The Journey Begins with Hyperventilating All Around - Oyster Island, Vanuatu
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 28 Aug 2009 11:00
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15:22.205S 167:11.433E
Note: Scroll down to the end for pictures and
descriptions.
Upon a late evening arrival into the Espirtu
Santo Vanuatu airport on 8/12, Anne greeted us and had a taxi awaiting
our arrival. From the airport we hopped in the van and Luke, our
driver, started down the island road. Let the journey begin!
The cab ride lasted about 30 minutes. We went from a paved road to
semi-paved road to dirt roads, and finally Luke was simply navigating
us through massive pot holes. I am actually still amazed that we
didn't lose a tire along the way. As we bumped along heading out towards
Oyster Island, Vanuatu excitement and energy filled the van. Spotting
Anne from the runway as we taxied towards the terminal, and
reuniting in the airport will remain an unparalleled moment.
Due to the fact it is wintertime here in the South
Pacific when we arrived it was pitch black out. This made the first
leg of our journey far more exciting than if we had arrived during the daytime,
which is typical Bill and Tracy style travel! When we
reached Oyster Island, the lights from the boats in the
rally illuminated the water and alas there was civilization among the
darkness. Anne called Don on the radio, and he came zipping across the
water in the little dingy. We loaded up the dingy, and headed
out towards Harmonie.
I won't bore you with events from the remainder of
the first evening. Most of our time was spent attempting to understand,
memorize and begin adhering to the 878 boat rules. For example, rule
number one states that in order to properly step off of the dingy and onto
the boat, you must first place your left foot on the back half of the first
step, grab the railing 1/3 of the way up and then proceed to hoist yourself up
onto the boat without pushing the dingy away. Aside from the rules,
which are all part of this "boat weirdness" that Anne refers to; our first night
was unprecedented as we drank a Fijian beer, adjusted to the slight rock of the
boat and had a fantastic dinner.
Our first morning on the boat was hot and
humid. We had some boater friends from Lady Kay come over, visit and plan
the remainder of our journey. After our morning planning session,
Bill and I borrowed two kayaks from Lady Kay and off we went kayaking up to
a blue lagoon. The kayak adventure was absolutely unbelievable. We
were paddling down a small river surrounded by palm trees, rainforest
vegetation, beautifully singing birds, and brilliant blue
skies. It was quiet, calm, and picturesque. The farther we
paddled, the more stunning the landscape and the water began to turn
a vibrant blue color; which was nearly indigo by the time we reached
the lagoon, better known as the blue hole. I could have sat and
stared at the water all day long. I have never seen anything in
nature that was this color blue. It was surreal and captivating. We
took a quick dip into the water, the swim was faster for some than
others. Bill's fear of sharks and sea snakes, in fresh water I may add,
shortened the length of his refreshing swim.
At about 1:00 pm the storm clouds rolled in,
and settled over the bay for the rest of the afternoon. Fortunately
the rain died down in the early evening and we headed over to a place
called Turtle Bay Resort for dinner and entertainment
with other boaters from the rally. It was a great
time! The highlight of the night being a circus entertainer
from Australia. Don has posed a challenge to me, which is
to attempt some of these stunts, so for the rest of the trip I'll be
working on doing handstands on top of wine bottles, balancing 3 eggs on a
chopstick on my nose and doing flips in and around the boat.
The second morning was an early wake-up call, and
then a trip into town. We had to pick up food from the market for the next
two weeks. After the market we headed to a place called Million
Dollar Point, which we have officially renamed "The Battle of the
Bloody Knee." This was our first ever snorkeling experience. I
am going to sum it up in a few sentences. The water
was unseasonably rough, the gear was new and partially defective, and Bill
was hyperventilating the entire time. He started the activity
by smashing his knee on coral, and slicing it open. From there we
proceeded out into the water, shadowing us was a massive cloud of blood and
every time I looked over at Bill I saw shear terror. The activity did
not last long, and rightly so. We will try snorkeling again in calmer
water!
When we got back to Oyster Bay, Don was in a
bit of a fowl mood after a morning of frustrating projects where everything that
he touched seemed to break. Additionally, Anne had a hyperventilating
moment in the dingy when she thought that a towel (that Don had hung up)
had blown off of the cloths line and was lost at sea. The anxiety was
quickly put to rest when she discovered that the towel was still on
board! Ahh..sigh..thanks heavens! Following this episode we had
another Fijian beer at noon to calm the anxiety of the
boaters!
The rest of the afternoon was spent reading,
relaxing and soaking up some sun, while Don attempted to fix the washing
machine. I am going to sum up this fiasco by saying that it took him
reassembling the machine three more times in order to get it up and
running. However, mission accomplished and our underwear are
clean!
We had a nice evening, drinks and appetizers over
on Storyteller, followed by another fantastic dinner. Today we head
north to the primitive islands in Vanuatu. Let the real journey
begin!
Pictures below are as follows:
1) Planning our three week trip with Michael from Lady Kay 2) Blue Lagoon
3) Blue Lagoon
4) Kayaking to the Blue Lagoon
5) Tracy on the boat
6) Hermit crab on the beach
Tracy
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