Erromango
Trust
Richard Martin
Sat 2 Aug 2014 20:52
We left Anatom on Friday morning early, aiming for Port Resolution on the eastern side of Tanna 50 miles away. Thats the anchorage from which access to the volcano is relatively easy. However, when we got out from the lee of the island we found we had 30kt easterlies and rain squalls. So much for the forecast. Nice sailing (I had the boat powered up to combat the tendency to roll and it seemed to work) but the strong easterlies made Port Resolution untenable. So we headed for an anchorage called Lenakel on the west side of the island. It was a shame we missed the volcano for Pat and Nigel's sake but there was no other option. Even if we had got in OK, the island was shrouded in mist and rain so there wouldn't have been much to see anyway.
Lenakel was notable for a number of reasons. They had roads and power lines - although we still didn't see many lights on at night. The vehicles were all beat up utes and the locals sat in the back. The bay had a wharf and a rusty old coastal trader was unloading when we arrived. Everything was manhandled off - no cranes. So it was no surprise when one of the boxes ended up in the drink! And I'm sure they haven't heard of all risks insurance here! And the water was the clearest I have ever seen. We anchored in 9m and snorkeling on the surface I could see the anchor clearly. It wasn't an anchorage for the faint hearted - the bottom was a mixture of rocks interspersed with sand. Our chain had got itself wrapped around a couple of rocks (which were taking the load) while the anchor sat on the sand. Thankfully it was a quiet night and we unwound the chain from the rocks in the morning successfully.
The next morning we sailed another 50 miles for this place - Dillon Bay. Its main claim to fame seems to be the fact that its the place where the Reverend John Williams (not sure whether it is the same Reverend Williams who features in early Northland history) was cooked and eaten by the locals. They seem to be a lot more friendly (and commercial) these days. They paddled out to the boat in a variety of dugout outrigger canoes to ask us for fishing hooks, sugar, powdered milk, coffee, you name it they asked for it. So we bought some pawpaw and bananas in return for some sugar and 140 vatu (about $1.10) I'm sure we paid we over the odds but at least it establishes some goodwill with the locals.
We plan to leave here late afternoon today (Sunday) for an overnight sail (90 miles) to Port Havanah on northern Efate, the main island. We have to do it as an overnight sail as its too long for a daytime sail and I don't want to enter these anchorages at night. We will then sail back the 10 miles or so to Vila on Thursday