Hello from Vanuatu, July 25, 2008

We welcome your e-mails and would love to hear from you. If you would like to write, please e-mail us at [email protected]. (our boat address while at sea) If you want to track us, use the following link. http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionReportsDetail.aspx?callsign=WA6CZL Hello from Oyster Island on Espiritu Santo, in Vanuatu, October 14, 2008 Our last update had us departing the island of Ambryn, where we watched the Rom dance and other festivities as part of the “Back to My Roots Festival”. From Ambryn we have been working our way north to the Banks and Torres island groups in Vanuatu. Our first stop was at Waterfall Bay on the island of Pentecost, home of the famous land diving (we call it bungee jumping) where the village men, wearing only a namba, jump from rickety wooden towers 200 feet high toward the ground with only vines tied around their ankles. Unfortunately, it was the wrong time of year for us to see these spectacular death-defying jumps, as they are done in April and May to bless the yam harvest. Instead, we went to see one of Vanuatu’s many wonderful waterfalls. This particular waterfall had an inside and an outside fall. We first hiked up through muddy taro patches to reach a dark cave where we crawled through a short opening. We waded our way through the darkness until we reached the torrential waterfall. The force of the water was so strong that it literally took your breath away, and the darkness made it kind of eerie. After our exhilarating shower, we exited the cave and descended down to the front of the waterfall where it emptied into a large pool. We swam and jumped off the rocks with the local kids, enjoying the fresh cool water. When we returned to Lazy Bones, a large transport boat was loading sacks of copra (dried coconuts) from the beach. Then hundreds of excited kids hopped aboard. They had come here for an annual sports week and were on their way back home. Evidently the overloaded boat didn’t get everyone the first time, as it came back three times to pick up another child left behind. From Waterfall Bay we sailed north to Asanvari on the island of Maewo. This large bay is home to the Asanvari Yacht Club (again a loose term) run by Chief Nelson and his son Nixon. Asanvari also has a beautiful waterfall, which is also used to generate electricity. It did not take long before we discovered they had fried many of their electronic items like cell phone chargers, DVD players, etc. that they asked us to fix. So off we went to the waterfall to check out the problem. Several hours later they had a great hydro generator that was delivering 220V AC and not 340V AC. It was too late for all the fried electronics, I’m afraid, but we gave them some spare phone chargers. One of our friends, Rod, turned 75, so we asked the Yacht Club if they could help us celebrate his birthday. We organized a fun party with 40 yachties, a string band, dancing, and a nice dinner. I played the guitar and sang a humorous song Gayle and I had written for Rod, partly in Bislama, which elicited a few chuckles from the yachties and locals. The next day at noon we were invited to a local wedding just over the hill. Time is not very important to the villagers, so ”just over the hill” could be a 5 minute or a 5 hour walk. It turned out to be about a two-hour hike up and down a muddy, slippery, and rocky trail. Most of us had dressed up a bit and had worn the wrong kind of shoes. I was the pack mule, carrying baskets that would be used for serving the food for the wedding. What we had imagined as a wedding was not what we encountered. It began first with a two-hour political rally in Bislama (Pidgin English), as elections were only a few days away. Politicians seem to be the same, whether in the U.S. or Vanuatu—loud and full of promises. But at least they have elections and the people do vote. We then met the groom, who explained the details of the wedding. He is from the island of Tanna and his wife is from Maewo. They have been married officially for six years and have two children. They are getting married again for the traditional customs. It has taken them this long to save enough money for the wedding. In Vanuatu the cost paid by the groom to the bride’s family is ten pigs and 20,000 Vatu ($200US) if they are both from the same island. Between islands the fee is two pigs and 80,000 Vatu ($800US). It had taken them six years to save up the 80,000 Vatu, as income is minimal, especially in the outer islands. The groom’s entire family had all moved temporarily from Tanna to Maewo for the wedding six months ahead of time so they could get to know their in-laws. Can you imagine having your future in-laws living with you for six months?? The ceremony was pretty dull. The groom does his ritual separately in one village and the bride in another village. Then they come together for the pig killing and feast. The simple ceremony consisted of the groom holding a woven mat over his head while his new in-laws would, one at a time, walk around him twice, then tap him on the shoulder. He would then give that person 200 vatu ($2US), a token that he is buying them into the family. We figured the feast was much later that night after many rounds of kava, so we excused ourselves and braved the long, muddy trail back to the comfort of our boats in Asanvari Bay. We next visited Sansom, home of the moon cave. About fifty villagers greeted us on our arrival by dinghy. They led us to a large cave with petroglyphs of ancient ships. It was believed that the moon was taken from this cave. When you look up at the ceiling of the cave you can see a circle of rock missing, which ancient legend says was the moon. The cave is also home to man-made stalagmites. The children stack flat rocks on top of each other. As water drips from the ceiling, the rocks eventually bond and form stalagmites that looked like stacks of pancakes all around the cave. What fun for the kids! We stopped briefly at the island of Ambae before sailing on to the big island of Espiritu Santo and Luganville, its capital and major port. Santo, as most people call it, played a major role in WWII, harboring as many as 100 U.S. Navy vessels at one time as a staging area for the battles at Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, the Coral Sea, and more. Many WWII remains are scattered over the island, including Quonset huts, air strips, etc. While building the many air strips and buildings on Santo for the war, the U.S. recruited over 10,000 islanders, including eighty known cannibals from Malekula! I’m not sure how much they enjoyed the military cuisine, but you know what they say about Spam! Luganville is also home to a famous wreck called the S.S. President Coolidge. The Coolidge was a luxury cruise ship which normally carried up to 900 passengers and crew, but was converted to carry 5,000 Army troops under the command of a captain from the American Steamship Line. Due to an amazing number of communication errors, the Coolidge hit two friendly mines on its way into the channel. The captain managed to drive the ship up onto a reef and get all but three people ashore. This was a major catastrophe in that these 5,000 troops were then unable to provide the needed support during the battle of Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. It was probably lucky for the troops, as many people died in those battles. To make things worse, the troops made it ashore with nothing--no extra clothes, no supplies, no weapons and no equipment. The ship slipped off the reef shortly after and sunk in about 200 feet of water, so nothing was salvaged. Somehow the island had to accommodate and feed 5,000 unexpected guests. The Coolidge is now one of the world’s most famous wreck dives. The 654 foot luxury liner is intact and full of interesting and ornate items, including “The Lady”. We wanted to dive on the Coolidge but have postponed the dive until we return to Santo. We picked up a mooring at a small resort island called Aore, which is two miles across the channel from Luganville. It is charming and a great place for a vacation--good food, beautiful views, a pool, and a nice place to relax with friends. Luganville, on the other hand, is a small one-road, dusty town where minimal supplies can be purchased. From Luganville we sailed up to Oyster Island Resort. This pretty bay is considered a hurricane hole. The shallow entrance will only allow boats with less than six feet of draft to get into the main anchorage. A New Zealander named Grant, who grew up in Vanuatu, recently purchased the resort and was busy working on building bungalows and up-scaling the place. The food at his restaurant was good and reasonable.

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