22 May 2015 Dillon’s Bay to Port Vila, Efate (Day 2)
By seven o’clock, we were sailing around the headland into the approaches to Port Vila. We motored into the secure harbour and called up Yachting World, which is a small marina that rents out moorings in the inner harbour. On the way we passed Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, which is here to help deliver aid to the islands most affected by Cyclone Pam.
The marina staff directed us onto a mooring next to “Full Circle” and “Anke-Sofie” and we dropped Thomasee off onshore. I think that he was grateful to be on terra firma. After tidying up a little, we went ashore to drop off two huge bags of laundry and our garbage - we were quite pleased that we only had one large bag of rubbish after three weeks of travelling.
We walked into town, which reminds us of other small towns in the Pacific islands and the Caribbean - rundown with crumbling pavements, but bustling with people and mini buses. The town seems to have recovered from the cyclone and it was business as usual.
Our first stop was at the Immigration office to formally clear in. We were given a visa for 1 month and then had to fill in a long form to extend our visa for another couple of months until mid-August. It was a laborious process and we had to give two passport photos and other documentation to get the extension. It also cost us $50US to clear in and $120US for the visa extension, so added to the $100US we paid in Aneityum, it’s cost us $270US to clear in and we still have to pay to clear out - not cheap.
We wandered through town, which was very busy because a big cruise ship docked this morning. There are lots of shops selling tourist souvenirs and Chinese junk, but by this time we were feeling very weary, so we’ll have a better look around tomorrow. We stopped off at the vegetable market, which is very well stocked - a stark contrast to the lack of food in the more southern islands.
After calling at a supermarket for some essentials, we retired back to the boat, had a sandwich and collapsed into bed to sleep the afternoon away. In the evening, we went to the bar and had a couple of beers with “Pikuditu” and “Full Circle”. They are both from Holland, so were having a nice conversation in Dutch until we arrived, at which point they seamlessly switched into English - very nice of them. We had dinner on “Full Circle”, who wanted to thank me for repairing their windlass a few days ago.
23 May 2015 Port Vila, Efate
We walked into town and found out that we can buy duty free alcohol here - bottles of French wine are only $5US, which is remarkably cheap. Customs will apparently come on board Alba and seal the boxes and then the customs in Luganville will check the boxes when we clear out of Vanuatu in six weeks’ time.
Glenys dragged me to a craft market, which is half a mile out of town near the cruise ship dock. It was full of “I survived Cyclone Pam” t-shirts and other tat, so we didn’t buy anything. We then stopped off at a big supermarket and did a mega shop - provisioning for a month while we sail up the islands.
It was very hot and airless in the afternoon, so we packed away the shopping and collapsed. They have excellent beef here in Vanuatu and it’s very cheap, so Glenys made a cracking Beef Vindaloo for dinner.
24 May 2015 Port Vila, Efate
It was a Sunday, so we had a quiet day pottering about on board. There’s a good, free internet connection here, so Glenys did some research on place to visit in Vanuatu.
I did a few small chores and then spent the rest of the day on the internet investigating new songs to play on my guitar. I’ve been looking for songs that everyone will know and are easy to play, so I’m now ready to terrorise the cruising world with my rendition of classics like “King of the Road”, “Day Dream Believer” and even “YMCA” (but I might give the costumes a miss)
We were going to go out for a meal at the bar, but the starter cord on the outboard snapped, so we gave up and had the rest of the Beef Vindaloo on board.
25 May 2015 Port Vila, Efate
Our plan is to leave here tomorrow, so we had a day of running about. I first repaired the starter cord on the outboard. It was a simple job except that I dropped a linkage overboard and then had to spend twenty minutes diving down ten metres to try to find it. I couldn’t see it among the weed, but it’s only a safety interlock to stop the engine being started when it’s in gear, so we can manage without it.
Having got our transport working, I whizzed over to the customs office and they made out the documentation for us to get duty free alcohol and diesel. We have to buy the alcohol, then call customs and they will give us our cruising permit to head north after they’ve sealed up the boxes of wine.
We walked into town mainly to buy the duty free booze and bought 60 bottles of wine. Yesterday, Glenys had picked up a voucher in the tourist office giving us a 20% discount at this shop. When she handed it over, I thought that the lady serving us was going to have a heart attack, but she eventually (ungraciously) accepted it, so our wine only cost $4US per bottle.
After lunch, we walked to a couple of supermarkets and did some more provisioning, tidied up and went to the bar for happy hour and then a meal with “Caduceus”, “Aradonna” and “Chez Nous”
26 May 2015 Port Vila to Esema Bay, Efate
First thing in the morning, Glenys walked into town to buy last minute fresh bread and vegetables, while I waited on board for the customs to arrive. It was a very quick process - the guy didn’t even count the bottles, but just stuck a customs label on each box.
When Glenys got back, we dropped the mooring and went alongside the tiny fuel dock - it’s only four metres long, so it felt a bit precarious with our 14 metre boat. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much wind or tidal current, so no problems and we got back to the mooring safely.
After tidying away the provisions and seven cases of wine, we headed out of the harbour and around Devil’s Point which lived up to its name. The wind was from the south east at 20-25 knots and steep 3-4 metres waves had built up. Fortunately, the wind and waves were behind us, so it wasn’t too bad. I made the mistake of only putting in one reef as we left the harbour and we had to turn into wind to put a deeper reef in, which was tough with waves breaking over the foredeck. I wouldn’t like to go upwind around this point.
After we rounded Devil’s Point, we were protected by the land and the seas calmed down, but we had strong katabatic winds coming down from the hills giving us gusts up to 35 knots, so it was an exciting ride. As we approached Havanna Harbour, I caught and landed a Rainbow Runner - my first fish since leaving New Zealand.
We dropped anchor in Esema Bay, which is a very sheltered anchorage just off a shore covered with mangroves. As I was filleting the fish, a guy paddled up in a dugout canoe and chatted to me.
Eventually, after the normal introductions of “What’s your name” and “Where do you come from”, he asked for the fish bones. I was embarrassed that I’d already thrown away the head, so gave him a big slab of the fish.
In the evening, the wind died completely and it was a little too calm because we had a couple of mosquitos whining about after dark.
27 May 2015 Esema Bay, Efate
After being bitten by mosquitos last night, we spent the morning sewing loops onto the new bimini, so that we can have our mosquito net covering the cockpit. “Lil Explorers” have emailed us to say that Shannon treated a few cases of Malaria in Epi, so we want to be better prepared.
In the afternoon, Glenys read up on Malaysia and Thailand. Our son Craig is planning to come out to see us in November, so we need to give them some idea of where to meet us. It’s a little embarrassing that we’re planning to spend a year in south-east Asia, yet don’t have a clue where we’re going what we’re going to do there.
I went for a snorkel off the headland to the north of the bay. There are a lot of coral heads with depths from 3 metres to 10 metres, which is interesting, but the water was very murky making it difficult for photography. I spotted a Lionfish which was the first one in Vanuatu.
28 May 2015 Esema Bay to Sulua Bay, Emae
We were up early and off by seven o’clock. It took us an hour of motoring in calm conditions to get to the Purumea Channel, which is a narrow pass between two islands. Once out into the open sea, the wind picked up and we had 15-25 knots at 60 degrees off our starboard bow.
After an hour of bashing to windward, we heard a loud bang and discovered that the ten pop rivets on the foot of our rod kicker had sheared off. This is the second time that this has happened - I have a job on my To Do List to replace the pop rivets with bolts because it’s been a little loose for a while. We hove-to while I removed the rod kicker and rigged up a temporary kicking strap with two blocks. Fifteen minutes later, we were on our way again.
As we approached Emae Island, I hooked a fish on the fishing rod. We hove-to again and I had a go at bringing it in, but the steel trace snapped. I also discovered that the lure on the other line had gone as well. Since leaving New Zealand, the fish are winning by taking five lures while I’ve only caught one of them.
By two o’clock, we were anchoring in Sulua Bay. in 14 metres of water near to “Full Circle”. There’s a lot of coral reef around and we had to search for a sandy spot. It was still windy and overcast, but the water looked clear, so we went snorkelling for an hour. The water temperature is still cold and even with shorty wet suits on, we can only last an hour. It was reasonable visibility and we actually saw some soft corals - perhaps the water is going to get warmer from here.
This is a rolly anchorage, so we’ve decided to move on tomorrow.
29 May 2015 Sulua Bay, Emae
I was up early and decided that we ought to go ashore to see how badly Cyclone Pam has affected the island, so we gathered together a few small things in my rucksack and went ashore with Paul and Monique from “Full Circle”.
After chatting to a lady who lives next to the beach, we walked two kilometres to the main village along a dirt road, where the effects of the cyclone are very apparent. There are hundreds of fallen trees and practically all of the coconut trees are stripped of their leaves.
At the village of Tapakoro, we asked for the chief, who took us to a small hut where we laid out the few things that we’d brought. We were introduced to a guy called Usa (Samuel). Usa is his Kastom name and he seems to be a kind of village chief. He spoke good English and showed us around the village and their gardens.
Usa said that there were 42 people in the village when the Cyclone hit and he’d split them into two groups who sheltered in two concrete houses. Their village lies between two hills, away from the shore, but the wind funnelled down the valley. He said that the wind was so strong that it literally ripped all the plants in their gardens out of the ground as well as stripping the coconut and fruit trees.
They immediately started planting, but only the quick growing plants like Island Cabbage and sweet potato are ready to harvest. They’ve been living off stored taro and aid from Port Vila.
After lunch, we took the rest of our aid out to the beach - a mixture of clothing, bedding, tools and most of our rice and flour. Usa walked out to collect it all accompanied by some of the villagers and a gaggle of kids out on an adventure. They tell us that they will be sharing everything with the other three villages on the island.
We went snorkelling again and then retired back to the boat to run the water-maker and do a few chores.
30 May 2015 Sulua Bay to Lammen Bay, Epi
It was a very showery day, but we decided to head downwind to the Island of Epi. We pulled out the genoa and drifted downwind in winds between 10 and 20 knots. The two anchorages on the south-west corner of Epi Island looked unappealing in the overcast weather, so we sailed past and pulled into Lammen Bay. at around half past two. It’s a pleasant anchorage, but there’s quite a swell creeping into the bay causing us to rock and roll.
Over the past few days, I’ve been very disappointed with the underwater photographs that I’ve been taking, so I spent most of the six hour trip reading a text book on underwater photography. It’s not that I’m obsessional, but fifteen minutes after we’d dropped anchor, I’d dragged Glenys off to go snorkelling with me.
I spent 90 minutes taking photographs on the reef to the north of the bay and was much more pleased with the results - touchwood, I think that I’m starting to understood how to use my strobe (underwater flash gun).
Lammen Bay is a good place to see Dugongs which are closely related to the Manatees that we saw in Florida. These “seacows” differ from the American ones in that they have a “fluke” tail similar to dolphins and whales. We saw and heard one or two surfacing near us, but I didn’t manage to get a decent photograph of them diving down.
31 May 2015 Lammen Bay, Epi
We did a few jobs first thing in the morning and then went out for a snorkel on the headland to the south of the bay, which had very clear water and an interesting steep wall down to 10-15 metres.
After lunch, we chilled out for a while and then Glenys spotted a Dugong between us and the shore, so I donned my shorty wetsuit and went to see if I could find it. The sea bed is mostly dark grey sand with very spare patches of algae and short grass. I guess that the Dugongs and Turtles love it, but it’s a very boring landscape. I saw a stingray, a fleeting glimpse of a turtle and not much else. After half an hour, I gave up and swam over to the reef on the north side of the anchorage and entertained myself taking photos.
We invited Paul and Monique from “Full Circle” over for dinner. Our paths diverge here and we probably won’t see them again until Indonesia or even Thailand.
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