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Date: 01 Sep 2009 01:29:55
Title: Dessert and Speed Rafting in Waterfall Bay, Vanua Lava Island, Vanuatu
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13:49.647S  167:22.890E
 
On August 21st, we pulled up the bow and stern anchors from the bottom of Lakona Bay and had another nice, mostly downwind sail north thirty miles to Waterfall Bay on Vanua Lava Island.  Tracy went for the drugs again to keep her stomach happy while the rest of us more hardy folk braved the two foot waves, perfect wind and mostly smooth sail without pharmaceutical assistance.  Upon arrival we were greeted by the usual array of canoes.  This time it was Kevin from Chief Kerely's village and Chief Jimmy from his own village (around the corner from Chief Kerely's village), Chief Jimmy's son and daughter-in-law, and Chief Nixon (from a third small village on the other side of Chief Kerely's village).  Ok, to be honest, Chief Nixon never made it to our boat to greet us, but he did greet Michael and Jackie on Lady Kay.  Michael caught a big barracuda and a mahi-mahi on the way up from Lakona Bay, so he gave the barracuda to Chief Jimmy.  It turned out to be perfect timing because Chief Jimmy was planning a feast that evening to celebrate his new granddaughter's one-month birthday.  We didn't have a fish to give Chief Jimmy, but we traded him some children's clothes for a giant bag of tiny green peppers and he promised to have his son bring us some fresh water prawns (shrimp) the next morning.  Once all the trading was done we were left to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Literally left to ourselves as we and Lady Kay were the only two boats in the bay.
 
The next morning I awoke to the sound of Chief Jimmy's daughter-in-law's voice as she asked for what we all thought was 'dessert' in return for the bag of fresh water prawns she paddled out in the family canoe to give us.  I jumped out of bed, searching my sleep sodden brain for something 'dessert' to give her in return for the prawns.  Aha!  I had made a marvelous sour cream coffee cake when we were in Port Orly and froze half of it.  I quickly pulled it out of the freezer, transferred it into a plastic bag and ran up onto the deck to hand it to her over the side as she waited patiently in her canoe.  When she saw my offering, she looked very perplexed.  I thought it was because I wasn't giving her a packaged dessert and the yellowish lump of frozen coffee cake looked a little strange in its plastic bag wrapper.  I quickly tried to explain, 'It's a cake!  It's very good!  But it's frozen and just needs to thaw for a little while before you eat it!'  She continued to look perplexed, and then with a sigh, pushed off and slowly paddled back to her village with our prized frozen sour cream coffee cake in hand.  Later, I kicked myself for not giving her the three packages of Oreo cookies we had stowed away in the snack cabinet, thinking she might have recognized the packaging and been happier with the trade.  Even later, the more we thought about it, the more we wondered if she was really trying to ask for something other than 'dessert'.  Her English wasn't very good and we did think it was odd that she asked for dessert - especially since (after some additional thought) these villagers probably don't really know what dessert is.  They grow sugar cane, but probably don't bake anything sweet.  They don't have chocolate or ice cream.  They don't have power and certainly no refrigeration, so the frozen lump of coffee cake must have seemed very odd indeed.  Even later still, based on the fact that the villagers often ask for clothing when making a trade, we all wondered if maybe she was trying to say 't-shirt' instead of 'dessert'.  After a few more days of thought on the subject, we are convinced that this was the case.  Oops. 
 
Conclusion: don't trade away the prized frozen sour cream coffee cake when an old t-shirt will do. 
 
We are still wondering if she and her family liked the coffee cake (and hoping it didn't go the way of the manioc the Gaua Island villagers gave to Tracy and Billy for lunch during their hike to see the volcano).
 
Later that morning we heard through the canoe grapevine that Chief Kerely had returned to his village after having hiked through the bush from one of the villages down the coast (like Lakona Bay on Gaua, there are no roads connecting Waterfall Bay and the surrounding small villages with the rest of Vanua Lava Island).  We loaded ourselves into the dinghy and the four of us went ashore with Jackie and Michael.   Once ashore, we were greeted by Chief Kerely and his family in the thatch hut that passes for a yacht club.  Like last year, the chief formally greeted us, welcoming us to his village, the bay and the waterfall.  Afterwards, again like last year, he, his wife Elizabeth, and their now five children (last year there were four) sang us the Waterfall Bay welcome song (set to the tune of 'My Country 'Tis of Thee').  He then answered some questions for us, including one Don asked about the hierarchy of chiefs in the bay and on the island.  The answer was long, complicated and confusing, but in the end it was clear that Chief Kerely is the highest ranking Custom (or Kastom) Chief in the immediate area.  The chief then designated Kevin as our guide and we went to see the incredible double waterfall and continued on to Chief Jimmy's village to say hello.  Chief Jimmy was not there (he was working in his village's garden), but we did meet his new granddaughter - shown off proudly by her mother and aunts.
 
Last year when we visited Waterfall Bay, Don and I were the only boaters in the bay for the three days we stayed.  Chief Kerely spent a lot of time with us and there was a lot of discussion about the possibility of generating power for the village from the waterfall.  In the spring, Don sent a letter to Chief Kerely outlining several options for power generation using the natural resource of the falls.  This year, Chief Kerely never mentioned the past discussions or the letter (perhaps he never received it? it's not like there is regular mail service to Waterfall Bay or anything...per Chief Kerely's instructions given to us last year, the letter was sent to Sola, the only 'connected' town on Vanua Lava Island).  Since the chief didn't bring up the topic, Don didn't either, but we did think it strange that there was no mention of the letter or power generation in general.
 
Picture 1 - Chief Kerely and his family in the yacht club hut.  The chief is sitting in the chair to the left (no McDonalds uniform this year!), his wife Elizabeth is sitting on the floor to the right with their newest son in her lap, and their three daughters and son are in between.  Kevin (not sure of his relationship to the chief) has a beard, is wearing a red shirt and is sitting on the floor.
 
Picture 2 - The incredible waterfall(s).  That's Tracy on the rock, Jackie on the far left and Billy in the plaid shorts (Billy seems to have a thing for plaid).
 
Picture 3 - The first multi-level thatch hut we've seen.  This was located between Chief Kerely's and Chief Jimmy's villages.
 
Picture 4 - After returning to the boat from shore, Tracy and Billy opted for a little raft floating.  We tied them to the dinghy (which at the time was tied to the boat) so they wouldn't float off to Australia, but at some point Don decided he needed to use the dinghy to motor over to Lady Kay.  No problem.  The raft flotilla simply went with him and a new sport was born: speed rafting.
 
That night we all joined Michael and Jackie on Lady Kay and ate the fresh water prawns and lobster (one of Michael and Jackie's trades).  All was excellent although Tracy was a bit put off by the prawns with their heads still attached and their beady little eyes staring up at her.  She steered clear of the prawns, but did manage to eat part of a lobster tail.  Anything we didn't want, Michael was happy to clean up for us.  This included eating various scary-looking lobster body pieces and parts and sucking the last bit of meat(?) out of the prawn heads.
 
The next morning (8/23), we left Lady Kay and Waterfall Bay and sailed south to Port Orly on our way back to Oyster Island and the plane waiting in Luggenville to whisk Tracy and Billy back to civilization several days later.
Anne 
 

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