Mustang Sally’s current position at Ranon on Ambrym is “16:08.38S 168:07.08E”.

 

We had a quiet morning on Sunday 11th as it a day of church and rest and we also had a big walk planning this afternoon with our guide, John Eddy, to the waterfall.

As planned we head into his house at 1pm and are greeted on the beach by a whole stack of picinninies who greeted us and lead us up to the village just in case us white fella’s got lost!

The walk to the waterfall which was meant to take around 45 minutes actually took around 90 minutes although we did have a few stops to say hello to people and also have a look around. The walk to the water fall is very nice especially once you get into the hills a bit and can hear the river flowing.  As stated the waterfall is very beautiful and the water is crystal clear and cool.  Even though it is the dry season there is still plenty of water flowing so would be amazing to see it after the wet.  The water was too inviting for Di who was in for a swim straight away.   During this time our guide disappears into the bushes for a bit.  Not wanting to be too inquisitive we just kind of ignore this bit and got on with enjoying our stay at the falls.  Before too much longer he reappeared dressed in the traditional dress of the Small Namba’s (nothing but a banana leaf wrapped around his penis and tied by thin vine to his waist) and jumps into the water to go swimming with Miss Di. Needless to say this added plenty of colour and excitement to the outing! We took the high road home though some of the inland villages where we were met by the kindergarten group and given gifts of banana’s and pamplemoose.  Once we got back to the start we we traded for even more fruit and vege’s – the fridge and fruit nets and now bursting with all sorts of goodies!

 

Monday and we weigh anchor off to Ranon on the island of Ambrym – the black island.  It has 2 active volcano’s 5 miles from the anchorage, plenty of black sand, good carver’s and apparently black magic.  It is also the home of the Rom dance.  We have no sooner dropped our anchor than we spot a dug out coming our way.  This time the yachtie relation’s manager is Barry.  He fills us in on all the activities and happenings in Ranon so we arrange to go on a village tour with him on Tuesday morning which was great and we got to meet some of the chief carver’s and bought a few works to take home with us.  The village is very busy at the moment as they have been selected as the location for the annual Presbyterian church conference in Vanuatu in 2013 which starts on Saturday.  Apparently there are around 500 delegates attending so there is plenty of activity in getting things ready.  Every afternoon a boat load of delegates turn up – most of them are staying at the local schools.

 

Barry has done an excellent job and has arranged for us to go to Fanla on Wednesday morning to see a Rom dance.  To make it all a bit better we have another couple join us who arrived in the anchorage on Tuesday afternoon.  This is one of the busiest anchorages we have been in – most of the time we seem to be on our own but we now have another 3 boats in at Ranon with us so very cossie – we think we may have to move out soon! 

Fanla is a village in the mountains and the walk is through the cooler forest to get there.  We are met by the local guide John who shows us around his village pointing out all sorts of wonders including the haunted tree and the home of the black magic chief.  We are then lead to the dance area to watch the Rom dance.  We are also joined by many of the locals which was great to see.  It is kind of difficult to describe a Rom dance,just think National Geographic Magazine, but it was great to see.  The costumes are fantastic and amazingly ornate especially considering they are made mostly from banana plants and other natural items from the forest.   Wish we could show you the photo’s but we can’t so might be worth googling this one!.  After the dance it is back down the hill for an afternoon of watering up.  Luckily Barry has a tap from the local fresh water spring and a tank so it is not too difficult to fill up our containers and get them back to the boat – mind you it takes us the best part of the afternoon to fill and transport 200Ltrs although we do still have 70ltrs in containers waiting to go in the boat tanks.

Of a night we can easily see the glow of the nearby volcanos as they light up their ash clouds. You can well understand why the locals are into magic and sorcery living this close to nature at its extremes.

 

Today is another day to check the weather – plus we are making bread this morning and will then work out where we are off to tomorrow although we are guessing it will be one of the northern anchorages at Pentecost island as we are expecting stronger trade winds over the weekend so will be looking for somewhere nice and comfy.