Bommies in the dark
Storyteller
Wed 13 Aug 2008 06:22
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15.43S 167.06E
Sue writes:
Storyteller is now at anchor off the island of
Aore, just across a stretch of water from Luganville the decidedly third
world capital of the island of Santo in the north of
Vanuatu.
I arrived back in Vanuatu after three winter weeks
in New Zealand. I'd gone there when my elderly mother was hospitalised
after her leg was broken. Rather mercifully, she developed pneumonia
and was able to slip away never knowing that she couldn't have returned
home. I was very glad to have been there, and also to provide company for
my stepfather, Dick, who is most unwell, but luckily his daughter, Margo
is able to takeover the role of companion housekeeper. The weather in New
Zealand was frightful, with two weather bombs in one week. A nice time not to be
on a yacht!
While I was in NZ, John and Rigel sailed
northfrom Port Vila to Santo, stopping overnight at islands on the way.
They and Southern Princess acted as the start boats for the next leg of the
World Arc. It was sad to say goodbye to so many of the good friends we
have made since the rally began in the Caribbean in January, but we're not at
all sorry not to be making any more long ocean passages. The Indian Ocean--no
thanks! You may have read that one of the yachts, Asolare, was wrecked on a reef
off the Queensland coast en route to Cairns. Luckily their distress call was
heard by Taupo radio in NZ, resulting in Peter and his crew being winched off
the reef, with the total loss of the yacht. More sad news this week when we
heard today that a friend on Ideal, who became ill and returned home from Tonga,
has just died of liver cancer. Of all the yachts that started the Rally about
10 have dropped out, some of them cruising Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Two
other yachts are planning to make the trip down to NZ with Southern Princess and
us in mid October.
Of all the places we've visited Vanuatu is the
least developed, with very little tourism outside of Vila--no marinas, of
course, and no marine industry. If you have a technical problem you really can
be in trouble. John had a very amusing experience with a guy known as Whispering
Dan, one of the many characters you find in this part of the world.
The bracket which holds the alternator to the
engine had worked loose and the increased vibration had elongated the main
bearing holes. Asking advice ashore I was told the Dan, an elderly Australian
expat was the guy to fix it. I Found Dan's workshop out the back of town but Dan
was not there and nobody knew where he was or when he would return. So I left
the bracket and said I would return in a couple of hours. Having to fill in time
I negotiated with the taxi driver and he took me about 20km across the island to
look at bays that might be attractive anchorages. At the first bay I saw a large
catamaran from the Southport Yacht Club that had been beached at low tide. I
introduced myself and the group on board invited me to join them for afternoon
tea. They had beached the boat to work on some problems they were having with
the propellers. The guy doing the work was Whispering Dan. He welded and
redrilled the bracket for me the next morning.
There are lots of surprises here--the most notable
being some delicious Cointreau souffles we were served at a tiny little resort
on Oyster Island. There we ate beautiful local oysters and the famous Santo
beef. Although we are taking anti malaria medication, here's a refreshing lack
mosquitoes and sandflies. It's surprising as there are mangroves
everywhere.
One of the big attractions on Santo are all the
World War 2 shipwrecks which draw divers from all over the world. This is where
James Michener set his stories, Tales From the South Pacific, which we've all
enjoyed rereading. We've been snorkelling over sunken plane wrecks near to one
of the US airfields.
We had some of our most challenging moments
getting in and out of the anchorage at Oyster Island, where there is a stretch
of reef that can only be crossed by yachts of our depth at a very high tide.
Unfortunately the only very high tides this week have been at night, so we had
to wait until nearly midnight before we could attempt the narrow passage through
the reef. We took the precaution of marking the navigation beacons with
reflector tape, and it was a lovely moonlit night, but it was still a very scary
experience inching our way through with less than an inch of water beneath us.
The current pushed us sideways on to a bommie, so we now have a small chunk out
of our keel. When we finally made our way through we poured ourselves a very
stiff drink.
This morning John and the guys from Southern
Princess are off on a NFW (no f------ women) fishing trip with a group of kiwis
who have properties up here. I've just made a curry to to make sure they catch
plenty of fish. After a couple of great nights ashore listening to NI
Vanuatu (the local indigenous people )playing ukeleles and teachest basses
we'll head off tomorrow on the trip south to Vila, taking about 10 days to get
there. Luckily Southern Princess have on board Bob Colbert who first came here
in 1972. His knowledge of the islands is going to make the trip much more
interesting.
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