Safe and sound in Port Moselle Marina next to our friends on Impala. Friday the 13th is our lucky day - they speak English in the marina!! Plus, after the lightning, all the rest of the trip has been perfect. Accidently turned off inmarsat breaker again so let us know if you get position reports. Sorry!!
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Thursday, September 12, 2013
Land Ho
Approaching Havannah Pass, can see land, and glow of Noumea lights.
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Lucky to Be Alive
Very grateful that the 3 of us - Barry, Lynne and Sunrise - are alive and well. The sun is shining, a butterfly just fluttered by and we are bobbing around in a beautiful cove. Not anchored, mind you, that would be illegal because we haven't checked into New Caledonia yet. Last night from 3 am to 7 am was another story. 8 knots of wind forecast. The highest we recorded was 42 knots. Then there was the lightning, thunder, rain that stung your skin and almost blinded you, the howling rigging and the ocean crashing over the deck. I told Barry that if we are struck dead by lighning, I've loved being married to him and loved our life together. I don't know why the lightning didn't hit us with our mast sticking up 50 ft - the tallest thing in hundreds of miles.
Anyway, safe and sound so far. Bob around here until this afternoon when we leave for Havannah Pass, arriving in Noumea and check-in about 2 or 3 pm.
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Anyway, safe and sound so far. Bob around here until this afternoon when we leave for Havannah Pass, arriving in Noumea and check-in about 2 or 3 pm.
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Saturday, September 7, 2013
Survivor in Port Havannah
From Barry: Wednesday, Sept 4, we motored to Port Havannah on the island of Efate. Although our course has changed from SSE to SSW from yesterday to today, the wind has clocked and is right on the nose again, for the most part. The mainsail provided minimal drive all day. There were a few brief times that we were seduced into putting out a headsail, but would soon be luffing or backwinded and forced to roll it up again. It was a relief to enter the narrow northwestern channel into Port Havannah, a deep bay between Efate and the fringing islands of Moso and Lelepa. We are told that Moso and Lelepa are "famed" as the locations of one of the "Survivor" TV shows series. We anchored off the mouth of a small creek in nice sheltered water. Port Havannah was also used as a sheltered anchorage by our ships during WW2 and there are supposed to be numerous relics of those times to be found by divers.
5 September. We took a dinghy ride up the creek for about ¾ of a mile looking for birds. We heard many, but only got brief glimpses and took no pictures. We also snorkeled in two spots, but the visibility was only fair and the coral fair for the most part. We did see lots of small colorful fish at the second location, along with a number of small to medium clams, two pin cushion starfish and a bunch of large "feeding tube" creatures, all of which we had also seen in French Polynesia. Our neighbor here is a megayacht named "Blue Gold", home ported in Port Vila and when we dinghied past we were invited aboard by a NiVan, Nixon of Asanvari fame. We got to see how the other half lives! We got a complete tour of the ship from bridge to engine room. Made in Italy, the yacht had beautiful, large sitting and dining rooms and numerous cabins, two kitchens, a large laundry room and large engine room. The bridge was impressive. On the other hand, the yacht had seen better times and was badly in need of repair in the showers, electronics, engine room and a few other places. We were told that the yacht is owned by a Dutch businessman who visits infrequently. Since the water maker had been sold off, they were in need of some good drinking water. We supplied them with 15 gallons. It is a lot of boat for a crew of two relatively inexperienced people to maintain (Nixon and his girlfriend).
6 September. We went up the creek again in the dinghy soon after it got light. The birds were very active and calling up a storm (birds in Vanuatu have 2 or 3 espressos when they get up in the morning) but hard to get a good look or picture. Eventually, we got some fair to good looks and some pictures of Rainbow Lorikeets, Pacific Emerald Doves, a Grey-Eared Honeyeater, two Pacific Black Ducks and a dozen shore birds, either Bristle-thighed Curlews or Whimbrels. Lynne is going nuts trying to figure out which it is. Midday, we moved the boat near the southwest end of the harbor (where they filmed Survivor) to get a shorter hop to Port Vila in the morning. We also saw Pacific Reef Heron and Mynas. By the way, the shore birds were Whimbrels.
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5 September. We took a dinghy ride up the creek for about ¾ of a mile looking for birds. We heard many, but only got brief glimpses and took no pictures. We also snorkeled in two spots, but the visibility was only fair and the coral fair for the most part. We did see lots of small colorful fish at the second location, along with a number of small to medium clams, two pin cushion starfish and a bunch of large "feeding tube" creatures, all of which we had also seen in French Polynesia. Our neighbor here is a megayacht named "Blue Gold", home ported in Port Vila and when we dinghied past we were invited aboard by a NiVan, Nixon of Asanvari fame. We got to see how the other half lives! We got a complete tour of the ship from bridge to engine room. Made in Italy, the yacht had beautiful, large sitting and dining rooms and numerous cabins, two kitchens, a large laundry room and large engine room. The bridge was impressive. On the other hand, the yacht had seen better times and was badly in need of repair in the showers, electronics, engine room and a few other places. We were told that the yacht is owned by a Dutch businessman who visits infrequently. Since the water maker had been sold off, they were in need of some good drinking water. We supplied them with 15 gallons. It is a lot of boat for a crew of two relatively inexperienced people to maintain (Nixon and his girlfriend).
6 September. We went up the creek again in the dinghy soon after it got light. The birds were very active and calling up a storm (birds in Vanuatu have 2 or 3 espressos when they get up in the morning) but hard to get a good look or picture. Eventually, we got some fair to good looks and some pictures of Rainbow Lorikeets, Pacific Emerald Doves, a Grey-Eared Honeyeater, two Pacific Black Ducks and a dozen shore birds, either Bristle-thighed Curlews or Whimbrels. Lynne is going nuts trying to figure out which it is. Midday, we moved the boat near the southwest end of the harbor (where they filmed Survivor) to get a shorter hop to Port Vila in the morning. We also saw Pacific Reef Heron and Mynas. By the way, the shore birds were Whimbrels.
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We Have a Plan
Do boat chores here in Port Vila until Tuesday afternoon, Sept 10. Monitor windvane needs welding, 4 alternators not working? Winches need servicing. On Tuesday we need to check out and get fuel. Yesterday went to supermarket, ATM, shoe shopping, out to eat 2 times, topped up cell phone, delivered 6 loads of laundry to Yachting World to be done. Then... it's off we go to New Caledonia, a 2 or 2 and a half day passage.
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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Moving South
I got up at 2:15 am and went out to look at the volcanos for a long time. There is not just a steady glow, rather eruptions. Don't know why I find them so interesting. Orion was up, standing on his head as he does in the southern hemisphere. I stay up later than Barry because the really good news is on from 8pm until 9 pm from Australia. That's right - 9 pm is late going to bed here. It's pitch dark at 7 pm and Barry can't stay awake past 8.
Sept 4, 0100 here in Vanuatu. The volcanos, now 50 miles away, are too far to see anymore.
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Sept 4, 0100 here in Vanuatu. The volcanos, now 50 miles away, are too far to see anymore.
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Sunday, September 1, 2013
Night and Day in the Islands of Vanuatu
The big deal about the megapodes and dugongs is that they are both listed as vulnerable to extinction. This is noted in the Lonely Planet so most visitors are aware but, sadly, most niVan in the custom villages are not. To maintain the population of a species, the ancient chiefs had tabus at certain times of the year and in certain critical places. There is a tabu on megapode eggs now but the word needs to be spread. (Tabus in Melanesia are like our hunting "seasons" and regulations. )
We feel very welcome in this village - we now have 50 bananas aboard. Can you put them unpeeled in the freezer and use for banana bread later? Someone please answer, we have no way to google. We also have cabbage, popo (papaya), pamplemousse, mandarins, regular grapefruit, island cabbage, bok choy, snake beans, yams (not like ours), kumalas (sweet potatoes), limes, nuts, taro, laplap and tomatoes. In addition, 2 families made the effort to follow the hens in order to find their nests and find 8 eggs for us. Snake beans are big striped beans and are delicious. When I say big, I mean like the various sizes of zucchini. Of course, all this fresh-from-the-garden produce is delicious.
Today, being Sunday, we went to church - this time AOG (Assembly of God). We were inspired by the prayers and sermon even if we only understood about a fourth of it. There was great singing and guitar playing. (I think I said that Melanesians and Polynesians could teach white people how to sing. However, this afternoon we listened to Handel's Messiah on Sunrise and I take back what I said.) In church the children played on the floor and 2 of the children had real shoes - brand new. The shoes were good because you could take them off and use the laces to tow your shells as you drove your shoes around the floor. They had no real toys but used shoes, sea shells and coins to play with. After, we shook everyone's hand but, fortunately, there were only 24 adults and 15 children this time.
When we arrived in the village for church, we were again impressed with how tidy and well-kept the village is. Everyone was out and about cooking and cleaning. The young children were naked and happy, but when the parents noticed us they ran to get underpants to put on the children. Hey, we like naked! (I'm afraid the missionaries are giving us white people a bad reputation.) We birdwatched while waiting for church which, we were told, would start when we heard the guitars play. Sure enough, the guitars played some chords and everyone ducked into the house to put on their Sunday best clothes, emerged a few minutes later and went into the church.
From Barry: The buildings are constructed differently in this village from what we have seen elsewhere. In this village, the walls are sheathed with horizontal strips of palm wood. Many of the windows have covers that are hinged at the top. We have seen these window covers before in Fiji. In other villages in Vanuatu, the walls are made of woven bamboo strips or woven palm fronds or pandanus and the windows often have a lattice, perhaps to keep the dogs and chickens out. This village had a dirt road passing through and bicycles which we haven't seen before.
It was another beautiful sunny day today. The twin volcanoes of Ambrym over 30 miles away are silhouetted against the sky. It was another terrific day climb the volcano. Tonight, the glow of the erupting molten lava is reflected off the bottom of the smoke or clouds over each of the volcanoes. Awesome! We are here in the dry season. And dry it is. Our boat is so encrusted with salt crystals that it is starting to remind me of Searles Lake in Trona. I am very envious of Brad and Debra on Starlight. They have such a large desalinator that they have a fresh water deck wash-down system. We have to wash our boat off with buckets of salt water. We could sure use a good rain. However, we are so thankful for the modest desalinator that we do have that makes enough fresh water for us to drink, cook, wash dishes and bathe. Life is not only good, it is terrific!
From Lynne: I spent hours the last 2 nights on deck looking at those fascinating volcanos erupting - and the stars, the Milky Way, Venus, Scorpius, the Southern Cross and those 2 bright stars in Centaurus which point to the Southern Cross, the occasional meteorite and the dark, dark shore. When the sun goes down that's it out here in the boonies/whop whops. Except for large areas around the 2 main towns of Vila and Santo/Luganville there is no electricity in Vanuatu. Just try to imagine - virtually no clocks, mostly no watches (lack of batteries), no stoves, ovens, propane or any gas, nor lights, fans, radios, TVs, CD players nor any major or minor appliance. There is nowhere to re-charge your cell phone (called a mobile here) unless you are lucky enough to have little solar panels. No wonder they still communicate with drums and loud hooting. We have seen a few generators in places heavily visited by tourists (like the bungalows near Yassur volcano).
Monday, Sept 2 Yesterday we dinghied along the rocky cave-riddled shore and looked at the underwater reef life from the dinghy. We've spotted large turtles and searched to no avail for dugongs. Today we snorkel the reef, do boat chores and wait here in Foreland Bay on Epi Island for the wind to abate for our trip to Efate and Port Vila.
Birds: White and dark morph Pacific Reef Heron, Pacific Swallow, Glossy Swiftlets, Common Mynah in the village only, Dark-brown Honeyeater (sings like a mockingbird), Metallic Pigeon, lorikeets, and kingfishers heard. Oh, and piglets, chickens, cows and a few dogs wondering around in the village. No cats.
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We feel very welcome in this village - we now have 50 bananas aboard. Can you put them unpeeled in the freezer and use for banana bread later? Someone please answer, we have no way to google. We also have cabbage, popo (papaya), pamplemousse, mandarins, regular grapefruit, island cabbage, bok choy, snake beans, yams (not like ours), kumalas (sweet potatoes), limes, nuts, taro, laplap and tomatoes. In addition, 2 families made the effort to follow the hens in order to find their nests and find 8 eggs for us. Snake beans are big striped beans and are delicious. When I say big, I mean like the various sizes of zucchini. Of course, all this fresh-from-the-garden produce is delicious.
Today, being Sunday, we went to church - this time AOG (Assembly of God). We were inspired by the prayers and sermon even if we only understood about a fourth of it. There was great singing and guitar playing. (I think I said that Melanesians and Polynesians could teach white people how to sing. However, this afternoon we listened to Handel's Messiah on Sunrise and I take back what I said.) In church the children played on the floor and 2 of the children had real shoes - brand new. The shoes were good because you could take them off and use the laces to tow your shells as you drove your shoes around the floor. They had no real toys but used shoes, sea shells and coins to play with. After, we shook everyone's hand but, fortunately, there were only 24 adults and 15 children this time.
When we arrived in the village for church, we were again impressed with how tidy and well-kept the village is. Everyone was out and about cooking and cleaning. The young children were naked and happy, but when the parents noticed us they ran to get underpants to put on the children. Hey, we like naked! (I'm afraid the missionaries are giving us white people a bad reputation.) We birdwatched while waiting for church which, we were told, would start when we heard the guitars play. Sure enough, the guitars played some chords and everyone ducked into the house to put on their Sunday best clothes, emerged a few minutes later and went into the church.
From Barry: The buildings are constructed differently in this village from what we have seen elsewhere. In this village, the walls are sheathed with horizontal strips of palm wood. Many of the windows have covers that are hinged at the top. We have seen these window covers before in Fiji. In other villages in Vanuatu, the walls are made of woven bamboo strips or woven palm fronds or pandanus and the windows often have a lattice, perhaps to keep the dogs and chickens out. This village had a dirt road passing through and bicycles which we haven't seen before.
It was another beautiful sunny day today. The twin volcanoes of Ambrym over 30 miles away are silhouetted against the sky. It was another terrific day climb the volcano. Tonight, the glow of the erupting molten lava is reflected off the bottom of the smoke or clouds over each of the volcanoes. Awesome! We are here in the dry season. And dry it is. Our boat is so encrusted with salt crystals that it is starting to remind me of Searles Lake in Trona. I am very envious of Brad and Debra on Starlight. They have such a large desalinator that they have a fresh water deck wash-down system. We have to wash our boat off with buckets of salt water. We could sure use a good rain. However, we are so thankful for the modest desalinator that we do have that makes enough fresh water for us to drink, cook, wash dishes and bathe. Life is not only good, it is terrific!
From Lynne: I spent hours the last 2 nights on deck looking at those fascinating volcanos erupting - and the stars, the Milky Way, Venus, Scorpius, the Southern Cross and those 2 bright stars in Centaurus which point to the Southern Cross, the occasional meteorite and the dark, dark shore. When the sun goes down that's it out here in the boonies/whop whops. Except for large areas around the 2 main towns of Vila and Santo/Luganville there is no electricity in Vanuatu. Just try to imagine - virtually no clocks, mostly no watches (lack of batteries), no stoves, ovens, propane or any gas, nor lights, fans, radios, TVs, CD players nor any major or minor appliance. There is nowhere to re-charge your cell phone (called a mobile here) unless you are lucky enough to have little solar panels. No wonder they still communicate with drums and loud hooting. We have seen a few generators in places heavily visited by tourists (like the bungalows near Yassur volcano).
Monday, Sept 2 Yesterday we dinghied along the rocky cave-riddled shore and looked at the underwater reef life from the dinghy. We've spotted large turtles and searched to no avail for dugongs. Today we snorkel the reef, do boat chores and wait here in Foreland Bay on Epi Island for the wind to abate for our trip to Efate and Port Vila.
Birds: White and dark morph Pacific Reef Heron, Pacific Swallow, Glossy Swiftlets, Common Mynah in the village only, Dark-brown Honeyeater (sings like a mockingbird), Metallic Pigeon, lorikeets, and kingfishers heard. Oh, and piglets, chickens, cows and a few dogs wondering around in the village. No cats.
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