Singing in the Meskelyns - Awai Island, Vanuatu

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 25 Sep 2009 21:41
16:31.988S  167:46.193E
 
On September 10th, we left Ezekiel and Port Sandwich behind and battled south into the wind for another three hours until we reached the Meskelyn Islands - a small group of islands off the southern tip of Malakula Island.  We sailed the short distance, but it wasn't pretty.  As soon as we pulled the headsail out, the electric winch failed in the 'on' position again.  We both leapt to the port side of the cockpit to get the headsail sheet (line) off the winch before it pulled the sheet tight enough to rip the sail.  While we were busy rescuing the headsail sheet, the boat slowed down and pointed into the wind, backwinding the headsail.  Oops.  By then we had the headsail sheet under control, but had to tack (turn the boat) to get the headsail over to starboard.  As luck would have it, the starboard headsail sheet got caught on a winch on the main mast as the wind pushed the headsail from port to starboard.  This all sounds very organized and civilized, but don't let that fool you.  It wasn't.  We were bashing through waves, the wind was blowing a good 25 knots and the headsail was flapping in a big way the whole time we worked to get the sheet untangled from the winch on the main mast - me on the foredeck and Don in the cockpit.  There was a little yelling involved, but mostly because it was hard to be heard above the wind and massively flapping headsail.  We were never in any danger, but this was one of those times that once we had things back under control and started sailing again, we couldn't help but look around to see if any other boats were in the vicinity.  It's one thing to totally 'cock-up' (as the Kiwis would say) a tack, but quite another if someone else sees you do it.
 
It was a long three hours to go just a few miles south, but we made it and as soon as we turned into one of the channels separating the tiny Meskelyn Islands, the wind became more friendly and the surf died down.  Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for our faulty electric winch, so we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way for the rest of the season and winch the headsail in by hand when we are on a port tack.  Horrors!  Lucky for us though, we shouldn't be doing much sailing on a port tack from now until Australia, assuming the southeast trade winds don't let us down as we head west.
 
As for the Meskelyn Islands...what can we say except that we found another idyllic spot in which to hang out for another four nights.  As did quite a few others.  The first night was crowded with nine boats crammed into the tiny bay formed by Awai Island to the east, a reef to the south and Malakula Island to the west.  Most left the next day though and we had the place nearly to ourselves with only Storyteller, another trawler called Special Blend (they are from Florida and run a business providing liquid fertilizer to golf courses, hence the name 'Special Blend') and a European catamaran.
 
There is one small village (three families) on Awai Island.  Their garden is on Malakula Island, so they paddled in their dugout canoes across the bay each morning and evening on their way to and from 'work'.  A whole new kind of commute - the canoe commute.  One I think most of us would opt for, given the choice.  The three families on the island had quite a few kids - which is not surprising to see in a country where 42% of the population is under the age of 15.  We were there over a Saturday and the kids must have taken a vote and decided to provide us boaters with entertainment for the day.  Several small boys and girls - none over the age of say, seven - loaded themselves up in three canoes and proceeded to paddle out to the boats and serenade us.  At the top of their lungs.  For hours.  The bay is situated such that the gentle hills on Awai and Malakula Islands cause any sound uttered from a canoe on the water to reverberate.  The kids sang and sang in their language and paddled around to the boats, stopping only for pictures and the occasional bag of cookies thrown their way.  You might wonder if this was annoying.  It really wasn't.  It's hard to be annoyed with kids doing such a good job of entertaining themselves (and us).
 
Picture 1 - Once again the ni-Van men were more interested in what Storyteller had to offer than what the rest of us ho-hum sailboats did.  In this particular case, no less than five ni-Van guys piled into a canoe on a mission to get a good look at the big motorboat and to scavenge for cigarettes and beer to have with their big kava party planned for that night.  They didn't get any cigarettes, but Storyteller did part with a couple of beers. 
 
Picture 2 - The singing, canoe paddling kids posing for a picture.
 
Picture 3 - Close-up of the singing, canoe paddling kids.  Note that the paddle is bigger than the kid.
 
Pictures 4, 5 and 6 - The reef just to the south of the anchorage was extensive, shallow and filled with an amazing array of small, extremely colorful tropical fish.  Picture 4 shows a clump of stag horn coral with some of our favorite zebra-striped and translucent fish.  Pictures 5 and 6 are close-ups of a couple of yellow and black angel fish there were gliding around the coral as we floated by.
 
More on the rest of our trip south to Port Vila later.
Anne

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