May 29 – June 2
Hi All,
We thought we had not seen the best Vanuatu had to offer and the last 2 anchorages have been wonderful. First was Epi……35nm from Emae all downwind and we even found a fast internet along the way…but alas, we fished but no catching 🙁 ((
Epi is a very beautiful anchorage albeit still rolly and we needed both floppers…ugh!!!
We saw our first Dugong…..sometimes called Sea Cow…..it is a very distant relative of the elephant….yep, that is right…..but think manatee and you will come close to what they look like. They eat the turtle grass that is abundant in this bay and we would see them in the late afternoon. They would surface and take several breaths before diving again and you would see the long body disappear, only to pop back up after a few minutes later. Both of us were intrigued and could not get enough of watching these animals.
The village was in good shape and seemed quite prosperous from the other villages we had seen. They had many boats with outboards and the store seemed well stocked. There even is a resort/yacht club. We talked to the owner, Artis, and he has 5 bungalows but 2 were damaged from the cyclone….roof damage and then water damage. He mainly rents these units to fisherman who charter boats out of Vila. But, as we had seen, most of these boats were sunk in the cyclone so he did not have any customers and expected a very slow season. He said the fishing in the area was quite good, which only led to my anguish as we are still fishless…..arghhhhhh!!!!!
We also got in a spectacular dive on Dick’s Reef…..about 2 nm from our anchorage. Some of the best hard corals we have seen. The reef was about a mile offshore and we found it with our handheld GPS. When we jumped in there was little current but as we sank down and checked on the anchor, we found a very fast current…..we went a little way against the current and then turned around and made a circle back to the dinghy. We saw a huge Napoleon Wrasse…..not quite as large as in Fakarava but still as majestic and very wary!!! And just to add to my angst, we saw tuna….double arghhhhhh!!!!!
Next we did the 20nm passage to the Maskelyne’s on the southeastern side of Malekula. The wind was quite a calm but we had a short period southern swell….we were going almost due west….so the beamy waves gave us a bit of a roll we did not expect…..and again no fish…..arghhhhhh!!!!
Here is the email we sent Dave and Lynn with Butterfly Trust:
Hi Dave and Lynn,
We are here in the Lute’s Village in the Maskelyne’s. We arrived yesterday right at low tide so we decided to anchor out by the reef and let the tide come up before attempting the entrance to the harbor. We were greeted by a host of people from the villages all out gathering or fishing on the reef. We fist met Ambong and his son who said he would come back later and guide us in. He was followed by Andres and Martin…..wow, what a greeting!! They all told of their horrible cyclone expereince and their rebuilding efforts. Several of Ambong’s bures were damaged along with his restaurant which blew down.
Once we were anchored inside the harbor we went into the village and were greeted and then escorted around by Stewart….what a delightful man. We called Obed and he directed us to the school headmaster, a Mr Benson, and we arranged for us to deliver the 11 (we thought there was 10 but it was 11) bags of clothing the next day. We eventually met Obed the next day and we understand the clothing will be part of a fund raiser to raise funds for the school, especially to help parents pay the tuition.
They all mention Butterfly Trust and the special relationship they have with you. Evidently you help support a huge fundraiser in the fall, full of games, handicrafts and food!!! We found the villages to be in pretty good shape. There is still evidence of large fallen trees and some hut/roof damage. They all talked about how there are not enough coconuts left to make copra so they have turned to fishing and selling the fish to “Big Sister” for the next 4-6 months or until the coconuts can grow back and they go back to making copra. We saw a freezer full of fish waiting for the ship to arrive in a few days. A lot of the banana, mango and papaya trees were damaged and will take quite a while to grow back as well as most of the root crops were damaged. We did walk over to Phelong (to go to the clam sanctuary and meet Obed) and we saw the gardens coming back….cassava, cabbage, corn, taro, red peppers, and lot’s of damaged but growing back banana trees. We did see a lot of mango trees but they said many were damaged/destroyed.
They indicated that the southern part of Malekula and the Maskelyne’s were still part of the cyclone disaster zone.
They all talked about the one aid shipment they received which we think you helped arranged. We got the impression they wanted or expected more aid as they are still not eating all that well. We did not see the store but we understood it had flour, rice and sugar to sell but the people had very little money to buy the supplies since they could not sell copra.
This has been a very friendly village and the people have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. We plan to spend a few more days here before going to Lamap and delivering the autoclave.
Indeed, this is a very, very friendly village. It reminds us of Fulanga in the Lau Group in Fiji with one major difference. The woman are very, very shy and not that social. Some of it is the culture and some of it might be they do not speak English that well so the men do most of the talking. And, they invited us to have kava last night. Oh boy, now I do like kava but we have been warned that the Vanuatu kava is super strong and you have to be very careful or you will be night nights before you know it. So, I had 2 bowls and Kathy had 1…..here it is not a social gathering like Fiji but like an outdoor bar….it was strong…..very peppery tasting and I quickly had numb-tongue….your mouth and tongue go a little numb/tingly….but, I did not get wasted or even feel that high….more just a very peaceful and restful sensation. And, I slept great until we heard bells at 4:20 and again at 5:20 am….we learned they all go to devotion (Presbyterian) before sunrise so they can be ready for the day….whoa!!!!
Ok….that’s it for now!!!!! Hope all is well!!
Cheers,
John
Mystic Moon
