New Caledonia

We set sail to New Caledonia having decided that to progress any further north in Vanuatu would have created a hard slog back against the predominant south easterly trade winds. OK, the fact that we had only seen 3 days of sunshine in over 2 weeks in Vanuatu may have influenced us ever so slightly!! We are after all meant to be enjoying warm tropical sunshine!  So despite some weather gurus advising boats wanting to head south to wait until the end of the week we and another couple decided to undertake the relatively short passage of 3 days to New Caledonia. This proved to have been a great decision, as we had gentle winds from the east / south east for all but the last 20nm when they turned more southerly. Fortunately the winds were light and the seas remained relatively moderate. We were able to sleep and prepare meals without any problems. We passed through the Loyalty Islands in daylight and arrived at Havana Pass, the passage through into the lagoon that surrounds New Caledonia at 6am,  just at slack water. Perfect timing! This was a first for us as we usually have to slow down for fear of arriving to early.

We sailed through the inner passages to Noumea and realized that we were back in the 21^st century as we arrived at Port Moselle and the marina. Lots of expensive boats and Peugeots, Renaults and Citroens everywhere! We must be in France!  The checking in formalities were very simple and cost us nothing! In all the other Pacific Islands there had been costs for all sorts of things from a health cost paid at a local hospital in Fiji to Port Charges in Tonga. They usually amounted to the same total of about $250 Australian although no official was usually to be seen and they certainly didn’t come out to the boat. The internet here is fantastic, Rogers words!

Noumea is a large city dominated by a protected a bay with houses and expensive apartments lining the foreshore and overlooking marinas. Shopping is of a similar price to Australia but with expensive French clothing and accessory stores! Rogers worried about my shopping alone!  The supermarkets have everything a cruising sailor may desire and the choice of cheese, breads and French wine is large. Eating out offers an enormous selection of restaurants so that on my birthday our choice was very French and our very poor school language skills were called upon! It was lovely because of the differences.

From here we will go out to visit The Isle of Pines for a week or so and then retrace our steps back to Noumea, we may hire a car to explore some of the internal areas of the country but we will see how time passes. I’m sure that before we know what has happened we will be planning our passage back to Australia in about 6 weeks time!!!

The Island of Tanna

Following the excitement of Aneityum we set sail for Tanna the next island in the chain of islands that make up Vanuatu. This is billed as having the most accessible active volcano in the Pacific. We anchored at Port Resolution, another bay visited and named by Capt Cook on his exploration of the Pacific on his boat of the same name. The bay is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, yellow cliffs potted with small caves and arches carved into the face. Several steam vents puff through the vegetation in time with the rising plume of smoke emanating from the volcano that lies hidden behind the green growth that tumbles down the hill side to meet the sea. The village can be seen perched above the low cliff, a collection of rustic woven huts and neat crops under a canopy of coconut palms.

The bay had 16 yachts anchored in it on our arrival and each had a story to tell of being covered in ash with the westerly winds and rain. Perhaps it was as well that we had been delayed by Pascal. There were many villages out on their outriggers waiting to say hi to the next yacht arrival, some were fishing others just watching the spectacle. We met Stanley a very helpful local who arranged our trip up to the volcano the following evening. He introduced us to his village; again people only lived very simply in huts with no power and very little material belongings. We traded for fruit exchanging rope, clothing, glasses and anything else they wanted, we had so much and they had so little.

The trip to the volcano was an amazing experience. 16 yachties were crammed into a Ute and taken along a rough muddy road through tropical rain forest to the volcano. As we approached the lush green gave way to a plain of grey pumice rising up to form the classic cone shape. The boom of the explosion could be felt as we climbed the path to the craters edge; a display of shooting fireworks of red and orange shards lit the evening sky. We stood meters away from the brim of a very active spectacle, the centre of the crater heaving with molten lava, pulsating as the next explosion of rocks, smoke and lava were propelled into the air. Wow! We remained watching until the night was dark accentuating the power and might of Mother Nature at her most primeval imagining with awe the intensity of the next explosion.

We sailed away from Tanna and the friendly village of Port Resolution to Port Villa on the island of Efate. The weather was expected to change to rain in the next few days and we wanted to be safe in the protected anchorage of the capital. The anchorage is a very protected harbour with an internal and external bay. Yachts anchor behind the island of Ikki with a resort of the same name looking towards the town. So that’s where we are at the time of this blog writing. What a contrast modern cars, cafes and restaurants, duty free shops to service the cruise ships that regularly visit and French supermarkets the internet and only 160nm from Tanna! Hard to reconcile the contrast between the two places, is it really the same country?

In between the rainy days we made a quick sail over to Hideaway Island only 5nm outside of Port Villa. This is a resort but it is also very near to some fantastic cascading pools that are fed by the river tumbling down through the mountain rain forests. These were really beautiful and cool sitting under the waterfalls on a warm day.

So now we find ourselves back in the anchorage, waiting in the rain for a good weather window which we will see us heading nearer to Australia as New Caledonia and Noumea are our next destination.

Dr Roger and the Injured French Yachtie

We spent the first day on Aneityum exploring the village and nearby Mystery Island. The people here live a very simple life, huts made of traditional coconut leaves and wood with no electricity and communal facilities. There is a school which takes children up to 11 when they become borders at large schools in Port Villa. A simple life consisting of fishing, weaving, gardening for vegetables and raising pigs and chickens is the norm. Pigs are very highly prized and marriage dowries are based on pigs which are raised in cages. The pig tusk is a form of valuable currency between villages especially if they form a full circle like a bangle.

On the second day the weather changed and we then had 3 days of heavy rain. We left the yacht to watch the inter island soccer final which was played on a sloping field with trees to run around and holes filled with sand. The whole village was out under umbrellas watching and cheering on their respective teams, the local side won which was a cause of great excitement. Shortly afterwards Roger’s skills we called upon. Having walked along the beach we were about to return to Dreamweaver when an anxious Frenchman rushed up asking if we were doctors. His brother had fallen and was now in great pain and having trouble breathing.

Villagers helped to carry Pascal to the local ‘medical center’ where it became obvious that he had broken some ribs and quite probably had a pneumothorax. Oh dear we were in a remote location with little medical equipment and a seriously ill man! Stephan and his brother had it seemed already cleared customs in Port Villa and were on route to New Caledonia with a New Zealand crew member when they called into Aneityum for a rest and a walk. Our first aid kit didn’t include a chest drain and kit! But his breathing seemed OK and not cyanosed [we know how accurate the human eye is!] so we just had to manage his pain. So for the next 24 hours Anne and I had a patient and out departure was delayed. Morphine and oxycodone helped the pain but he couldn’t go on an offshore passage to Noumea. The next 24 hours his brother was in communication with the French consulate, the travel insurance company, and the French Army in New Caledonia. Finally the insurance co gave the OK and Le Armee de L’Air sent a Puma helicopter to rescue him.

Of course by this stage it was dark and 100% cloud and raining hard! The football pitch by the beach with its slope and trees was readied for their arrival. The only illumination available was the torches of the 4 yachts, including the Hungarians who were still at anchor with their Q flag up, and the single light from the village’s portable generator! The giant helicopter coming out of the darkness in the rain was quite a sight watched by the entire village. The rescue team were very professional and I am sure it helped he was French from Paris! 2 ½ hours later they left for Noumea. They were intending on putting a chest drain in as the weather meant they would need to go higher, but changed their mind at the last moment as the weather outlook was improving.

The story was told in the National newspaper a few days later, but I am not sure it was the same rescue as there were very few accurate facts! We haven’t been able to find out how Pascal is but hoped to soon.

Leaving Fiji arrival in Vanuatu

We went through the custom clearance at Lautoka having anchored outside the commercial wharf that services the sugar cane mill. Moored along side were some very dodgy looking Chinese fishing boats, one was defiantly taking on water as its stern was way down below the plimsol line, with all pumps discharging out from the sides. Fiji along with many other South Pacific nations it seems have sold their fishing rights to the insatiable appetites of the Chinese! The clearance procedure was straight forward and on completion we had an hour to leave! Impossible given that we had to secure the tender to the top of Dreamweaver on our return from the wharf.

We motored out towards the reef passes as there was little wind due to the wind shadow created by height of the main island Vita Levu. We passed several islands that we had visited in the Mamanucas and also the one made famous in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway. As we approached the reef opening many dolphins and a pod of Pilot Whales accompanied our passage out. Fantastic in the clear flat blue waters.

The crossing was to Aneityum, the southern most island of Vanuatu. We had a good passage taking 3 days and arriving early afternoon on the Friday. Richard the local policeman come customs official came and cleared us in and this allowed us to go to a celebration night hosted by the villagers for all the 9 yachts anchored in the bay. Dancing in traditional dress by many members of the village, stone baked fish cooked in the ground, singing and kava drinking! Vanuatu kava is reputedly the strongest in the South Pacific and it certainly numbed the mouth tasting vaguely herbal although the colour of cloudy dish water! It was a great welcome to the islands.