June 1, Sat afternoon This is the urban center of Vanuatu. They have laundry here!! I'm so so so happy! Went to a hotel for a beautiful fat filled breakfast to eat with my Malarone. Well, the eggs and tablespoon of ham has fat. Yes, the way to keep the anti-malaria drug from making me feel yucky is to take once a day with a fat meal. The beautiful part of the breakfast was the piles of fresh local fruit.
Our friends' boat broke the mooring line in the night - scary. It went adrift and got tangled up with some other boats and no serious damage was done. We went to bed at 7 pm after sailing 24 hours including all night and we slept through the whole affair.
I think Barry is SO SO smart!! He can fix everything - engines, water tanks, wifi antenna, tow generator, alternators, regulators, on and on.
He went off in the dinghy to dump trash and get more $ out of the ATM and brought back lunch from the local outside marketplace. Leaves, potatoes, manioc, and yams all with a smoky flavor and wrapped in a banana leaf. Barry calls it a leaf lunch - you know, bag lunch/leaf lunch. And it was a bargain because he got it without the chicken wing. He says the chicken feet go to China, the turkey tails go to Tonga and apparently the chicken wings come to Vanuatu. I think Americans just eat skinless chicken breasts. Do you remember when we were in Tonga and the meat market only had lamb flaps (don't ask me), turkey tails and lard? And we were in China with Leo and had chicken feet?
The money here says "Ripablik Blong Vanuatu" and "Long God yumi stanap". I'm not sure about what long means here.
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Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Volcanos and Visiting
May 29
We went with Tom to kastom village to see kastom dancing and singing. From here to there he kept up a steady flow of information about life on Tanna. Again we picked up and dropped off local people as we went along. Two of the passengers he said were going to nakamal, a kind of town meeting. The nakamal was to solve a problem. What problem? A man and his wife and the neighbor are having a problem and the chief and certain other people (I don't know how they are chosen) get together with the parties and work it out. If the offender doesn't do as decided then off he goes to the police and if he still doesn't comply, it's off to prison. I've never seen or heard of a prison here so the system must work before it gets to that point. Nakamals are an essential part of life here. As I said, it is pitch black after 6 pm. At that time everyone gathers at a clearing with log benches and some plank shelves and that site is also called nakamal. So at nakamal local news is spread, problems solved, kava drunk (men only), produce traded and toktok, all around a fire ring of glowing embers.
Two more men we picked up are football (soccer) players, as is Tom. No kava drinking for them during the season. They are champions in Vanuatu.
The niVans are very industrious and their villages are very clean and tidy. When we pass through a village everyone is raking leaves, putting away, building, repairing, cooking, washing or gardening. We pass many groups of 2 or 3 people harvesting yams, manioc/cassava/tapioca, pawpaw (papaya), banana, island cabbage (kind of like spinach) and fruits and nuts I never saw before. Tom asked them for a sample and gave to us to try - all good. He said on Tanna (no other island) if you pass through a person's garden you can eat whatever you find. At the end, if you see the owner of the garden you tell him what you ate and he says OK no problem. If you don't see the owner then don't tell him. On other islands anywhere this is tabu. There are many huge banyan trees which seem to be a source of pride. He pointed out sandalwood saplings planted in groves which he said are owned by people from India he thinks. He thinks maybe they make sandals from the wood; he's not sure. The sandalwood trees strip the soil of nutrients and then their local crops do not give much fruit he says.
We pass Larry's bungalow. Larry was a Peace Corps person and he did good projects for the niVans. After Larry came Sandra. They stay for 3 years, then leave. Does he like the Peace Corps? Very good; he loves them. Very good. Whenever we ask a question, the niVans spend a few seconds thinking before they answer. Can you imagine - thinking before you speak? And speaking quietly? What lovely people.
We took lots of pictures and videos and when we get to internet we will send. Maybe. If it's fast enough. Or we may make a flash drive and give to Sheryl and she can post when she gets home.
We told Tom we would like some island cabbage. He said come to his house and he would cook some and his wife, Annie, would crack a coconut, he would grate and she would squeeze to make milk. Then we would have milked island cabbage to eat. So at six o'clock we went ashore in the dinghy, found his house in the total darkness, had a delicious dinner of all local foods - pawpaw, manioc, bananas, milked cabbage/spinach, and unmilked cabbage/spinach. They kept apologizing for no meat. They were happy when we said we didn't eat meat. They eat meat sometimes but not once a day and not once a week - just sometimes. Tom explained how his grandfather lived to be more than 100 years old and only ate uncooked local produce. They woke up and brought to us to show off their 5 month old son, Chris. He was very unhappy about the flash camera but mama nursed him and he went peacefully back to sleep. After dinner we all went to the John Frum Wednesday night service which was very pleasant singing, guitar playing and hand clapping. As we walked back to Rubber Ducky (the dinghy) we had to be careful to not stumble over someone sitting there in the night, unseen in the darkness. We could not have spent a more heavenly night out.
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We went with Tom to kastom village to see kastom dancing and singing. From here to there he kept up a steady flow of information about life on Tanna. Again we picked up and dropped off local people as we went along. Two of the passengers he said were going to nakamal, a kind of town meeting. The nakamal was to solve a problem. What problem? A man and his wife and the neighbor are having a problem and the chief and certain other people (I don't know how they are chosen) get together with the parties and work it out. If the offender doesn't do as decided then off he goes to the police and if he still doesn't comply, it's off to prison. I've never seen or heard of a prison here so the system must work before it gets to that point. Nakamals are an essential part of life here. As I said, it is pitch black after 6 pm. At that time everyone gathers at a clearing with log benches and some plank shelves and that site is also called nakamal. So at nakamal local news is spread, problems solved, kava drunk (men only), produce traded and toktok, all around a fire ring of glowing embers.
Two more men we picked up are football (soccer) players, as is Tom. No kava drinking for them during the season. They are champions in Vanuatu.
The niVans are very industrious and their villages are very clean and tidy. When we pass through a village everyone is raking leaves, putting away, building, repairing, cooking, washing or gardening. We pass many groups of 2 or 3 people harvesting yams, manioc/cassava/tapioca, pawpaw (papaya), banana, island cabbage (kind of like spinach) and fruits and nuts I never saw before. Tom asked them for a sample and gave to us to try - all good. He said on Tanna (no other island) if you pass through a person's garden you can eat whatever you find. At the end, if you see the owner of the garden you tell him what you ate and he says OK no problem. If you don't see the owner then don't tell him. On other islands anywhere this is tabu. There are many huge banyan trees which seem to be a source of pride. He pointed out sandalwood saplings planted in groves which he said are owned by people from India he thinks. He thinks maybe they make sandals from the wood; he's not sure. The sandalwood trees strip the soil of nutrients and then their local crops do not give much fruit he says.
We pass Larry's bungalow. Larry was a Peace Corps person and he did good projects for the niVans. After Larry came Sandra. They stay for 3 years, then leave. Does he like the Peace Corps? Very good; he loves them. Very good. Whenever we ask a question, the niVans spend a few seconds thinking before they answer. Can you imagine - thinking before you speak? And speaking quietly? What lovely people.
We took lots of pictures and videos and when we get to internet we will send. Maybe. If it's fast enough. Or we may make a flash drive and give to Sheryl and she can post when she gets home.
We told Tom we would like some island cabbage. He said come to his house and he would cook some and his wife, Annie, would crack a coconut, he would grate and she would squeeze to make milk. Then we would have milked island cabbage to eat. So at six o'clock we went ashore in the dinghy, found his house in the total darkness, had a delicious dinner of all local foods - pawpaw, manioc, bananas, milked cabbage/spinach, and unmilked cabbage/spinach. They kept apologizing for no meat. They were happy when we said we didn't eat meat. They eat meat sometimes but not once a day and not once a week - just sometimes. Tom explained how his grandfather lived to be more than 100 years old and only ate uncooked local produce. They woke up and brought to us to show off their 5 month old son, Chris. He was very unhappy about the flash camera but mama nursed him and he went peacefully back to sleep. After dinner we all went to the John Frum Wednesday night service which was very pleasant singing, guitar playing and hand clapping. As we walked back to Rubber Ducky (the dinghy) we had to be careful to not stumble over someone sitting there in the night, unseen in the darkness. We could not have spent a more heavenly night out.
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013
May 27
May 27, 2013
Birds are beautiful weavers of friendships. I told Naomi that I wanted to see birds. The children heard and ran off gleefully to climb up the corner post of their thatch house. There they had a birdcage made from vines and a stick with 2 young Coconut Lorikeets. We spent about an hour playing and posing with those birds which are an abundant resident breeding species in Vanuatu. There were 50 Common Mynas in the village. At least the locals know that those birds came from far away, China they thought but really India, and are harming the local birds and that the native birds have declined since the myna's arrival. After the birds Naomi showed us a steaming heap of dirt where lap lap was being cooked - it's the national dish and is made from cassava (or taro or yam) dough wrapped in leaves and maybe containing bits of meat.
We cruisers, 2 French couples, ourselves and a 16 year old (about) named Tonga, arranged for transportation to see the volcano. We rode together in a Toyota 4WD driven by John on a road made of volcanic ash and lined with steaming vents. The ash turns to slush when it rains and so the road had impassable gullies here and there. We managed. As we traveled we stopped and picked up more and more niVan until the truck was overflowing. Through jungle we bumped. We saw flocks of Yellow-fronted White-eyes, a Vanuatu endemic. In Bislama (pidgin) they are called yelo sma fella pigeon. (All birds are called pigeon in Bislama.) As night fell we began to see flying foxes (fruitbats that they eat) and 100s of Glossy Swiftlets, abundant breeding birds. We discussed languages because Tonga speaks fluent French, English and Greek and the locals speak at least 3 languages. Tok tok is talk in Bislama. Love it.
The volcano! We parked and hiked up to the rim through a barren red and black ash landscape. I was think of running to stand under a tree in case one of those lava bombs headed my way but, alas, there was not a living thing there. We stood on the rim with perhaps 50 other people and watched, heard and felt old Mt Yasur belch and explode high into the air. Most of the lava bombs fell nowhere near us and the few that came close were so high that you had plenty of time to … duck? I don't know. We have photos and movies. Spectacular!!
It was pitch black on the way back. How wonderful to live in a place that's dark when it's dark! People sitting in groups with glowing branches from the fire to use as a torch (flashlight). Everything and everyone is quiet and still. EEK! Some boys jump out of the jungle and yell the equivalent of "Boo!" and our whole truck erupts in laughter. So so funny. It was 8:30pm when we got back to the boat. Nothing to see at all except the slowly rocking masthead lights of the 8 boats in the bay and trillions of bright bright stars. Amazing what we give up for our lights.
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Birds are beautiful weavers of friendships. I told Naomi that I wanted to see birds. The children heard and ran off gleefully to climb up the corner post of their thatch house. There they had a birdcage made from vines and a stick with 2 young Coconut Lorikeets. We spent about an hour playing and posing with those birds which are an abundant resident breeding species in Vanuatu. There were 50 Common Mynas in the village. At least the locals know that those birds came from far away, China they thought but really India, and are harming the local birds and that the native birds have declined since the myna's arrival. After the birds Naomi showed us a steaming heap of dirt where lap lap was being cooked - it's the national dish and is made from cassava (or taro or yam) dough wrapped in leaves and maybe containing bits of meat.
We cruisers, 2 French couples, ourselves and a 16 year old (about) named Tonga, arranged for transportation to see the volcano. We rode together in a Toyota 4WD driven by John on a road made of volcanic ash and lined with steaming vents. The ash turns to slush when it rains and so the road had impassable gullies here and there. We managed. As we traveled we stopped and picked up more and more niVan until the truck was overflowing. Through jungle we bumped. We saw flocks of Yellow-fronted White-eyes, a Vanuatu endemic. In Bislama (pidgin) they are called yelo sma fella pigeon. (All birds are called pigeon in Bislama.) As night fell we began to see flying foxes (fruitbats that they eat) and 100s of Glossy Swiftlets, abundant breeding birds. We discussed languages because Tonga speaks fluent French, English and Greek and the locals speak at least 3 languages. Tok tok is talk in Bislama. Love it.
The volcano! We parked and hiked up to the rim through a barren red and black ash landscape. I was think of running to stand under a tree in case one of those lava bombs headed my way but, alas, there was not a living thing there. We stood on the rim with perhaps 50 other people and watched, heard and felt old Mt Yasur belch and explode high into the air. Most of the lava bombs fell nowhere near us and the few that came close were so high that you had plenty of time to … duck? I don't know. We have photos and movies. Spectacular!!
It was pitch black on the way back. How wonderful to live in a place that's dark when it's dark! People sitting in groups with glowing branches from the fire to use as a torch (flashlight). Everything and everyone is quiet and still. EEK! Some boys jump out of the jungle and yell the equivalent of "Boo!" and our whole truck erupts in laughter. So so funny. It was 8:30pm when we got back to the boat. Nothing to see at all except the slowly rocking masthead lights of the 8 boats in the bay and trillions of bright bright stars. Amazing what we give up for our lights.
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Tuesday, May 28, 2013
for Boden and Colby
Dear Colby and Boden,
We met a boat named Samba that has 2 children, Luke 10 years old and Sam 8 years old. The children are laughing and playing near us and we think you would enjoy meeting them. We hope that when you get here we will anchor near them again and you will have kids your age. People with children call their boats "kid boats". When you come to visit we will be a kid boat also. The kids boats always try and do things together. Tonight they all went to the volcano together. We went last night. The kids speak several languages. When they are with Americans they remember all their English, or if they are near German people they speak German or French people - well, you get the idea. It is just amazing how they know all these languages. This afternoon we visited with Stanley who lives here. He speaks 12 languages. He said there are 32 languages on Tanna!! And it's just a little island.
When do you go backpacking?
Love, Gramma and Grampa
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We met a boat named Samba that has 2 children, Luke 10 years old and Sam 8 years old. The children are laughing and playing near us and we think you would enjoy meeting them. We hope that when you get here we will anchor near them again and you will have kids your age. People with children call their boats "kid boats". When you come to visit we will be a kid boat also. The kids boats always try and do things together. Tonight they all went to the volcano together. We went last night. The kids speak several languages. When they are with Americans they remember all their English, or if they are near German people they speak German or French people - well, you get the idea. It is just amazing how they know all these languages. This afternoon we visited with Stanley who lives here. He speaks 12 languages. He said there are 32 languages on Tanna!! And it's just a little island.
When do you go backpacking?
Love, Gramma and Grampa
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Monday, May 27, 2013
A Day in the Vanuatu Life
May 27, 2013 Today was a day that our sailing is all about - visiting the locals and exploring the natural world. We dinghied ashore and were looking for birds when Pascal and Dennis showed up off the boats Manta and Post Scriptum - 2 catamarans which have been sailing together for a year. They said they were going to the volcano tonight and we were welcome to join the excursion. So they walked us to the village to find Stanley who arranges the trip to Mt.Yasur, the volcano. Stanley was elsewhere but we made arrangements with his sister, Naomi. As a matter of fact almost everyone was elsewhere because it was national election day and people had to travel to one place or another to vote. Naomi said she took care of her friends' children while the friends voted and vice versa. She took us to their White Sand Beach and sent the (what I thought were her) children off to play in the reef protected waters while explaining the whole child care system to us. Pretty much it boils down to all the children belong to everyone and whoever is handy cares for them. So the children she was caring for ran off down the beach to play with their friends and she just walked off because someone else was down there to care for them. These were tykes not yet in school - 2 to 4 year olds on the shore of largest ocean on earth. I was aghast but there seemed to be enough children so I guess the system works. She gave us a tour of the village and finished up with explaining that religion was very important to life there. These people on Tanna have the most bizarre religion I have ever heard of - the John Frum Cult. John Frum showed up in Vanuatu in 1939 and said he was John from America - hence the name John Frum. He was made an associate of the head god. Then in World War II, Americans were stationed in Vanuatu and so John Frum America and the generous and kind black American soldiers (who looked like the ni Van) and the Red Cross and wealth all got mixed up together with religion and they have rituals designed to get John Frum to have a second coming in Vanuatu. Confusing, I know, but that's their religion and we are welcome to come on Wednesday night here at the village in the Church of the Red Cross. Wednesday night certainly sounds better than Friday night when they stay up until Saturday morning singing and dancing. She said they also had Presbyterian and Seventh Day. The Seventh Days had a school, dispensary and church. The Sevenths sound good to us because of the health and education and the exemption from having to drink kava. She explained the water system. Here goes: they have water in the pipe but that water has problems so they use pumps throughout the village but they don't work. (?)
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Sunday, May 26, 2013
under the volcano
Well ... would you look at that!! Explosions followed by sky turning pink. Glasses are helping with ash in the eyes.
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Safe and sound
Sunday, 5:15 pm our time, anchor down and set. Volcano spewing, ashes in eyes and teeth, island as a whole steaming. Rain of various sorts all day and still cloudy but no rain now. Some Aneityum mosquitos sailed away with us and when we let our guard down (read took our clothes off) they bit me. Lynne 3 bites, Barry none. I think I'll do a happy dance. Maybe eat marshmellows for dinner. Or apples and peanut butter. What's your vote?
There are 2 catamarans in this little shallow anchorage, flat as can be, and 1 small red monohull pitching and rolling terribly. We are rolling a bit but my hero has a roll damper which he is deploying.
I am debating as to whether I should risk my life going up to the rim of this volcano to look in. A once in a lifetime experience they say. On the other hand my grandchildren need a gramma. How do you vote? Barry is going. That's one reason he came here. That, and hoping to get a big namba.
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There are 2 catamarans in this little shallow anchorage, flat as can be, and 1 small red monohull pitching and rolling terribly. We are rolling a bit but my hero has a roll damper which he is deploying.
I am debating as to whether I should risk my life going up to the rim of this volcano to look in. A once in a lifetime experience they say. On the other hand my grandchildren need a gramma. How do you vote? Barry is going. That's one reason he came here. That, and hoping to get a big namba.
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
Reef and Plan C
May 24 (23rd in US) Spent morning exploring reef seeing many moray eels, neon blue starfish, giant clams and little reef fishes. Healthy coral covering everything. 1 White-faced Reef Heron and 2 Great Crested Terns. Barry especially loves being on the edge of forever.
Simon has agreed to sail Sunrise back to NZ. We will fly back. Then we are going to sell Sunrise. If you have any opinions about the selling plan, let us know. We are trying this on to see if it fits and if not, we'll go to plan C.
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Simon has agreed to sail Sunrise back to NZ. We will fly back. Then we are going to sell Sunrise. If you have any opinions about the selling plan, let us know. We are trying this on to see if it fits and if not, we'll go to plan C.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
May 19-22, First few days in Vanuatu
Sorry, the very beginning has some repeat information, and some new information
May 19, Another sloop this morning with more children speaking 2 or 3 languages. Yes, these yachtie children pick up the language of the other children they meet on their travels. That makes 5 children 4-10 years old. Beautiful morning with clear skies and cool breezes. 86 degrees in boat but very pleasant with fans. Sunday morning. Clanging metal announces church. All is quiet on shore and we are happy with our yellow Q flag up. That quarantine flag must remain up the shrouds and we can't get off Sunrise until we check in.
May 21, 2013 What fun!. Everything is all quiet when the children are inside their boats doing their home schooling; then there is a big irruption of laughter and squealing and dad's speeding in the dinghies pulling children on various toys behind. That must be recess or lunch break or school's out for the day. We are waiting for the yachtie kids to join the village kids on the beach. That would be overflowing fun!
The Locals.
The ni Vans are quiet, soft spoken and shy. They look African but with blonde, red, brown in addition to black hair. They have learned to ask for Vatu, their money, for their generous offerings of music, meals, guides, ceremonies and dances. This suits all. They use the money to pay for and upgrade their schools and it is easy for the yachties to know what to give. There is also trading with batteries being the hot item as there is no electricity where we are. We traded batteries for 2 pamplemousse and a giant papaya plus a nice visit with 1 then 2 guys in a dugout. Then there is the car. Yes, someone drove an SUV up and down the beach on Sat and Sun using it as a giant mobile boom box. I think it is the only vehicle on the island but we suspect it won't last long in the salt water.
Evening of May 21. Another ni Van in a dugout came to Sunrise to invite us to a kava ceremony, local skills demonstration, dinner and kastom (traditional) dancing. He went to all 8 yachts and, of course, we all came to the big party! The yachties got to meet each other and learn lots from the locals. When together the yachties all commiserated with each other about how awful their trip from NZ to Vanuatu was. We might have had more gales than any other boat but that meant we were also faster than the others. Of the 8 boats in this harbor, 2 others are Wauquiezes like ours- that tells you something about the long distance cruising abilities of our Wauquiez boats. The ni Van demonstrated and explained their kastom clothing, how to make fire by rubbing a stick on a branch, how to drink kava and the local foods they prepared for us. For dinner we had chicken in leaves (we just ate the leaves - yummy, baked taro, prepared taro, cassava, cassava with coconut sauce, fish, oranges, pamplemousse and coconut. Suited us perfectly. They have no electricity, thus no refrigeration and only very seldom have meat. All they have comes from their gardens and the sea and maybe a careless chicken. If there is not enough from the garden, they go to bed hungry. The lack of meat is much different from any other place we have visited. At the end the ni Van had the yachties doing kastom dancing and we were very good as you might expect from such an adventurous bunch. Barry was very good!
May 22 Immigration came aboard this afternoon, we filled out more papers, and they collected more vatu. They told us this particular island, Aneityum, in Vanuatu has been declared malaria free. Every person who comes here from a malaria area is given a blood test and if positive they are denied entrance. Soon Tanna will be declared malaria free also. Aneityum (here) and Tanna are the 2 southernmost islands and the first we visit.
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| Aneityum Island |
May 19, Another sloop this morning with more children speaking 2 or 3 languages. Yes, these yachtie children pick up the language of the other children they meet on their travels. That makes 5 children 4-10 years old. Beautiful morning with clear skies and cool breezes. 86 degrees in boat but very pleasant with fans. Sunday morning. Clanging metal announces church. All is quiet on shore and we are happy with our yellow Q flag up. That quarantine flag must remain up the shrouds and we can't get off Sunrise until we check in.
May 21, 2013 What fun!. Everything is all quiet when the children are inside their boats doing their home schooling; then there is a big irruption of laughter and squealing and dad's speeding in the dinghies pulling children on various toys behind. That must be recess or lunch break or school's out for the day. We are waiting for the yachtie kids to join the village kids on the beach. That would be overflowing fun!
The Locals.
The ni Vans are quiet, soft spoken and shy. They look African but with blonde, red, brown in addition to black hair. They have learned to ask for Vatu, their money, for their generous offerings of music, meals, guides, ceremonies and dances. This suits all. They use the money to pay for and upgrade their schools and it is easy for the yachties to know what to give. There is also trading with batteries being the hot item as there is no electricity where we are. We traded batteries for 2 pamplemousse and a giant papaya plus a nice visit with 1 then 2 guys in a dugout. Then there is the car. Yes, someone drove an SUV up and down the beach on Sat and Sun using it as a giant mobile boom box. I think it is the only vehicle on the island but we suspect it won't last long in the salt water.
Evening of May 21. Another ni Van in a dugout came to Sunrise to invite us to a kava ceremony, local skills demonstration, dinner and kastom (traditional) dancing. He went to all 8 yachts and, of course, we all came to the big party! The yachties got to meet each other and learn lots from the locals. When together the yachties all commiserated with each other about how awful their trip from NZ to Vanuatu was. We might have had more gales than any other boat but that meant we were also faster than the others. Of the 8 boats in this harbor, 2 others are Wauquiezes like ours- that tells you something about the long distance cruising abilities of our Wauquiez boats. The ni Van demonstrated and explained their kastom clothing, how to make fire by rubbing a stick on a branch, how to drink kava and the local foods they prepared for us. For dinner we had chicken in leaves (we just ate the leaves - yummy, baked taro, prepared taro, cassava, cassava with coconut sauce, fish, oranges, pamplemousse and coconut. Suited us perfectly. They have no electricity, thus no refrigeration and only very seldom have meat. All they have comes from their gardens and the sea and maybe a careless chicken. If there is not enough from the garden, they go to bed hungry. The lack of meat is much different from any other place we have visited. At the end the ni Van had the yachties doing kastom dancing and we were very good as you might expect from such an adventurous bunch. Barry was very good!
May 22 Immigration came aboard this afternoon, we filled out more papers, and they collected more vatu. They told us this particular island, Aneityum, in Vanuatu has been declared malaria free. Every person who comes here from a malaria area is given a blood test and if positive they are denied entrance. Soon Tanna will be declared malaria free also. Aneityum (here) and Tanna are the 2 southernmost islands and the first we visit.
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| The Location of Vanuatu |
Sunday, May 19, 2013
May 19, Sailing with Kids
Another sloop this morning with more
children speaking maybe German. About 7 children 4-10 years old. That is 7 kids
all told between the 2 kid boats. There are additional teenagers. Beautiful
morning with clear skies and cool breezes. 86F in boat but very pleasant with
fans. Sunday morning. Clanging metal announces church. All is quiet on shore
and we are happy with our yellow Q (quarantine) up. We can stay aboard
and work and rest while we wait for the official to paddle out in his dugout canoe
to clear us into Vanuatu.
For those of you thinking about Shannon and her 6 little kids, don't worry. She has a giant catamaran and if you put a vase of flowers on the table and went through the gales we went through, the vase would still be there!
For those of you thinking about Shannon and her 6 little kids, don't worry. She has a giant catamaran and if you put a vase of flowers on the table and went through the gales we went through, the vase would still be there!
May 17, Land Ho!
Land Ho! Fog and haze on the horizon.
The sea is a mirror and you can't tell the line
between the sky and the sea. I have photos to prove it.
Later in the day.....We are where we said we would be on Aneityum/Anatom
Island. No wind. Everything is gray with haze. Hot & muggy! 2 catamarans
and 1 sloop and 1 ketch besides us. Laughter of children from neighbor boats
and shore. Life is good.
May 16, Only If
Vanuatu is a line of extinct and active volcanoes and on our
route we pass over much underwater volcanic activity. This bothers the magnetic
compasses on Sunrise like the one which the autopilot uses to steer. So we keep
having to correct Will Helm. He just keeps whistling while he works and does
not take offense. If only people were like that. We are starting to see lots of
seaweed remnants and 3 pieces of human trash.
May 16, A Bath at Sea
This afternoon I had the most glorious,
beautiful, exhilarating experience of almost my whole life - a bath in the
cockpit, the first in a week!! You should have seen the view, felt the
wonderfully warm water, thrilled to the cool breeze on my wet skin. And the
water deliverer was the best! Yes, Barry brought warm water, quart by quart, up
the companionway steps and poured it on me. Amazing what joy a gallon and a
half of water can bring.
I have much admiration for people who can sew.
Position: 22d 11'S, 170.00 E Should be there tomorrow late afternoon. Hurray. Everything is beautiful
Position: 22d 11'S, 170.00 E Should be there tomorrow late afternoon. Hurray. Everything is beautiful
May 15, A different French Toast Experience
83
degrees F. Gentle cool breeze = perfect.
Clear bright sun with a few puffy white clouds on horizon. You can see forever. Seas calm slight. Boat smooth and flat. This is what gets you suckered into this sailing life. Had French toast again but this time the eggs just stayed in the bowl as if gravity were at work. Barry is putting back together all the parts broken in the gales. Vanuatu charts and guides being read. Patti's crystal heart spreading rainbows in the salon. First landfall - the bay of Anelghowhat on Aneityum Island - sounds so heavenly. If anyone has school supplies, please give to Sheryl or Vince to bring.
Clear bright sun with a few puffy white clouds on horizon. You can see forever. Seas calm slight. Boat smooth and flat. This is what gets you suckered into this sailing life. Had French toast again but this time the eggs just stayed in the bowl as if gravity were at work. Barry is putting back together all the parts broken in the gales. Vanuatu charts and guides being read. Patti's crystal heart spreading rainbows in the salon. First landfall - the bay of Anelghowhat on Aneityum Island - sounds so heavenly. If anyone has school supplies, please give to Sheryl or Vince to bring.
May 13, On the bright side
Wind went from 35 knots to 5 knots (5 knots is useless). Ah,
the joys of passagemaking. The good news: I have someone warm and fuzzy and
sweet and kind and extremely capable to be with.
May 12, Flying French Toast
We have both lost our taste for making
passages. We are considering some good delivery options we have or motor home or
just travel to exotic places or even California. Sell boat or ship to
California. Everybody help us think of possibilities. You can post this question to
our friends on email. This morning I, then we, made French toast. It was a good
idea aside from the raw beaten eggs sloshing out over & in frig and sink.
Then toast, when slathered with plum blueberry sauce, went flying out of bowl
which Barry caught in mid air. We are very much enjoying each other's company
in spite of our misery. Wind 25-35 knots SE We are flyin! Listening to Garth
Brooks and Lion King.
May 11, Delirium
If I ever
start talking deliriously that I am going to sail between NZ and anywhere
or back from anywhere to NZ, please remind me of all the misery we have
experienced on such a passage. We had a beautiful departure with Marilyn
(person who introduced Barry and me on a blind date) and Sam helping us out of
the slip and again at the fuel dock. The rain had gone, the tide was slack and
the wind nil. Then for the last 24 hours we have been in a front with
gales. Barry was in the cockpit fixing the Monitor windvane and I was
watching when suddenly he was doused with a firehose full of sea water from a
giant wave hitting the side of the boat. When he came aboard to take his
foul weather off 10 buckets of water came out of his foulies. Most
absorbed by our throw rugs. I got seasick for about 12 hrs in spite of patch.
Now: sun, steady strong wind, boat flat and comfortable. Life is good.
Now: sun, steady strong wind, boat flat and comfortable. Life is good.
May 4, 2013 Thunder, lightening and moas
We are experiencing a gully whomper with much lightening and
thunder. No time to have the boat with the tallest mast in the
marina. We don't.
New Zealand facts: New Zealand has the highest
rate of melanoma of any country in the world. Moa and giant Haast’s Eagle – both extinct by 1400 AD
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Crake
From Wikipedia, the alleged Spotless Crake although I have never actually seen one. Anyway, they are supposed to be in Vanuatu also. We'll see. Boden and Colby, Vince and Noelle and Sheryl and Troy will probably all sit down and one will come walking by while I am out fruitlessly searching. We might see a Kagu in New Caledonia. Now that is a bird you should google.
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6,
2013
From Bob
McDavitt, NZ weather angel:
L2
may clear off NZ on Thursday or Friday and
that could then make a good weather pattern with a settling
southerly flow for
anyone looking to sail away from northern NZ. Too early to tell
at this
stage what may happen during the remainder of such voyages.
Our
other sources say “remainder
of such voyages” should have SE trade winds – perfect.
You’ve
got to love living on
a boat with Barry. I
quote: “I was just
sitting here thinking about screw sizes.”
I actually did laugh out loud.
Then he proceeded to tell me all about screw sizes and
how smart George
Pruitt is.
May 4, 2013
We are experiencing a
gully whomper with much lightening and thunder. No time to have the boat
with the tallest mast in the marina. We don't.
New Zealand facts: New Zealand has the
highest rate of melanoma of any country in the world.
There were 70
(according to Forest and Bird magazine) species of moa before
the Polynesians/ Maori arrived and killed them all. Wikipedia says there were
9 species – I wonder why the difference.
Moa and giant Haast’s
Eagle – both extinct by 1400 AD
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