Dropped the anchor off Pentecost at 09.30. I was aiming for a village called Pangi which is mentioned (with several others) in the lonely planet guide in relation to land diving. It isn't on the chart however and the scale of the tourist information map only gives a vague location on the west coast towards the south end. Pentecost is a thin north-south finger shaped island with no deep bays so I was worried that there would be no good anchorages. Home bay looked about right and fortunately the water was flat calm as we neared the shore. When I checked with the snorkle I saw that the anchor had dropped very close to a rocky outcrop but the chain was running away from it so decided to leave it while I rowed ashore and asked some villagers sitting under a tree where we were.

It wasn't Pangi but I had the right bay- Pangi being a couple of miles further north. The villagers didn't know about land diving but thought that they would in Pangi. The anchor did snag when I tried to raise it and it took a bit of manouvering to free it. 

Spotting villages from the sea is a matter of seeing smoke rising from bonfires and then fishing boats and canoes on the beach. You might spot open grass behind the shoreline trees but houses aren't usually visible untill you step ashore.

A ferry from Port Vila had passed us and stopped at Pangi so I could see where to head for but had to make a seeward loop to avoid the coral. Diana wasn't feeling well with a temperature so stayed on board while I rowed ashore once more. Pangi is a more substantial village and has a shopping mall- 3 shops in a row, food, clothes and hardware. It also has a bank which I didn't see.

A shop keeper thought that land diving would take place on Saturday at a village further north. We saw a video of the land divers in one of the museums, bungee jumpers taking off from rickety towers with vines for ropes - it would be amazing to whitness but saturday may be too long a wait. They seemed more relaxed here about my exploring unguided, and walking through the village I met Simonson who told me the name of Cooks Rock which stands prominently at the north end of the bay. As I walked on towards the rock I was take in hand by a group of 7 year old girls walking home from school. I gave them half my pamplemoose and they gave me some chewing gum. I took a picture of them in front of Cooks Rock.