Vanuatu

July 20, 2009

We arrived last night in Port Vila, Vanuatu.  Vanuatu is one hour behind Fiji time.  We get up and get the boat cleaned up after having a good night sleep.  There are many boats in the anchorage that have yellow quarantine flags up.  There is a radio net at 8:15AM that lets us know that the officials will come out to our boat.  On the net the announcer commented that the officials noticed that someone got off their boat before checking in and that is not tolerated and there are fines.  So they are watching even on Sunday.  The officials go around to all the boats giving us the forms to fill out and then they make their way around to each boat again and we were boarded by Customs and Quarantine officials.  They were very pleasant young men.  We handed them our completed forms.  They told us what the fees were: customs 3200VT, Quarantine 3000VT, Immigration is 4000VT and we have to go to their office in town and Port fees of 7000VT plus 100VT per day you are in Vanuatu.  This is over $170US and is very expensive compared with Fiji about $20US.  Then we had to list all plant and animal products on board and give them to the Quarantine official to destroy.  After arguing with him I got to keep my boxed milk.  He took all our produce, yogurt and lamb.  Interesting the same guy just minutes before let Kristen keep everything but cabbage and we had the same things.  Of course we didn’t know it at the time.  It is frustrating to be treated different.  We were led by the Customs boat to the inner bay under a cable and in very shallow water to a mooring ball.  Due to predicted winds and poor holding in the anchorage we decide to pay for a mooring ball until better weather.  We go ashore in our dinghy and go to get money to pay our fees and go to the Immigration office. Afterwards we go to Jill’s café for lunch.  They are noted for American burgers and shakes as well as ice cream sundaes, and they are good and reasonably priced.  We met a NZ couple on vacation that we shared a picnic table with and Sally and Geoff on Grace and John and Sue.  It was a busy place.  We walked to the outdoor market and bought pamplemoose which we haven’t seen since French Polynesia.  We also saw fried ‘fruit bats’ wrapped in banana leaves for sale, it was not on my list to buy.  The people are not as outgoing as in Fiji but if spoken to and if they speak English they are friendly.  They had kind of a reggae music playing in the market which made it fun.  We saw Vari and Ariestor in the market.  Before heading to our boat we were able to buy an Internet card, $30 for 24 hours and the connection was pretty good.  We went to Charisma for dinner and had Dahl soup and homemade bread.

 

July 21, 2009

It is very windy even in the protected bay.  I did the dishes, some laundry and took a shower.  I met Kristen and we walk about a half mile to the grocery store called Au Bon Marche.  It was a great store with lots of NZ and USA brands however very expensive.  It made me so glad I stocked up in NZ. It was nice and bright but the aisles were very narrow and you couldn’t pass anyone.  We took a taxi back to the marina as we had too much to carry.  Mike came to pick us up.  He had stayed on board working on the traveler while I shopped.  To fix the traveler correctly and for strength we have to take off the headliner in our stateroom.  This means taking all the trim down too which is a lot of work.  So for now we have a temporary fix and must be very careful tacking and jibing.  He also spent time trying to figure out why our GPS no longer connects to the computer and works with Sea map that we use for navigation.  I found gummy bears at the grocery store and bought them for him, a nice treat for all his hard work.  It was just a small bag but he was happy.  We found out that most cruisers are taking malaria pills and we don’t have any, not sure if you need a prescription for them either.

 

July 22, 2009

It is a nice morning, cloudy and a little windy.  We are going to the Cascading Waterfalls that we are told are a ‘must see’.  I forgot my swimsuit so Kristen let me borrow one.  Charisma came too and we took a bus there.  Buses are like 4 or 5 person vans and the taxis are the same only taxis cost more.  You can tell them apart by looking at the license plate.  T for taxi and B for bus.  Taking the bus also gave us an opportunity to see some inland areas. It cost us $250 each about $10US for 4 of us.  The waterfalls were great and not like anything we have seen before.  Mike called it a ‘cascading wonderland’.  It was about a 30 minute easy walk to the bottom of the main waterfall.  From the top of the waterfall the water fell down three mossy rocks, beautiful and then created miles of little waterfalls and pools.  They didn’t run like a creek like you normally see but were spread over quite an expanse of land and rocks.  Kristen, Alan and I jumped from a high rock into one of the pools, it was quite refreshing.  The water had some mineral in it so it wasn’t crystal clear.  We had a little time before our same bus driver would come back to get us, so we had French fried sweet potatoes while we waited.  Back in town we went to the local yacht club, we were told we could get an updated guide to Vanuatu but as it turned out they weren’t available for a few days and we were planning to be gone by then.  We stopped at Jill’s Café again and this time had the special of tacos and a milkshake of course.  Yum!  Our last stop was at the chemist to see what he had to say about Malaria.  We do plan to go to some malaria areas, so we have to wear long sleeves and long pants and wear repellent.  We also need to be on our boat before sun down and have nets on our windows and anchor a ways off shore for more protection.  Back on the boat I need to finish my laundry.  Mike discovered that clothes in a couple of his drawers were getting mildewed so now we have even more laundry.

 

July 23, 2009

Weird weather today, first sunny then cloudy and rainy and windy.  But we still decided to go to the Vanuatu Museum with Kristen and Alan.  We were able to walk there as it was less than a mile away.  It cost $7 each which included Eddie as our guide.  Eddie did sand drawings while telling stories to us.  One story was that due to 118 different dialects there are symbols that they draw in order to communicate.  However now Bislalmic is the common language to the country of Vanuatu.  Another story was about the chief and when he dies, his family must sit by him for 100 days keeping a smoky fire going to keep the insects off his remains.  When his body is simply a skeleton they have a ceremony where his power is passed on to the next chief.  Then the skull, which contains his spirit, is separated from the rest of the body and put in a clay pot where it is kept forever.  Also they wore a lot of head dresses one type that was made out of pure spider webs, yuk.  If you want to marry a girl you have to negotiate with the family for each part of her body.  Once there is an agreement they pulled the girls upper incisor teeth out.  This signifies that she is taken and is no longer available. After the drawings Eddie played us a couple of songs on his flute and then gave us a tour of the museum.  It was interesting, the cultures of these people.  It is said that as recent as 1989 some islands were still cannibals.  On that note we went back to our boat and enjoyed happy hour with Kristen and Alan.

 

July 24, 2009

Today we leave to tour the islands of Vanuatu.  We were up at 6:AM having coffee, breakfast and we did email, set up our Visa payment and then off to shore to take a hot shower or so we thought.  There was only cold water and dirty bathrooms but at least my hair is clean.  Then I went to town to find a chemist to buy malaria pills and camera batteries.  We found out we did not need a prescription and the pills were inexpensive so we may as well be safe.  Too bad the batteries weren’t cheap, they were $12 for 4AA.  Mike got some expensive diesel too, $57 for 10 gallons.  He also checked us out of Port Vila and picked up our cruising permit, just like Fiji you must have a cruising permit for each area.  The weird thing is they give it to you in a sealed envelope and you are to take it to the next port without opening it, where we are to be given the next permit.  By 9:30 we were off to the next port called Havannah about 25 miles away.  We decided to fish and caught a nice big Bonita, about 5 meals worth.  Thank you Jesus!  It was a nice sail for awhile and then the wind direction changed to on the nose.  We anchored around the corner from Charisma, pretty much alone, it was very peaceful.  I cooked some of the tuna in soy sauce and made a fruit salad, nice meal.  We watched two movies before bed not realizing our hatch over our bed was open and it rained.  So once again a wet bed.

 

July 25, 2009

It’s a nice sunny morning and we all decided to move on to Nawora Matoa Bay about 15 miles from here.  As we were leaving through ‘Little Channel’ there was a rip tide that made the water look very shallow, at first we turned around and said we couldn’t go that way, however Alan went through there and it was 40 feet deep.  We didn’t want to risk it until we knew for sure, and we were fine.  We anchored in Nawora and went over to Charisma to pick them up and go to shore.  There was a narrow opening through the reef where your dinghy could fit.  On shore there were several kids, they seemed curious about us.  We walked the beach collecting shells.  There were two older boys bagging coral, they use it to make cement bricks that they use to build houses.  We chatted to Annie who was out on the reef fishing for her family and two older men wanted to know where we were from as we were going back to our boat.  Nice people but not overly friendly.  They had a Presbyterian church on shore but they only preach in the Bislamic language.

 

July 26, 2009

It was a rolly night, we had planned to leave at 9AM but we were ready to get out of this bay at 7, so we left at 7:30.  We were sailing in 20 knot winds, to Emai.  The guide book says that it is not a wonderful anchorage but doesn’t say why.  We hope it is not rolly like Nawora Matoa Bay.  Before getting to Emai the wind was gusting to 28 knots and we reached speeds of over 9 knots.  Mike and I arrived first and it did not seem rolly so we dropped our anchor.  Kristen and Alan wanted to snorkel but we didn’t due to the wind and since it is colder in Vanuatu than Fiji Mike thinks it will be too cold to swim.  We decided to go ashore where it looked like there could be a village.  There is a microwave tower up on the hill side.  On shore we met Usa who was security for some supplies left by a barge to build a third microwave tower.  He showed us a road that takes you to the village.  As we were walking there was a sign that said don’t take the coconuts, they are pig food.  We thought this was so funny as we were in a coconut plantation with a million coconuts around us.  As we walked down the road we saw a bull and weren’t sure if it was tied up or not, so we turned around to go back and besides we needed mosquito repellant.  We walked a long ways down the beach and met up with Kristen and Alan who were collecting shells.  When we came back Usa gave me a coconut and even peeled the husk off for me.  He told us there would be festivities in the village to celebrate their Independence Day and that his mother would be baking bread.  We can’t miss that!  Later Kristen made us all pizza for dinner and we traded movies again.  We also discussed James 5:16 about confessing your sins to one another and the prayers of a righteous man.  We prayed for Kristen and she was having some health problems and pain.

 

July 27, 2009

Today is still windy.  Alan drove us all to shore where we met different security men.  They were all very friendly and introduced themselves to us.  When we were walking a local named Aaron sort of became our tour guide.  We saw his village, it is all one  big family.  There are 14 villages and three different languages on this small island.  We got to taste two different kinds of nuts they have growing here.  One was like an almond and one like sunflower seeds.  We walked on the white sand beach on the other side of the island and over to the school.  If he hadn’t said it was a school I would have thought they were just homes.  There were posters in English posted around the island telling of the festivities.  Today at 1:00 we planned to watch the soccer game where there were teams of men from each village that played against each other.  At the soccer field there were booths where people sold some food, not much available and one family sold drinking coconuts for 20VT.  We bought chicken and rice for 50VT and Mike and I shared.  The chicken looked strange to me so I let Mike eat it.  The rice was seasoned and really good.  Another booth was selling some kind of burrito which looked good but it wasn’t available when we bought the chicken and now we are full.  Usa’s mom baked the bread just as he said she would.  At first I was only going to buy one loaf for 100VT but after I held it and smelled it I bought another one.  We shared half of it with Kristen and Alan at the game.  The wind had calmed down a bit by the time we got back to our boat but it came back up again.

 

July 28, 2009

Today is the actual Independence Day, they celebrated 29 years.  The people live in small one room buildings built out of wood.  They have no electricity or running water.  There is a water faucet usually nearby a group of houses.  They sleep on mats on the floor and they have nets to keep out the mosquitoes, as the people acknowledge they worry about malaria.  They live a very simple life and don’t seem to work too hard and are a very happy community.  We leave the bay at 8:45AM and are headed to Revolieu Bay.  We arrived at about 1:15 and there are already three boats there but there seems to be plenty of room.  They all have their anchors bridled so the boat turns into the swell and we do the same, although are not convinced it was necessary.  We had a beautiful windy sunny sail, and although we fished we caught nothing.  We met another boat named Destiny, John from Australia and Alan off a French boat came and invited us to cocktails but we had already invited Charisma to dinner.  Mike helped me make tortillas so I could make burritos and I also made a banana cake and Kristen made a salad, so we were good.  It was a lovely evening.

 

July 29, 2009

Today is cloudy but hot.  After breakfast I cleaned up and washed the ceiling, it is getting mildewed again.  Mike was working on reprogramming his computer since it keeps dying at inopportune moments.  We need it for navigation so it has to work better.  In the late afternoon we decided to go ashore.  Four of the children from this village had come out to our boat in a dugout canoe.  They are elementary school age and some younger way out in the bay with a rickety canoe and no life jacket and no parents around.  We gave them chocolate which made them smile, we told them to ask their parents if they could eat it.  When we went to shore they met us and showed us their village where we met Lucy, one of the moms and Peter either her husband or cousin, didn’t quite understand.  She says the kids can swim, however I would be amazed if they could swim that far to shore.  They have baby chickens, a goat and a couple of pigs.  A fence where cows are kept but we didn’t see any.  They have a water pump in the village for drinking water and the laundry is done in the river.  As we were leaving they gave us a basket of pamplemoose and limes and a papaya.  We agreed to come again tomorrow to return the basket, one that they had weaved.  We had appetizers with Charisma and James and Lorna from Mind the Gap.  Nice evening.

 

July 30, 2009

It was a calm morning and at 8:30 we picked up Kristen and Alan and headed to the island.  Lorna and James followed us in.  On the beach we met Chief Baron who asks us to sign the guest book.  But Mike and I went to look for Lucy.  The kids said she was in the garden, so we asked them to take us to her.  We had no idea that it was so far away, a half an hour walk one way through the bush.  It was fun though the kids sang songs as they hopped along and the views were spectacular of a jungle wall covered with wet vines and the sun shining on it.  finally we saw Lucy coming back.  They grow their gardens in this place so far from their homes because there is water here.  She showed us the cocoa trees that her and Peter planted, she said they make money harvesting it along with Kava and copra.  They work very hard.  She had the kids pick us each a cocoa fruit which you crack open and take the seeds inside and suck off the juice.  We all thought that you would then dry the seeds for cocoa but couldn’t understand from the locals what really happened.  Their kids loved them. In fact even at this young age the kids cut them open with a machete or cracked them on a rock or they use their teeth.  One little girl about 5 was using the machete and it looked like she was close to losing a finger, her mom said not to worry, she looks to the spot she it cutting and will be fine.  But what happens if the fingers are in the same spot?  Yikes!  Peter cut us a drinking coconut, by this time Charisma and Mind the Gap were there too.  Once back at the village we gave Lucy our gift of 2 blouses, one pair of pants for her and for the kids we gave markers and paper and water balloons that Mark Videen gave us from home.  Kristen gave them salt, tea and a candle and we noticed Lucy’s flip flops were worn out, half of one was missing, so Kristen gave her shoes to Lucy.  Mike gave them some rope that they wanted to help tie the wood together on their house for cyclone season.  They all walked back to the beach and waved goodbye to us.  Lucy is 26 and has 5 children with ages ranging from 13 months to 10 years.  The kids run all over the island by themselves and they walk for one hour to go to school 5 days a week.  I believe these kids could survive in the jungle better than we could.  Back at our boat we prepare to go to Lamen Bay on this same island.  Strong winds were predicted for today and are currently at 20+.  It is about a 2 hour sail and when we arrived there are already 7 boats in the bay, now there are 10 boats but thankfully plenty of room.  Three men paddled their dugout canoe out to our boat to say hi.  They are also practicing for a race that is to be held in the bay in one week.  It looks like it is going to rain so we put the enclosure sides down and get ready to catch any rain water we can.  The laundry is piling up!

 

July 31, 2009

Today is cloudy windy and cool in Lamen Bay.  Last night we were not able to catch much water but I have enough water to start the laundry.  We are a nice distance from the other boats and have a scope of 6 to 1 and we are anchored in sand which is great.  We feel really safe for the wind that we have.  Mike didn’t sleep too well last night, his back hurt so he was up at 4AM.  I made him oatmeal with strawberry pudding on top for breakfast, it was good.  We went to shore about 11AM, Kristen and Alan had already scoped everything out.  We saw the airport, they have a jetty where ships occasionally come in, a hardware store of sorts and it is so dark you cant really see what all they have, they only have one little light bulb in the store, there is a high school, a grocery store and a yacht club.  The school has computers that were donated by Australia but they do not have much power to run them.  The yacht club serves breakfast, lunch and dinner but you have to give them advanced notice.  You can get cold beer anytime, they have a refer run by a generator.  The owners name is Tossa.  He told us about the Dugong, and showed us pictures.  It looks like a small hippo with a tail.  It feeds on sea grass and is known to hang out in the bay.  Boy one look at that and I would be out of the water fast!  They say he is tame and some people have ridden on its back.  We also met a lady on her way to her garden and said she would bring us a cabbage tomorrow morning.  Most the other people seem to be shy or just ignore us.  I think many cruisers come to this bay.  There is also a small island about a mile away.  We hear it is nice and the local people go back and forth, some in canoes that they rigged a sail on.  When we got to our dinghy it was filled with sea water.  We had tied it to a tree and as the tide came in the swells spilled into it.  We had nothing to bail the water so we just went back to the boat and bailed it then.  I made Mike lunch and then he took a nap, since he didn’t sleep much last night.

 

August 1, 2009

We got up early this morning as it is market day in the village starting at 6AM.  We went in at 7AM and Charisma was just returning to their boat.  Several cruisers were up early and at the market.  It was a fun experience, it was small but they had plain donuts that one lady had made.  I wanted a bag to put them in but she didn’t have any but another local lady gave me her only bag and then carried her donuts tied together with a grass like dried leaf. She was very kind.  I bought some very ripe bananas too so I will have to make some banana cake. The local woman met us at the wharf and gave us bok choy and pamplemoose.  I was trying to trade by giving her some golden syrup but I am not sure she wanted it so I gave her 100VT also.  I wish they would just say what they want, whether it is a gift or they want money because I left feeling bad.  Back at our boat we pulled anchor and headed to Matakula Island.  It was a 2 hour sail and great wind.  We hooked a fish but it got away with our lure. He was strong and big, we saw him jump completely out of the water before he got away.  We had to be very careful going into the anchorage there are lots of reefs and the charts are not very accurate.  We dropped anchor after going through a passage that was very shallow.  We anchored in Uliveo.  We went to shore with Charisma and a man automatically became our guide.  We walked completely around the island through 4 villages.  He showed us where they dry cocoa beans and copra sheds.  They had a nice Red Cross building but he said there is no medicine.  We saw an area with many outhouses, apparently each family has their own outhouse but all in the same area.  We saw the primary school that each family pays for their kids to go to school.  Older kids go to another island to go to school and the higher the grade the more the cost.  There was one church per village all seem to be Presbyterian.  They have a Kava bar that seems more like a tavern but they only serve Kava for 50VT for a small coconut cup full.  They use a different part of the kava root than they do in Fiji and they say it is stronger.  There are lots of cinder block one room houses.  Lots of villages seem to make their own cinder blocks using sand, coral and cement.  When the tour brought us back to the boats our guide ask us if we enjoyed our tour and of course we said yes.  So he said then we needed to pay him 1000VT.  He did deserve something but we would like to know up front.  In other villages tours are free.  When we got back to our boat there were 3 dugout canoes with men waiting wanting to trade shells for shirts or money.   We didn’t want any shells so Kristen traded 3 large shells for 3 men's t-shirts.

 

August 2, 2009

Today is Alan & Kristen’s 29th anniversary!  They rang the church bell at 8:15 to let people know it was time to go to church.  Alan picked us up in his dinghy.  It was a very low tide, so we rowed as far as possible to shore but ended up pulling the dinghy and walking through gross squishy mud to shore.  A very nice woman brought us water and washed our feet before we went to church.  Then she walked us to church.  We were amazed at her kindness.  We sat down on wooden benches with no backs.  There weren’t many people here yet but these two very young girls started singing, they were awesome.  The acoustics made their singing loud and they were very good.  Everyone that came joined in the singing and it was excellent.  Men sat on one side of the church and women sat on the other.  Kristen and I sat with our husbands and men sat behind us and interpreted for us and shared their bibles written in Bislamic and their song books, everyone has to buy their own song books.  At the end of the service the pastor had every man, woman and child shake our hands, approximately 100 people, and then he invited us to lunch.  We were taken to the dining hall which had a couple of picnic tables in a hut with a roof and 4 walls and sand floor, and they were covered with food.  Several people brought dishes but most of it was the same, yams, bananas, cassava with fish and a pudding.  Only the deacons and the pastor ate with us.  There were no plates or silverware, you ate with your fingers and then there was a bucket of water to wash your hands afterwards. The people were very generous.  We chatted for a little while and then were told we could go to our boats now.  Too funny!  We were having dinner with Kristen and Alan to celebrate.  Willy was going to try to get us a lobster but apparently there was no moon and it was cloudy so due to weather he couldn’t.  Bummer, but Alan brought over fish, corn on the cob and champagne, I made BBQ beef sticks, pea salad, wine and peach cobble with whip cream, so it was very nice.

 

August 3, 2009

Mike and Cindy’s 35th anniversary!  We basically celebrated yesterday!  Today is cloudy but calm.  I made a special breakfast with a large fruit salad and biscuits butter and honey.  We enjoyed eating it.  I did some wash and while I was hanging it out there were many school kids on shore posing, wanting their picture taken, Alan obliged them.  The village rang the school bell at 6AM, I think that meant to just get out of bed because it rang again at 7AM.  Phillip a local man brought out his two kids and asked if he could have a tour of our boat.  Mike showed him around.  We ended up giving him a needle to pick a sliver out of his foot along with alcohol and band-aids.  The chief invited us to a potluck dinner so we headed to shore about 4:30.  His wife had cooked two small fish, and had yams, banana, pamplemoose.  I made burritos with chicken and Kristen made a fruit pudding dish.  Before dinner he gave us a tour of his village and took us to the kava bar.  He didn’t drink any kava but seemed to want us to.  Mike and Alan had a cup and then we walked back to his house and on the way it seemed like the whole village shook our hands.  We ate outside on mats that the chief’s wife had made.  It was dark by then so they had the typical one lantern.  The chief did not eat while we were there but took all of the food we brought that was left for himself.  He showed us inside his house which was three rooms with mats on the floor to sleep and no lights.  A lot of people seem to have flash lights.  He had a book that he showed us with tours available like local dancing and a clam sanctuary.  They are trying to raise money for the kids to go to school, but everything was expensive.  The chief took us back to our dinghy which was a good thing it was pitch black out and it would have been difficult to find our way.  It was a nice cultural evening.

 

August 4, 2009

Jayla’s 11th birthday, we wish we were home to see her! We miss the family!  Mike made us breakfast today.  And we plan to move to the next anchorage just around the corner.  I am glad as this one guy keeps insisting Mike and I trade shirts for shells with one of his friends but the bottom line is we just don’t have many clothes to trade after sailing across the south pacific nor do we want anymore shells.  We motored all the way to Sakau Island about 45 minutes.  The guide book says to drop bow and stern anchors due to the tides.  We dropped our bow anchor and it just kept dragging as we pulled it up one of the locals came out and told us we could tie to a mooring ball they had installed for yachties.  Excellent and he tied us up!  When we were motoring here my washing bucket for laundry fell on cracked in three places, now I only have one laundry bucket and I really need two!  Kristen and Alan went to shore and brought us back two drinking coconuts, locals often give these to welcome you to their village but we are not fond of them.

 

August 5, 2009

It was a cloudy but warm morning so we took our trash to shore and John built a fire so we could burn it.  While it was burning he told us about the uses of the plants all around us, some was for medicine and others for building, it was very interesting.  We watched a couple of men repair a roof with banana leaves and palm leaves woven together.  They have big spiders here in the trees.  We walked down the beach and met Marilyn and Marlene, sisters who were working on copra, so they told me they only use the coconuts that have dropped from a tree, don’t stand under a coconut tree, they have been know to paralyze and even kill people that got hit in the head.  They chop the coconut in half with an ax and then with a special tool scoop out the meat all in less than a minute.  This act has been known to take us an hour.  We need that special tool.  We went back to our boat and enjoyed hearing lots of canoes going by singing as they were fishing.

 

August 6, 2009

Ashley’s 11th birthday, we wish we were home to see her too!  We sure miss her!  Our buddy boat Liberty is only 1000 miles from home, in Bellingham.  They are sailing from Hawaii, we spent time with them in Vuda Point, Fiji.  Today we invited Marilyn, Marlene, husband Rupert and 3 kids to tea.  I made banana cake with frosting and Kristen made a fruit platter and tea.  We gave them gift bags, balloons for the kids and markers, paper, sailing magazines and soap with a loofa.  We told them this was a thank you for tying us up and their island hospitality to us while we are here.  Later we went to shore and watched them weave mats that they sell in Port Vila.  They are very fast at weaving.  We then took a hike around the island, we couldn’t go all the way around as the vegetation was just too thick to get through.  But we had a nice walk.  We picked up a coconut and took it back and asked them to get the meat out for us, they were happy to do it.

 

August 7, 2009

Mike, Alan and Kristen were up most the night as there were 20 knot winds and the current was swinging our boats within 15 feet of each other.  It was a sleepless night, except for me, I had taken a sleeping pill and had no idea all this was going on.  At 9AM we are leaving for Ambrym Island and Alan is taking John, a local who needs to see his son who goes to school on Ambrym.  The wind has died but the swells it left are 6 feet and rolling the boat, not fun.  Somehow Mike cut his thumb and it is bleeding enough to need a band-aide.  He has other cuts on his leg that are looking infected so I got out the first kit and poured peroxide on them and put antibiotic cream on them, the things he does for attention.  We arrived at the anchorage, Ranon Bay on Ambrym Island in the rain so we stayed on our boat.

 

August 8, 2009

It is sunny this morning so we went to shore to the tourism hut.  It was a steep black sand beach, so it was difficult to pull the dinghy up on shore.  We decided to go on a ‘survival tour’ for 1500VT each, kind of expensive but it was a half day medium difficulty hike.  Our guides name was Jeffrey.  It had been raining so the mud trail was slick and we were climbing a steep hill.  I said I need a walking stick so Jeffery cut one for Kristen and me.  We met Roslyn who came along to show us how to weave two different types of baskets out of coconut palm leaves.  She made two baskets in about 15 minutes.  At the next stop he showed us how to build a shelter out of sticks and coconut palm leaves woven together.  Then he climbed a coconut tree to get us drinking coconuts which he cut open with a machete.  We hiked to a garden through thick bush that he whacked down as we followed him.  The garden had a fence around it to keep out wild pigs.  Then we climbed up steeper slope where he showed us how to make a trigger trap to catch a wild chicken, and told us how to catch pigs by digging a hole, in both instances he cuts open a coconut as bait.  Then he built a bow and arrow from the tree branches, bark and vine off a banyan tree.  He gave us some coconut meat and foam to eat and then the final thing was how to build a fire without matches.  Since it had been raining he didn’t actually get the fire going.  We paid for a pig roast tonight for dinner so we saw the pig tied to a stick over the fire.  Back at our boat Jeffrey canoed out and ask for gas for the generator and we copied Bill Gaither music concert for him and his family to watch.  At 6:30PM we went to shore for the BBQ, too bad it was dark.  They had laid out a mat, topped with banana leaves then the pig and around the pig were cooked taro topped with coconut sauce and the around that bananas.  Then we sat on the ground around that.  They had a lantern but it was still difficult to see what you were eating.  Mike said Grace and then you were just supposed to pull off the part of the pig you wanted to eat.  I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t pig skin with hair or just fat, so Mike got me a piece of actual meat, it was great.  The legs didn’t seem cooked enough so we didn’t eat that.  Again we had no plates and ate with our fingers and then they had a wash bucket and towel.  When we were completely finished the locals all ate the rest, and they didn’t care what they ate, the head the tail, everything except the ears!  It was a fun evening.

 

August 9, 2009

It is Sunday so we took our malaria pills.  It is cloudy, hot and humid today.  We spent the morning cleaning the produce we bought from the locals, it was covered with ash from the volcano as well as dirt and bugs.  I didn’t want lettuce I just wanted round cabbage, instead we got lettuce and bok choy.  They call bok choy cabbage, they have round cabbage and island cabbage, so you have to be specific when you ask for cabbage.  While we were cleaning on deck we saw a marlin that must have been between 4 and 5 feet long jump completely out of the water.  We went on a short hike that was up steep hills and then back down, we got tired pretty quickly.  A coconut dropped in front of us out of no where, good thing we were standing under the tree.  We saw several teenage boys coming down a steep hill from their garden, they had a long stick they carried across their shoulders with several taro on each side, a heavy load.  They seemed to be racing each other but we were able to get them to pose for a quick photo.  On the beach someone had put their laundry out on the black sand to dry it we thought that was interesting.  Back at our boat we enjoyed watching the sunset along with many locals out in their canoes. At dark we could see the volcano glowing red.

 

August 10, 2009

It’s beautiful sunny and hot already this morning.  Alan went on a hike up to the volcano, it was 5 hours uphill and 3 hours back, a long day.  Kristen and I went kayaking and we thought we might go for a hike.  She wore some shoes she said she was going to leave on the beach for someone as she didn’t need them.  We met Chief Johnson who was going to show us to a fresh water spring that we could swim in.  On the way a pod of dolphins swam around us for about 20 minutes.  It was really cool.  The chief beat his paddle on his canoe and said that would draw the dolphins close to us.  Not sure if that did it or not but they were really close and jumping out of the water right in front of us.  When we got to the rocks with the spring you really couldn’t swim but you could sit in the pool, but it wasn’t all that deep and it had algae so we didn’t stay long.  As we were getting out the chief asked Kristen if she had any spare shoes like the ones she had on.  We thought this must have been a God incident.  She just gave him her shoes and he was very happy.  They fit him too!  Mike had stayed on the boat computing he said he doesn’t feel like he has much energy today.  When Alan returned we went over to hear about his hike and see his photos.  He was exhausted.

 

August11, 2009

It was windy all night and still is this morning.  We are planning to leave as soon as Alan finishes helping a local fix his outboard engine.  He was paid with a fruit bat which he declined, but they insisted.  Mike printed pictures of Jeffrey, Roslyn and Barry that he took ashore too.  We headed for Pentecost Island and big swells were on our beam so it was a rolly ride.  We arrived at 1PM.  We anchored a half mile away from Charisma.  We are near Captain Cooks rock which supposedly he inscribed his name.  There is also a plane wreck you could snorkel if you could brave the sharks.  Kristen wants to see the ‘land diving towers’.  Our guide book says it cost $75 per person so we are going to pass.  As it turns out they were able to see the towers for $5 but they weren’t performing.  The diving is usually done in April and May and has over 1000 seats for tourists to view the diving.  The diving symbolizes boy passing to manhood.  Sometime they die doing this.  They are tied by their legs and their head and shoulders hit soft dirt when they land.  No wonder some die. Scary!  When we went to shore we were given a tour by two local guys.  They walked us along a dirt road through creeks and rivers, some rather swift.  We met many school kids walking on the road and they cross the rivers by themselves on their way to school.  As a parent this would certainly worry me.  We saw a hot spring and were disappointed it wasn’t big enough to sit in it was just a narrow stream plus it was boiling hot.  They took us through the village that had several water faucets, I guess because they have so many rivers more people have running water just outside their houses.  They had some electrical lines running from a few houses too but at neck height, you could get strangled and electrocuted if you are not careful.  Alan caught a barracuda so we are invited to dinner.  On our way to dinner it was dark and the supply ship was coming in.  I was worried about getting hit while we were in our dinghy and Charisma was shining a spot light because they thought it might hit them! Yikes!

 

August12, 2009

It rained last night and is still raining this morning.  We ended up being able to fill out water tanks along with lots of laundry water! Yea! We stayed on the boat all day.  Alan and Kristen went to shore and the chief helped them cook their fruit bat.  First they burned the fur off over the fire, then they chopped it up and boiled it.  They ate almost every part of it.  Kristen didn’t like it but Alan thought it was okay, a little gamey.

 

August 13, 2009

It is still raining this morning!  Alan came over and took us over to see Captain Cooks rock and he snorkeled and tried to find the plane wreck but couldn’t see it.  We decided to go to the next bay on Pentecost, called Waterfall Bay.  We walked up another long steep hill to the Mission which is also the college but it was deserted as the kids were on holiday.  Walking back we met Sam and Clemy from the UK who were volunteer teachers at the college teaching drama.  They walked with us to the waterfall.  It was good they were our guides or we may not have found it.  You had to walk through a gate and we wouldn’t have done that.  It was a short hike and so beautiful.  It was difficult getting down to the pools so we could swim but we did it.  The harder part was getting out of the pool.  We had to climb up big slick rocks but we made it.  It was so refreshing and we really enjoyed it.  As we walked back to our dinghy Alan invited them to dinner.  We agreed to pick them up on our way to Charisma in a couple of hours.  When they arrived the surf was big and it was dusk and difficult to see the swells..  Long story short every time Mike tried to leave shore the dinghy would get swamped and thrown back on shore.  Unfortunately they couldn’t come, we just couldn’t get three people off the shore and they were soaking wet.  Mike was able to get himself back to the boat but he was soaking wet and had ripped his good shirt.  We still had dinner with Kristen and Alan.

 

August 14, 2009

We rolled all night, so we decided to head to the North end of Pentecost Island to Loltong Bay hoping it is more protected.  We left with 15 knots of wind and used just our head sail, there were still big swells but on our port quarter which is not nearly so miserable.  We arrived at a beautiful bay but we had to dodge coral and shallow water.  There were supposed to be lead markers on shore but we couldn’t see them.  When Alan arrived we got in the dinghy and went to check out a way to get in.  We found the leads on shore and sticks marking reefs so we pulled anchor and re-anchored in a much more protected area farther in the bay.  There was another boat here too, the Capricorn III with Laurel and Richard.  We went to shore and met Chief Richard.  There was a wedding going on and there were lots of people all over from two villages.  We took a walk along the bay and met lots of locals who wanted to shake our hands.  We saw a school and church and even restaurants and stores.  We went back to our boat and planned to come in later for the wedding.  We were told if we wanted to take pictures we would have to pay the chief.  We did go to the wedding, a three day event!  The first night, we did not witness, the families of the bride and groom have a tug a war contest to see who is the strongest family, not with a rope but with live snakes.  I kid you not! The family with the biggest piece wins! The second night there is a ritual surrounding the payment for the bride. This takes place on the dirt road in front of the meeting hall and all the women sit on one side of the road and all the men sit on the other side.  Kids just run all over.  Nothing seems very formal.  The grooms family pays with10 pigs, 3 pigs must have tusks! There were several mats too and 60,000VT that goes to the mother who raised the daughter.  They walk in a circle around the payment, the pigs are staked in front of the meeting hall where a feast is set up. The mats are next to the pigs on the ground. The pigs are all squealing and fighting. And the money is tied to a stick. They walk around them several times.  When they tap the stakes the pigs are tied to and tap the groom that means they accept the payment.  The pigs go to different family members and they take them right away.  Then there was a lecture to the groom, one last life lesson they called it.  Then the men drink kava, then after that the men eat the feast, they slaughtered a cow the day before, after the men eat then the women and children eat, this is at midnight!  Then they dance all night until day break and then they have the church service where the bride and groom are in white and a suit the next morning. They also brought us cruisers, there were 3 boats, a small piece of meat to share and baked yams before the rest of the people got to eat!  They treat cruisers well, on Pentecost Island.  It got cold so we went back to our boats, we wanted to see the dancing but it was just too late.

 

August 15, 2009

Mike is really sick this morning.  His symptoms are like Dengue Fever, severe headache, severe eye pain,  muscle, joint and bones ache and high fever.  He couldn’t get out of bed.  He said he wasn’t feeling well yesterday on our walk and he just got worse.  He stayed in bed all day so I went with Charisma and Capricorn to Gilbert’s garden.  He was trained in agriculture by the US Peace Corps.  His garden was high up on steep a hillside.  He learned to plant to prevent erosion, and to replant everything possible immediately so they don’t run out of food.  Plants like taro, you cut the root off and stick the plant back in the ground and it grows another taro in 3 months.  He plants pineapple in a square as a fence around his garden to keep the pigs out.  He plants sandalwood to make money.  He grows produce like tomatoes, spring onions, corn, cabbage, yams, taro, three different types of bananas, papayas, certain trees are planted to build with, and others for fire wood.  He is also working on getting gardens to grow closer to home.  We have noticed that on all the islands the locals plant their gardens far from their homes usually up steep hills.  It does have a lot to do with the water the ground gets naturally.  Gilbert’s mission is to teach his community and anyone who will listen about improving life and growing better gardens, rotating crops and protecting the soil for future crops.  He also has started a nursery where he has thousands of seedlings which he gives to the community to encourage replanting.  We gave a donation to help buy seeds.  His son had taken a carpentry class to learn how to build.  Gilbert told him he needed a tool shed.  His son said but you don’t have any tools, his dad said you have to start somewhere.  He built the tool shed and has been given lots of tools ever since including a brand new chain saw.  He also took us to the school and we met two volunteer teaches Joel and Tom.  They showed us around the small school.  Surprisingly it had a really nice chairs and desks for each child.  They have a small library too.  The boys play soccer and the girls play basketball. The location of the school is at the top of the hill so the kids would have a tough time playing ball without it rolling down the hill and all sides.  They don’t have any fences.  Gilbert gave his whole tour while wearing one flip flop.  They wear their shoes until they are totally worn out and if one breaks or they lose one they still keep wearing the other one.  We wish we would have had some shoes for him but his feet were very wide, so nothing we have would fit.

 

August 16, 2009

Mike woke up at 5:30AM with a high fever, so I washed his face gave him ibuprofen and he went back to bed.  It is Sunday so we took our malaria pills again.  The wind is blowing our boat around quite a bit but there is no fetch in this protected bay.  I am hoping that the anchor stays hooked because Mike is not up to doing anything.  Laurel and Richard stopped by to check on Mike and so did Alan and Kristen.  Mike slept all day.

 

August 17, 2009

Mike didn’t sleep well last night and his stomach hurts from taking all that ibuprofen and not eating much.  His temperature is normal this morning although he still doesn’t feel well.  He ate some fruit took a pain pill for the bone and muscle aches and went back to bed.  It is sunny and the wind is gusty today.  Kristen gave us some malaria treatment pills and Laurel gave me information on symptoms of Dengue and Malaria.  It sounds more like dengue fever, so we opt to not take the malaria pills besides they were expired and we were not sure they would be safe to take.  It is difficult to know what to do, there’s no doctor, phone or email.  But there is a prayer line to God and we used it!  According to the dengue information the only treatment is lots of liquid and pain medication. His temperature is back up tonight.

 

August 18, 2009

Mike is feeling much better and was able to get up although he is weak.  Our visa expires in two days so we decide to go with Charisma to Luganville on Espiritu Santo to renew our visas and cruising permit.  It is 55 miles so we had to get going, it could take 11 hours at 5 knots and we need to be able to anchor in daylight.  It was a nice day and we motor sailed all the way arriving at 5:30 PM, just before dark.  We ended up tying to a mooring at Aore Resort.  Sailing vessel Grace was also there.  It cost 1200VT per day but was just easier all around.  We had dinner and Mike went right to bed.

 

August 19, 2009

We didn’t sleep well last night and ended up getting up early to catch a ferry that would take us to a wharf close to immigration and customs and the main town.  It was a 10 minute ferry ride, it would have been an hour dinghy ride.  After getting our visa extended and new cruising permit Mike and I took a taxi to the local health clinic only the doctor only comes in once a week.  They sent us to the hospital but there were about a 100 people waiting to see the doctor and the reception said it would be at least 3 hours.  Since Mike was feeling better we took a taxi back to town and met Kristen and Alan for lunch.  We spent about 650VT for taxis, not bad plus it gave us a chance to see some of the inland area of the island.  We went to the local produce market and people were just lying around everywhere.  We did find some great produce.  Then we found a great grocery store, it was a little bit of everything.  It closed from noon to 1:30, so while we were waiting for it to open we found an internet café and did our online banking and sent one email to let everyone know we are okay.  We were able to buy an ice cube tray that sealed so it can be used without having to sit flat.  Our freezer is like a cooler, no shelves.  After shopping we bought ice cream cones and headed back to the ferry.  Back on our boat I cleaned all the produce so we could put it away.  The head of cabbage must have had 10 slugs in it, gross!  Then there was some bug that I cut in half with a knife and it kept crawling! Yuk!  Mike bought what we thought were nuts but they were some hard fruit that had no taste, I don’t think we will eat them.

 

August 20, 2009

Beautiful sunny morning with light wind.  We are sailing to Palikula Bay on Santo Island.  Destiny, Baraka and Warm Rain are there right now and it will be nice to catch up with them.  They were all part of the ICA Rally and will be going to New Caledonia soon.  We made it to the bay in two hours motor sailing.  It is really beautiful and would have been a great day to snorkel, and check out boat wrecks on shore but Mike wasn’t up to it.  He is still feeling tired and weak from the illness he had.  We did meet the boat Finale with Mike, Barbra and daughter Stephanie, really nice people.  He told us about Million Dollar Point which we sailed by today.  Apparently after a war the USA offered to sell the French some equipment for really cheap but the French think the USA will leave the equipment anyway because it is too expensive to ship home so they decline to buy it.  The USA decides if they won’t pay for it they will dump it in the sea, which they did.  The French decide to rescue it and had a ship trying to haul up a bulldozer only it turned over their ship and sunk it.  Now it’s all in the bay, thus Million Dollar point.  Many cruisers have snorkeled this point.

 

August 21, 2009

It is cloudy and windy all day so we just stayed on board and read, computed and did a little laundry.  Other boats were out and about and we realized it was still pretty warm out when Baraka stopped by to check on Mike.  They offered us their malaria test kit but we declined because we really don’t think it is malaria.  And he’s much better, just tires easily.

 

August 22, 2009

Mike got up at 6:30 and called Charisma, we need to leave now if we are going to get to Oyster Island, Peterson Bay if we are going to get their with enough tide to get in the bay.  So by 7AM we are under way.  We motored for 1.5 hours and got there 1.5 hours after high tide.  Alan went through first and had 2 feet under his keel, we draft a foot and 4 inches more than him so I thought we would have to wait but Mike decided to try.  Our depth sounder read -0- and there was no way to turn around and backing up with the strong current would be very difficult so he kept going and thank you Jesus we made it.  We dropped anchor in a beautiful bay with a resort with free internet and a restaurant.  Mind the gap is here too along with 9 other boats but there is lots of room to anchor.  They invited us over to coffee and cookies along with Charisma.  We had a lovely time and they gave us the scoop on the things to do.  We went to shore and did email and had fish and chips for lunch.  The internet connection only lasted about 30 minutes and the power was off due to road construction.  They hardly have any cars so it is surprising to hear of road construction.  We went back to our boat and later went to shore again to join Charisma for dinner, boy did we splurge today!  We had a great time and great food.

 

August 23, 2009

We got up at 6AM and had coffee so we could meet Charisma at 7AM to go to the ‘Blue Hole’.  We had to go early so we would have a high tide.  We motored about 2 miles.  The trek up the river was beautiful, jungle all around you, birds chirping and parrots too.  The water was very clear and at the very end of the river was the deep blue hole, a spring.  We tied the dinghy up to a tree near a slab of concrete and were able to dive into the water for a great swim.  I washed my hair and shaved my legs.  Kristen brought their bimini top and scrubbed it.  We ate pamplemoose after swimming. And then motored back to our boats, it was a wonderful treat.  Then we went to the resort for email and brunch, we really did splurge lately, we better stop.  But we sat with cruisers from 3 other boats and ate like pigs.  They served beef steaks, fish, calamari, oysters, lamb balls, beef curry, pasta, coleslaw, salad and bread.  Just when we thought we couldn’t eat another bite they brought out chocolate cake, ice cream, and fruit including watermelon.  We couldn’t leave without eating some. Yum Yum!  We didn’t eat dinner.  The toilet at the resort is outside, you enter from inside the restaurant and when you go in there is a half wall around you but you are sitting on a flush toilet outside.  When we went to get our dinghy to go back to our boat we realized all our dinghies had floated off the beach.  Thankfully another cruiser was able to rescue us

 

August 24, 2009

It is a cloudy morning and a little chilly but after breakfast we went up a different river to another ‘Blue Hole’.  Again it was a beautiful ride through the jungle.  This time though it was like a road between lily pads and just before we got to the end the lily pads were across the whole river so we had to use our oars and try to clear the way.  We made it and it was just as beautiful as the last blue hole.  We tied the dinghy off to the side and waded in.  Mike was the first one in the water which was a surprise.  He thinks the water is cold.  He swam over to a rope swing.  You have to climb a tree and hold on to the rope and swing out over the hole and jump.  He did it four times and I got a pretty good picture of him.  Alan did it several times as well but it was too hard to climb the tree for us girls.  We just swam and washed our hair again.  It was our bath tub.  We struggled getting through the lily pads to go back but we followed another dinghy and he did most the work.  It was low tide now and going down the river was much more difficult.  There were lots of rocks and trees to watch out for.  At lunch we had coffee to warm us up.  Kristen and Alan came over for dinner, I made a taco or burrito pizza pie.  Kristen brought warm chocolate pudding.  It was very good but after I ate, just a few minutes later I vomited everything up.  I was really sick for about a half an hour and then I was fine.  No one else got sick.

 

August 25, 2009

It was sunny and windy all day.  I was feeling much better but we stayed on the boat all day.  We were going to go to shore if we could get an internet signal but we never did.  So I just read all day and worked on updating this journal.  Mike did all the dishes from dinner last night and made breakfast.  What a nice treat.

 

August 26, 2009

Today is cloudy and windy but warm at times.  We have to stay in this bay until high tide on Saturday morning to make it out safely.  Alan called us and told us that internet was up, we are not able to tell from our boat, we are too far out.  We went to shore and I got email and Mike was able to upload some of our pictures to our website.  We didn’t think we could do this in Vanuatu.  He got two folders uploaded before his computer battery died.  Alan stopped by and told us a boat Racor caught a Wahoo and was giving out free fish.  We stopped by their boat and they gave us a big chunk too.  We prayed we would catch a fish, we didn’t but we were blessed anyway and with white fish which I like more.  Thank you Jesus!  Today was project day for Mike he fixed that tattered port headsail line that was chaffed from poling out and a reef line. And he was able to fix the cam cleat for the reef sail line, he found he was doing it backwards when he tried to fix it before.  Now to fix that fish for dinner!

 

August 27, 2009

It’s a nice sunny day so Kristen and I went to shore on Oyster Island and walked across the island to the other side hoping to find more shells on the other side where there are not so many tourists.  We found quite a few by sifting through the piles of coral on shore.  The waves push the coral to the shore in piles along with lots of shells.  After 3 hours of shell hunting we walked back to the restaurant and enjoyed cokes and the best French fries which they call chips.  Mike came to shore to pick us up and brought our computers with him.  Unfortunately the internet was down again, so Mike ordered some French fries and we helped him eat his too.  We met the people on Special Blend, a Nor haven 43, they own a fertilizer business, thus special blend. 

 

August 28, 2009

It rained last night but not enough to fill any of our jugs.  We planned to leave at high tide so we thought we would try to get email one more time, on the way it rained so hard we could have filled a jug if only we were on our boat.  We were able to get email so Mike took advantage and updated our website.  We stopped at Charisma and traded movies.  Another boat came into the bay and said it was really rough out on the open sea, so we decide to wait one more day before leaving.  We watched movies and then went to bed.

 

August 29, 2009

Today is sunny, hot and a little windy.  Mike copied Seamap for the boat Finale, with Mike and Barb.  While he was other on Finale I cleaned my shells, there is so much sand on them and I am trying to not get it on the boat.  Afterwards we went to the river looking for a marker that marks a fresh water spring where we filled our water jugs and Charisma’s.  It was a great place to wash my hair too!  Then we had lunch and pulled anchor to head south.  The wind is on our nose so we motor to Palikula where we had anchored once before.  There is an abandoned fish processing plant that we checked out.  It is a shame that it was let go due to a land dispute.  It was quite a large operation at one time, but is a shambles now.  There is also a ship that is on the beach and abandoned as well.  Very sad, such a waste.  Later we watched the beautiful sunset with Charisma.

 

August 30, 2009

It’s sunny and windy this morning and at 9:30AM we were ready to go.  We were able to sail to weather, all the way back to Luganville.  Mike was able to test out a program he wrote that computes true wind from apparent wind and VMG.  Knowing this information allows you to choose the angle of sail to sail the boat more efficiently toward your destination. When we arrived at Luganville we planned on picking up a mooring ball but there weren’t any available so we had to anchor in the bay.  The afternoon was so hot it was miserable.  We made pizza, watched a movie and went to bed.

 

August 31, 2009

It is a nice sunny morning and we have to go ashore and catch a bus to go to customs to check out of Santo.  We went to a great café for breakfast and then Mike and Alan went to customs and Kristen and I went to the grocery store.  We waited at a picnic table in front of the store, for the guys to return and then we all went to the market before catching a bus back to our boat.  Once at our boat we pulled anchor and sailed to weather again, tacking up the channel, hoping to get as far as possible before dark. I was at the helm and Mike did the sails, it was kind of fun although tiring for Mike pulling the sails around so many times.  We sailed as far as Mala Bay, which really wasn’t all that protected.

 

September 1, 2009

It was a very rolly night! So it was easy to get up early and head out.  We plan to sail to Crab Bay and were on our way by 7AM.  We had lots of wind, 30 knots apparent.  We had out so much sail that we were over powered and heeled over 25 – 30 degrees for hours, not fun!  I had decided not to close the window in the forward head, big mistake.  I went inside the cabin to check on things and water was pouring by the gallons inside the bathroom.  The sink and head were full of water, the floor boards were floating, the towels and toilet paper were soaking wet. I immediately closed the window and turned on the bilge pump.  The toilet paper had clogged the shower drain, so I cleaned that and that got the bulk of the water out of the boat.  After all this I noticed that water was also pouring in the forward hatch too, turns out the hatch was closed but not locked.  The bed and blankets were soaked too.  We discovered that one storage area in the floor that doesn’t have a drained had 15 gallons of salt water in it.  This is where we stored boxed milk and juice, for some reason the boxed all leaked and we had to throw them all away.  We had taken on so much water that the secondary bilge alarm went off.  We had such a big mess.  We will never leave windows open again and we will always secure all hatches!  The good news of the day was that Alan caught a Wahoo, approximately 4 feet long!  We dropped anchor at 4:30PM and finished cleaning everything up.  We also discovered our hand held radios got wet and one quit working.  We use them when anchoring and in an emergency when one of us is up front and one of us is at the helm.  We had dinner and went to bed early.

 

September 2, 2009

We had a good nights sleep and are up early to sail farther South.  We have 15 knots of wind and fairly flat seas, sailing 7 knots.  We arrived at Port Sandwich on Matakula at 1:30PM but we weren’t anchored until 2:15, we dropped anchor four times before our anchor hooked.  Another boat right behind us did the same thing.  There are about 10 boats in this anchorage, it is quite a ways down a channel and very protected, it won’t be rolly here!  We didn’t catch any fish but Alan gave us a chunk of his Wahoo.  We gave him some garlic as he was out, so a good trade for us and he was happy.  Mike repaired the raw water pump to the refer motor, it corroded apart.  And when we heel over it won’t circulate water until we bleed the air out of the lines, what a pain. 

 

September 3, 2009

It is sunny and windy and we pulled anchor at 7AM.  Charisma is ahead of us but we pass them in no time.  There is 20 knots apparent wind and we are sailing 7 knots, kind of fun!  We sailed to Lamen Bay on Epi, we have also been here before.  We arrived at 1PM and by 5PM the bay was rolly, not looking forward to the night.  A local man named Jim came out in his dug out canoe and gave us bananas.  He was really nice. 

 

September 4, 2009

What a rolly night! We are up early and ready to leave by 7AM.  Mike had to change propane tanks as we ran out in the one.  It is weird the new tank only shows 50#’s of pressure and we only used it to barbeque a fish.  We were planning to sail 8 miles to Revelieu Bay.  Currently there’s not much wind although 18 knots is predicted.  Well the wind picked up to 20 knots with big seas.  We saw Morning Light with Jaime and Christine in the next bay called Foreland Bay.  We talked to them on the radio and they had just come from Revelieu Bay and said it was way too rolly and Foreland Bay was much calmer although once we anchored we felt it was still a little rolly.  Charisma put out a stern anchor to minimize the roll.  We decided that was too much work and just anchored as close to shore as possible for a little more protection.  Three young girls came out to our boat in a dug out canoe and brought us a pamplemoose.  They wanted a t shirt in trade but I gave them chocolate in exchange.  They seemed happy with the trade.  We had appetizers and dinner on Charisma with Morning Light too.

 

September 5, 2009

It is very windy this morning so we decide to stay here another day.  But now Alan wants to go all the way to Port Vila tomorrow, that’s about 60 miles, one long day.  We all went snorkeling today, it was really nice with lots of coral beneath a cliff wall with lots of fish.  Today two young girls came out in the dug out canoe and gave us drinking coconuts and I had found a pair of exercise shorts and sports bra I gave them.  They won’t wear shorts except under their skirts, which are often ragged with big holes, so shorts are good.  They were really happy, I wish I would have had more.  Some boys came out and I gave them 100VT to burn our trash for us.  They liked that idea too, so I sent them to Charisma too.  Charisma and Morning Light came over for appetizers but first Morning Light had a kava date on their boat.  They gave us a sample, it was awful.  One teaspoon of this nasty tasting stuff numbs your tongue.  I can’t imagine drinking a whole cup full.  We had a nice evening.

 

September 6, 2009

We got up at 5AM to head to Port Vila, Efate.  At first everything was calm, but not for long.  We had 25 knot winds with gusts to 32 apparent.  We heeled for hours at 25 – 40 degrees, this gets really tiring, and you have to hold yourself up.  My neck and abs hurt.  We had a new problem this time, the galley sinks through hole was below the water line and heeled over so far caused the sinks to fill up with salt water, that wouldn’t be so bad but it splashed all over the galley.  I tried putting the plugs in the sink but the pressure just popped them out.  Finally Mike found the through valves and closed them.  Then the worst problem, the wind generator broke the aluminum part we had welded in Rarotonga.  We really rely on this generator to offset the power usage of the auto pilot and the navigation computer and at night the running lights.  It was to difficult to make lunch since we were heeled over so far that I brought up cheese, crackers and an apple that I sliced in the cockpit.  We decided to go to Havannah Bay on Efate instead of going all the way to Port Vila.  We were anchored by 2:30 and were so tired, we really needed the rest.  Mike took a nice hot shower.

 

September 7, 2009

We slept great last night.  It is a beautiful sunny morning and the du dong are swimming in front of our boat.  I take my coffee to the deck where I can look for other sea life.  A man in a canoe comes out trying to sell produce but we really don’t need anything else.  We headed for Port Vila at 9AM with light wind and flat seas.  We are hoping to catch a fish since we are sailing between islands.  Alan seems to have better luck fishing near land in shallow water.  I was looking on the chart and saw these wavy lines and ask Mike what that meant.  Well it wasn’t long before I knew, off Devils Point, due to wind and current there are huge swells and the wind had changed from 10 knots to 27 knots in a flash.  That was the end of our beautiful sail, it was rough the rest of the way to Port Vila where we were able to catch a mooring ball for a peaceful nights sleep.  We were next to Airstream and went to shore for dinner with them and Charisma, it was a nice reunion sharing adventures.  We signed up for an internet connection again and when I turned on my computer it started smoking.  It had gotten wet when water came down the mast and dripped on the table where my computer was sitting.  Mike finally got it working again.  We called a few friends and family.  It is so nice to be back in communication with loved ones.

 

September 8, 2009

Kristen flies home this afternoon, I will really miss her.  We walked to the store to look for easy to fix or eat food for the passage back to Fiji.  There may be a weather window coming soon.  Mike found a welder who welded the wind generator.  When we got it back, it didn’t look like it would hold but there is no one else to weld it.  He also bought propane, it was twice as expensive as in Fiji.  Mike bought us ice cream bars and I bought post cards for the kids, last time I mailed all my post cards without postage, a blond moment.  This time a put on the postage and mailing addresses first.  Now to find a post office.

 

September 9, 2009

It is hot this morning, 90 degrees.  I dropped off a load of laundry to be washed and dried before we leave, a treat for me, then I walked to town to mail my post cards and went to the market for a little produce.  I exchanged books at the yacht club but you have to leave a book plus 50VT for each book you take.  Usually you just trade books, oh well, I got two new books.  Before going back to the boat I took a cold shower so I could wash my hair, it is nice to have lots of water, cold or not.  Mike ordered a PUR membrane for our water maker to be sent to Kristen while she is home and she will bring it back to us, along with Tylenol, Pepcid and Lo dose aspirin for Mike and Vitamins, the things you really can‘t get here.  Alan may have found crew so he doesn’t have to single hand back to Fiji.  I also worked on our taxes, we had gotten an extension to file in October when we thought we would be home, but since we won’t be, we have to do our taxes over email.  What a busy day.  Airstream and Charisma come over for happy hour.

 

September 10, 2009

It is cooler and cloudy this morning and rained this afternoon.  I am excited to find out I have 94,000 air miles and the cost of a ticket with air miles is 80,000.  Something to think about.  I got our taxes done thanks to Kathy emailing me numbers I needed and being able to check on line for other information.  Got together with Airstream and Charisma again tonight and we met Eduardo who will crew with Alan to Fiji, thank you Jesus.

 

September 11, 2009

Mike and Alan reviewed the weather today and decided that we will leave on Saturday.  So they go to shore to check us out.  I did a little cooking for the passage, cookies, jello, pasta, chili, pudding and juice.  Sailing to weather could make it difficult to cook so I want to have some options.  Janet and Bill stop by and give us some spaghetti sauce.  Janet says Bill hated it but she thought it was good, but won’t cook it for herself so we were blessed.  They said good-bye to us, they are headed North and we are headed East back to Fiji.  We will miss them.  I found bugs again, so I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and double bagging flour, rice etc.  We had dinner watched movies and went to bed.

 

September 12, 2009

We reviewed the weather again and they have predicted a significant storm so we are now going tomorrow. We got fuel and water and went to Hideaway Cove to wait for the storm to pass, it came at dark.  We spent the day just getting ready to go.  Mike had to deflate the dinghy too, we didn’t want it on deck as it gets in the way of the staysail.  After we got fuel we had 160VT left in change, I gave it to a local man on the dock who helped us shove off.  He seemed really happy to get it even though he has a job that pays money.  A lot of the Vanuatu people do not have a way to earn money.

 

September 13, 2009

It was a rolly sleepless night, which is the pits since we won’t get a good night sleep until we arrive in Fiji.  We were up at 5:30AM and underway by 6AM.   Day one: 20–26 knots of wind, sailing 6–7 knots.  By 2PM the wind lightened to 17-21 knots and we still sailed 6-7 knots with a full head sail, staysail and reefed main.  Pretty comfortable, other than we took several big waves over the dodger and water came through any hole it could find and of course got us wet.  Once again, I guess we didn’t learn, our bed got wet from open ports in the stern.  Oh well, we sleep in the salon on passage. 

 

September 14, 2009

Day 2, by 6AM we have sailed 132 miles, the whole trip is 540 miles.  Today is beautiful but wind is light and we are motor sailing off and on, but mostly to charge the reefer.  We are within a couple of miles of Charisma, it is nice to be in sight of each other.  Charisma caught a Dorado, we caught zilch!  Mike made us breakfast.  He enjoyed the gummy bears I bought him while in Port Vila.

 

September 15, 2009

Day 3, by 6AM we have sailed 277 miles – half way!  It is a beautiful sunny morning but the wind is on our nose.  Mike thinks we will have to motor for the next 24 hours.  The good thing is the refer is at 10 degrees.  Sailing to weather or rolling from side to side, the water pickup doesn’t work and puts air in the lines, so we cant charge the refer at all.  We are still in site of Charisma, they are a little ahead, but we were ahead all night.  This is the first time we have been in site of each other on a passage for so long.  This morning it is hot so we have on our swimsuits.  We had a nice breakfast and are just relaxing at the moment.  We were fishing but we lost a lure and the line, bummer!  Mike put on a big lure since we don’t have much else.  I went to check it and was sure we had a fish on but the type of lure dives and is really difficult to pull in.  After pulling it all in there was nothing.  Alan caught another Dorado.  He has all the luck!  Tonight we decided to watch a movie in the cockpit and eat dinner at the same time.  Mike rigged a light to see by and the sound through the radio so it could be loud enough to hear over the engine noise.  It was fun!

 

September 16, 2009

It was a beautiful sunrise and the wind has started to pick up.  At one point we were motor sailing at 9 knots!  We shut off the engine and maintained 7 knots in light wind and flat seas.  This is very peaceful.  I woke up to the smell of pancakes, or so I thought, it was 3AM and Mike was making popcorn, he said he was hungry.  We checked in on SSB6235 and heard Meridian, Scarlett O’Hara, BPD, Tin Soldier and Airstream.  Nice to hear from all of them and to hear where they are sailing to.  We put out a different fishing lure this morning, I am still believing for a fish.  Only 15 hours to Lautoka.  And we went through the pass to Momi Bay at midnight.  As we were in the pass a big ship hailed us on the radio, he plans to pass us port to port. It is pitch black, there is no moon and the pass is narrow with reefs on both sides, with one reef marked, and lots of shallow spots, and there is a strong current.  The good thing is we passed the narrowest part before he got there.  It takes us at least 10 minutes to get through this pass at 5 knots.  The ship was so close to us it was really scary but we had to just stay the course and keep going.  I think we held our breath the whole time, it was such a relief to get inside the reef and drop our anchor in the bay.  Thank you Jesus!  Alan was about an hour behind us and anchored near us.

 

September 17, 2009

We woke up about 8:30 Fiji time and had breakfast and pulled anchor to head for Lautoka.  It is about a 3 hour sail to Queens Wharf to check in.  We had gone about two miles and our engine just suddenly dies.  There is about 5 knots of wind so I sail and Mike is down below working on the engine.  He switches fuel tanks and fuel filters and it seems all is well for about 5 minutes.  So he goes back down to try to figure it all out.  Under sail I was following Charisma because Alan agreed to tow us if necessary. We had sailed about 30 minutes and Alan called me on the radio and says there is no wind we may as well drop our sails. Just as he said that we got hit by a squall with 35 knot winds and our head sail got all tangled around the roller furling and the sheet line came out of the block whipping everywhere.  And we suddenly couldn’t see Alan or anything else as it was raining so hard and the rain stung our faces.  And we couldn’t navigate because we lost the satellite signal to the GPS.  We decided to drop our anchor in 80 feet of water right in the middle of the channel hoping no ships were coming as we were not sure they could see us.  Our anchor was dragging as the swells were huge, so we still weren’t safe.  After about a half an hour the wind dropped to 24 knots and it seemed so peaceful, normally peaceful is 10 -15 knots.  Anyway since we were dragging anchor Mike decides to pull the anchor and try and let the head sail out all the way in hopes that it will untangle.  And it did, so we were able to sail to the anchorage or most of the way before the wind died completely.  Mike made a work around by hooking the fuel hoses to a gerry can and was able to start the engine in order to motor the rest of the way to the anchorage. Our head sail Sunbrella is shredded, that is the protective covering for the head sail. Our anchor is down and now we can rest.  As we were going through all this, all I could hear in my head was the song, ‘Jesus has never failed me yet’!