Efata - Port Villa
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Tue 28 Aug 2018 23:19
Port Villa, on the island of Efata, is the capital of Vanuatu and provides a surprising contrast to the other islands. The waterfront is modern, high quality infrastructure with a concrete sea wall, walkways, seating, stainless steel railings, bars, hotels and a French feel to it. We tied up stern to at the Yachting World marina, right by the quayside bar/restaurant. On the small island opposite the marina is a plush resort and casino complex. A helicopter giving pleasure flights buzzed overhead. We had to pinch ourselves to confirm the reality of still being in Vanuatu. It would seem that Vanuatu, or at least Port Villa, is less an isolated and remote group of Pacific islands from our UK perspective and actually more a holiday and commercial location for this part of the world. There is a new hotel and shopping complex being built near the marina and French supermarkets provide excellent reprovisioning opportunities. Further back from the waterfront a faded colonial aspect rapidly becomes apparent with decaying buildings used by government and overseas aid agencies.
Port Villa is a yachting hub. Boats from Australia and New Zealand along with world cruisers congregate before exploring Vanuatu, heading down to New Caledonia, up to the Solomon Islands and Micronesia or across to Australia. In this respect it feels similar to Tonga before the trip down to New Zealand. However, there isn’t even a chandlery never mind dedicated service and repair facilities so you could have a very relaxing time waiting for your spare parts to be shipped in!
On the overnight passage from Erromango we passed within a mile of a large brightly lit and slowly moving vessel that by virtue of its size should have been transmitting its location on AIS. It wasn’t and we suspected evidence of the illegal fishing operations that are financed through Vanuatu. Investment funds use tax havens such as Vanuatu to channel money into illegal or unpopular investment opportunities and where a low profile can be maintained. You only have to peruse the financial and business web sites for a short while to become aware of the extent which private equity now plays in world finance. While we were here two simply enormous super yachts anchored in the bay - both flying the Red Ensign of the Cayman Islands. Free wheeling private equity thrives in the more unstable “populist” right wing conditions being fostered by Trump, Putin and the UK Brexiteers such as Reece Mogg (who has made millions from London based private equity). These people loath regulation and institutions such as the EU. It really is a worrying time for compassionate, moral people around the world.
And finally, Confessions from the Bilge. Our marine toilet stopped pumping through and clearly there was a blockage somewhere in the system. Suspecting blocked valves in the outlet pipes we took the whole thing apart and removed the valve assembly. This we soaked in vinegar for several nights and it seemed that we did remove a considerable build up of calcium deposits and that the valves were operating more freely. Certainly there was a free flow through when the valves were open and so we reassembled everything and decided to flush through from the holding tank (where effluent can be held in port before emptying at sea). It took, as ever, longer than expected to reassemble things and when completed I quickly opened the external cap to the holding tank and put in the hose. The tank was taking much longer to fill than expected and then I noticed an oily film on the water which seemed a bit odd. I suddenly realised it was diesel and that I was filling the diesel tank with water. My initial shock and despair was inconsolable - worse than filling a diesel car with petrol (that I have also done). Annie remained remarkably calm and dug out the manuals. There was no fuel filter and stop cock where shown and all effort was then directed at preventing water from getting into the pipework to the engine. This meant emptying the side lazarette in the cockpit to get at the inspection hatch on the fuel tank. There were stop cocks on the external outlet and return pipes and so I closed these and then we thought through the problem. The water would have sunk to the bottom of the tank but was unlikely to have risen up the diesel filled outlet and return pipes, or at least not higher than the level of water in the tank. The glass water trap on the bottom of the engine pre-filter confirmed that no water had reached that far towards the engine and therefore it seemed that sucking the water out of the bottom of the tank might resolve the issue.
In theory you can suck out the water and when pure diesel appears leave the rest of this in the tank. In practice you have to be certain that the end of your suction pipe is getting down to the deepest part of the tank but even then, given the small size of and restricted access through the inspection hatch, it is impossible to see exactly what is in the tank. There was no option but to pump out all 250 litres of water and diesel, in our case using the small manual pump otherwise used for pumping out the five litres of engine oil when servicing the engine. The marina kindly provided a 200 litre drum and using our pump and two 20 litre fuel containers I decanted the whole tank, taking a day and a half of exhausting work (no sympathy expected). There were one or two more minor technical hitches along the way but at least I am now very familiar with the whole fuel system. Finally I could squint down into the tank and see the stainless steel emptiness. During this exercise two Australian yachties told me to put a litre of methylated spirits into the tank before filling as this would take out any remaining water and allow it to pass through the engine. We took a taxi out to the hardware store that was supposed to stock meths only to find that it didn’t. Just as well because then we did a google search on the subject, only to find that there are conflicting opinions on whether meths is a good idea. Even if it is then it probably only works in petrol and not diesel. I put 20 litres of diesel in from a reserve container and the engine started perfectly................
Oh, and the toilet is still not flushing through properly which we have narrowed down to a blockage in the seawater inlet pipe.... a task for another day.
