Efate, Epi, Emae and Emma!
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Thu 14 Oct 2010 04:52
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We had an uneventful sail to Efate and it was our
first overnight passage with an extra pair of hands - Why did we not
do it before?! A full 6 hours of sleep is bliss! Apart from the shark
chopped tuna we managed to catch another 3 small ones so dinner was easy!
Port Vila is a lovely port, very low
key with great facilities. We took a mooring buoy as it was deep and so as
to use the facilities. Awesome showers, fresh water and bins... result! It's
quite sad the things we appreciate now... All of us were keen to dive but
there were no sites (or staff) that inspired any of us, especially
with the SS Coolidge waiting a few hours north. So we headed round to Havannah
harbour (about 4 hr sail away). It was a brilliant sail and we were accompanied
by lots of dolphins; the first we have seen in a while... strange as we
used to see them everyday. Havannah harbour is a very large lush natural
harbour where the US kept part of their Pacific fleet in WWII.
 I had read about some caves that you
could visit in the next village 'Siviri' which was around the bay so we we took
the dinghy on an adventure and as soon as we were out of the pass we were hit
with 20 knots and choppy seas which meant for a very bumpy, slow and wet ride.
We finally made it to some beach and then walked and waded the rest of the
way to the village. We happened across 'Suzy' who turned out to be the
cave guide and for the hefty fee of $10.00AUD each (I thought it was
worth it - not sure Emma and Mike did) we trapsed through the cave, jumped
into a kayak, paddled a distance through underwater pools then had
to scramble on hands and knees through very small gaps and lots of bat poo.
 
Our next stop was the island of Emae.
We didn't head ashore as it was windy and crappy outside. The sail was
pretty miserable - more of the vang track came off the boom and
the headsail decided not to furl back in so we had to drop it. A few more
quick fixes and just in time for a squall to hit us, we pulled into the
anchorage just at sunset. It was bucketing with rain, windy and miserable. I
think Emma thought she was back in the UK!
  We decided to keep heading north to
the next island of Epi as this was where Emma was flying out from. A much better
day sailing and we managed to catch a huge Mahi Mahi. It was a fiesty one and
kept driving and jumping but we finally managed to get it onboard. Determined
not to lose this one, Emma was ready with the huge fish hook and pulled it
onboard splattering herself and everything in it's path with
blood!
We made it to Revolieu bay, a
beautiful large bay with a black sand beach. There was only one other boat
there and on our way in we were following the waypoints from the cruising guide
when Joseph and Marci on 'Horizon' were waving at us frantically so we headed
over. Apparently we were very close to a huge rock which was completely
submerged and is not shown on any charts or sailing directions! I think it was a
close one so we took them some fillets to
say 'Thanks' for the help.
 
 Revolieu Bay is a wonderful place.
From the water it looks like dense sub-tropical rainforest right down to
the beach but hiding in amongst the forest is a whole village. After a morning
of fixing the furler and putting the smaller headsail up we headed ashore. There
was lots of excitement as the Copra barge was arriving in town, which
means pay day growers. The barge works up and down all the islands
collecting Copra then delivers it to Santo where it is processed into
coconut oil. Again this was an amazingly friendly village, everyone had big
smiles and introduced themselves to us. The children are just adorable but
unfortunately they all seem to suffer from the same cough and snotty nose bug.
Our new friends on 'Horizon' invited us over for cocktails at sunset and we had
a great night chatting away and drinking red wine. They are on their 4th big
sailing trip so it was very inspiring hearing all their stories and places they
have visited. I think Alaska might have to be our next trip!
 
 Lamen Bay was our final destination
with Emma as she was due to fly out on Wednesday. Lamen Bay is known for its
giant turtles and 'Bonzo' the Dugong. On arrival, Bonzo decided to head over and
say hello but as soon as Mike was in the water he disappeared to go eat some
more sea grass and we couldn't find him. We snorkeled loads with the giant
turtles and finally found Bonzo who was busy grazing. It was amazing
to dive down and swim right with him. He's an interesting creature but
pretty slow and it must be quite a dull life just munching on sea
grass all day and having anchors dropped on you whilst sleeping! Poor thing has
been struck by so many boat props he is covered in war wounds but still
looked like he was going strong. Apparently they live until they are 70 yrs
old!
 
 So Emma was meant to fly out on
Wednesday but her plane decided to rock up a day earlier and no-one told us...
We were enjoying a nice chilled afternoon on the boat when we spotted a
plane, strange as they only come twice a week.... We went to check it out and
sure enough it had been brought forward a day! That also meant Emma had missed
her flight back to Sydney, annoying as she had delayed it once already in order
to catch a connection a day later. Luckily Air Vanuatu must have these problems
pretty often as they agreed to divert a plane to a local field (the airport) for
Thursday. It did turn up and left half an hour ahead of schedule so good job we
got there early. Check -In was quite a different experience too. Not only did
they want to weigh all Emma's luggage but they also wanted her to get on the
scales. We also spotted a weighed and tagged Watermelon ready for the cargo
hold!
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