Hike to See Volcano

From Barry: On Monday night, the sky cleared of most of the clouds and we could see the orange glow of the molten lave reflected down from higher clouds. Tuesday morning dawned with the cone of the volcanoes silhouetted against the sky. This suddenly looked very promising for ascending to the rim of the cone to look down on the molten lava. Arrangements were made by Patrick and Rebecca to have a truck transport us from Ranon to Ranletvan village about 1 or 2 miles to the west to pick up the guides and then take us up the hill to the trailhead. We were leaving about 10:30 in the morning instead of the recommended 7 am. I was very grateful for the 30 minute truck ride, as it did a lot of climbing up the mountain. At the trail head, it turned out that the only guide/porter was Joseph. The other two NiVans in the truck were there to fix the truck as necessary. I had two day packs, two small sleeping bags (one for padding) and my large camera. The guide books said that the guides carried your gear up the mountain, but that was not their expectation. Joseph generously offered to carry one of my day packs and Patrick and Rebecca each carried one of my sleeping bags along with their minimal gear. Then the hike began, going up fairly steeply through the forest.

After about 2 ½ hours, we dropped down onto the "ash plain" composed of cinders in the old caldera. The plain is fairly flat and walking on it was like walking on a sandy desert wash. Never-the-less, the ash plain is heavily vegetated with brush, bamboo, tall grasses and a few trees. We walked in the dry river beds for 2 more hours until we got our glimpse of the closest volcano cone. To our dismay, we could only see the bottom, as the top was shrouded in cloud. Our prospects suddenly looked very bleak. In another half hour of walking, we reached the "hut" where we were to spend the night. The hut consisted of a thatched roof with no walls or floor. After resting for a bit and eating, we started hiking again across the ash plain to the base of the cone. After another half hour, we started ascending up a steep creek gulley and then up a steep ridge. When we reached a spot on the ridge where we could get a good view, we stopped and assessed the situation. The cloud ceiling was about 200 feet above us and the guide said that the rim was about another 1 ½ hours hiking away. We stopped and rested and waited to see if we might get lucky and have the clouds dissipate. Instead the clouds were getting lower and it was starting to mist. With no hope of seeing the volcano, we headed back to the hut as the last light of day dimmed.

It was very hard walking the last half mile to the hut in the dim light on black ground since we had not gotten out our flash lights. The guide had set up a large tent, but it was not clear if the tent was only for him or all of us. At bed time, Rebecca decided to go into the tent and I soon followed. Patrick said that he was content to sleep under the shelter. I offered Rebecca one of my sleeping bags, but she said that she was fine and did not need it. Later in the night, Rebecca got very restless and I asked her if she was OK. "No, I've been shivering for the last hour." She gratefully accepted the extra sleeping bag and went back to sleep. Two hours later, Patrick came into the tent and snuggled up to his wife. He had toughed it out as long as he could and had finally given up.

As dawn broke, the mountain was still shrouded in cloud. We ate breakfast, packed up and headed back to get to the trail head by 10 am to meet the truck. There was no time to start back up the cone in hopes of the clouds clearing. We passed two men with a dog going the other way. They were out hunting and their dog had caught a megapode. Between the locals hunting and the gathering of megapode eggs near the hot springs, the future for megapodes looks bleak.

All-in-all, my legs and feet held up pretty well on the first day, although had we ascended to the top, the additional hiking would have been pretty brutal for a person my age and who walks as little as we do living on the boat. By the time we had hiked back down to the trailhead, my knee and toes were starting to suffer from the downhill trek. So, I am back from a long exercise to futility! Or is that futile exercise? Whatever, I am back.

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Safe

Barry got back safely and he says he is almost in one piece. They did not see the throat because of all the smoke and clouds.

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Wild and Wonderful

Barry has gone off on a wild and wonderful adventure leaving his lame wife behind. I am feeling sorry for myself! We are anchored off the small island of Ambryn which is basically a volcano with 2 active vents. At night we see the 2 vents glowing and changing brightness as they erupt. He and the neighbors, Patrick and Rebecca on BrickHouse, are hiking up to the rim and looking in at the boiling throat. They chose a perfect day with no smoke hiding the view. They will spend the night so that they can see the molten lava better in the dark and because it is such a strenuous hike. This is a bigger, better, less accessible volcano with better views than Mt Yasur which we climbed in May. Patrick and Rebecca are a young couple sailing the world. (Everyone we meet is younger than we are - I think we are the oldest people in all of Vanuatu!) Rebecca, being a woman, has good judgment and can tell Barry to "Get back from the edge!!" Barry, as you know, has a severe case of testosterone poisoning.

Oh, no! It's 4 o'clock and the volcanos are covered in cloud and smoke. That might make a view impossible. At least Barry took the camera with the telephoto lens and said he would photograph all the birds he sees on the way. The first third goes through jungle so maybe he'll see montane birds we haven't seen yet. In the meantime I am having a less than thrilling day inventorying all the prescriptions and medicines we have on board. All I can say is that I am Very Grateful that we have had no need of them. It's mind boggling to think of all the illnesses and afflictions that we don't have - an astounding number of things!

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Turtle

A thirteen year old girl came aboard and said she wanted us to buy a live turtle from her. We answered with our standard "We don't buy (or eat) turtles. We only like to see them swimming free in the ocean".

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My dad's Log

Thanks to my brother, Steve, and Katie who got it to me.
USS Dupage
9/1/1943 Ship went into commission, New York. (Boarded ship 8th of
September)
9/11/1943 Left New York for Norfolk, VA
10/1/1943 Left Norfolk for West Coast
10/22/1943 Arrived San Diego, CA
1/13/1944 Left San Diego for overseas duty
1/21/1944 Arrived at Pearl Harbor
1/22/1944 Left Pearl Harbor for invasion of Marshall Islands
1/31/1944 *D-Day - Hit Roi and Namur in the Marshall Islands
2/5/1944 Left Marshalls
2/10/1944 Arrived at Funi Futi in the Ellice Islands
2/13/1944 Left Ellice Islands for Guadalcanal
2/18/1944 Arrived at Guadalcanal
3/18/1944 Left Guadalcanal
3/21/1944 Arrived at New Caledonia
4/4/1944 Left New Calidonia
4/7/1944 Arrived at Guadalcanal
4/8/1944 Left Guadalcanal
4/11/1944 *Operation of Emirau Islands
4/14/1944 Arrived at Guadalcanal
4/26/1944 Left Guadalcanal
4/28/1944 *Arrived at Cape Clouster, New Britain
5/1/1944 Left New Britain
5/3/1944 Arrived at Russell Islands
5/4/1944 Left Russell's and arrived at Guadalcanal same day
6/4/1944 Left Guadalcanal
6/8/1944 Arrived at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands
6/12/1944 Left Kwajalein Islands
6/15/1944 *Invasion of Saipan, lying off beach as floating reserves
6/19/1944 First Jap plane to show up was shot down
6/20/1944 Second Jap plane to show up and was shot down
6/21/1944 Third Jap plane to show up, within range, was shot down
6/25/1944 Orders to return to base
6/28/1944 Arrived at Eniwetok Island
7/17/1944 Left Eniwetok Island
7/21/1944 *D-Day Invasion of Guam
7/26/1944 Left Guam
7/30/1944 Arrived at Eniwetok Island
7/31/1944 Left Eniwetok Island
8/5/1944 Arrived at Espirito Sando, New Hebredes ***********This is Luganville, where we were at anchor at the Beachfront Resort*************
8/14/1944 Left Espiritu Santo An expat described the US Navy operation right there on the beach where we were eating lunch.
8/16/1944 Arrived at Guadalcanal
8/20/1944 Left Guadalcanal, arrived at Russell's the same day
9/8/1944 Left Russell's to invade Peleliu, Palau Islands
9/15/1944 *D-Day Peleliu
9/27/1944 Left Peleliu
9/30/1944 Arrived Hollandia, New Guinea
10/13/1944 Left New Guinea for invasion of Leyte, Phillipine Islands
10/20/1944 *D-Day Leyte, left the same day
10/25/1944 Arrived at Hollandia
11/9/1944 Left Hollandia for Leyte with reinforcements
11/14/1944 Arrived at Leyte, left the same day
11/20/1944 Arrived at Manus Islands
11/30/1944 Left Manus for Aitape in New Guinea
12/1/1944 arrived at Aitape, New Guinea
12/28/1944 Left Aitape ofr Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Phillipine Islands
1/9/1945 *D-Day, Lingayen Gulf
1/10/1945 *Left Lingayen, hit by Jap suicide bomber
1/13/1945 Arrived at Leyte
1/26/1945 Left Leyte to invade San Antonio Bay at Luzon, Phillipine Islands
1/29/1945 *D-Day, invaded San Antonio Bay
1/29/1945 Left Sand Antonio Bay for Leyte
2/1/1945 Arrived at Leyte
2/11/1945 Left Leyte for Manus Islands, Admiralties Group
2/18/1945 Arrived at Manus Islands
2/19/1945 Left Manus for Pearl Harbor
3/2/1945 Arrived at Pearl Harbor
3/3/1945 Left Pearl Harbor for States
3/9/1945 Arrived San Francisco, U.S.A.
5/14/1945 Left San Francisco
5/16/1945 Arrived Seattle, Washington
5/20/1945 Left Seattle
5/27/1945 Arrived Pearl Harbor
5/29/1945 Left Pearl Harbor
6/6/1945 Arrived at Eniwetok Island
6/18/1945 Left Eniwetok Island
6/22/1945 Arrived Ulithi, West Carolines
7/1/1945 Left Ulthi
7/5/1945 Arrived Okinawa, Ryukyos
7/8/1945 Left Okinawa
7/12/1945 Arrived Saipan
7/13/1945 Left Saipan
7/14/1945 Arrived Guam
7/15/1945 Left Guam
7/18/1945 Arrived Eniwetok, left same day for States
7/28/1945 Arrived San Francisco, U.S.A.
8/12/1945 Left San Francisco
8/24/1945 Arrived Eniwetok Islands
8/25/1945 Left Eniwetok Island
8/29/1945 Arrived Ulithi, West Carolines
9/2/1945 Left Ulthi
9/5/1945 Arrived at Leyte
9/8/1945 Left Leyte
9/10/1945 Arrived at Subic Bay, Luzon, Phillipine Islands
9/11/1945 Left Subic Bay
9/12/1945 Arrived at Linguyan Gulf, (San Fernando)
10/1/1945 Left Linguyan Gulf for Japan
10/6/1945 Arrived with occupation forces at Wakayama, Japan
10/26/1945 Left Wakayama
10/27/1945 Arrived Nagoya, Japan
10/29/1945 Left Nagoya, Japan for Home

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Cave of the Moon

Here's one of my favorites: Prince Charles is nambawan pikinini blong Kwin. Just pronounce every letter. The letter A is always pronounced ah and the letter I is always pronounced ee.

From Barry: We anchored for the night at Narovorovo, where there was some protection from the wind and swell moving north up the coast. In the morning, we moved south some more to Sanasom, where I went ashore to arrange a visit to the large sea cave called Cave of the Moon and some petroglyphs. Two young women with children were my guides. A large number of other children also tagged along. One of these young women hoisted her two-year old child onto her hip. The child hung on to her neck with one hand and waved a bush knife the size of a large kitchen knife around her back with the other hand. The National Safety Council in Vanuatu is not very active, if in fact it exists. We are always seeing young children playing with large bush knives. And nobody in Vanuatu uses a life jacket when they are in their dugout canoes or when 20 people are piled into a small fiberglass motorboat with the gunnels nearly awash. The women also guided me to the Cave of the Sun, a smaller cave in the limestone. The locals piled rounded river rocks up in stacks all over the cave. Some spiritual significance? No, probably just getting a quick start making stalagmites, as many stalagmites could be seen having a core of river rocks. Kind of like cultured pearls. Nearby, under an overhanging cliff, there were a large number of petroglyphs. I went back to Sunrise and took my lame wife, Lynne, to the Cave of the Moon in the dinghy. She then waited in the dinghy while I went back to the petroglyphs and Cave of the Sun to take pictures. Afterwards, we punched Sunrise directly into the strong afternoon wind and swell for several hours to reach the calm, protected anchorage at
Asanvari at the very south end of Maewo. There, we found two other yachts, a "yacht club" and a bar. Back to civilization!

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Priorities

Priorities? 1: Not falling over waterfalls. 2: Not missing out on the fun.
From Barry: The island is made of calcified coral, so the water in the river is full of calcium carbonate. It deposits travertine on the wet surfaces. The locals have done a fine job making pools with walls of rocks or clumps of coral and have also dug irrigation canals and made terraced ponds for growing taro. The travertine cements everything together. It reminds us a little bit of Bali and the terraced rice fields everywhere. The two young people that we meet become our guides and do a fine job helping Lynne climb up the travertine and across the falls, holding her hand and steadying her. Afterwards, we invite the two, Arnold and Elsie, out for a tour of Sunrise and give them facemasks for gifts for helping us and also give them the money that the village collects from tourists for visiting the cascades. Since this anchorage is exposed to the prevailing swell moving up the island, we up anchor and move two miles south to a more protected spot, where we enjoy the full moon while eating dinner.

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Dolphins and Waterfalls

Boat chores and reading about our next anchorages filled Monday morning. Then snorkeling a nearby reef and a lovely bath and washing in the waterfall - the prettiest shower of my life. I wore the splint Barry made with the tongue depressor and my toe did fine.

Tuesday morning and we are being entertained by the local dolphins as we eat breakfast. Then we move Sunrise south down the coast a little to visit a spectacular waterfall. The villagers call their waterfall the eighth wonder of the world. The hike up the cascades was itself beautiful and fun. The many cascades and falls were amazing - and big! We crossed back and forth across the falls and I found myself hanging onto the ledges with my toes - all my toes, even the broken or dislocated one. All that walking in water dislodged the tape and splint but I have my priorities.

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Vanuatu, South Pacific Paradise

Paradise

You will accuse me of sounding like Huell Howser, but it just doesn't get any better than this. We are all alone in this majestically scenic bay. We took an early morning dinghy ride to the reef, cliffs and caves. We saw Swamp Harriers and a possible Brown Goshawk again. We saw the 300 plus flying foxes (fruit bats) up close. They were hanging in several trees above us. They would occasionally flush and we would have most of them wheeling around above us for a few minutes before they would flutter back into the trees, grab a branch and flop upside down. We saw a flying Wandering Tattler, a Barn Owl fly in to roost, and nesting Pacific Swallows. Upon entering one sea cave, we found that it was Crab City - 0h, wow! A Pacific Reef Heron (dark morph) glided in and we heard kingfishers and doves calling. Later in the afternoon we are joined by locals in the ubiquitous small Vanuatu fiberglass boat with motor looking for dinner with a spear gun. Then 3 niVans kids doing what 10 year old boys do at the beach. Barry gets his snorkeling gear on and his scrubbers out and spends an hour cleaning the propeller and waterline of Sunrise. Both were getting pretty shaggy. Lots of gooseneck barnacles were growing on the top of the rudder and the hull by the rudder. It's their favorite place. One black baby lobster about ¼ inch long was scurrying about the hull above the waterline. We have seen them before, same place and doing the same thing. He checks the anchor and finds that it has been nearly pulled out because we are drifting all around it. The sandy bottom has been raked by the anchor chain being dragged sideways. We reset the anchor, probably to no avail, as afterward the boat drifts around in circles, gently pushed by the wind eddies in the lee of the cliffs. As darkness approaches, a catamaran glides into the bay and anchors near but not too close to us. All is well.

Vanuatu Life and Life on Sunrise

As the sun dipped to the horizon Saturday afternoon, there were no clouds nearby. Out came the camera. As the last of the orange sun disappeared below the horizon, there was a brief "flash" of yellow-green light. We captured an image of the famous "Green Flash" again and it looks as good in the pictures as it does to the eye. Having spent most of his career dealing with optical physics, Barry is always on the lookout for interesting atmospheric optical phenomena like the green flash, double rainbows, sun dogs, halos and such.

Bright and early Sunday we left Sunrise in Rubber Ducky to head down the coast a bit to the village church. We arrived at 730 am because we were told that church started at 7 am (that's not a typo, just being realistic). About 8:15 they blew the conch and at 830 they rang the bell and that is when church really started. Walking up the path to church we heard some snorting over to the side of the path - a pig. Then peeping - chicks. Upon approaching the village we found every inhabitant standing and looking at us. We are sure that many of the children have never seen a "white man". We used the time from 0730 to 0830 to bird watch. Coconut/Rainbow Lorikeets, Cardinal Myzomelas, Glossy Swiftlets and Uniform Swiftlets. An elder niVan, Silas, befriended us and we were grateful, because he spoke pretty good English. The Anglican Church service was very familiar and we could join in much of it. We found out women do exist in this village of Merino because we saw them all there in their side of the church. There were 2 church buildings, a new concrete one and a smaller wood post and woven mat one. Guess which one they used. They were packed into the smaller one with rows of people standing outside. After church we took a group picture and many individual photos as requested. We were given a meal of taro, chicken and island cabbage - yummy. All the food cooked in the earth oven has a wonderful smoky flavor. The afternoon we spent on Sunrise receiving visitors bringing gifts of food and coming aboard to see Sunrise, asking to see our photos and posing millions of questions. Word spreads at the nakamal, as we told you. "We heard you have a photo album." We are impressed with the desire of these very bright people to know how everything works and their interest in our life and country. There is not a whiff of envy; they know what a good life they have. Vince's album is perfect because it has fishing and hunting and they can relate. We asked about killing and eating fruit bat. They shoot them with a rock from a sling shot and then kill them with a stick - different than the shotgun version which was different from the prior kill them with a stick version. In Bislama, they killem ded (hit it and knock it out), then killem ded finis (hit and kill it). Speaking of killem, it means to hit. So you killem the gong. A piano is wan bigfala - i gat tith. Sam (some) i waet (white) sam i blak. Taem you killem i singaot. By the way, fruitbat is very tasty per our visitors. Still no one has heard of Disneyland.

We told them we might leave tomorrow so they brought extra food for the journey and thoughtfully picked some of it green so it would ripen later. Now we have 22 drinking coconuts, more than 20 pamplemousse (some as big as volley balls), 10 bunches of bananas, a giant yam, cooked taro, beau coup island cabbage, 10 papayas, 4 heads of lettuce and a bag of capsicums (bell peppers). And a shooshoot which is what they call the green cocoa pods that we eat as a vegetable. Other islands use the word choco or cocoa. This illustrates the myriad languages spoken in Vanuatu - at least one language per island and there are 83 islands.

Oh, and I found out you get extra credit for having a father who was in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in World War II. Add that to having a granddog named Ziggy and I'm doing OK here.

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Ziggy Marley and a Kindly People

It is a very good thing to have a granddog named after Ziggy Marley when you are in Vanuatu. Barry invited 3 niVans into the dinghy for a tour of Sunrise. 7 other young men paddled out with him so we had 10 visitors on Sunrise this afternoon. As usual, we showed them the album that Vince made of family and the collages that Simple and Katie made of the Morin side of the family. Then we moved to computer photos and there was Ziggy as a little puppy. This is our son's dog, Ziggy. Ziggy Marley?? Yes, Ziggy Marley. All 10 roared their approval. Does the dog live in the house? Does the cat live in the house. Affirmative met with amazement. Dogs are treated poorly here and we don't even know why they have dogs. Anyway, they brought island cabbage and pamplemousse and promised laplap and popos (pawpaw/papaya) for tomorrow. They wanted nothing in return but, when we offered rope, that sounded good. They asked about the musket on the wall. It is for spear fishing but we don't use it - we haven't used it in 10 years. This is the second time a visitor has asked about the "musket". We told them we loved Vanuatu and the Vanuatu people. They said, yes, niVanuatu are a very kindly people. And they are. And we are glad they know it and that we get to know them.

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Heaven on Earth

Aug 17 Saturday
We left Ambae for a perfect sail north to the north end of Maewo, a seldom visited island. Our 2002 cruising guide book says that Maewo (My woe) is heavily forested and sparsely populated. That was then and this is now. About half the forest has been cleared for coconut palm plantations on this west coast. The fast sail was ideal - small following seas, broad reach, 15 knots of wind, bright and sunny. This anchorage has about 1 square inch of suitable bottom for dropping the anchor. It took 2 tries but we found it. Then we had shy visitors, about 4 teenagers in their aotrigas. At first they ran to get their kanus launched and they deftly paddled a quarter of the way to Sunrise before being overcome with shyness and returning to shore. Then they would come a third of the way, then half way until, after an hour or so, they came alongside. They gave us drinking coconuts and we gave them rope. Sweet.

It is hard to describe how thankful we are to be in such beautiful place having such a heavenly time! Last night we had total darkness on shore, moon shining on puffy clouds, stars, cooling breezes. This morning we were entertained by a pod of about 20 spinner dolphin searching for breakfast near Sunrise for a few hours. The Spinner Dolphin eat squid, fish and crustaceans. They are about the size of a human and are found in warm waters around the world. We spent a long time watching their entertaining antics and their feeding system of encircling the prey (fish we pressure). The locals say they are here every day. Speaking of entertaining, if you have a need to be the center of attention, this is the place for you. We are surrounded from dawn to dusk by aotrigas built and paddled by boys about 8 to 14 years old. More drinking coconuts were delivered and we gave banana bread and almonds. Toktok with Christian, Kevin and Jimson, the coconut delivery boys. We have reached our limit of coconuts - 18!

As usual we went for a morning dinghy ride around the scenic bay and we could see coral gardens and critters from the boat. It is a very good thing to be doing all these things out here in nowhere with someone you really really like! Because this is our last fling on Sunrise, we are happy we chose Vanuatu to visit.

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Hanging Out

We are going to hang out with the fruit bats/flying foxes in this corner of paradise for a day or 2 while my toe heals. Vanihe Bay, NE tip Ambae.

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Oh wow, Bat City!

Vahihe Bay, NE tip of Ambae. Incredibly beautiful bay with crystal clear turquoise water and 300 or so fruit bats just yards away from us.

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s&s

Anchored in boulders at Loone Lakua on Ambae. We have no wind and no swell and no current so hopefully we stay safe & sound. At the beginning of our anchoring process we had 10 observers, then 20 then 30. Waving and whistling and hooting (like hooooo in a very very loud and high voice). We feel welcome!

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Good Anchorages and Sailing

The wind is blowing from the west and that only happens here about 4 times a year. The normal tradewinds are SE about 15 knots. Taking the wind direction into account is essential to choosing a good anchorage. We have chosen well. We are protected from wind and swell by surrounding mountains and reefs.

I am utilizing the Peace Corps Bislama lessons and will try and stick in a few words. There are teenage boys on shore without a "kanu" - what they call their aotriga (outrigger). They want magazines. They can build themselves a boat and paddle it out here like everyone else. And they can bring produce to share. Anyway, they are standing ashore and hooting which is actually very effective. They use that same voice in their custom dances to communicate also. Before the last few years of cell phone towers in most places that voice and the tam-tam were the only means of long distance communication.

Yesterday was too gnarly to go out to the best reefs for another snorkeling adventure. But today was glorious and beautiful sailing to the far north end of Malekula. Anchorage has incredibly clear water and we can see the anchor down in 35 feet. Great happiness.

Barry either has Malarone poisoning again or pneumonia we think. He says he is never again taking anything that starts with "mal". Not funny.

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More Customs and Reef Life

August 6th and 7th we attended yet another festival at Southwest Bay on the SW corner of Malekula. These are the smol namba people. They had custom dancing and demonstrations of skills and they explained the meaning of their ceremonies. When asked, they tried to explain why they practiced cannibalism up until 1979. Their version is that they were hungry and they liked the taste. However, the taste of white men flesh they liked not so much.

After the festival we took the dinghy up a river to a huge lagoon where we saw unusual birds, the usual birds and generally enjoyed the peace and quiet after a busy day. Life is good!

Wednesday, the 7th, was a perfect day, if there ever was one. I, Lynne, took the 2 bird ID books that I have for Vanuatu and New Caledonia and shared them with the local men. (Apparently only men are allowed to know about birds.) What a joy! They used their bush knives/machetes to tap on the pictures of the birds in the book and then pointed with the tip of the knife to the trees where the birds live. They knew the calls, which fruits they ate and when, and off which tree. They are very, very keen observers, lacking only the knowledge of the English names. If we heard a bird they could look it up and put the voice with the picture in the book. Just amazing! From Barry: We had more custom (kastom) dances and a pig killing ceremony. The kastom (hereditary) chiefs can have many status levels. To go up a step, they have a pig killing ceremony. This is the time of year for those ceremonies so we were able to observe one. A dancer with a spear stabbed a medium-sized pig which, thankfully, died in seconds. In respect to the pig, they took some of its blood and smeared it on the end of an oblong head stone, which was placed especially for that pig. So if you are wondering around Vanuatu and you run across a collection of small headstones with blood, now you know what they are for. The pig was quickly and deftly butchered into large sections, which were laid out on banana leaves. Each section of pig was joined with a selection of large yams, manioc and taro roots. Each pile was presented to an elder or dancer, we are not sure which. To achieve high rank, a chief must give away much wealth, by being able to raise or buy many pigs and have a large, productive garden. During a fire starting demonstration by rubbing a stick on a branch, they constructed a pile of branches for a fire. They seared the meat and burned the skin of the pig in the fire then used knives to scrape off the burned skin and hair. They also used their knives to quickly cut the skin off the taro roots, leaving a nice clean root for cooking.

Both days we had a huge lunch of local foods, plus meat and some white man's food (noodles, sweet breads made with white flour and things that looked like crepes). We visited their village, which was built on a steep hillside. It was very picturesque, the cleanest and prettiest. We saw fascinating construction and innovative civil engineering. There are 2 waterfalls with bamboo water pipes and troughs and pools and showers for bathing. One waterfall is for the women and one is for the men. You are not to go in the wrong one! After the village tour, we were free to snorkel their Marine Protected Area. Nice fish. The day ended with another romantic lagoon exploration and meeting nice locals who gave us 2 papayas from their garden. They were John and Flora in their dugout outrigger and were returning to their village after getting food from their lagoon side garden. Flora is 3 months pregnant. They are not married because John does not yet have the necessary cash to pay the bride price. He has no pigs. That's not relevant because he can use money. The 2 papayas were all the food they had with them. We returned their very generous gift by inviting them aboard, giving them gifts for their expected baby and showing them the photo album that Vince made. The poor album is really falling apart now from so much use.

We moved to a new anchorage farther north on the west coast of Malekula and which is supposed to have about the best reefs for snorkeling in Vanuatu. Sure enough, the reefs are spectacular, resplendent with hard and soft coral, reef creatures and abundant fish including some large ones. There's not a soul out here, just Barry and I and Rubber Ducky. A fine day, indeed. It is now 6:30 pm and pitch dark. The only light is starlight -no moon, no flashlights and not even a fire on shore. Again, we are struck by how much peace and beauty we give up for our lights and screens.

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Enjoying Life and Visiting Villages

Saturday was a much more easy going day with the cultural festival. The women did their kastom dances, sang and demonstrated their many skills all in a separate location than the areas designated for men's activities. They corn rowed the hair of the AusAid young women, wove the mats and balls and decorations. We learned how houses were constructed. The women weave the mats from various plants making the walls and the roof. Then the men put it all together to make the structure. Walls made from small, tightly woven palm would last 20 years but mats made faster and looser would last 2-3 years. Of course, Barry thought he would make a house that lasted 20 years but, alas, his house would probably be destroyed by a cyclone every 2 or 3 years anyway.

The festival days were long enough that we had to visit the loo. The toilets are in outhouses and are various types of holes in the ground or hollow stumps. They were fine.

There are 14 of us tourists attending the festival. Three are young women from Sydney, Australia working for AusAid, similar to our Peace Corps. 2 are a doctor and his wife sent by NZ, 7 of us are yachties and the rest are very adventurous tourists. All are fun and interesting people and we enjoyed the intense time we spent together. We compare notes about our respective countries and cultures. The people from the UK love their health care system as do the New Zealanders and Canadians. They feel sorry for our country having such a poor system. Just reporting what they say. The Aussie women had their flat in Port Vila broken into and had to call the police 5 times before the police would even come out. First time they called the police were having devotions, second time they didn't have transportation, then no one working at that time, etc. We complain, but our British based systems all work beautifully when compared to other countries.

On the last day of the Lamap festival we spent a long time toktoking with George, the main organizer and MC of the festival. He looked to be about 45. He had been all over the world for years working as a fisherman on boats from Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Vanuatu. He came home to this village and never wants to leave again. His country is the most beautiful, he says, and life is good. He has a good family. We chatted with him while the other people were drinking kava and beer. George thinks kava makes people lazy. Ditto beer, which is why he doesn't drink either. We think it is human nature that cultures have about 3 per cent of the people being the movers and shakers getting things done and making life better. That's George!

We met another doctor and wife on the yacht, Rireana, who were in Vanuatu studying the prevalence and treatment of yaws, a disease I've added to my list of things not to get. Google it - very yucky.

The British couple on the yacht Impala said they rescued 2 niVans when their canoe started sinking. They were desperate to be taken out of the water because they were afraid of being eaten by sharks.

The leaders of the villages we visit all have a different take on history. For sure, life changed with the arrival of the Christian missionaries. The missionaries had the villagers move from the hills to the coast. In the mountains, there was water for the niVan gardens and the areas were mosquito and malaria free. The coast was convenient for the supply ships that served the missionaries, but had a negative effect on the niVans. Still today, malaria is prevalent on the coast, and now many niVans have to walk 2 or 3 hours, sometimes more, to get to their gardens each day. The missionaries also told the NiVans to take on Western names and wear expensive, fully covering Western clothing, instead of their grass or leaf skirts and penis wrappers that are so well suited to the local climate and which cost nothing. The churches are rectangular boxes made of very expensive concrete with small window openings and metal roofs, suitable for the missionaries' homes in England or New England. Why the churches cannot be made of the free local vegetative building materials that are used for their own houses and other structures and are so well suited to the local climate is beyond me (Barry). The poor people must really swelter in the warm, humid season. It can be bad enough on a sunny day in the current cooler, dry season.

We spent the next night in Gaspard Bay at the south end of Malekula. We saw 4 dugongs on the way in and 1 more after getting the anchor down and another when leaving the next day. Dugongs are much cuter than their relatives in the US, the manatees. They swim like slow dolphins and have tails like a dolphin, but a nose like a pig. Manatees have a tail shaped like a ping pong paddle. We took Rubber Ducky around Gaspard Bay birding and exploring up the rivers and inlets. Beautiful.

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Oh, wow! Dugong city

s&s Gaspard Bay south end of Malekula. Saw 4 dugongs on way in and 1 more after anchor down.

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Village Life

Our village cultural festival was just great with several impressive dances, drumming, singing, eating and demonstrations. We took videos. We don't know if the dances are still practiced right now, but the costumes look like they've been used for years and the very old to the very young know the dances well so they must be part of culture these days. They still use the tamtam or slit log drums for communication. They demonstrated sand drawing, a very graceful and intricate design done with one finger unlifted from beginning to end. The chief and elder person gave speeches and prayers. Cocoa bean harvesting and fermentation were explained with examples. Sure enough the green veggie that we boil and eat is the immature cocoa pod. The children demonstrated their clapping/singing games, London Bridges and knock over the tower of coconut shells games. Older ones jump rope with a vine and adults do "Cats Cradle" tricks with a loop of thin vine. We saw 2 hilarious skits about fishing and the arrival of the white man. We had fruit and veggie snacks with drinking coconuts, and later lunch with laplap, pig, fish, snails? chicken, nuts, taro, papaya, pamplemousse, delicious rolls like spring rolls but with leaves and laplap, kumala, and a variety of cucumbers. Then in the afternoon, they served a snack of fruits and veggies again. No one is going hungry, for sure. We learned how to build 2 kinds of chicken traps and a house. We took pictures for Colby as we think it is going to be his year to make a shelter at school. They explained kava harvesting and preparation and extracting coconut meat for copra. They picked up a child using a stack of large leaves. The local band played several times - several guitars, a ukulele and their equivalent of a wash tub bass. Every band we have seen in Vanuatu uses the same complement of instruments, plays the same music and they all sound the same.

One thing we found very enjoyable was the local niVans joining us as observers. They thoroughly enjoyed the singing, dancing, drumming and demonstrations and showed their appreciation with clapping, oohing and aahing. They laughed at all the jokes and funny skits. The only unpleasantness came from the modern megaphone which a few leaders used for some announcements - nerve jangling.

Because Barry's cold is much worse than when I had it, he is more tired and coughs much more than I did. Because he sits or lays down to rest, the older ladies in the village have taken him under their wings and yesterday they brought him a beautiful mat, spread it out in for him and insisted he lay down and take a nap. They brought him 2 pillows and when he only used one they sent me over to make him use both pillows. It was too funny! We get lots of special privileges because we are the oldest ones. The only thing we have against us is that we don't drink kava or beer. This is really culturally incorrect but both those things taste too yucky to us.

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The Good and the Bad of It

Port Sandwich, Malekula Island
Barry talked to a Kiwi couple who bring physicians from NZ to Vanuatu and are actively helping the Tourism Bureau reach out to yachts. They keep up with the medical side of things here. There is one case of malaria per week. There are 2300 cases of dengue fever currently in New Caledonia.
According to Miz Mae's Guide to Vanuatu, there are very agile cockroaches here - as big as helicopters, and rats. There used to be an abattoir (what they call a slaughterhouse here and in NZ) on shore where they dumped the dead cattle carcasses in the bay. The sharks came here to feed and now mistake people for dinner. Therefore, whatever you do, don't get in the water, and keep your boat and dinghy away from the wharf and check your dinghy for cockroaches even if you've just put it on the beach. Other than that it is lovely. There are 4 other boats here (more than we've seen in a lonnng time). And why are we here in this particular spot? We came for a festival of culture and arts. We'll let you know how it is.

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