position S15 56.900 E168 11.400
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Ocean Rival Journey Log
Adam Power Diana Power
Mon 10 Jun 2019 11:50
Monday 10th June
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.
I had a chat with Willie when we
eventually reached their village and he thought the land diving
might be Tuesday or Friday in the next village north.
I took my leave of the girls and
retraced my steps to see if Diana was still alive. She is but
still feverish and feeling sick. Hopefuly its not malaria.
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