance company agreed to the cost and they had a slow and difficult tow against the wind and waves back to Suva.

The fishing boat stopped before arriving at the island and refused to continue until they had confirmation that the money was in their account.  The insurance company made the payment and at that point the Fijian navy came out and took over the tow, taking Sweet Disorder to Denarau Marina for repairs. They were greeted with a Navy Band playing on the dock as they arrived to a big fanfare with the Navy taking full credit for the rescue of a sailing boat on the edge of disaster! It will take six weeks to get the boat repaired but undaunted they plan to continue their trip once it is fixed.

Aneityum 10- 12 August

We arrived at the anchorage at 7pm, just as it was getting dark and we anchored without problem. It was noticeably colder in the evening than it had been in Fiji although we were only 180 miles further south.

We had a very busy day the next day starting with the tour of the village by a local guide. There are one thousand people living on the island in three main villages. We visited one of the settlements where they live in traditionally built houses from palm tree leaves and bamboo. The villages are very well kept and beautiful with the villagers taking obvious pride in their village and their way of life.

It has been six months since Cyclone Pam devastated the island, stripping all the fruit off the trees, knocking down many of the trees and stripping the leaves off many of the remaining ones. The guide explained how they prepare for cyclones, storing bananas preserved in a pit in the ground covered with leaves and stones, and cooking the roots of a particular tree which provides sugar and water which they eat in the immediate aftermath.  The root of the tree has to be cooked for 3 days and two nights and according to their tradition, three men must tend the fire, sleeping next to the fire and must not eat and only drink water – otherwise the root will not cook and cannot be used. They have a cyclone every couple of years although none as devastating as Cyclone Pam. The villagers took pride in their ability to be self-sufficient in the aftermath before any aid can be delivered. As they are the southernmost island, they are last in the route for the supply ships and they were one of the islands worst hit.

There is still no fruit on the island as the trees have only been growing for six months now and it will take another few months before they start producing fruit – bananas, mango etc. Vegetable crops were also devastated but recovered more quickly. Many houses were destroyed but they have started rebuilding again 

The main village

The main village has a primary school and secondary education is on Efate at Port Vila so children have to leave the island at twelve. One of the downsides of formal education has been the loss of skills passed on from generation to generation. The children used to work

A traditional fishing net they still use

with their parents day to day, learning the skills and traditions and the skills are gradually being lost – something that they are actively trying to reverse since their way of life depends on them. Some of those skills are being taught in schools now although the guide said that the skills taught in schools are not the practical skills required but more of an academic learning.

In the afternoon the villagers took us to the reef to snorkel among the coral and fish.  We were taken in a long boat and dropped off to allow the tide to bring us back across the reef with little effort. That is little effort until the last 100 metres swimming across the tide to get back to the island which made the swim seem that much longer.

Our dinner

Later that afternoon we were invited to Mystery Island which is just off the main island for traditional dancing and a feast. There were about 30 of us from the yachts and the islanders had gone to a lot of trouble, spit roasting a pig over an open fire and cooking many of their traditional foods – taro, kasava and sweet potatoes. The dancing was fearsome and you could see that the roots as warriors.  We had Vanuata kava which is supposed to be much stronger than either Tongan or Fijian but after one cup we decided that beer tasted a lot better and fortunately we had brought some supplies with us, as had the other boats.

The Queen (of England) named the island “Mystery Island” and the name has stuck ever since. It is

Traditional dancing

The Chief (centre) welcoming us

used by Cruise Ships who bring a couple of thousand people on shore each week for a two hour visit to see the dancing and buy souvenirs. This is something that the village has cultivated over many years to bring in currency to the small island which otherwise has little means of earning money. We were lucky that we were such a small group which allowed a lot of time to talk to the villagers about their way of life which apart from the cruise ship visits is spent as any other village. They were expecting a cruise ship the following week the first since the cyclone.

Making fire

Two minutes later!

One of the interesting demonstrations is how they make fire. They   It never happened like that when I was a boy scout!

use a particular tree which is very dry and use a branch from the tree against the trunk to quickly generate enough heat to light some kindling. It took no more than two minutes to have a blaze going.

Many of the boats left the next day but we stayed on so that we could see more of the main island and talk to the locals. Everyone was very engaging and one even apologised that they could not offer us any fruit to take away with us which is what they would normally do for visitors from boats. Apart from yachts, very few people visit the main island on Aneityum as it is not easy to get to.

PeaceCorp worker in school library

We met two girls who were US PeaceCorp workers on the island who had signed up to two years living in the village  to provide help – one in the local school sorting out the library and the other at a medical centre in one of the other villages. They live and eat with the villagers with no internet access, no trips home during the period and limited conversations with a few people who can speak English. Both of them have been learning Bislama which is a common (but second language) in all of the islands – each island has their own native language which is different in each island and often different between villages on the same island. Both girls had been upset that they had to leave the island just before the Cyclone hit, at the insistence of the US PeaceCorp, to be flown to safety while the villagers did not have any option but to stay – they have great attachment to the people of the village. 

To celebrate the survival of the Cyclone, the PeaceCorp produced a video showing how the villagers coped and were in high spirits in the aftermath despite the hardships incurred by all the villagers following destruction of their crops, houses and fruit.

Western Fiji

Musket Cove Friday 3 July – Monday 6 July

We arrived at Musket Cove on the Friday afternoon and managed to get a space on the small jetty, opposite the bar. So we spent the evening catching up with the everyone and having dinner with Barry, Caroline, Andy and Emma. The next morning it was very sad to see people leave, we had really enjoyed their company and we had shared a lot of experiences together.

Catherine and I stayed another couple of nights to enjoy some rest and relaxation. I even played on their 9 hole golf course – played may be too stronger a word for my performance as I managed to lose three balls on a small golf course. Need some more practice!

Viti Levu:  Denarau Marina Monday 6 July – Friday 17 July

Denarau Marina

Denarau Marina is like Port Solent in the Solent except 10 times bigger.  Lots of restaurants and tourist shops but also a major port for boat repairs. It is also the main terminal for holiday makers to get the ferry across to the other islands on the west of Fiji so very busy.

I had been arranging the work with a local company, Yachthelp, for 4 weeks to line up the work to fix all the problems that needed specialist skills.  In four days we managed to get the rigging sorted out, the mainsail recut and the other sails repaired, the bimini repaired, the gas regulator changed and the water maker overhauled.

We were exhausted each night after undertaking the repairs and eat out at the yacht club most nights. The staff were delightful and knew our names from the first night, stopping for a chat if they met us in the town. The food was very good, well presented and the atmosphere was very good as well. The only downside was the menu did not change while we were there and even the catch of the day was always sword fish.

On the Saturday of that first week we moved off the marina berth onto a buoy so that we could refit the sails ready to go off early the next morning. At 7am we slipped the mooring and managed ten yards before the depth sounder stopped working. At first I thought it was a loose connexion and I stripped the boat apart to find it. By lunchtime we resigned ourselves to the fact that the sender would need to be replaced.  We could not get a direct replaement in Fiji and had to wait 4 days to have a new part flown in from New Zealand. We hired a car to do some sightseeing in the meantime.

Sightseeing

We wanted to go and see an inland village since we had seen only coastal villages on our travels so we set off up the mountain to one of the less remote villages. The made road quickly gave way to a dirt road and then deteriorated to gravel track for the rest of the journey up the mountain. We traversed the river and drove up the steep path for 45 minutes, thankful that we had 4WD – we would not have made it otherwise. We stopped to pick up a guide at the village and drove the final miles up the path to where we would leave the car.

The Village

The final mile was the most challenging as we went up a steep slope at a 45 degree incline with deep ruts. After 4 attempts at the first part of the track, backing back down to have another go, and encouragement from the guide to “go faster” we managed to get 100 yards before getting stuck with all four wheels spinning. Two men on horses stopped, tied up their horses and said they would help get us up the 30 yards we needed to get back onto more solid ground. Fifteen minutes later, and after a lot of burning rubber, we made the 30 yards onto firmer ground and could continue. The guide explained that this was all very normal and it happens all the time.

The guide

The guide took us on a three hour tour through the forest along an unmarked path up to the waterfall- not a path you would take without a guide. The waterfall was not the best we have seen but the walk was enjoyable. The guide was very good, showing us the vegetation which only see in packets in the UK but do not see growing in the wild such as coco, vanilla and nutmeg. We even had fresh mandarins picked from one of the trees on route.

Lunch

We went back to the village for lunch at one of the houses. A

The Kitchen and wood stove

single room with a couple of beds and no other furniture with a separate building for the kitchen. The stove was a couple of bricks supporting a cooking pot with wood burning underneath.  Water was from the stream and there is no electricity. The villagers take it turns to feed guests who come up to the village as a way of earning some currency. Otherwise, the only income is from the women selling their fruit and vegetables in the market in Lautoka, getting there at 4am in the morning. The village has one car which is used to transport the produce to the market three times a week.

View from the village

As the village is so inaccessible, the children stay in Lautoka to go to school from the age of six, coming home only for the holidays. The village own a house in Lautoka and the parents take it in turn to spend a week in the house looking after the young children during term time. The older children board separately in Lautoka for the secondary school. It is hard for the children since they speak Fijian at home but all school lessons are in English from the age of six – hence why everyone here speaks such good English.

The next day we drove 4 hours to Suva, the capital of Fiji. The road was very good and wends its way through countless villages with speed humps through each one which are very effective in keeping the speed down. It does make for a slow journey to Suva but it gives you the opportunity to see the villages on route. Every village has a rugby pitch and on the journey home every pitch was being used by teams playing or practising – it underlined how important rugby is in Fiji.

We had decided to follow a route from a guide book around Suva, taking in the historic sights – we had no interest in shopping. The description of the route was somewhat oversold as we walked along uninteresting roads and side streets with nothing to commend them. The good part was the Fiji museum that explained a lot about the history of Fiji and we spent two hours there, reading about Fiji and how it had come under the protectorate of the UK before independence.

The British introduced indentured labour from India whereby Indians could have a free passage to Fiji in return for working for five years in very hard labour. If they wanted to return to India, they had to work another five years so most of the 300,000 people bought across stayed and now the Indian population is almost half of the entire population of Fiji.

We were glad to leave Suva and we certainly had to leave before sunset – even the locals take taxis at night since the streets are so unsafe. This is such a contrast to everywhere else we have been in Fiji. While we were disappointed with our trip to Suva, we would have been more disappointed if we had not made the effort.

Mana Island Friday 17 July – Sunday 19 July

With the depth sounder fixed on Thursday, we set off to Mana Island the next day. It was the closest island where we could spend a few days at anchor before returning to Denarau to have the solar panels and additional battery fitted.

The highlight of the visit was the snorkelling off the reef with beautiful coral and a vast number of different fish. There is something very relaxing about being at anchor, snorkelling off the back of the boat and finishing off the day with a BBQ in the evening. It enabled us to really relax after the trials and tribulations of the last two weeks at Denarau.

Back to Denarau Sunday 19 July – Saturday 25 July

Our last week at Denarau was spent getting the solar panels fitted, doing odd jobs and provisioning the boat. Catherine hired a car for a couple of days so she could get away from boat which his always upside down while we are doing work. And with people working outside and me working inside it means there is no-where that is not in a mess.

One of the people working on the boat, Vikash, invited us to his house in Nadi for dinner and some Kava. We started the evening with some Kava which he grinds himself from the roots of the plant – better stuff than the packets you can buy in the market. In fact, you need to take the root to the villages since they do not like the packaged powder stuff – it is inferior quality, mainly served in restaurants for tourists but it is the only stuff we had drunk.

Vikash lives with his daughter, wife and his wife’s cousin in a house a couple of miles from Nadi town centre. Very quiet and a lot of Fijian Indians live in the village. While the three men sat round drinking Kava cross legged on the floor of the porch, Catherine and Vikash’s wife ate the curry and other local dishes in the kitchen. Once we had finished the Kava, we got up to eat and it was only then I noticed how difficult it was to stand up and walk. After eating and more chatting on the porch, we left with Catherine laughing at how I was swaying as we walked. And we only had one beer apart from the Kava.

I was relieved to get back to the boat and go to bed, feeling like I did when I had drunk cider when I was fourteen. No hangover the next morning but I was very tired and managed to do almost nothing the next morning. And most men drink the stuff late into the evening every night. Not sure I am up to that and will stay with beer next time!

By Saturday lunchtime the work was finished and we finally had the boat back to ourselves, ready to head off to Waya Island in the Yasawa group.

Finally a (brief) visit to Yasawa Group Sunday 26 July – Tuesday 28

With no wind we motored the 40 miles to the southernmost island in the chain, Waya. The first anchorage was provided good protection from the wind which had started to build but perversely the swell was coming from the opposite direction. After 15 minutes at anchor being rocked violently we hauled up anchor and moved to the next anchorage, some 4 miles away around the top of the island.

Another hour with Catherine on the bow shouting out when we came into unmarked reefs which there were many with depths dropping from 50m to 5m in less than 50 yards. All heart stopping stuff but we did finally manage to get into the next bay and drop anchor after some very tense moments. The swell was still prevalent in this anchorage but we were not going anywhere else, particularly as night was falling. So we spent a couple of days at anchor, snorkelling on the reef and BBQing off the back of the boat before heading back to Musket Cove to meet up with the ICA boats, whose rally we are joining to New Zealand.

Musket Cove Tuesday 27 July – Monday 3 August.

Catherine and I in the canoe

The swimming leg

We took part in the ICA rally triathlon which was a swim, a run (or walk) and a canoe race. Stella from Exocet undertook the swimming leg (we would have drowned),  John from Exocet and myself did the walk and the idea was that Catherine would do the Canoeing. However, there were only double handed canoes left when we had finished the walk and so Catherine and I did the final leg together. We came in 9^th (I won’t say how many entries there were) but it was great fun. Good way to get to know some of the other boats other than over drinks at the bar.

We have met a few people on our travels and had dinner and drinks with them over the last four weeks. All very friendly, mostly from NZ and Australia except for Chessie who are from Germany who we have got to know quite well. On Saturday night together with Exocet Strike we went over to Chessie for drinks before dinner.  After three hours we all decided it would be a good idea to get back in the dinghies and head back to our boats after a very convivial evening. Stella (who does not drink much normally) was a little worse for wear and managed to miss the dinghy entirely and fall the 2m from the deck into the water in the dark. I jumped off the boat into our dinghy and managed to get her back but it was a nasty moment. Made us all think we need to be more careful.

We are waiting for a break in the weather as we are having the first rain for months with some strong winds associated with this. Up until now it has been 30 degrees during the day and now it is only 22 degrees and feels surprisingly cool. We are getting soft. The front is due to pass on Monday and we will be setting off to Vanuatu after that.

Our position can now be tracked on YellowBrick at https://my.yb.tl/AfarVI.