Tanna, Erramango and on to Port Vila
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sun 5 Sep 2004 01:21
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Tanna, its volcano. Erramango and
on to Port Vila
Port Vila.
5th September 2004
I am sitting at the nav table with a sort of
writer's block. The reason being that I am very keen to do justice to one
of the most interesting visits of our whole voyage so far. This I
find rather daunting but here goes.
After the feast mentioned in the previous diary
entry we arranged with 'Mr Fixit' alias Stanley for the transport to be at
the village for 0700hrs to get us to Lenakel on the other side of the
island. This had to be done because it is here that one goes to check in
with customs, immigration and health. Only fifteen minutes late Tom and
his battered Toyota turned up. Armed with cushions and backpacks six of us
scrambled in followed by a large number of locals. Annette sat in front
and very effectively chatted up Tom who is otherwise known for his lack of
interest. Apparently she spent a lot of time talent spotting to try and
find him a suitable girl as we motored through many bery basic villages.
The track wound through jungle like countryside until suddenly we came out
onto the lava ash plain that has formed in the lee of the active volcano for
which this island is famous. Until four years ago it was necessary to
divert a long way around a lake but with a slight rumble nature's dam burst and
there was a lake no more. Nearly two hours and some very sore behinds
later we were in Lenakel. Here we were lucky enough to find it was
market day. As well as this event there was a play being staged in the
open just behind the market. Apparently the government is trying to
educate the people against such crimes as theft and family violence by use of
moral but amusing plays. The theatre group had come from Port
Vila. I will not repeat it here but the posters in pidgin
proclaiming this event were an entertainment in themselves. A visit to the bank, itself quite an education, Customs, health and
immigration done we settled down to a meal of rice and steak in a little palm
hut near the beach before the nearly two hour drive back to the
boats. This sentence covers a slow and laborious but always entertaining
process.
On the way back Annette's chatting up of Tom really
paid and he decided to show us his skill with the Toyota and zoomed far up the
lava mountain for us to take photos. He was actually a very competent and
careful driver despite, or perhaps because, there is only one place in the whole
island that he gets beyond third gear. We did not go on this piece of
road.
During this day's drive we saw endless children so
'plastic blong push push' i.e. condoms in pidgin are not much used.
Interestingly enough on two occasions in the more remote villages young children
went into near hysterics at the sight of our white faces. Even to the late
pre teenagers we were obviously a curiosity.
Now to the excursion. Next day at three
thirty the same happy six of us, two British and one American couple, set
off with Tom but this time no Stanley. He had apparently hit the Kava in a
big way the night before and was quite simply spaced out. We
understand us this happens fairly frequently. Tom took us to
within three hundred meters of the rim. The rest we walked up and on
apparently rather further than one is supposed to but this gave us a superb view
into the inner two craters. From these twin holes huge volumes of smoke
and ash were erratically pouring. This display being
interrupted every three or four minutes by a very loud
explosion followed by greater or lesser quantities of molten
magma thrown into the air. This magma fell back to earth with a sound
rather like a hundred gravel lorries being emptied at once. As
the sky darkened these explosions became more and more impressive due to
the red hot material showing up in the fading light. The largest eruption
we witnessed threw lava to within a hundred meters of us. All the while we
were getting this show with no other people in sight. The atmosphere was
primeval. The gut wrenching bum aching journey home in the dark was done
in awed comradeship. This experience being heightened by us all getting
along very well and in fact tonight here in Port Vila we are going to have our
second dinner party together.
On our third day in Tanna the swell began to creep
round the reef and the anchorage became something of a hardship as Nordlys
pitched and rolled. So up the anchor came and we enjoyed a
fine fifty mile reach to Erramango. This island which is within site of
Tanna was the scene of some notorious blackbirding in the nineteenth
century. Also a lot of Sandalwood logging. It was also here that the
locals carried on murdering and eating missionaries until very near the end of
the above century. Today the local community of a few villages has
resisted the demands of large Asiatic logging firms and quietly cuts sandalwood
for three months of the year only. They also have an extensive seedling
growing and planting program. The climate is not kind to them and we were
taken up their valley to the 'gardens' where most of their food is grown.
Last year this whole area was devastated by a cyclone and the resulting flash
flood. Nevertheless we as we walked amongst the detritus of the flood
areas were already cleared and planted with banana palms, sago, taro and some
paw paw trees.
After socialising with Swedish friends we had not
seen since Whangarei we decided to leave the lovely anchorage of Dillan Bay and
sailed overnight the eighty miles to Port Vila. Leaving in the dark at
seven thirty we enjoyed one of the best, in fact by far the best sail this
season. Fifteen knots across the deck with sheets just eased and a gentle
sea saw good progress and when the moon rose the scene was magical. Oh how
sad that Jago and Claire never enjoyed this side of Pacific
sailing.
Now moored in Port Vila we are enjoying a week of
stocking up, mending and cleaning the good ship and generally preparing for the
arrival of friends from Lymington. There are some good dive sites near the
Port and we also have a friend from Sydney days who lives here so it will
not be all work! As I said in my earlier diary Vanuatu showed much
promise. We have hardly scratched the country yet both of us feel it
is as enjoyable as any we have so far visited.
 Stanley was always happy. Seen here before his Kava
binge. Tom
has just driven us up the lee side of the volcano as far as he
could
 Dante's inferno? The inner rim can be seen with
the two holes. The one on the left
usually produced most lava and on the right most ash.
Here all is comparitavely quiet.
 Molten magma begins to show as the daylight goes
 The full effect seen here as night arrives
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