Vanuatu

Arrived this morning in Port Vila on the island of Efate having spent a night in Dillons Bay on Erramango Island after leaving Tanna Port Resolution. This is the first time we have had internet access since leaving Musket Cove Fiji. The sail from Musket Cove to Tanna Vanuatu was fast and furious with big swells of 3m and 20-30 knots of wind we averaged 7 knots for most of the journey only slowing down when we approached the anchorage in Port Resolution as we did not want to arrive in the dark. We arrived at Tanna while it was still dark on Tuesday 10 July around 5am so spent an hour circling around to wait for daybreak at 6am before entering the anchorage as there are reefs to look out for each side and we wanted to see where we were going! Also it is much easier to choose a good anchoring spot when you can see clearly what other boats are around and how near they are. We dropped anchor in the head of the bay where the water was flatter and less rolly. Tanna is very primative with poor local people who really seemed to appreciate our visit. World ARC had arranged for Customs and Immigration officials to visit Port Resolution and all formalities for clearing in were done at the Port Resolution Yacht Club (not as grand as it sounds!!) which was a open sided building made of local trees and leaves. The following day we visited Mount Yasur which is a live active volcano and as we were there at dusk we could see the burning embers being spewed out of the volcano quite clearly. It was an amazing natural experience! Thursday saw us participating in a traditional gift exchange ceremony where all the boats put together any old clothes or houshold items they could spare and these were presented to the villagers in return for baskets of fruit and vegetables after a speech and songs. A very moving experience. We gave clothes,crocs,pens and crayons for the school and toffees for the children. All the boat donations were divided up by the men of the village to distribute amongst the families. In our gift basket we were given christophene, squash, papaya,limes, passion fruit, taro,sweet potatoes and giant green beans. Later that evening we had a Feast which was prepared by the local villagers for everyone to enjoy and included a roast pig, curried chicken and a beef and fish dish along with lots of local vegetables including Taro which is like potato. Friday morning we left Tanna and sailed 50 miles north to the island of Erramango and anchored in Dillons Bay. Once we had dropped the hook we were approached by a local man David who invited us all ashore to visit the village. We now have Bob an extra crew member who was on Serendipity and as they are leaving the rally at Tanna he is just sailing with us to Port Vila where he will catch a flight home to England. The following day Saturday saw a number of boat crews go ashore to do another gift exchange with the villagers there in return for more fruit! We were given Grapefruit, clementines, limes and passion fruit plus some very ripe bananas! We decided to have an early dinner that night and leave before it got dark so at 5.30pm we were lifting the anchor to do an overnight passage to Port Resolution on the island of Efate. It was a very bumpy ride with big seas again and winds to 35 Knots so it was good we had Bob to do a watch which meant Peter and I got to have a real sleep! We arrived here in Port Resolution this morning and were taken to a Mooring Buoy so we were all tied up by 8.30am in time for coffee and bacon butties! Now catching up on chores before the programme starts tomorrow.