Hi All,
As our good friend Jeanette says…..did they have fun or what!!!!! What a great time we had with Dave and Dana….they are such a fun and loving couple…..and did we laugh….wow….good times for sure and we are still in a funk days after they have left!!! As a parent, it is such a joy to see your son and daughter-in-law growing into such fine adults!!!!
They indeed arrived in Luganville sort of on time (island time man:))))) and by the time we made it back to Mystic, anchored off Ratua Island, it was way past dark!!! We had a spirited opening ceremony but made it a rather early night (made it past 11:))) as they had traveled all day from Auckland and we were getting up somewhat early the next day for the land diving in Pentecost. We had some yummy scotch filets (rib eyes) with some excellent old California wine!!!! We still have a lot of California wine scattered throughout the boat loaded in 2011 in Georgia, and we are finding the wine to be excellent in spite of all the abuse, albeit many of the corks are starting to get in bad shape…..so, we will need to curtail some of our NZ wine drinking for the ever reliable California wines, dated in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s….yes, on the wine front, LIG!!!!
Land diving in Pentecost was a true bucket list item and it still seems incredible days later. How these young men get the courage to jump off these platforms is beyond me. We saw 10 dives and most had near perfect form as the vines grabbed their ankles right before they hit a sloping hill of loose dirt and the force of the pulling vines brought them back up the slope to cushion the fall. Some however, did not time it so well and hit rather hard…..just a big loud thump….oweeeee!! They would climb the wood structure and then stand out on platforms that were designed to break as the vines grabbed at the end of the fall….a rather ingenious shock absorbing method. The platforms were of various heights starting maybe at 30′ and going to 90-100′.
Here is how the diving is described in the Cruising Guide:
“The history of the Pentecost landdiving is vague but a number of legends tell a variety of stories about how the ritual started depending on how romantic or practical you are from a battered wife climbing a large Nabanga tree to escape her abusive husband and convincing him to jump from the top
with her to prove his love for her. Secretly she had tied the vines to her ankles and survived the jump to her husbands peril. In the more practical version, the yams are ready to harvest at the precise time that the vines are at their best elasticity in April, May and June of each year. Outside these times the vines will not have the spring in them and will break. One wonders how many young men met their fate proving that the yams were ready to harvest. In 1978 Luke Fargo, from Londot village in cooperation with Holiday Inn in Port Vila, introduced the outside world to this amazing ritual by starting tours to the Nagol towers of Pentecost. Today Londot mainly performs for visiting yachts with few others visiting the village. The towers at first look are crude and flimsy, constructed from branches of trees lashed together with vines but on closer investigation you will discover quite an amazing piece of engineering that comes together to form a piece of equipment rather than a structure. Every piece works together to provide the divers with every opportunity to survive the giant leap. Anywhere from six to ten divers will perform for you at varying levels depending on their personal ranking in the village hierachy, the newest and youngest at the bottom. The landdiving here is credited with being the inspiration for AJ Hacketts world famous Bungy Jumping that is so popular with everyday tourists worldwide. Regardless of the history, Pentecost in Vanuatu is the only place in the world that you will witness this unique event for only a few months a year and while there are many towers in South Pentecost there are effectively only two that visiting yachts can view this spectacle, one at Londot village within a few hundred metres of the dinghy landing and the other at Waterfall Bay which is used by Air Vanuatu for their tourists. There are not many things that you will remember for the rest of your life but this is certainly one of them.”
Because the weather in Vanuatu has been unduly windy, we were a bit concerned about crossing the 70 nm over to Pentecost, even though it was a calm day….we needed about 9 calm days for their visit and as it turned out we had 2-3 and then some very boisterous winds and seas. So, we chartered a plane from Ratua Resort….a 6-seat Cessna…..and off we went on the tour. Paul, our pilot, was a very interesting fellow, having flown small planes most of his life and has been in Vanuatu the last 6 years. The land diving is a whole ritual and involves most of the villagers. They performed a Kustom dance to open the diving and then did a lot of dancing, singing and clapping to encourage each diver. Some of the divers put on a little bravado show as they would gather their courage for the jump. I took many videos and pics and hope to post some of these on the blog. The video shows it much better than my description, although it was overcast and the lighting was not good that day, so the videos are a bit dark.
We stayed in Ratua a few more days…..snorkeling was excellent and we did a dinghy tour up a river on Malo to a blue hole!! One night the resort had Island night…..they had local dancing and kava and a buffet of some local foods. D&D had their first taste of kava…..this batch was again quite strong but not as strong as the Maskelyne’s…..we had several bowls…..I’m not sure they are going to be professional kava drinkers….it is an acquired taste:))))
From Ratua we went 20 nm north to Oyster Bay. This was supposed to be a beautiful tropical setting in a very protected bay. It indeed was a calm bay but the bay is surrounded by mangroves and the water had that greenish/brown color from all the tannins. We knew the entrance was narrow and very shallow and you HAD to enter at high tide. What we didn’t know was the tide tables were off by 1-2 hours. We saw 0.5′ under the keel at one point….yikes, pucker factor and then some…..fortunately the entrance is not long and we didn’t hit anything…..several rounds of passage beers to calm the nerves. A boat named Trigger was there whom we had met briefly in Fulaga last year. They had been in the bay for several weeks waiting for a part. He told us about the tide tables being wrong and a better way to determine high tide. When we left a few days later, we timed it much better and had 1.5′ under the keel!!!
While in Oyster Bay we had a nice hike around the island, tried to see a few WW II wrecks but the water was too murky and went on another dinghy ride up a river to a gorgeous blue hole. We had fun swimming in cool, fresh waters and D&D had fun on a rope swing!!
We then went another 20 nm north to Lonnoc Bay and Champagne Beach. This was much better and a gorgeous tropical setting. On the way up….we had 20-25 kt winds and 6-8′ seas all behind…..not too bad so we decided to fish…..about 2 nm to our the turn into the Bay we hear that glorious music of a spooling reel…..and it keeps spooling and spooling and spooling….on no, we finally catch something and we are going to lose it…..but with nothing to lose we set the drag all the way and the reel stops spooling…..only a few winds left…..then Dave did the honors of reeling in the fish….it was too rough to stop so Kathy kept the boat going about 2-3 knots…..Dave fought the fish for a good 10-15 min…..finally I see it….oh no, it’s a small skip jack….really…..but, wait, I see a flash of yellow….reel, Dave, reel….and what surfaces is a gorgeous yellow fin tuna….oh boy….we struggle to get it in the boat with the rocking boat…..but we are successful and high fives all around…..in fact the tuna is so tired at first we do not need any alcohol to knock it out….we cut the gills to bleed it and string it up in the cockpit….but, then it is too heavy and breaks the line and decides to wake up….so we douse it with alcohol in the gills and it quiets down. Then the big weigh in….have to get out the big boy scale….40 pounds….we think that might be the record for Mystic…..we did catch a big one in Mexico but we did not weigh it or at least record the weight!!! Oh sushi party time on Mystic…..sushi, seared sesame crusted tuna and sashimi…..LIG!!!! Oh….and Dave got to filet the tuna but I did sort of help clean up all the mess:))))
While there we enjoyed some more pretty good snorkeling…..a beautiful reef but some coral damage we think from crown of thorns…ugh. We went to Champagne beach and of course enjoyed a bottle of champagne. The beach is well known for its white sand, similar to what we found in the Yasawa’s in Fiji and several places in the Bahamas and Anguilla. The sand is very fine and if your feet are not wet, the sand barely sticks to your feet or legs….well, that is the claim but Kathy sat down to enjoy the champagne and well, sand does stick:)))))
Then it was time to make the 35 nm trip back south to Luganville….well, the weather gods had their fun…..20-25G28kt winds and 8-10′ seas all on the nose….not pretty or fun…no fishing at all….we had several waves over the bow and several wash over the PH windows….we tried every trick we knew…adjusting speed, tacking angles with very little success. D&D both got sick…..yikes….we did duck behind several islands for some protection but it was just 5 hours of not much fun……arghhhhhh!!!!
Dinners: We ate big and had some great wines…..steaks, lobsters (these were the ones from the Maskelyne’s and they were outstanding….rich and sweet!!), Dave made tacos one night, lamb chops, butterflied leg of lamb, tuna, pork ribs and scotch filets….needless to say it’s popcorn for the next week:)))) And, we now have room in the freezer for ice cream….I’m back in business…..thanks D&D for manning and womanning up:))))
When we got back to Luganville our good friends Brett and Stacey on sv Bella Vita were on the mooring right next to us…..let the games begin…..they came over for several cocktails and to meet D&D and left as we prepared our closing ceremony dinner with D&D!!!
So that was the D&D visit Having Brett and Stacey here has certainly helped us through the funk/depression of missing them the second they were gone. Brett and I dove the Coolidge yesterday. I even got to “kiss” the Lady. Deep within the ship at around 145′ lies “The Lady”, a wall fresco of a beautiful lady riding a unicorn. One of the traditions is to kiss the Lady. In the past she would gaze down at the first class passengers relaxing in the Smoking Room. Now she poses for those divers lucky enough to visit her. She is still magnificent.
Seti, the dive master led me and another diver down a narrow hall…..all was dark. Then, finally, down a narrow beam of light, I saw her…..a splendid splash of elegant color in this silent black world. I didn’t know the exact proper protocol, so I swam up, took my regulator out of my mouth, and gave her the kiss of all kisses. I gave her gallant steed a pat on the rump and reluctantly left her. A very surreal experience at 145′. Seti was nodding his approval and clapping!!!!
The weather continues to be gnarly….25-35 kts and 10-15′ seas….but, it is starting to calm and we are thinking of leaving for Ambae in a few days. And now tropical cyclone Rachel has formed over the Solomons….about 600 nm north. Most models have it tracking SW away from us but we will get a lot of clouds and rain……arghhhh
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
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