Resting in Aneityum

This is our second day here in Aneityum and we have not left the boat yet. It is really windy and we are too lazy to think about setting up the dinghy and engine. Maybe tomorrow. There is one other boat in the bay next to us called “Sunstone” We invited them for tea today. (One of my favorite parts of sailing – inviting people over that you have not even met – you just see them on their boat a few hundred yards away and they look sympatico). Really interesting couple – they are originally from England – but the man grew up in the States, served in the US Navy, became a teacher and then a school principal. She was also a teacher. Both are avid sailors and racers. They have sailed around the world 1.5 times in the past 12 years – spending long stretches of time in New Zealand and Australia. They have a classic Sparkman&Stephen’s centerboard sloop made of wood. They are leaving tomorrow for Port Vila (the capitol of Vanuatu) and we will probably catch up with them again there
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We have heard from several very good friends of ours and all of them are coincidentally in Tanna right now, the next island up the chain. We will all meet up in Port Vila next week and there will be lots of i socializing. How fun.
The island here looks lovely and is supposed to have excellent snorkeling with a huge protected reef – but it is very windy and quite cool so I don’t think it likely that we will get in the water. Aneityum is cool because it is the southernmost island in Vanuatu. In the winter the temperature ranges from 60 degrees to 74 degrees. There are no ‘kustom’ (traditional) villages or ceremonies anymore. The missionary who came here 150 years ago converted almost everyone to Christianity within a few years, although it is said he could not easily stop the custom of strangling wives on the husbands’ death. Women apparently insisted on this right. We expect that this has changed by now.
L.

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