After a lovely week in Asanvari Bay we are on our way again, it is always a bit sad when we leave but means we also have some new places to explore.

During the 11NM across to Ambae we caught another fish, this time it was a lovely Mahi Mahi (or Dolphin Fish).  It was quite a big one so took quite a while to get it on board however, it is really nice eating so sure we will have a couple of good fish meals over the next couple of days.

 

Lolowai Bay is the caldera of an old extinct volcano which means the entrance it fairly shallow and has plenty of rocks around so when we arrive it is pretty much low tide so figure it is best to anchor in Vahine Bay (just around the headland) for the night as the best time to enter is mid morning.  Vahine Bay is pretty quiet as there is no village however it is also quite spectacular as you are parked within a 100mts or so of some pretty rugged cliffs.

 

9.00am on Thursday morning and we head around to enter Lolowai Bay – luckily both leads are still visible(its rare to have navigation marks in Vanuatu) so it makes the entry pretty easy although we did get down to less than 1mt under the keel at one stage and now we are officially anchored in a volcano!   Our current position in Lolowai Bay is “15:16.481S 167:58.770E”.  Ambae still has 2 volcanoes that are considered active although they are both have lakes above them which are known to be a bit hot and steamy from time to time.

 

Lolowai is part of the Panema Province (Ambae, Maewo and Pentecost) and is the main government centre for this province so there seems to be plenty going on.  There are some half decent trading stores, a big hospital with 2 doctors and we have already seen 4 Trade Boats in the bay, plenty of trucks and motor bikes and have also seen quite a few planes turning up.  Friday was pay day for the government workers so the bank was busy all morning with people collecting their wages which was closely followed by a surge at the trade stores.  We went for a nice walk across the East end of the island to the main town called Saramatta which is also a busy place.  It was a first to be able to stop at a shop and get a couple of soft drinks.

 

We have another yacht anchored in the bay  - Reflektions which has Eric and Ann on board.  We have heard of them on our travels as they are in the process of putting together an on-line travel guide for yachties for the islands of Vanuatu which will be very handy as it is always hard to find out what you can do or when the festivals are on etc.