Nawora Matua Bay, Nguna Island, Vanuatu
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 27 Jul 2008 01:55
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17:25.617S 168:19.430E
On Friday, 7/18, we sailed the short hop from Ai
Creek on Efate Island to Nawora Matua Bay on Nguna Island, which is just off the
north side of the big island of Efate. Nguna Island is a very small island
dominated by the extinct volcano Mount Taputaora (picture 1). According to
our Lonely Planet Guide, Nguna has a population of 1200, and the
people attribute the successful running of their village to Peter Milne, a
New Zealand missionary that arrived on the island in 1870. Apparently the
village chief wanted to eat Peter Milne when he first arrived, but Peter saved
himself with his outstanding charisma. Today the village celebrates the
life of Peter Milne on the anniversary of the day he arrived on Nguna, which was
July 19.
Shortly after we arrived and anchored off the coast
of Nguna, two outrigger canoes full of teenagers came out for a visit (picture
2). Michael, the designated spokesperson in the first canoe, did all the
talking and his English was excellent. He invited us to the village and
told us about the celebration they were having the next day (the Peter Milne
celebration). Unfortunately, we had plans to leave the next morning for
the overnight sail to Luganville on Espiritu Santo Island, where our last rally
rendezvous was going to take place on the 20th - 22nd. We didn't take part in
the Peter Milne celebration on Nguna, but we do plan to stop there again on our
way back south in a few weeks. At that time I'm sure we'll see Michael
again and we'll go to shore to see the village.
Although Michael appeared disappointed that we
weren't going to visit the village, he and his friends did stick around for a
little while to talk. He told us only four yachts had come to Nguna Island
so far this season (we were there with Lady Kay and one other boat, so that
means only one boat had been there previously). He asked us
where we were from, and also asked us why the boat anchored nearby was so noisy
(they were running their generator). He said it took him a couple of
months to build his canoe (as you can tell in the photo, it is a traditional
dugout). I asked if I could take their picture and they seemed excited
about the prospect and were interested in viewing their image afterwards.
In the end as they were leaving, Michael thanked us profusely for visiting their
island and thanked us especially for all the 'stories'. We didn't actually
tell him many stories, but Don did talk about where we were from and where we
had sailed. We think they just enjoyed hearing about other places.
We asked Michael if he ever traveled to the other islands and he said he goes
once a year to a church youth meeting and that this year it was going to
be held in Luganville. The island of Nguna is only about twenty miles
from the capital city of Port Vila although it didn't seem as though
Michael had ever been there. We find all the villagers' lack of travel to
be amazing.
We spent that evening with Lady Kay's Michael and
Jackie on board Harmonie and celebrated our last dinner together for a
while. The next morning, Lady Kay headed south to Port Vila (picture
3), while we headed north to Luganville. From Port Vila Lady Kay
sailed south to New Caledonia, where they will leave their boat and travel home
for six weeks or so. We'll meet back up with them in New Caledonia when they
return.
Our overnight sail from Nguna Island to Luganville
was uneventful. We had a full moon and decent wind. The strange
thing was that we passed at least four or five other islands along the way, but
could not see them because there were no lights. Not a single light.
So different from the Caribbean where the individual islands, even the smallest
of islands, are lit up like Christmas trees at night. Aside from the few
main towns and resorts that are scattered here and there, there is simply no
electricity on these Vanuatu islands. Seems impossible in this day and
age, doesn't it?
We arrived in Luganville in the late morning of
Sunday, 7/20, and anchored in the unprotected, extremely bouncy designated
area. So much for restful nights. Our time in Luganville was spent
saying good-bye to the last of the rally boats and to Mandy, our favorite rally
event manager. More on that in the next entry.
Anne
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