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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 down-under in Brisbane, Australia, December 1, 2008 Our last update had us departing the island of Ureparapara in the Banks Islands group of Vanuatu on October 4th for Hayter Bay in the northernmost group of islands in Vanuatu called the Torres group. We had been looking forward to getting to this part of Vanuatu where we could do the most good for the villagers, as they rarely see a boat. We arrived at Hayter Bay on the west side of Tegua Island. We caught a nice tuna on the way in, so we were looking forward to giving it to the villagers. We soon discovered that the anchorages are on the west side and the villages are located on the east side of the islands, and it is at least a three hour walk across! We had hoped to find a family who lived here last year, but all we found was a well-cared for, but recently abandoned, small village. Evidently John and his family had been asked to leave over a land dispute, something that happens all the time in Vanuatu. We managed to figure this out from some posted signs in Bislama (local language) that explained that John was now in Hiu, the island north of Tegua. Having no villagers to give the fish to, we fileted it, had some for dinner, and froze the rest. The next morning, we heard some yelling from the shore. We took the dinghy and found a teenage boy with a speech and hearing impediment, who had brought us some drinking coconuts. We brought him back to the boat and we gave him something to eat and drink. We tried to communicate, but were not very successful. I took the boy back to shore after we gave him a shirt and some shoes (he was barefoot). He wanted me to follow him to a place where he proceeded to dig a hole. After ten minutes of digging he found one yellow, oblong egg (lizard?) and offered it to me. I politely declined and, with hand signals, suggested he bring other villagers to the anchorage. The next day two more boys showed up with coconuts. They explained the details of John getting into a fight and moving to Hiu. They asked us to visit their village on the other side of the island. As it was too late for them to return before dark, they decided to spend the night at the abandoned village, so we gave them some food, shoes, and clothes. We left Hayter Bay the next morning and headed over the top of Tegua and down the eastern side of the island and went into a very long bay called Lateu. As we powered into the bay we were surfing large rollers that were running down the bay with us. As we neared the end of the bay we saw the waves breaking on the reef so we turned around and dropped anchor in 25 feet of water, with huge rollers coming head-on at us the entire time. We managed with great difficulty to get the dinghy down and loaded with supplies as it bashed against the swim step of Lazy Bones with each roll of the breakers. We surfed over the reef and to the shore, where the village greeted us with big smiles. They helped us unload and carry the twelve big bags of supplies to their village. We met Reuben, the chief of the village, who proudly showed us around. Evidently their original village along the beach had been destroyed due to a tropical cyclone. The Canadian government helped them to relocate several hundred yards further inland and even built them a kindergarten school, the only school on the island. The chief said we were only the second boat this year to stop here. They hadn’t seen a supply boat in nine months. They were very grateful for the clothes, shoes, medicine, school items, and other supplies we gave them. They showered us with fruits and veggies, but we only took what we could reasonably eat. The chief wanted to know if we were spending the night, as he felt it was not safe. We told him it was too late to make it to another island, so we spent a very rolly night on Lazy Bones, bouncing up and down. We left early the next morning and sailed to a bay called Tutumel on the southwest side of Loh Island, in search of one more place to unload the last of our supplies for the villages. After anchoring, we heard voices hooting at us from the jungle up on the mountain, and about an hour later a young couple managed to make it from their garden high atop the mountain down to where we were in the bay. We picked them up by dinghy and came back to the boat. We loaded the dinghy up with the last of our supplies and were shown the way to their small village a mile further north from our anchorage. We went ashore and other villagers greeted us and helped to carry the remaining twelve bags of supplies. This village was desperately in need of supplies and we were glad we were able to help. They also agreed to get the medical supplies and school supplies over to the main village on the east side where they would be put to good use. Having unloaded a whole cabin-full of supplies, we left Loh for Santo Island as we started our way back down the chain of islands in Vanuatu. The winds did not cooperate very well and we bashed against 30 knot winds and huge waves. We were unable to make our destination on the northeast corner of Santo, so Gayle managed to find us a tiny anchor on the chart on the northwest side of Santo called Wunpuka. We arrived very early in the morning and found a beautiful, well-protected black sand beach on which to drop the hook. Chief Barry paddled out to visit us, bringing mangos and welcoming us to his village. We talked for quite a while and gave him some paperback books and fishing lures. He invited us ashore, but we told him we needed some rest after our overnight passage. Early that next morning, after getting some well-needed sleep, we sailed to Port Olry, a very large French-speaking village on the northeast corner of Santo. It was neat and tidy, with lots of cattle roaming free. We visited the village, talked to the school teacher and some children in French, and took a nice, long walk down the road for some exercise. The next day we sailed south to Hog Harbor, next to Champagne Beach, which is supposed to be the prettiest beach in all of Vanuatu. After dropping anchor, we went ashore and found a small resort, where we had lunch and took a walk. We took the dinghy over to Champagne Beach, which was absolutely stunning, with a beautiful white sand beach set against the multi-colored turquoise lagoon. We spent two more days enjoying the glorious weather and crystal blue water before heading south to Oyster Island, where we had stopped before on our route going north. We spent a week at Oyster Island with ten other boats, fixing two loose engine mounts (two days of hard labor), using the internet, exploring yet another beautiful fresh water blue hole, and we all celebrated Gayle’s birthday! Discussion became more frequent about timing and a route to Australia. A major discussion was where to stop along the way. One boat had already run aground at Kenn Reef a few weeks earlier, apparently due to a serious navigation error. We all agreed that we would probably head toward Huon and Chesterfield Reefs (north and west of New Caledonia) on the way, breaking the trip up into three small voyages rather than one long one. From Oyster Island we continued south, stopping at Palakula Bay for two days, then on to Luganville, then to Malua on the island of Malekula. We were greeted almost immediately by a lady in a canoe with mangos, which we accepted in exchange for a few D size batteries. From here we headed for Dixon Reef, recommended as a great place to snorkel. But en route we broke yet another engine mount! We motored slowly at three knots, skipping Dixon Reef to make it to the calm waters of Southwest Bay. We had one extra engine mount, so after eight hours it was replaced and the engine marginally aligned. We spent the next two days visiting with the villagers and met Kevin, the New Zealand owner of “The Farm”, who sold beef, pork, eggs, etc. We had a nice chat with him and learned about the potential benefits to the skin of a locally-pressed oil called tamanu. We bought some and are giving it a try--hopefully it is the fountain of youth! We headed further south to Awei in the Maskelyne Islands. On our way in we caught a huge wahoo. We had plenty of wahoo in the freezer, so we wanted to give the fish to the villagers. As we arrived at the bay’s entrance we saw many sailing canoes loaded up with families all dressed up coming back from church.