Port Sandwich - Banam Bay (Malekula - 11th August)

Mustang Sally Cruising
Mark Lawrence & Dianne Jackson
Sat 10 Aug 2013 20:48
Mustang Sally’s current position at Banam Bay is “16:20.3S 167:45.4E)
 
We had a lovely time at Port Sandwich and got to know Rock and Noella at the Rainbow shop and Port Sandwich YC very well.  They try to help out the yachties with fresh water, showers and a small shop where you can buy bread and other basics which is great.
 
We decided to stay at PS until Saturday as there was a trough coming through on Friday which mean's the wind went from East to North to West and finally into the South West so the protected anchorage was very handy.  On Saturday the wind had settled into the SW so we figured it is a good time to head up to Banam Bay which is about 10NM north of PS.
 
We had a lovely motor sail.  It is a lovely warm sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky and a light wind blowing.
Banam Bay is gorgeous as it seems are all the anchorages in Vanuatu.  Not long after we dropped our anchor we had John Eddie from the local village out to visit us on his dug out.  He is going to take us up to the local waterfall on Sunday and his wife is going to get some fresh fruit for us as we are down to our last couple of bananas although we still have a good supply of Pamplemoose (the local grapefruit).  In the afternoon we went in for a walk to the village at the northern end of the bay and were welcomed by many of the locals.  It seems everyone wants to say hello, shake your hand and find out where you come from.
 
Before we head out for our walk to the waterfall we will do a weather check and depending on what it says will head across to the island of Ambrym in the next couple of days.  Ambrym is lucky enough to have 2 active volcanos as well as being renowned for black magic.  We are hoping that we may get the chance to witness the local Rom dance which we have heard is pretty special.
 
More from Ambrym later in the week.