Aradonna's blog

We enjoyed ourselves at Revolieu Bay in Epi yesterday. We had a nice dive on three bommies and got close up to 2 turtles, a whole family of lionfish, a mantis shrimp, a school of trevalley and a load of other marine life. Ahsore, we delivered more seeds and were able to stock up on watermelon, bok choy and spring onions from Pierre. We shared some Bok Choy with Brian and Sue on Darramy and enjoyed catching up with them for sundowners. We had finally run out of meat however, so Heather had selected a vegetable curry from the cookbook to try. The next thing we knew, Sea Whiskers arrived into the bay, called us up on VHF and offered us some tuna! They (Chris and Sally) had caught a Yellowfin Tuna on the way in and happily shared some with us. Wonderful! After shushimi tuna entree and seared tuna steaks for dinner we were replete, rather glad to be saved from cooking a vegetable curry! This morning we set off from Epi at 6.30am, prepared for the long slog south with head winds towards Efate. Within 15 minutes of leaving the bay we had a large fish on the line. Karl tried valiantly to stop the reel from spooling out while Heather turned the boat around to follow the fish. A few days prior, a large fish had spooled the line and we lost it, so we were determined to land this one! After a 20 minute battle, we landed a very nice 80cm Yellowfin Tuna. The largest fish we have caught this year and our first Yellowfin. Such a thrill! But so much meat on it, it is more than we need in the next few days before we fly out...
Our 43 mile passage was just sailable, but pretty much on the nose, so we sailed as much as we could, but motored the last 12 miles when strong headwinds and a large wind chop slowed us down to 2.5 knots under sail. We were very glad to drop anchor in Nguna, in 15m depth we can clearly see the anchor dug in to white sand. Good snorkeling here too. About half an hour after we arrived, another yacht pulled in to the bay. Illusion V anchored nearby, so we called them up and asked if they would like some tuna for dinner. Bob and Cath (who are Kiwis but sailing a boat from Hobart where they now live), along with their visitors Jenny and Mike, jumped for joy! They were about to prepare a vegetarian risotto!! They just arrived in Vanuatu 10 days ago and had not caught any fish so far, so were delighted with our tub of fish. They invited us for drinks on board Illusion V and we enjoyed a great evening together. Nice people. They are heading up to the Banks and Torres Islands, so we gave them the last of our watermelon seeds (we still had 1/2 box of the original 15 boxes of seeds) to take up to the northern groups of islands.
After another fresh tuna meal tonight and more in the freezer, we will have plenty of omega 3 for the last few days of our Vanuatu visit.

By the end of the day on Tuesday there were 6 yachts in the tiny bay next to Awei Island. Yesterday we left the bay early enough to travel 5 miles and get in through the pass into Uliveo Island at high tide. As the crow flies this island is only 3 miles away but by the time you navigate around numerous reefs, it is about 5 miles. By the way, all the measurements in our blogs that say miles are all nautical miles, 1 nautical mile = 1.850km. The pass is fairly narrow, but we still had 4m of water under us at high tide. Once inside, there is a small basin with depths of 14m to anchor in, beside Lutes village. This is another lagoon anchorage and very protected.
There are three villages on the island: Lutes, Peskarus and Pellongk. Combined they have 800 adults. There is a school at Sangalai for the whole island, with 230 children from age 5 to 13, 44 of these are boarding here full time and take turns at doing the cooking for the group. They all do their own washing and other duties. Stuart took us on a tour of the island and introduced us to many people. They had some damage from cyclone Pam here, though most of it is now repaired, but they still have no paw paws. Bananas are just starting to grow again and should be ready soon. Some buildings had been blown over but mostly new ones have already been constructed. We gave seeds to the chief in each village for them to distribute to their community and they were very thankful. We also gave seeds to the headmaster of the school - the school has a vege garden but no seeds, so now the children will be able to learn growing skills as well.
As we walked through the village, a band of curious children started following us. There were mosquitoes everywhere, landing on us, so now and then a child would run up and slap a mosquito they could see sitting on our arm or leg or shoulder. Then they would run back to the following group of children. The daring ones got close and closer and became our body guards fending off the flying beasts and swatting any that landed. Karl started joining in, swatting mosquitoes that landed on Heather's arms and neck, or maybe just swatting for fun? Then Karl swatted Heather on the bum! This sent the children into wails of laughter, they fell around backwards and giggled for the next 10 minutes! Every time the laughing would stop for a second, one would start giggling again and the rest would dissolve into more laughter.
We were very impressed with the whole island. All 3 villages are clean and tidy, everything is well organised. The school grounds are cleaned every day by the children who have litter duty at the school and in surrounding pathways. Gardens are nicely clipped, people are friendly and seem to be working together to make a great life for their families here. There is a rural training centre where youths who are not academically inclined can learn trades like electrical and plumbing, plus agricultural skills. There is a women's resource centre where young mothers can learn to sew and mend clothes, plus support with parenting skills. There is a building construction workshop where young men learn to build with concrete and other non-traditional materials. There is a solar powered desalination plant (Open Ocean from NZ) to give fresh water to the health clinic and 3 locally trained nurses. We met Carlo, a local builder and he showed us some of the concrete buildings he has built. Very professional! He and his co-workers were just finishing off some concrete bungalows and a cafe which will soon open as guest accommodation on the island. Carlo very proudly showed us the flushing toilet, which is a complete novelty here. This will be a nice place to stay for anyone visiting the area.
The day we visited was a special day - they were having a music festival. All the youth groups from the three villages, plus one from nearby Avokh Island were performing in an annual competition. Judges scored them on several aspects, including timing, uniforms, melody, wording etc. All the people in the village were out watching the performance in the afternoon. Performances included string bands, dance groups and choirs. We were well entertained for 3 hours. We were standing near the back of the crowd and it was nice to see the performers, and also watch the reaction of the families to the music and dancing. At the end when everyone was celebrating the winners (Lutes village) some recorded music was playing and it had a catchy beat. We both started jigging away, tapping our toes and wriggling our hips in time to the music. The next thing, we heard squeals of laughter from the crowd and realised that hundreds of people had turned around and everyone was watching us! The children tho ught we were hilarious and the adults looked a little bewildered. Fortunately the music stopped and so did we, before we could get into any trouble! Today we visited the clam sanctuary. Started in 1991, this sanctuary is the result of hard work and dedication by the people in the Maskelynes. Clams are a popular food source here in Vanuatu, but one of the local people, Simon (now deceased) realised that clams would all be eaten if they did not preserve them. His family now carries on caring for the clams and nobody is allowed to take any clams from the protected area. There is a large fenced off area of shallow water north of Pellongk village and in the middle of this is a man made island. We paddled out in an outrigger canoe with Stuart and landed on this island, built up from dead coral. It has a small changing room with a concrete floor and thatched roof and has been really well made. Snorkeling around the clam area was a thrill, to see so many large clams, some 50cm wide! Many of them have lips with bright colours. Some purple velevet, some bright green, others brown with purple splotches, some tan with turquoise spots. We nev er realised that clams came in so many different colours and patterns. A cheeky moray eel was poking out of one coral head and later, back on the man made island, we spotted a sea snake, which thankfully are not poisonous.
Later, we asked to meet the chairman of the youth development group, his name is Carl. We congratulated him on the music festival yesterday and presented him with some of the Burnsco donated fishing gear so that the youth group could use this for their youth fishing activities and competitions. It is so nice to see people actively doing positive things in their communities so we were pleased to help them. A wonderful place to visit - highly recommended to anyone thinking of coming to Vanuatu.

Happy days in the Maskelynes We were not really impressed with the village of Ranon on Ambrym Island. These people had NOT been hit by the cyclone, but clearly have made no attempt to maintain anything for many years. Buildings sit with guttering half off, rotting timbers hanging loose. Concrete buildings half finished, with reinforcing rods poking out of concrete piles, rusting away. Bags of cement sit on the beach beside rusting lengths of reinforcing rods, steel mesh and twisted lengths of timber that were never stacked straight, just left to lie where they fell when unloaded fromt he boat that brought them who knows how long ago. In the school, ripped school books lie on the floor of the classrooms, chairs left lying on their side and desks in haphazard disarray. The resource room at the school was a frightful sight, with school journals and text books strewn on the floor, fallen twisted stacks of books falling off the teachers desk and sliding from crooked piles on shelves. It looks like nobody cares here! In the village, men lie on the beach in the shade of the trees, or sit in the kava bar. Kids play on the beach, fiddling with dinghies that yachties have left as they walk through the village or visit the volcano. Locals approach trying to sell us a tour to the volcano or a viewing of a traditional dance. We declined.
The bay has a dramatic look to it with jet black sand and black rocks. The water is clear but seems inky black with no light reflected back from the sand beneath. We decided not to dive here as first planned, we felt like moving on.
We set sail for our favourite place, the Maskelyne island group, and had a beautiful day in the sunshine, with flat seas and a warm breeze. As a bonus we caught a 42cm Skip Jack Tuna on the way, which will feed us for three nights! Last night we anchored at Awei island, along with 3 other boats. We invited friends Brian and Sue from Darramy over - we had not caught up with them since our wedding, plus we invited the 3 crew of Argonaut over to join us for sundowners as well. Frits and Marian are Dutch and have been sailing for a few years now. Frits son Gerben was visiting for a week or so, taking a break from his usual job as engineer on a superyacht! It was a fun evening, all sharing stories of various adventures and experiences. Today Heather caught up on the laundry and made bread while Karl did some maintenance jobs on Aradonna. Various locals have come by to say hello. One, a 5 year old boy, paddling by himself, was delighted when we gave him some fishing hooks. A couple of sailing canoes came past, with sails made from flour sacks sewn together, these people were from nearby Avokh island. Later, two canoes paddled past with three dogs swimming behind trying to keep up with their owners! Awei island is quite small and all 4 guide books we have tell us it is uninhabited. The update on this, is that 15 people live here now, all part of one extended family group. With our gifts of seeds, the 300 residents of Avokh and the 15 residents of Awei will soon be growing watermelons! Yesterday we spotted a turtle near the boat, it is always nice to see them lift their heads and peak up at us. We are heading off for a snorkel now, to see what we can discover.

Just a short, 10 mile hop south of our last anchorage, getting into Loltong Bay was easy. Reefs on either side, but the triangles on shore were easy to see and once they are lined up, there is no issue with being in the right place. Much better than Ambae where the trees had overgrown the second triangle! This is a busy bay with supply ships and other local vessels coming and going. It is the Government administrative centre for Pentecost Island.
Ashore, we met Matthew and his wife Marie. They run the local yacht club and offered us a traditional banquet of 10 local dishes for dinner, only 1200 vatu (about NZ$18) per person and BYO drinks. So we booked in for dinner. Matthew then explained that he is the youngest son of the old chief Luc, who had died leaving 6 sons. The eldest son, Jacob, is now chief. We went to see Jacob and he immediately took us on a tour of the village. He showed us where they dry kava for export and then took us to the Government administration office where they look after banking and kava export to several countries, among other duties. After a look at the school, he told us that today was a special day and we should follow him to see a Kastom dance. We had heard about these dances that are arranged for tourists, but he insisted that this was not for tourists and the dancing was happening right now and we should just follow him.
We went to the neighbouring village just south of Loltong and here we found an elderly man wearing large plumes of leaves from his behind and carrying a stick. He was dancing and chanting around in circles, while stick drums burst out a quick beat and another man presented him with a pig. The pig did not look happy to be part of the event. Next, several other people from the village started dancing around with their arms spread wide, like they were birds flying. They formed a long line and danced up one way and down the other, zig zagging across the field like a long snake of birds. Some of the people were laying mats over the shoulders of other people while they were doing their bird dance. After a speech, another man presented an equally frightened pig, but this one was enormous, and the whole dancing and chanting and beating of drums and laying of mats started all over again. It looked like the whole village and perhaps most of the one next door were camped around the field to wat ch the event.
Most of the people involved were wearing shorts and t-shirts, or dresses - usual island dress rather than traditional grass costumes. They were however adorned with orange painted faces and several of the men had leaves of various descriptions sticking out of their trousers. Now and then one of the men would pass a long palm frond to the elderly man (the chief of that village)and he would dance with it for a while before placing it in a row at the side of the field. This was all very fascinating, but what did it mean? Jacob explained. Once a year, the chief of a village has the chance to improve his rank and become a higher chief. There are 5 steps to becoming the highest rank chief. The first four steps were like the one we were watching. The chief would arrange for 10 different people to give him a pig and the 10 pigs would be presented at the ceremony for him to kill. His sons and daughters and other family members would then dance with the family that had given the pig and give t hem mats as payment for the pig. The 10 pigs would later become part of a big feast, along with taro and yams. The ceremony could only be held once per year and it always has to be held at the time of the yam harvest, because then the village knows it has enough food for the feast. It is not to celebrate the yam harvest, like some other islands do, but it was held at that time just for practical reasons for the feast.
For a chief to get to the highest rank, he needs to go to step 5. This involves getting 10 people to give 10 pigs each to the chief, who then has to kill 100 pigs!!! Not many get to that level.
It was amazing to watch these people carry out this kastom dance, not for us, not for tourists, just a plain old annual event so the chief can get his ranking up. Wow! Later, we kept our appointment with Matthew and Marie for our dinner to start at 5pm. Marie had done a huge amount of preparation and Matthew patiently explained each dish. Tree nuts for a starter, then a plate of green paw paw salad with beans and tuna, next there was paw paw that had been roasted in a fire and then topped with freshly grated coconut. Another plate arrived with manioc chips and next to it a plate of pumpkin stalks and leaves that had been cooked in coconut milk. Neither of us had ever thought of boiling up the stalks and leaves of the pumpkin plant and eating them like you would beans and spinach - but it was delicious! Later came the local lionman banana wrapped in island cabbage leaves, then manioc wrapped in island cabbage leaves, then a plate of taro and a plate of island cabbage cooked in coconut milk with instructions to eat the cabbage and taro together. Quite tasty when combined! Just as we were feeling rather full, out comes a plate with two large omelets. The omelets were filled with onion, spring onion and capsicum and were delicious. We could not face the plate of yams that came out next, but did manage to slurp our way through a juicy pomplemousse. What amazing value and a truly delightful meal. Matthew and Marie were great company too, answering our many questions and laughing with us at our reaction to different dishes we had not tasted before. We asked about the Saturday morning market as we were hoping to buy some fruit in the morning and they immediately asked what we needed. They were happy to supply us with produce from their garden. We gave Marie 500 vatu and asked for a bunch of bananas and 2 paw paws. She returned with 3 bunches of bananas, 3 paw paws, 6 capsicums, a yam, a manioc, some ginger root and another root that they make curry from, but would not take more than the 500 vatu. A fun evening with generous hosts and a thoroughly enjoyable day.
Tonight, back on Aradonna having coffee in the cockpit, we noticed some interesting little lights flitting around in the water. They look like fireflies but they are just below the surface of the water and squiggle back and forth in a swarm that moves around like they are searching for something. If anyone has any idea what these brilliant creatures are, please let us know. They emit a very strong light, like a little LED swimming around! Another fascinating day in paradise.