Fiji to Vanuatu ( Leg 20)

September 2023

The first couple of days this month were mainly spent doing maintenance and getting the boat ready for the arrival of our next crew members, Mark and Katie, who came onboard on the morning of Sunday the 3rd. After the initial ” settling in” we were off to do the ever tedious task of provisioning, and as seems to always be the case, we were unable to get everything we needed in one go and so had to finish up on Monday morning. Once that was done, we moved along the coast 2nm to Port Denerau to go and find Customs and Immigration to give them the 24hours notice they require here to clear out. They weren’t in the office, but after a phone call or two back and forth, we were booked in for clearance at 10 am the next morning. We sat and had a drink in the marina restaurant before returning to Imagination for the rest of the day. We returned the following morning in plenty of time to do the official paperwork only to get to the office and find a queue of others who had earlier appointments and no sign of any officials! Contact had been made by phone and they had said they were on their way…..they arrived around 45 minutes after we got there! They did seem to get cracking and quickly worked their way through the queue and we were dealt with by 10.40, so not too bad all things considered. Having not been able to find any Vanuatu cash anywhere, we came across a currency exchange that did have it so we all changed money before picking up anchor and moving off to Mololo Island for the evening. We moved to Castaway Beach Island the following afternoon having spent the morning changing our headsail over to our brand new, custom made one. Ally had to go up the roller furling twice to assist the sail up and through an area on the foil that is out of alignment and kept catching the top edge of the sail as it went up – we all had a job to do, so thankfully, no photos were taken of that! It’s great to have our mantas flying again. The conditions were windy and rolly as we arrived at the island so we made sure we put out plenty of chain before Shawn, Katie and Mark went ashore to climb up to the viewpoint. We were off on our sail to Vanuatu by 9.30am the next morning. It felt kinda sad to be leaving Fiji after such a fabulous few months amongst this wonderful culture.

As we came out from behind the island group, the flat, pleasant conditions turned quite uncomfortable as the winds and waves picked up. Over the following 3 days and nights, Katie and Mark had a “baptism of fire” as wave after wave crashed into the cockpit with some waves being 14ft high and for the first time ever, dinner was eaten in the saloon every night! We were all pleased when the anchor went down in Port Resolution ( we had been given special permission to clear in here) on Tanna, Vanuatu after sailing for 3 days, 4 hours and 20 minutes! It was lunchtime on Sunday when we arrived so we knew we wouldn’t see any officials today so we remained onboard, resting. We were visited by a chap from another yacht who came across and told us we were “allowed” to go ashore to find and talk to Stanley at the yacht club about clearing in. He then went on to tell us Stanley wasn’t currently there, so he gave us his telephone number and we called him up. He asked us to go ashore to the Yacht Club at 4pm which we duly did. There are no authorities in this bay – they all travel 2 hours from the main settlement, Lenakel, to do the formalities and Stanley coordinates this on a voluntary basis. He told us he would organise clearance hopefully for tomorrow and that he would be in touch over VHF radio. He told us we could walk through the village and explore a little, but there had been a death overnight and we felt too intrusive to continue on past the initial inhabited area where people were in mourning. Just before lunchtime the next day, there was a message over VHF telling all yachts that the officials would be arriving imminently, so there was a mad rush to get ashore and up to the Yacht Club. The Yacht Club is not what you would expect ( much like the one in the Lau Islands, Fiji)…..no fridge, so no drinks, but this is where we were able to clear in with Customs, Immigration and Biosecurity along with the 3 or 4 other family groups…everyone was super friendly and it was a fairly quick process. Before we returned to Imagination for lunch, we talked to Stanley again to arrange a visit to the Volcano that same evening.

We returned to Imagination and had a quick lunch and prepared for our volcano trip. We were ashore and at the Yacht Club again by 3pm along with the families from other yachts. We all clambered up into the back of an open back truck, and sat along hard wooden benches. All except Shawn that is, who managed to get a comfy seat in the cab with the driver! The 40+ minute ride up to the volcano entrance was bumpy but hilarious. We all hung on for dear life as we wobbled along the dirt roads. On arrival to the entrance, we all disembarked and were able to look at the visual volcano information displays within the building and use the bathroom before we were given a safety briefing. Our guide, Phillip, told us we would go to the crater and wait for 20 minutes or so to watch and see if it would be safe to go up to one of the viewpoints. At this point we, along with several other groups, got back in to our respective vehicles to go further up to the crater where we had another brief talk before heading up on a 2-3 minute walk to the edge. From here, we could see the tri coloured plumes of steam, sulphur and dust but couldn’t see down into the crater. The noise was incredible as we watched and waited for the guide and safety officers to decided which view point we could go up to, but after around 15 minutes we were told it would not be possible to go up to either as it was too dangerous/active and unpredictable. Everyone was very disappointed but as the light started to fade, we were able to see spatterings of lava coming up with the explosions.

I’m not sure what changed, or whether telling us we couldn’t go to a viewpoint was a joke, but 10 minutes later we were all told to follow the guide – we were going up to a viewpoint! We were so excited and eager to get up there to see into the crater. We were not disappointed and we were able to go fairly close to the edge for photos etc. It is so difficult to explain what we saw and heard…..the noise is phenomenal, resonating through your whole body and the pure heat and power is totally indescribable. It felt like staring into the depths of hell – a very unsettling feeling! Mount Yasur is the world’s most accessible active volcano and we just got to visit it – a once in a life time experience. The ride back to the anchorage was a quieter affair as we sat and reflected on the incredible experience we just had.

On Wednesday the 13th September, we walked through the village to the windward side where there was a small restaurant on the beach. We met with the owner as we approached and organised lunch which was prepared as we went for a walk along the windy sandy beach. The lunch was delicious – curried vegetable stuffed omelette, sweet potato, taro and pumpkin in garlic coconut milk, rice, green beans and peppers, slaw in soy dressing – we definitely did it justice! The clouds and wind had picked up over the afternoon and we were aware of some stronger winds coming through, so it was decided we would move on to our next destination before it hit. We were up at 05.30 the next morning for a very pleasant and sunny sail up to Erromango. Almost as soon as our anchor went down, the rain came in and continued overnight and into the 15th when the wind picked up too. We saw up to 42kts, so it was a day spent on board. Ally made repairs to some of the canopies, Katie baked a cake, Mark did some fishing and Shawn “pottered” and watched movies. Late afternoon, the swells started to come into the bay and we had a rather uncomfortable evening that felt like we were at sea. Luckily we were in deeper water but another catamaran anchored in a shallower area had waves crashing over it’s bow with all on board feeling ill, so they left to go out to sea. By the time we got up the next morning, the anchorage was much more settled but the remaining 3 yachts had also left.

We got in the dinghy to go ashore and were greeted by David in his canoe – he was just on his way out to welcome us and to check on us after the unsettled conditions. He owns the Yacht Club here in Dillon’s Bay, and he met us ashore to take us there to meet his wife. We chatted for a while before he took us on a walk around the settlement showing us allotments, the school, river swimming area and Sandalwood trees that Erromango is famous for – they are a great source of income as they are used in the perfume industry. Everyone we came across welcomed us warmly and were interested in where we all had come from and where we were going. We talked to David about his ancestors and asked about caves we had read about. He agreed to take us that afternoon and we picked him up after lunch to go around to another small bay. We walked inland a short way before we arrived at a small cave in the ground. As it contains the remains of David’s ancestors, he said a few words into the cave to announce our arrival to the spirits before we entered. It was kind of eerie to be stood amongst small mounds of bones that were once David’s great great grandparents etc, but we were quiet and respectful as David explained that all islanders are placed into caves when they die, they are not buried, and eventually their bones are placed in piles. After leaving that cave, we were taken to a much smaller one, this time higher up that required climbing a ladder and shuffling along a cliff edge. Just inside the entrance was a line of the skulls of previous chief’s and their wives with their bones arranged in front of them. We paid our respects before clambering down again and spending half an hour on the beach before returning to Imagination. Sunday 17th, we went ashore again for a walk, but not before we had made 4 big bags of popcorn. As we walked along the rivers edge, we were greeted by the locals all dressed in their best clothes for church and we handed out the bags of popcorn to groups of children. Shawn and Mark enjoyed a rather cool swim in the river before we headed back to the boat and after lunch we left for a pleasant overnight sail, arriving at Pele, to the North of Efate late morning on the 18th.

Pele was a disappointment, but only because of the characters there. It’s a pretty area, but at any inhabited small island, visitors are supposed to visit the chief and ask for permission to use the beach, snorkel etc. We were greeted by a group of guys who told us one of them was the chief and we were granted permission to walk the beach, but were told we would have to pay a fee before we left. We went for a walk and as we came back, we were approached by a younger couple, who explained that the older guy was not the chief, the chief was off island and he was the chief’s son. As such, the younger guy wanted the payment for using the beach which we paid but he then went on to say there would be an additional fee for snorkelling and another for anchoring and so it went on and so after a lengthy discussion, we went straight back to Imagination where Shawn and Mark worked on a watermaker pump issue. The following morning we went snorkelling on a great area of reef which was nearer to neighbouring island and then a lovely gentle sail to the other side of Nguna. We went ashore shortly after arriving in Nawaramatua Bay and were thankfully greeted warmly by the Chief’s son, Shem who proceeded to show us around the small village. We arranged with him to hike to the top of the extinct volcano ( Mt Taputoara) the following morning and he told us we could have dinner with his family that evening, too. So we were up early to meet up with Shem who had arranged for John and Harry to guide us up. Unlike yesterday, today was drizzly, humid and the top of the volcano was covered in cloud. Ally and Katie were already having reservations about what was to come…that volcano looks huge when you’re stood at the bottom! They decided to go along and get as far as they could and then maybe stop and wait for the guys to continue up. Initially, things weren’t so bad, but the further we went up, the steeper, slippier, rockier, wetter, cloudier and junglier (!?) it got. Several times either Ally or Katie said they’d had enough but they jollied each other on and kept Harry smiling with their comments to each other, especially when Shawn didn’t tell them about a huge spider until they were almost walking into it!! They managed to get 7/8 of the way up before they finally decided enough was enough. Shawn and Mark continued up to the top with Harry and John, whilst Ally and Katie, slipped, tripped and fell their way back down to the bottom, thankfully without getting lost in the thick undergrowth. Poor Katie was absolutely covered in mud by the time we reached the end but hat’s off to her – she did the whole thing in beach shoes!! hahaha Both of them also got stung by a plant which left them with itchy, painful legs for several days. The boys were back down again half an hour later after allegedly reaching the top, but no one will ever really know because they were surrounded by thick cloud. After showering and changing, Katie decided to remain on board Imagination while Ally, Shawn and Mark went back to the village just before sun down where we were met by Shem. We were taken straight to the Kava Bar and all had a couple of servings before going to Shem’s home where his family had prepared a lovely meal which included fish and various local vegetables. After dinner, we sat and chatted to the family. Shem told us that there is currently a dispute in the village as to who should be Chief as his father who had been the chief, passed away a couple of months ago. Traditionally, the role is passed down to the eldest son, but he has spent time off of the island and newcomers to the village feel that one of them should have the position. It is currently going through Magistrates Court in Efate, but it doesn’t seem to have caused too much ill feeling in the village itself that we could tell.

On the 21st, we sailed down to Havannah Harbour on Mainland Efate, where the US military had a WWII base. It’s a huge, deep harbour and we struggled to find a suitable anchoring spot but eventually found one just at the entrance at Payne Point, floating the chain to prevent damage of any underlying corals. We snorkelled the next morning and then went onto the island for a relaxed BBQ on the beach. Being in the harbour entrance, we had been affected by tidal changes, currents and no wind which meant that when we wanted to leave the following morning, the buoys we had used to float the chain had become tangled up. Mark went into the water to free them up so we could depart for the 7 hour sail down to Port Vila, Vanuatu’s Capital. We arrived late afternoon, so we all went into town immediately. Having been without internet for a couple of weeks, we were eager to find wifi, taste local beer (which has been unavailable in the other islands), and burgers. We managed 2 out of 3 after walking around for a while – our burger meal was eaten in relative silence as we all caught up on news, messages and emails and we managed to buy local SIM cards in the supermarket before heading back to Imagination. Beer would have to wait. Sunday 24th, was a day on board for Ally and Shawn, catching up on loading photos, cleaning and laundry. Katie and Mark enjoyed a full day ashore walking around Port Vila before returning to Imagination at 4pm. On Monday morning, we went to find Customs early to hand in our cruising permit before walking around town for a while and we then left for the 45 minute sail to Mele which is a prettier area than right in the main town. We tried to go across to the resort on the tiny island for a drink and lunch, but they wanted to charge a fee just for stepping foot there, so we went over to the lovely Mele beach on the mainland 200 metres away max, where we found the wonderful Beach Bar and we enjoyed our first local beer(s) ( Tusker, with a fab Lemon version) and a great lunch before relaxing on the beach for a while. The 26th was another day on board for Shawn and Ally researching arrival requirements for the November leg, liaising with prospective crew and uploading photos. Mark and Katie spent another day exploring ashore. Early on the 27th, we returned to Port Vila in time to do the boat cleaning as sadly, after a fun few weeks, it was time for Katie and Mark’s departure. We all decided to go to lunch together at the excellent Jungle Cafe, before they went onto their hotels and we were also able to meet up with our friends Sue and John who are joining us on the next leg, which was lovely.

Over the next few days, Ally and Shawn spent a great deal of time making enquiries about high pressure pumps for the watermaker, but were unsuccessful in locating one. They also met up with their other friends, Andy and Jane who were also joining the October leg. They came on board on the 30th September and we immediately moved back to Mele, where John and Sue were staying along with returning crew member, Jeanine. We all met up at the Beach Bar for drinks and dinner followed by a fire show on the beach. What a lovely way to start the next adventure!

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