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After seeing the devastation of the island of Emae, it was a stark contrast to see the lush rainforests of Malekula island yesterday, seemingly untouched. Today, we landed on Pentecost, again, there is little evidence of wind damage to trees here. What we did find, was flood damage from the sea surge during cyclone Pam, which damaged houses and wiped out their gardens! They have had no vegetables since the cyclone and were grateful to get seeds for cabbage, watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin and carrot. The chief of the village, Don, explained there are about 40 people living here, in two communities. He will make sure the seeds are distributed fairly to the people. One enterprising young lad, Tolly, who is 15 years old, tried his best to do trade with us. He came out to our boat in his dug out canoe and asked for clothing, food, money and dvd's! We declined, but suggested instead that we would come ashore later and see him. When we went ashore, he was ready with coconuts for us to drink and we asked him to be our guide, to show us the land diving tower. He took us for a walk and showed us the tower, but we were not allowed to get too close. The village here sells entry fees to see the land diving for 12,000 vatu per person - equivalent to NZ$180 each!!! We again declined, happy enough just to take photos of the tower itself. We have seen bungee jumping, for free in NZ! Our guide suggested we might buy him a mobile phone, or some kava or give him 5000 vatu for being our guide. A bit cheeky this lad! In the end he was satisfied with 300 vatu we gave him in return for his guidance and coconuts. A dozen or so children helped us bring our dinghy ashore and relaunch it again both time we went ashore. The boys were carrying long bush knives. We learned that boys as young as 4 will have their own bush knife, and at the age of 6 they learn to climb coconut trees to cut coconuts from the top!

After a very peaceful night in the sheltered Havannah Harbour, we had a rather bouncy trip up to Emae. Left Havannah just after 7am and arrived at Emae at 1pm. Beautiful reefs and clear water enticed us for a snorkel and a freshen up before going ashore. We set off walking the 5km to the school but half way we were collected by a local ute who gave us a ride in the tray of the ute, along with dozens of coconuts! There are 10 villages on Emae, with a total of over 800 people. We took our seeds to the school and handed them over to the Principal, Richard. He will liaise with their island Disaster Committee and ensure the seeds are divided up fairly to the 10 villages on the island. Emae was hit very hard by cyclone Pam. The mango trees and coconut trees have been stripped of all branches, fruit and foliage. Many large trees have been uprooted and lie on their sides. Skeletons of thousands of trees stand twisted and broken, pointing bare tips skyward like the set of some horror movie. This island depends on copra production for income. There won't be any copra here for a very long time.
We met up with people from the three Sea Mercy boats who are doing wonderful work here in Vanuatu, the good folks on Buffalo Nickel, Darramy and Perspherone (or something like that!)to make arrangements for some of our seeds to be delvilered to the Shepherd Islands. There are several islands in the Shepherd group. The largest, Tongoa, is getting aid from Vila. But smaller islands are missing out. Buninga Island is only 1.5km across, but 90 people live on this tiny island. Next to Buninga is Tongariki, only slightly larger in area but more than double the population of Buninga. These people have had very little help, mainly due to their isolation. There are no safe overnight or strong wind anchorages at these islands - and landing is difficult without vessels being set up especially for the task. Fortunately, Buffalo Nickel has a special tender made for the job and Darramy travels alongside to provide the hands on help required to get things ashore in difficult spots. We delivered a p ortion of our seeds to Darramy this afternoon, they are leaving early in the morning from Emae, to transport them to these two tiny islands who are desperate for seeds.
From Brian and Sue on Darramy we learned about some more needs they had discovered in the islands. Many small fishing boats, both aluminium and traditional dug out canoes, were damaged in the cyclone. Often just small holes, but definitely not sea worthy! These vessels not only provide food for the village, but they also sell fish to the markets to get income. While boats remain damaged, many families cannot fish for food, or income. What they need is fibreglass matting and fibreglass resin to repair their boats - and someone wiht the knowledge to help them do repairs. Water tanks and roofs also have small holes that can be fixed with fibreglass repair. Any boats coming from NZ or from Fiji could bring some supplies and help out - please! Also, any vessels coming this way, please bring roofing nails, screws and fastenings to secure guttering and downpipes back on to roofs so that water tanks can be used to collect water again. Another need is water taps/valves for the base of water t anks. Some aid organisation has delivered loads of water tanks to the islands, but they didn't come with a tap on the bottom! Until they get these valves, the tanks are useless. Please spread the word to any vessels coming this way - these items do not take up too much room on a yacht, but are desperately needed.
Tomorrow we head to the Maskelyne Islands - we are hoping for a better passage than the one we had today!

Last night we caught up with fellow yachties, one couple each from from ALBA, Cadeceus and Chez Nous. Over a few drinks and plates of fall-off-the-bone-tangy beef ribs, we swapped our boating stories, with focus on the places we had visited in Vanuatu and which villages were in need of what. Between us, a plan was hatched. Much needed large tarpaulins for the school roof in Futuna island are now being organised. Chez Nous is going to make contact with people who have access to helicopters to see if aid can be delivered to Green Point in Tanna island, they ares till cut off by road and impossible to reach by sea. The Sea Mercy boats, stationed in Emae are making deliveries of goods to the Shepherd Islands and they need seeds. We will seek them out tomorrow in Emae and distribute seeds to these vessels for transport to the tiny isolated communities of Buninga Island and others in the Shepherd group - they were thumped by the cyclone.
There is a container load of tools, such as crow bars, bush knives etc, about 30 tonne of it, arriving into Efate at the beginning of June. The only way to get these supplies to other islands is to divide up the 30 tonnes amongst as many yachts as possible for transport. We will come back to Efate in a couple of weeks and collect as many tools as we can carry, departing Efate again on the 11th June for islands in the north who are waiting for these items.
Please spread the word to all other boaties that if they have room, they are needed to take tools to the northern islands. If they contact us on Aradonna we will be able to give more details.
We are constantly amazed by all the yachties we meet. Every one of them has been doing as much as they can to help. Clothing, bedding, tools, food, medical supplies - many cruisers have packed their spare cabin space up to the ceiling with supplies to donate to villages here. ALBA delivered a nebuliser to a health clinic in Aneityum after hearing about one of the villagers that died of an asthma attack in the clinic because they did not have one. We understadn that other medical clinics are in need of nebulisers if anyone is able to bring some from NZ. It is wonderful to be part of this amazing community. We are kindred spirits in our love of the sea and our love of sailing, but more importantly we share the same values. We all know that we are very very fortunate to be in a position to enjoy the cruising life and we all love to help. We have special friends in this community! We had another treat today. Our friends from ALBA arrived into the same bay as us later in the day today. They did some fishing on the way to Havannah Harbour and dropped off a large fresh fillet of Tuna for our dinner. It was superb!

Last night we celebrated Karl's birthday, only 10 days late, but here in Port Vila is the first real restaurant we have found. Heather treated Karl to dinner at the French restauarant "Cafe du Village". A wonderful cocktail called a Toblerone started the meal, followed by eye fillet steak cooked to perfection (tender and juicy) and hazelnut meringue with fruit and cream for dessert. Heavenly! It was a balmy evening and we enjoyed sitting on the terrace with our fine food and wine, overlooking the harbour with Aradonna in view. Karl exclaimed "Life couldn't be much better than this!" Today we explored the large supermarket, called Bon Marche. There is a definite French influence in the goods stocked here and everything you can imagine is on the shelves. A world away from the poor villages in the outer islands. We learned today that this supermarket chain is owned by Chinese investors, who also own large amounts of real estate here and are currently building a huge convention centre in Vila. Many shops have chinese writing on the front as well as English and French. We found some other items we needed for the boat by visiting a local hardware store, computer store and the auto parts store. It seems most things are available if you know who to ask! An interesting observation we have made is that many people in Vanuatu have no idea when their birthday is. It is common for births not to be registered and often parents are a bit hazy about their children's ages. Many adults are not really sure how old they are. Several times when we have been speaking with locals, especially in the outer islands but also in Vila, a local will tell us "I am about, 39, maybe 40 or something like that." When we ask how old their children are, we get answers like "My daughter is maybe 7 or maybe 9 I think". Once we asked a man how many children he had and he said, maybe 3 or maybe 4! For the locals that get a job in Vila, if they want their wages to be put into a bank account, they have to have a birth certificate. Only then do they try to find out a date they were born and get a birth certificate. People that do not work, or get paid in cash, may never get a birth certificate. It must be a nightmare for officials to know how many people there are in this country - it would be a wild guess!! Tonight we are meeting up with some fellow yachties at the Waterfront Bar for happy hour, there are several yachts moored in Vila right now.
Tomorrow morning we will set sail for islands in the north, hopping our way up to Pentecost to see some land diving (weather permitting).