We anchored in Southwest(Metenovor) Bay, Malekula for almost three days now. We left Malua Bay on Tuesday (September 2) intending to go to Dixon Reefs. The passage was pleasant enough to start but then the seas starting to build and it got wet and wild. We knew that Dixon Reefs would not offer reasonable protection from the large seas so we kept on going to Southwest Bay, where Sabbatical III lies quite comfortably.
We have had a few visits from Solomon and Rita, and their two small children, who come out from the village in their dugout outrigger canoe. We met Solomon when we were here last month when gave him a bag of rice as a gift. This time he came to us and brought us a load of pamplemousse, some papaya, and coconuts. We have provided some new gifts to them as well. We have enjoyed their visits.
We have been plagued with a series of repair issues for the past few days that have taken most of our time to address. The heat exchanger on the generator sprung a leak and sprayed salt water over half the engine room. I was able to fix the leak. However, equipment in the engine room will corrode if exposed to salt water, so I had to clean it all with fresh water and then apply Lanacote anti-corrosion spray to everything.
Even more annoying is the failure of our outboard engine. It sputtered in Espritu Santo and failed entirely when I tried it here. It would start fine but die within a minute or two. I replaced the spark plugs, the fuel filter and the fuel hose but nothing worked. It turns out that the likely culprit is the gasoline that we bought in Musket Bay, Fiji and stored in a large jerry can — it seems to be bad. Since that is the only gasoline that we have left, we are stuck on the boat. I hope that I will be able to get the outboard engine working again once we get to Port Vila.
Our Plans
We have been waiting for a weather system to pass by. It should be gone by tomorrow and we plan to leave for Port Vila (Efate Island) tomorrow (Saturday, September 6) around 3 pm . With the wind and waves on the nose, it may take 18 to 20 hours to make the passage.
On September 13, we will leave Vanautu for Ouvea Island in the Loyalty Islands. The Loyalty Islands are administered by France as part of New Caledonia. Ordinarily, it is very hard to visit the Loyalty Islands on a private boat, especially Ouvea Island. There is no Port of Entry in the Loyaltys and the French are strict about these things. Boats are allowed to stop in Lifou Island for a few days before either sailing to Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia, for check-in, or paying for a Customs oficer and an Immigration officer to fly to Lifou and do the check-in. To get around this, we have joined with a set of boats organized by the Island Cruising Association of New Zealand. They have organized a “rally” to Ouvea. The boats in the rally essentially share the cost of flying officials out to the seldom visited island of Ouvea for a check-in on Sep 16.
More on all of this later. We just wanted to provide a heads up on our plans.
We have been anchored in Peterson Bay on Espiritu Santo Island for for past two days. We have not done much here — some boat projects and a little snorkelling. We are the only boat anchored off of Malono Island, just off Espiritu Santo. There are about a half-dozen other boats in an ‘inside’ anchorage but Sabbatical III draws too much water to enter there. It has been very peaceful here.
Tomorrow morning we begin the difficult task of heading back to Port Vila. Difficult because the route takes us right into the wind and seas most of the way. Consequently, we will have to rely on our diesel engine for much of the passage.
We will leave at 0615 local time. Our route takes us south down the eastern side of Espiritu Santo, past Malo Island, and then into the Bougainville Strait where we should be able to be under sail for a few hours. We hope to arrive at Malua Bay on the western side of Malakula island while there is still some light, if not we will spend the night at sea.
We are off of Espirito Santo Island, just across the channel from Luganville, the second largest city of Vanuatu. I just posted some photos to our Ambrym blog (see below). We will be here for a couple of more days re-provisioning, getting more vatus to spend, and doing some boat maintenance. We had a great sail here from Ambrym two days ago. This is where James Michener was posted in WW II and formed the basis for his book on the South Pacific. There was a huge US base here during the war. The old Quonset huts are still in use. We will write more later.
We have been anchored off Nebul village in the far north of Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, since Monday, August 18. We have been so busy with the ‘Back to my Roots’ festival we have not had the time to update our blog until now. A lot has happened during these past days and there is much to tell. Our experience is much better conveyed by photos and video but we will be unable to post any of these until we return to Port Vila in 10 – 14 days, depending on weather. The people of north Ambrym have been fantastic and the festival was extraordinary. It ended with the most famous dance of Vanuatu, the Rom dance, that is only performed here.
Passage to Ambrym.
We left Awai Island in the Makelynes on Monday (Aug. 18) with the promise of 15 knot winds from the SSE — good enough for the 36 nautical mile trip to north Ambrym. There is a very strong current in the channel that separates the Maskelyne Islands from Malekula. Fortunately it was a fair current that morning and we made over 8.5 knots through the channel. As we headed almost due north and moved away from the islands the current disappeared and so did the wind and we had to motor until we ‘turned the corner’ past the big bulge in Ambrym Island and altered course to the northeast. The very high twin volcanoes that dominate central Ambrym diverted and accelerated the wind up the western coast and allowed us to finish the passage under sail. The Mt. Benbow and Mt. Marum volcanoes are quite active and their ash plain takes up one-third of the island’s area. The anchorage off Nebul village was filling rapidly and there were at least 8 sailboats within view coming up behind us and half a dozen ahead of us. We monitored the marine radio traffic and learned from ‘Rise and Shine’ that anchoring in close to the shore would be a mistake — their anchor rode was entangled in rocks and coral. Unexpectedly, we got a radio call from ‘Vera’ and learned that they were just 6 miles ahead of us, having spent the previous day at the hot springs area of Ambrym Island. When we arrived they directed us to a place just to their port side. Michael had dived on his anchor and the nearby sea bottom and found only black volcanic sand. We are sitting in nearly 75 feet of water. I would not feel comfortable anchoring in anything deeper. We put out every last foot of chain we have (265 feet). You have to put out lots of anchor chain because strong gusts of wind (williwaws) come thundering down the slope of the volcano, straining anchors and making boats swing and dance. Everyone is aware that a few years ago some boats dragged out to sea (but recovered) and that last year one boat wound up on the reef at nearby Olal. The whole village of Olal came out and pulled the boat off the reef.
By the end of the next day there were 25 boats in the anchorage plus some overflow at the nearby Ranon village anchorage. Two fully crewed sailing superyachts also showed up — Silver Tip and Squall. Luc and Jackie from Sloepmouche once again acted as the liasons between the ‘fleet’ and the villages involved in the festival. Every evening they would make annoucements on the marine VHF radio with information on times, places, and events. There is no hotel or airport in north Ambrym, no roads or electricity, and only a single pickup truck, so it is very hard to attend the festival if you do not have a boat. Nonetheless, there were eight tourists who took the cargo steamer from Port Vila and stayed either at the mission house or on the floor of the rural cooperative bank. A four-man French film crew was also in attendance, having received permission to make a movie of the event. The film crew was not friendly and took it as their right to jump in front of us with their camera and sound boom, occasionally blocking the view at key moments. Back to my Roots Festival.
Nakamal at ritual grounds
We dinghied to shore at 8:30 am on Wednesday for the first day of the festival. We were greeted by Zebulon Taleha, a barefoot and handsome 20 year old of Rantvetgere village. His job was to guide a group of us to the ritual dancing grounds every day. I am not sure why, but Zebulon took a particular liking to me. He treated me as if I was the ‘chief’ of our small group of yachties. He walked along side of me answering questions and offering explanations. Our group would not come or go until Zebulon asked for my assent. My connection with Zebulon added importantly to our experience as described below.
Chief Napong Norbert
The ritual grounds are near the Kastom (traditional life) village of Halhal. To get to Halhal we walked thirty minutes along a beautiful coastal path that is intensely lush and green. Just before the northern-most village of Olal, we took a simple foot path into the interior. For another 15 minutes we walked through groves of coconut palms and forest until we reached the ritual grounds. It is a small area of grass with large tamtams –, logs with intricate faces carved on them and then hollowed out for drumming. The tamtams on north Ambrym, as well as wood carving more generally, are considered the finest in Vanuatu. They take hundreds of hours to produce. Traditionally, those making illicit copies of tamtams were executed. The largest tamtam at the ritual ground is 15 to 20 feet tall. There is also carved stone sculpture. In the forest just 50 meters away is a grass hut (nakamal or mens clubhouse) and surrounding area that is reserved for men. Here men dress (or undress) themselves for rituals, drink kava, and store ritual items such as the distinctive club used to kill pigs, a key element in north Ambrym rituals now that ritually killing humans is tabu. Interestingly, the men that were to be ritually killed and eaten were called ‘long pigs,’
Once men reach maturity, they begin the quest to reach higher levels (grades) in society in order to earn respect for themselves and their spirits when they die. To do this they must own many pigs and use pigs as currency to advance in grade. In north Ambrym there are 14 grades although no man currently alive is higher than grade 11. Men must also pay with pigs to acquire a bride. Zebulon is a grade 1 and is unmarried as he has not acquired the pigs necessary to advance in grade much less marry. In order to take part in the ritual events we were to witness, a man must have a sufficiently high grade and/or pay a price in pigs for the honor. It is a great honor to be a costumed dancer in the Rom dance and men must pay their chief in pigs for that honor.
Men cooking
On the way to the ritual grounds we stopped at Zebulon’s house and he gathered up a load of carved bamboo flutes that his father had made. They are beautiful and inexpensive so we bought enough to outfit a small orchestra. About 200 meters from the ritual ground, there were young men in the path collecting the admission fee of 7000 vatu per person for the three days (about $80 per person). As a trade good, we brought along a brand new Camelpak backpack, the kind with a water bladder and drinking tube plus plenty of zippered pouches for storage. We thought this backpack would be perfect for someone trekking up and down the volcano. We asked if we might trade this backpack for admission for the both of us. The young men taking the admission fee could not make this decision themselves, they had to ask the chief. Two minutes later a burly bearded man wearing only a namba (penis wrapper) walked up to me and, in accented English, asked to see the backpack. We bargained for a minute and a deal was struck — the backpack plus 2000 vatu ($21) would get Laura and I in for all three days. One of the young ‘ticket takers’ was delighted. He is the son of the chief and he put on the backpack and wore it for the rest of the day. We saved nearly $140 and made someone very happy.
Women cooking
Speaking of nambas, on the walk to the ritual grounds, Zebulon quietly sang. At one point he sang “Oh when the saints go marching in; Oh when the saints go marching in; I want to be in that namba; When the saints go marching in.” I am not sure whether he knew the word as “number” or “namba”. The latter would seem a more likely phrasing to him.
The seating for us yachties consisted of two bamboo poles set on trees branches. Laura and I brought small cushions. Some yachties had small folding chairs which were much more comfortable. Part of this bamboo seating area was covered by thatch augmented by a plastic sheet. The covering is important since it has rained about 20 times a day since we arrived — and this is the dry season. The tall volcanoes that produce the williwaw gusts also cause it to rain incessantly over north Ambrym. Drying laundry is pretty much impossible. But this weather is good for growing yams and taro in the rich volcanic soil.
The chief who traded the backpack from me was the master of ceremony for this event. His name is Napong Norbert and he is a very charismatic individual. He described and interpreted every dance and ritual act in both pretty good English and very good French. It is likely that he used French for the benefit of the French film crew as there were no other Frenchmen in attendance (but there were three Belgians). During the colonial period, Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides, was jointly administered by England and France. There are French speaking (and nominally Catholic) villages next to English speaking (and nominally Presbyterian) villages. Kastom villages tend to be in the interior of islands.
Where's Waldo?
All the foreign guests were asked to leave the ritual grounds so that we could be led in by the chief and other high grade men dancing the welcoming dance. Most of these men were between 40 and 80 years old as it takes many years to achieve a high enough grade. (Young men danced in most of the other dances.) The male dancers were followed in my dancing barebreasted women in grass skirts who likely are their wives. Then the foreign guests walked behind until we were in the ritual grounds. There were also many ni-Vanuatu (local Vanuatans) were stood in the background to watch, particularly on day three when the Rom dance was performed. This festival was organized by a number of different villages so there were a number of chiefs present. Chiefs carry carved wooden walking sticks as badges of office.
Rom dance
The dances that were performed during the first two days of the festival did not involve intricate steps. The men typically were in a tight circle with their bare butts facing us, and they stomped to the beat of the tamtams while singing or chanting in their local language. All the men wore a leaf namba that attached their penis to a bark belt. Various kinds of leaf foliage stuck into this belt covered the small of their backs. The dancing was very energetic and the songs and melodies were mesmerizing. I will leave it for the video to describe the action. On both the first and third days of the festival, a pig was ritually killed. On the first day it was a smallish pig that squealed mightily. We did not know what was about to happen but had some inkling that the pig might meet with violence. Chief Napong Norbert spoke in the local language and then took a club to the pig. It was a bit of a shock to us. That pig was served for lunch two days later.
There were food stalls at one end of the ritual grounds. Women sold laplap, bananas, coconuts, boiled eggs, fried dough, bread rolls with meat inside, and nangae, on oval, nut-containing fruit that tastes like an almond. A dozen nangae are sold skewered on a thin bamboo reed, and are quite delicious. Laplap is a pasty mixture of taro root and yam covered in coconut cream and served on a banana leaf. The food was very tasty and inexpensive. I also indulged my recent fondness for kava with help from Zebulon. At the end of the second day we went to the nakamal of one of the chiefs, and he served me and the Veras some potent fresh kava. We also had some kava on the third day in Olal village.
Part of the activities on the second day was a communal lunch. The buff young men of low grade prepared most of the food. It seems that low grade men must prepare their own food and only higher grade men have it prepared by women. The food preparation was in the men’s only area next to the nakamal — a woman could be killed for entering this tabu area. I went there to take photos and some of the women cruisers then gingerly entered as well. One of the chiefs told the women yachties to leave but then the highest chief (by grade), Napong Norbert, over-ruled that chief and said that foreign women could enter. The food preparation was as energy-intensive an activity as the dancing. Wearing only their nambas, the young men scraped coconut meat and squeezed it into coconut cream, and collected firewood and roasted breadfruits. They pounded the cooked breadfuits into paste and laid the paste onto large banana leaves. Hot stones were extracted from the fire and put into open coconuts in order to heat the coconut water which was then worked into the paste. The large sheets of paste where covered with coconut cream and then cut into pieces. The work was so grueling that men would rotate into and out of tasks to give each other a breather. While this was going on, the wives of the high grade men sat some distance away and roasted yams on an open fire. They would reach into the fire to snatch out a yam and proceed to scrape its exterior with the edge of a tin can top. They did this repeatedly, scorching a yam, scraping it, and then repeating the sequence. Laura and I found the food a bit on the starching side and prefered the bread products at the food stalls, but the preparation was really a very interesting sight.
Rom dancer
The famous Rom dance was performed on the third and last day (yesterday). The Rom dance is connected to a secret and sacred society of men that remains a mystery to outsiders. I asked Zebulon about it and he provided only ambiguous responses. Fantastic and fearsome masks and full body costumes of banana leaves are one distinguishing features of the Rom dance. These costumes are worn by those being initiated into the secret society and they must make their own masks in secret and according to secret rules. Any outsider who witnesses a mask being made is to be whipped with nettles, or pay a fine (a recent and welcome amendment to the rules). Members of this secret society are keepers of the powerful ‘black magic’, a set of magic skills that can kill men or make the yams grow. Zebulon is hoping to be an initiate of the Rom secret society next year and dance in full costume. We hope to be there. Those who were initiated into the secret society in the past, including all of the chiefs, also danced in the Rom dance but wear only nambas. The Rom dance has a whole different look and feel to it than the dances of the previous days. The men stomped and sang more intensely and seemed in a trance-like frenzy. Sweat poured from bodies. I can only imagine how steamy it must have been for the young men who were completely covered in banana leaf costumes with large, heavy masks on their shoulders and covering their head. Toward the end of the dance, a very large pig was brought out and ritually killed and then left to the side as the rituals continued. The ritual grounds were crowded with ni-Vanuatu who came to see their chiefs and their sons dance. It is said that the yam harvest depends on it. The final dance is a farewell dance that is also a bit of a frenzy. Inside there was a tight circle of singing and dancing men. Outside of that circle women in grass skirts were pulsing slowly to the beat. The foreign guests were invited to join. A gentle rain fell even though it was sunny — and the dancers bodies were glistening. I danced with the men while blindly shooting digital still pictures at very close range while Laura danced with the women and took video.
Rom dancers poseDancers
After the festival was over, there was a banquet in Olal village for the yachties. Some chiefs and those who organized the festival also attended. There was a formidable spread of local foods including the ritually killed pig from the first day of the festival. While waiting for the banquet to begin, Zebulon approached me and said that one of the chiefs wanted to give me his chiefs walking stick. He brought over Chief Massing, who seems to be about 80 years old. We had met Chief Massing, who has some close connection to Zebulon, on the first day of the festival and took a great photo of him. We printed that photo on glossy photographic paper on the boat and gave it to Zebulon to give to the chief on the second day. The chiefs walking stick he gave me had been used by his father, Chief Naroum Naim, and so was quite old. I was quite taken aback by the honor accorded me. Perhaps Chief Massing was grateful for that photo, or perhaps Zebulon persuaded him that I was a chief lacking a walking stick. The people of north Ambrym were uniformly generous and so this act of kindness may not be as unusual as it seems. Zebulon told me afterwards that a man of my age and status must have a chiefs walking stick, and now I do.
We left Metenovor (Southwest) Bay, Malekula this morning are now anchored off of Awai Island in the Maskelyne Islands, a group of small islands that lie just off of the southeast corner of Malekula. The passage here is mostly southeast into the prevailing tradewinds so today was a good time to go since there was little wind to contend with. We motored the whole way, about 34 nautical miles. Lot’s of other boats that were in Metenovor Bay for the festival also left this morning and 9 of them are anchored here with us. The plan is to stay in the Maskelyne Islands until Monday when the wind is supposed to build and then sail northeast to Nebul village on the island of Ambrym for another festival.
On Wednesday, August 13 we were at Labo village for an all day festival of Kastom dancing by Small Nambas, arts and crafts, and lunch, all put on by Labo village. The event they put on was nice but more appropriate for a visiting cruise ship than for yachties. It was a bit too scheduled. While strolling on the beach at Labo we ran into our kava-growing friend Justin from Wintua village. He was brewing fresh kava in a knoll nearby, mostly for the dancers and locals. He invited us to join in, and we did.
On Thursday, we went to Benahur village at the far tip of Metenovor Bay. We were invited to tour the village and, for a small fee, snorkel the wonderful reef that stretched out from Ten Stick Rock just across from the village. This was much more informal and low key. They put out some local foods for lunch and village people came by and chatted with the yachties who dropped by. It was a rainy day, so not that many people came off of their boats. After lunch and a tour, Laura, Britta, and I snorkeled the reef. The water was very clear and the reef was exceptionally beautiful, one of the nicest we have seen. There were lots of very big fish swimming around, which is always fun to see. A woman from the village told us how Ten Stick Rock got it’s name. In 1942, the village chief granted the US Navy the right to use the rock (actually a small island) for target practice in return for ten sticks of tobacco (10 cigarettes).
Yesterday, Laura and I snorkeled off the reef of Labo village, which was very disappointing. Our Labo village hosts had told us that their reef was a “marine reserve” with giant clams. But most of the coral was dead, there were only a few clams and these were not very giant at all, and these had been transplanted from a thriving reef in an attempt to attract tourists. We then crossed the bay to return to the wonderful reef of Ten Stick Island.
We have had an interesting 24 hours. To our great pleasure, “Vera” sailed into Metenovor (Southwest) Bay, Malekula yesterday afternoon and dropped anchor right alongside of Sabbatical III. They have changed their plan to depart for the Torres Strait and will now attend the festival here in Malekula and then continue with us to the Black Magic Festival in Ambrym Island. They shared in all of our adventures of the past day.
Yesterday evening “Vera” and “Sabbatical III” dinghied to Wintua village and met Justin the kava grower on the beach as arranged. He took us to meet Chief Wilson to whom we paid our respects with some small gifts. Then he took us to the nakamal for kava. He explained why kava from southwest Malekula is considered among the best in the world. His kava is exported to New Caledonia and Fiji as well as all the islands of Vanuatu. However, the kava shipped outside the village is dried first which, according to Justin, appreciably reduces it’s quality. The kava we were to enjoy was just cut fresh and prepared in the traditional manner. The bark is carefully cut away from the kava roots which are then washed and chopped by hand and then washed again. The chopped roots are then kneaded with water by hand until a soft mush. This kava mush is then pressed through a cloth baby diaper to get the kava we drink. This process produces a potent drink that he refers to as “morning fresh” since there is no morning hangover. Much of the other kava sold in Vanuatu and elsewhere he referred to as “two day kava” because it leaves an unpleasant hangover on the second day.
We put his kava to the test. None of us are experienced kava drinkers (Michael and Britta had never tried it before) but we all found it to be a most pleasant experience. It is hard to describe since it is really nothing like alcohol or anything else we know of firsthand. It’s effect might be understood by Michael’s comments before and after. As we entered the nakamal, Michael said “I really do not want to he here..let’s not stay long.” After drinking kava Michael said “This is really a nice place. Let’s stay here longer.” Kava puts you in a nice place. Our hosts were careful that we not consume to much and that we safely found ourselves back to our dinghies.
This morning we went to Tisri lagoon for the grand opening of the “Southwest Malekula Yacht Club”. The yacht club is a grass hut meant to attract yachties like us to an area that does not get tourists due to its inaccessibility. There are no cars or roads, no electricity, and no ferry or regular air service to this part of Vanuatu. The “yacht club” is a joint endeavour of the community and Luc and Jackie of the Belgian vessel “Sloupmouche”. “Sloupmouche” has been in Vanuatu for two years and runs the cruisers net on the VHF radio in Port Vila. There was live music, flowers for our hair, fresh coconuts, speeches by local dignitaries, and a ribbon cutting ceremony. A total of 33 boats were at anchor (up from two when we arrived last Friday). The cruisers brought gifts for the community and the community served lunch and danced. Sabbatical III and Vera had to leave before the lunch and dancing in order to get to Lawa village, about 4 miles north, for the burial ceremony of the father of Chief Albin Reuben. We had been specially invited by the Chief to photograph the event.
When we arrived at the beach at Lawa, we were met by John who told us that the ceremony had begun some hours before. He directed us to follow him to the place. Fortunately, as directed by the Chief on Sunday, we brought hiking boots as we were led at a fat pace deep into the tropical forest on a muddy trail, ascending steep hillsides covered with tropical hardwoods. We met people coming from the interior highlands carrying parts of pigs and loads of taro root. Each person greeted us and extended their hand to us to shake. Finally we reached a clearing demarcated by stone pillars. Laura almost fainted from heat exhaustion. We had missed the ceremony. Chief Reuben apologized profusely and explained what had happened. His father, who was born in 1915, was the most important link between the coastal dwelling Small Nambas of Lawa and the other villages on the coast of Malekula and the Manbush people in the rugged interior. There are fewer than 1000 Manbush people left. The Manbush people have no contact with the outside world, including the Small Nambas on the coast. They have never seen the sea. They have never intermarried with Polynesians and other potential partners of lighter skin, and thus are smaller and darker than the coastal peoples and have mistakenly been described as pygmies. Chief Albin Reuben’s father protected them and was their contact with the outside. They came out of the forest to this clearing high in the hills to honor a Small Namba man that they had known and respected for decades. Unfortunately, the Manbush people are not attentive to issues of time, and they showed up three hours early and left just before we arrived. While they were there they danced and performed rituals to honor the dead father of the current chief. It is almost impossible for outsider to ever see the Manbush people and we are sorely disappointed that we missed doing so. Chief Albin Reuben said that such a meeting of Small Namba people and Manbush people may not happen again for years.
Nonetheless, Chief Albin Reuben instructed the drummers to return to their places and play while he and his nephew performed the funereal dance of the Small Nambas just for us. I filmed it with our Flip video camera.
We have spent three days in Metenovor (Southwest) Bay. Two days ago we went to Wintua village which lies just across from Sabbatical III. It had rained heavily in the previous 24 hours so the paths were quite muddy. We were told that Wintua received more rain than villages just one mile away, and that is why it’s gardens are so productive. We met Justin who cultivates a kava garden and also runs the farmers cooperative. Villagers cultivate kava and copra for export to Port Vila. Their kava is highly regarded in Vanuatu and has a ready market in other islands. After a tour of the village, Justin picked some pamplemousse (pomelo) for us from his uncle’s tree. We gave him a new t-shirt. He expects us to return this evening at 5 pm for a visit to the nakamal, the place where men drink kava. Women are ordinarily forbidden from the nakamal but an exception will be made for Laura as she is not bound by all the local customs.
There is one particularly nice house in Wintua. We asked about it and were told it belonged to an Australian woman named Beverly and her husband from the village. The Australian woman had come to Wintua years before as a missionary along with Australian husband. After some time she divorced her Australian husband and married a local man. Unfortunately, he died some months ago and his widow was back in Australia visiting her grown children from her first marriage.
Yesterday, we went to Lembinwen village about one mile south of us. As claimed, it is a drier place that Wintua. A New Zealander controls a very large area of land around the village that he uses to graze cattle amid the coconut trees of a copra plantation. This enterprise gives employment to many villagers and is likely the cause of the prosperous character of the village. Most homes are of cinder block construction with metal roofs, and all houses are on large cement foundations. There were solar panels on many roofs and we could hear recorded music playing from inside (it was Sunday). Villagers are also fishermen, with at least half a dozen small skiffs powered by outboard engines plus one small tuna boat that said “Gift of the European Union” on it’s bow. Everyone in Lembinwen village is a Christian– either Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, or Christian Life Church.
Lembinwen village sits astride the entrance to Tisri Lagoon. The lagoon is quite large covering a few square miles. It has mangroves on much of it’s shoreline but the water is quite clear, not brackish, and full of fish. Laura and I took a dinghy tour through parts of the lagoon that gave us an idea of the size of the cattle/copra operation controlled by the New Zealander.
This morning a powered skiff came up to Sabbatical III with two men. One of them said he is Chief Alben Reuben of Lawa village. His father had died and there is to be a funeral ceremony for him tomorrow. He asked if we would be willing to photograph the events. We agreed. We found Lawa village on our charts. It is about 3 miles north and it should be a safe place to anchor with the predicted light winds from the east. To our surprise, we found Chief Albin Reuben mentioned in our guide book. His village is the gateway to the densely forested interior of Malekula where there are villages that live as they have for one thousand years. He is the contact person for expeditions into the interior as well as cultural sites along the coast where Lawa is located. We are quite excited about this opportunity. We will leave a cd-rom with the digital photographs with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre in Port Vila.
So we have an exciting couple of days ahead — a visit to a nakamal for kava, official photographers for the funeral of a chiefs father, followed by the Kastom dancing of the festival that brought us to Metenovor Bay in th first place.
We arrived in Metenovor (Southwest) Bay, Malekula yesterday morning after a very good passage from Port Vila. We have not left the boat yet but will later this morning. It is a very pretty bay with clear water. Laura is anxious to go for a swim but some of the bays of Malekula suffer from a “shark problem” and we want to confirm that this is not one of them.
We left Port Vila about 11am ago for the one hour trip to the anchorage off of Mele Island about 5 miles away. We will be here for only a few hours. At 5 pm we will depart for Southwest Bay, Malekula. The trip is about 100 miles. That is too far to do during daylight hours and still arrive with good light. We expect the passage to take about 15 hours although we cannot judge the wind yet since we are still in the wind shadow of Efate Island. We needed to leave the mooring field of Port Vila by noon in order to avoid low tide. There is a narrow and shallow pass to navigate to leave, thus the need to stop at Mele Island.
It has been raining off and on for the past 4 days. We carry our rain jackets wherever we go, and we have had a lot of places to go. We had to re-provision the boat which was a time consuming task that required stops in a variety of stores and markets. We also added 150 liters of diesel to our tank by schlepping jerry cans in our dinghy. We also had some nice meals out ranging from a cheap meal at the vegetable market sitting at a common table with all the other customers to two nice meals at French restaurants.
There is a three day festival in southwest Malekula that starts on the 12th. There will be Kustom dancing and other events. The two major groups on Malekula are the Big Nambas and the Small Nambas. The names originate from the size of the penis sheath (namba) that men wear. Apparently, the Big Nambas and the Small Nambas have not gotten along over the years, although there is no warfare between them these days. The size of your namba still matters alot in Malekula.
The Big Nambas wind purple pandamus fibers around their penises and secure the fiber to a belt made of bark. The testicles are exposed. They kept a stone fireplace where outsiders who they disliked (Small Nambas) were ritually cooked and eaten. If a Big Namba woman pleased her husband, he would permit her to have her two front teeth knocked out by hammering them with a rock. Small Nambas wear only one leaf on their penises, which they tuck into their bark belt. Testicles are also exposed.
No other boats are accompanying us for this passage. The Vera’s are in Epi Island and we might not see them again. They are leaving Vanuatu for the Torres Strait (north of Australia) in a weeks time. We expect to find quite a few other boats coming to this festival since it has been talked about alot.
We have been in Port Vila, the capitol city of Vanuatu for the past 10 days. It has been a good chance to catch up on all the internet work we had to do (mostly getting the blog to work again!), upload photos and videos, eat in restaurants and sit and drink cafe latte in nice little coffee shops, get some boat work done, and hear what other cruisers are up to. This is quite a nice city – very clean and modern. All the moorings in the harbor are taken – so many sailboats here. There must be 50 boats or so – way more than we have seen since leaving New Zealand. It is just a very comfortable stopping off point. Two things are incredibly cheap here for some reason – beef and cell phones! The beef in Vanuatu is delicious and very inexpensive and so we have been eating steak a lot. Cell phones are also very cheap here – they almost give them away – so everyone seems to have one. There is a big vegetable and fruit market open every day except Sunday and it is really fun to go there – tons of incredibly inexpensive greens (lettuce, bok choy, green beans), fresh peanuts, bananas, tomatoes, grapefruit and tons of tubers and sweet potatoes. We were excited to find fresh wild raspberries in the market today – first time we have seen berries anywhere on our trip. The grocery stores are well stocked and convenient. There are a lot of Chinese run stores here that are filled with movies and music. We were surprised to find (of all things)- five seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and bought it for a song. Really seems like a funny place to find Larry David.
All is well onboard Sabbatical III….
Squid on local dish of "laplap"Entrance to daily market
We have been in Port Vila for the past three days. There are a number of boats that we know here, including those that got stuck in New Zealand until early July by the horrendous weather of all of June,and only recently arrived direct from New Zealand.
Before our passage to Port Vila, we had one day in Dillon Bay on Erromanggo Island. Two locals in a skiff (Wilson and George) invited us to view the children’s day celebration on the island that was being hosted by Upongkor village just up the Williams river. They offered to take us to the village and we accepted since it seemed tricky to navigate the river mouth without local knowledge. Before heading off, we bought two large freshly caught lobsters from them. Having no good place to keep live lobsters on the boat, George just cut off their tails for us to freeze.
George preparing lobsters for us
We leisurely walked around the village waiting for the 2pm start of the celebration, and spent time talking to villagers and schoolchildren. The wait was for children from the village on the other side of the island who had not yet arrived. To get to Upongkor they had to hike for a full day, with an overnight spent in the mountains. As we toured around, Wilson pointed out the rock on the Williams river on which the outline of it’s namesake, the missionary Reverend Williams, had been etched in stone before he was cooked and eaten.
At 2 pm, the children and chaperons of the other village processed over the river and onto the public square, led my the Opongkor children singing songs of welcome. In the square, there were welcoming speeches by local dignitaries (in Bislama) as well as a long fiery sermon by the local minister.
The kids gather before they march around the field
Like children everywhere, the speeches made the children fidget and inattentive. There were more songs and the day ended with Kustom dances by the men (with bow and arrows and other weapons), and then the women in grass skirts. I took lots of video and photos and promised to send a DVD to the village as soon as we got to Port Vila.
When it was time to return to Sabbatical III, George and the skiff were nowhere to be found, so Wilson took us in a tiny outrigger canoe. Wilson plus two big white persons is a bit of an overload for the outrigger. Laura put the camera bag on the bottom of the canoe in front of her. Sea water entered the canoe as Wilson paddled us back to the boat, and our Canon mini-DVD digital movie camera was ruined. We are very disappointed as we had hoped to film dances and other rituals we will encounter as we make our way north through Vanuatu, and because we cannot send a DVD of the children’s day celebration to Opongkor village as promised. We have a little low resolution Flip video camera that we bought just before we left Rhode Island, so we still have some video capabilitiy.
The tiny outrigger that carried Mark and I back to the boat
We were up at 3 am that night to begin our passage to Port Vila. After getting past the considerable wind shadow of Erromanggo, it was a fast if somewhat rolly downwind sail with poled out genoa plus mizzen. The town of Port Vila looks fine but a little shabby. There is one nice supermarket (Bon Marche II) about a 15 minute walk from the dinghy dock. There is fruit and vegetable market in town that is open 24 hours a day, except weekends. In the market, there are a few dozen vendors selling manioc, taro, and sweet potatoes, plus coconuts, bananas, pamplemousse, and some prepared foods.
We have not solved the internet problem yet. There is no wireless in the harbor, and connect time is quite expensive if paid by the hour. We may buy a weekly pass from a place near the Bon Marche II but they are closed over the weekend. We tried to buy a SIM for our cell phone from the central office of Digicell, but there is not a SIM or cell phone to be had in the country. They are just all out. We will remain at least through the celebration of Vanuatu’s National Day on July 30.
Volcanic peaks with Mt. Yasur behind - as seen from Port Resolution
We have been in Port Resolution, Tanna Island, Vanuatu for only 48 hours and have had more adventures than in the prior month. We arrived here after a rollicking sail from Fiji and a rather scary entrance through a narrow pass into this bay. The pass was scary not just because of the big seas breaking on rocks and reefs but also because it is so badly charted that it looked like we had to sail onto a high hill (according to the chart) to get into the bay. A 50 foot Beneteau sloop was famously lost on the reef here 4 years ago, so we were a bit anxious. Someone said that the chart is based on that prepared by Captain James Cook when he was the first European to visit Tanna in 1774. There is a famous painting of Captain Cook coming ashore in this bay to meet the locals. The bay is named after his vessel, HMS Resolution. When HMS Resolution left here, she went southeast and discovered New Zealand.
Captain Cook stopped here because he saw a great glow in the sky and wanted to investigate. The glow was the Yasur volcano that towers over this bay, and the volcano is still erupting. More on that later. Some decades later Cook was followed by missionaries. The locals preferred to cook and eat the first few sets of missionaries. Cannibalism in Vanuatu ended finally in 1969. The island population is split among three main groups, Christians, Kastom (customary ways except cannibalism), and John Frum (a cargo cult).
Port Resolution is a fairly small bay with a black sand bottom. On the shore just 50 meters behind Sabbatical III, steam and hot water comes boiling out of the rocks. You can swim close by and a have a very warm soak but the flow of hot water is variable and it can get too hot. Another volcanic vent just above the shore regularly puffs out steam. When Captain Cook anchored here in 1774, the bay was significantly deeper. The volcano caused the shallowing mostly through uplift (primarily in1928), not volcanic deposition.
Early yesterday, our first morning here, we picked up the Vera’s in our dinghy and motored our way to shore. We had to pick our way through rocks and reefs to find a beach on which we could land. A steep path took us up to the “Port Resolution Yacht Club.”
Port Resolution Yacht Club
It is not a yacht club in the usual sense. It is a pavilion with two walls and a roof that was set up by the village of Port Resoluton to help the visiting yachties interact with the traditional culture of Tanna. We found Wery, who is the person designated to talk to yachties, to arrange transport across the island to Lenakel, where one could check in. Wery said that he would have a pickup truck available to take us the next day (today). He said that there was a wedding celebration in the village and we were welcome to walk around and watch. Before heading off for the village 500 meters away, we told Wery we would like to have lunch in one of the small very informal island restaurants. You need to give them at least a half a day’s notice (presumably to find some food to serve you).
The wedding celebration had started the day before but yesterday was supposed to be the big day. In the morning there was a formal ceremony in which the couple was presented with gifts, lots of pots,pails, and washbasins. At noon, we were then led through a narrow path across the peninsula to a small hut on stilts overlooking the crashing ocean surf. Some young girls from the village scooted by us in the path carrying pots and trays with food, which it turns out was our lunch. They set out a buffet lunch of rice, taro root, manioc, sweet potato, some other tubers, island cabbage, bread, “shoo-shoo” (a green vegetable), bananas, and chicken curry. It was a huge amount of food for the four of us,and we loved it. We sat on a low bench in the hut and ate our fill.
The famous Michael and Britta from "Vera" - with us for lunch
We returned to the village and found that the dancing had begun. It started off slowly but the tempo was building as the afternoon progressed. We took photos and videos and chatted with Wery’s sister Esther. The dancers were of all ages but danced separately by sex. Most wore t-shirts with colorful grass skirts. The bride had feathers in her hair and white powder on her face. The wedding party sat under a canopy of palm fronds, and sometimes the dancers danced in a circle around the canopy. They also did a line dance that looked like the hora. By late afternoon we were feeling a bit sunstroked and dehydrated, and returned to our boats. We were told that the dancing would intensify and go on through the night. We thought of returning in the evening but could not see how we could navigate the dinghy to the beach in the dark.
This morning we were us at 5 am in order to take the truck to Lenakel. The truck was an open pickup with no shade and hard benches 9 inches wide along the bed.
Our pickup truck for the ride to Lenekel
Forewarned of this, we brought sun shirts and cushions. We also brought jackets and warm tops since we would have to climb over Mt. Yasur to get to the west coast of the island where Lenakel is located. Lenakel is the capitol city of the southernmost province of Vanuatu, encompassing a number of islands in addition to Tanna. It has a customs office and an immigration office, as well as a market and some small stores, in a city of nearly 1000 people. Joining Vera and us were David and Mary, two retired doctors from Victoria, Canada. Victoria has a special relationship with Tanna. In particular, it supports the small hospital in Lenakel. David and Mary had boxes of medicines with them to deliver to the hospital that they brought from New Zealand in their sailboat.
Some of our motley crew for the trip to Lenekel
Stanley, the young son of the village chief of Port Resolution, came along to guide us. Stanley had been partying most of the night at the wedding and had drank 7 bowls of potent kava (kava in Tanna is said to be the most potent in the world), plus a bottle of vodka. He claimed that it was the vodka that did him in. He had returned to his home at 3:30am and his wife would not let him in his house. He slept on the ground for a couple of hours before meeting us at the pickup truck. He was very hungover. Fortunately, Stanley did not drive the truck. He did pass out at lunch and slept on the beach at Lenakel in the afternoon. When we returned to Port Resolution early this evening, his wife met the truck and angrily balled him out (in Bislama, the pidgin English national language). She was angry at his vodka binge the night before (not his kava drinking, since that is customary), and for forgetting to buy the things she asked him to get in Lenakel.
Stanley our guide - with Mt. Yasur in the background
It was quite an amazing and scenic trip across the island. The road is just a track through the forest. You have to keep your head down to avoid getting whacked by a tree branch. The pickup truck bounces vigorously as it jumps over rocks and ruts. We climb up the forested slope of Mt. Yasur and had wonderful views in all directions. Suddenly, vegetation disappears and we drive in a moonscape of rocks, gullies, and crevaces. Finally, we cross below the volcanic cone, driving in ash, curving around large dunes of grey volcanic ash. Puffs of smoke and ash rise from the volcano’s cone. Two hours after we depart Port Resolution, we descend into Lenakel. Immigration and Customs are both extraordinarily efficient and friendly — quite unlike Fiji. There are simple forms and warm greetings. Receipts are provided without having to request them. Our doctor friends are dropped off at the hospital with their cartons of medicines, and the Sabbatical’s and Vera’s check out the market and find lunch. It was not a market day (those are on Friday and Monday), so there was not much for sale but we did get some avocadoes, pineapple, peanuts, lemons, and ginger. Bananas are not for sale since they are everywhere and in every yard, so who would ever buy them, except the odd yachty?
Stanley came along with us to a small restaurant where the menu consisted of rice and beef or rice and fish, but they were out of fish. That made choosing so easy. Stanley was still feeling his hangover but did rouse himself when the food arrived. After lunch, we had 3 hours to kill until the pickup returned. There is not much to do in Lenakel and there was literally almost nothing on the shelves of the few small stores. We could not even find bottled drinks for sale. We hung out on the beach under a banyan tree and watched women strip bark off of branchs to make “grass” skirts. The trip back was somehow even bumpier than the trip out, but in the late afternoon light the scenery was even more spectacular. As we stopped beneath the volcanic cone, it gave a loud burp and puffed out a nice cloud.
When we returned to the boat, we were dehydrated, dead tired, and covered in volcanic ash. After a shower and quick dinner, I wrote the above and we headed off to bed. Stanley had invited us to a circumcision ceremony at the village at Black Sands, for the next day, but we could not see ourselves making the 7 am start. Now it is the next day (Thursday July 17), and we just returned from the circumcision ceremony. We went late but it did not matter, we were there for the best parts. It was quite extraordinary. The recently circumcised boys had painted faces, flower leis,colorful feathers in their hair, and other special attire, as did their families. There was joyful dancing, piles of taro and manioc, laplap, and the killing of pigs (the latter is what we missed by coming late). We gave a pair of new flip-flops as a gift, and received a large taro stalk. Six of the seven boats at anchor were present, and we were all treated as welcome guests. I took lots of photos and video. People do not mind having the photos taken if you first ask permission, and they love it when you show them the digital photo. The children scream with laughter.
Family at the circumcision celebration One of the pigs that was killed at the ceremony
So it has been a very eventful two (now three) days. We have not had the opportunity to take down our spinnaker pole until just now, and boats chores have gone undone. But what can you do you do when the neighbors invite you to a wedding and a circumcision?
Mom and her newly circumcised son Mother and daughter pose with guy in strange costumeSister of circumcised boy plays with our circumcision gift (flip-flops)Eric, oldest son of the chief of the Black Sands village and future chief.Dancers at circumcision ceremonyTwo childrenGirl poses.
S 19 degrees 31.6 minutes
E 169 degrees 29.7 minutes
Hooray. We just arrived in Port Resolution on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.Our passage from Fiji took exactly 2 days and 8 hours. We had expected that it would take 3 days and 3 nights. It was a record breaking sail for us in terms of speed – we had two days where we made 200 miles each day. This was the first time we have ever made 200 miles in a day. This speed got us into Vanuatu well before sunset and saved us that 3rd night at sea. Conditions were far windier than we had expected – with winds of 30-40 knots pretty much the whole way – and large seas – up to 6 meters at times. It was not a comfortable passage – but at least I can say that it was not our worst either. We left Fiji with Vera and were within 7 miles of her the entire 465 nm passage.
We had mistakenly written in our last blog that we were sailing east-southeast, but just to clear the record we were sailing west-southwest. Just wanted to keep you all on your toes.
We are really tired. There is a huge volcano here and it looks gorgeous from here. Time for sleep!
Tomorrow morning (2030 UTC July 11) we will leave Momi Bay on the big island of Viti Levu, Fiji for Port Resolution on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. The course is a 460 nautical mile straight shot from here on a course of 246 degrees magnetic. The forecast is for winds 22-26 knots from the east becoming ESE with seas of 3 to 3.5 meters, easing. These robust winds should get us to Tanna Island fairly quickly. We may need to slow down in order not to arrive before dawn (local time) Monday in Tanna. If the wind is too strong on arrival or out of the north then we may deviate to Port Vila on the island of Efate since Port Resolution has limited protection. “Vera” will be traveling with us. Our current position is:
South 17 degrees 54.9 minutes
East 177 degrees 15.9 minutes
Port Resolution, Tanna Island, Vanuatu is located at S 19 degrees 31.6 minutes, East 169 degrees 29.1 minutes.
Yesterday I had another interesting unusual birthday. Last year we were in Papeete, Tahiti on my birthday searching through the industrial section of town(incredibly ugly) looking for a water pressure pump. This year we were in Lautoka, the second largest town in Fiji – doing last minute stuff to prepare for our departure to Vanuatu. It is a pretty ugly town too – with lots of crime. It is recommended that you do not walk anywhere at night (and we did not) – and we found that even during the day there a lot of unsavory characters walking around. Too bad, because it “could ” be a very charming town, filled with Indo-Fijians – complete with saris, sari shops, curry, etc. There is a terrific fruit market with piles of fruit and vegies and kava to buy – everything for either $1 or $2, depending on how big the pile was. We were thrilled to finally stock up on some fresh fruit after having very little of it these past 3 weeks.
The night before my birthday we went to a nice Chinese restaurant with Michael and Britta. All of the stores in town have metal grates covering windows and doors and someone has to unlock the door for each customer. Lovely. The meal, however, was yummy, and we were able to jump right in a cab after and head back to our boats. The other bad part about Lautoka and the harbor is that they process sugar cane right by the docks and there is a huge plume of black sootpouring out of the factory night and day. It gets into your lungs and by morning the entire boat was covered in black soot. So much for paradise.
We were able to go to an internet cafe yesterday (first time in 2 months), but are still not able to get our blog working. We will try again in Vanuatu.
We had a little birthday party on the boat last night with Michael and Britta from “Vera” and another couple we just met on “Promesa” (she is from Columbia and he from Holland). It was really nice – I even got presents!
We checked out of Fji this morning – after filling out four pages of forms (with the exact information we had been asked for in triplicate when we checking in a month ago). It is quite sad – such a beautiful country, but bad government and a whole lot of unhappy citizens do not make it a paradise for visitors. We enjoyed the islands very much but would never want to spend any time on the “mainland” where the cities are.
So now we are anchored in the lovely quiet and clean little anchorage 25 miles south of Lautoka awaiting the morning light when we will lift anchor (with Vera) and start heading the 460 miles east-south-east to Vanuatu.
Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I had a memorable birthday!
Some people have asked us what sevusevu is (referred to in our e-mail a few days ago). It refers to a ceremony which I will explain. In Fiji the people (men actually) love to drink a kind of tea made from the roots of the kava plant (a type of pepper plant.) It is slightly intoxicating – mostly it numbs the mouth and throat and makes you quite mellow. It is a big deal here and when we visit an island , it is traditional to go to the chief (yes, there are village chiefs) and ask permission to stay. You are not supposed to do anything without first asking permission of the chief. You start by offering him some dried kava. We bought several bundles of the stuff in the main town of Lautoka before heading out to the islands. Although we stayed in several different anchorages, all on different islands, there was only one that actually had a village and therefore a chief – so that was were we presented the gift of kava and asked for permission to stay. That is called making sevusevu. Apparently they often ask you to stay and drink some of the stuff with them after they grind it up and mix it with water, but that usually happens at night. We made a point of visiting during the day as we did not really want to drink it (we have tried it and find it kind of nasty) and also we did not want to walk back across the island to return to our boats after dark.
Traditional home. Tamasua village, Yasawa Island
All of the resorts here do little kava ceremonies here with the tourists as well and we have seen it a few times (also in Tonga). Traditionally there is a big wooden bowl filled with it in the center of the room. Everyone sits on mats and there is one person who is assigned to pass out the kava in little coconut shells – same shell passed from one person to the next. You have to clap your hands once, say “bula”, drink the whole cup, and then clap your hands three times before passing the coconut shell back to the leader. It seems phony, but is actually done with great seriousness as far as we can tell. The locals will drink many cups of the kava and get quite euphoric or mellow, or maybe just stoned. Hard to say. It is extremely popular here.
We are still carrying a kilo or so of kava with us and it doesn’t look like we will have anyone to give it to. Should we send you some?
We have had some adventures the past few days. I guess most of our adventures involve mishaps of some sort. Two days ago we left Land Harbor at the northern part of the Yasawa Islands and started heading south. We need to get back south in order to check out in the town of Lautoka. It is too hard to sail directly back to Lautoka (because of all the reefs in the way) so we have been breaking up the trip with brief stops at the islands along the way, just as we did as we worked our way up the Yasawas.
Moutains in Nalauwaki Bay , Waya Island
Unfortunately there are just not very many anchorages that provide good protection from wind and waves and swell here. We ended up dropping anchor at a very lovely, anchorage – basically a narrow channel just below the southernmost portion of Naviti Island. It is protected from the north by Naviti and from the south and some of the south-west by two small islands (Narara and Naukakuva).Because it is actually a passage (with openings at both the easterly and westerly ends) the wind can blow quite strongly through there. The bottom looked sandy, however, and there was no swell inside the anchorage and by the time we reached there it was almost dark and we had no other safe options for the night.
Traditional costume on Waya Island
It was lovely, with hundreds of birds circling overhead and green palm trees covering the small hills close by us. The current running through the passage, however, was very strong, and during the night we noticed that although the wind was blowing from the east, the current was running from the west, and the boat had turned around and instead of facing into the wind (most preferable), it was facing into the current. That, in itself, is not necessarily a problem, but we could tell from the sounds below us that our anchor chain must have gotten wrapped on something on the sand-bottom due to all the turning. We could hear a scraping sound from deep under us every time the boat moved, meaning only one thing – the anchor chain had gotten wrapped on coral. The boat was also doing a lot of slapping up and down as it bounced up and down on the swells coming in with the current.
Sometimes it is easy to unwrap an chain caught on coral, just by moving the boat forward or backward a bit when pulling up the anchor. This time, however, it was clear that it was really stuck badly and we would not be able to get it out without someone diving to the bottom and actually unwrapping the chain from whatever was holding it. The water was fairly clear, but the anchor was way too deep to dive down without diving equipment. Luckily, our friend Michael, on Vera, has diving gear, and after he got his anchor pulled up (with some difficulty too), he put on his diving gear and came over to help us. The current in the passage was so strong that he had trouble swimming even 10 meters over to our boat, and he had to hang on to our dinghy trailing behind our boat in order to make it the final few yards. He dove down and found that the anchor chain had actually wrapped itself over, then under, and then sidewise across a very large and solid piece of coral. Very bad situation! But, with Michaels’ diving skills, and Mark floating in the water above him wearing his snorkel gear, we were able to maneuver the chain free – with Michael giving Mark hand signals from down below on when I should pull up the anchor chain (done with an electric windlass, so there is no strength needed). It worked great and 15 minutes after Michael went down we were free and we all sailed off together – very glad that all was o.k. and that we were buddy sailing with such competent friends.
Our next stop was just 8 miles south of there – the anchorage on the western edge of Waya. We stopped here two weeks ago and loved the little resort – the Octopus – and thought it was one of the most beautiful anchorages we had seen in the Yasawas. Unfortunately we were chased out of there last time by a tremendous swell which made it an incredibly uncomfortable place to try to sleep. When we pulled in on Saturday it was pretty calm and the wind forecast looked good. Within an hour, however, a strong squall blew in from the west (the most unprotected direction for that anchorage) and we had to wait out a monster downpour for a couple of hours. The beautiful sunset that followed was worth the storm though, and it ended up being a relatively calm night.
Sunday was clear and calm and we decided to risk staying another night. The winds were very low and the seas were quite calm, but the forecast was for winds to pick up to 20-25 knots by midnight (that’s a lot) – but from a direction which should be ok for that anchorage. Well, the winds did pick up, but not from quite the direction we had expected, so had another very rock and rolly night at Waya. Earlier in the day we had met our friends from Wombat of Sydney who were anchored at an anchorage just 4 miles away, and were much better protected. They had hiked over the hill and met us at the Octopus Resort for a drink at sunset and told us how comfortable it was on their side. So first thing this morning we picked up our anchor (easily) and we (Vera and us) motored through rough seas to the northern anchorage of Waya which is totally protected from the rough seas and strong winds out there. We are very happy to be here. It is not only well protected, but is really gorgeaus – one of the prettiest anchorages we have been in yet. With the weather forecast predicted to be rough for the next 3-4 days we may be here for at least that many days.
We liked Land Harbour so much we stayed there until this morning. A wind shift from the north was forecast and Land Harbour is protected from every direction except north. It was time to move on in any case.
We are now anchored in the Mocelutu Passage, a narrow strait between Yaroiko and Nanuyalabalava Islands. It was a seven hour sail through reef strewn waters to get here. We actually sailed (rather than motored) for most of it since we followed the route that we took in. That route was recorded and saved on our digital chart plotter. The wind did indeed come out of the north and this is a good place to be. Our current position is:
South 17 degrees 11.6 minutes
East 177 degrees 10.6 minutes
Low tide at Land Harbor - a half a mile of ocean floor to walk over when you go to shore
We did have some adventures in Land Harbour (called Nadala Bay by Fijians). On our second evening there, a small canoe came alongside and asked if we wanted to trade for fish. We had seen the lone fisherman working a handline in the hours before and were happy he stopped by. We gave him a box of cookies, some candies for his children, and pair of men’s shorts. We got two good-sized fish called “Sweet Lips.” He also said that we should go to the village of Tamasua and do sevusevu with the chief.
Laura and Michael wading back to the dinghy from shore as the tide comes in
The next morning we dinghied to shore along with Michael and Britta of Vera to look for the path to Tamasua. It was low tide and the southern part of Nadala Bay was almost dry. It was about 1/2 kilometer to the beach from the edge of the tidal plain. We pulled the dinghies onto the tidal plain and put out dinghy anchors and hoped that they would hold since we knew that the tidal plain would be under water in just a couple of hours.
It was difficult to find a path but we finally found one and followed it inland through 2 meter tall grass and the occasional tree. This was the flood plain of the small river that drained the tall hills of southern Yasawa Island. It was 40 minutes until we got to the small, neat village perched on the windward side of the island. We were directed to the chief who performed the short sevusevu ceremony on his veranda. We presented him with two bundles of kava root, he made some incantations over it, and then thanked us in English.
Bundle of kava root to give to chief
We then toured the village, led by our fisherman friend of the previous day. We traded sunglasses and a t-shirt for fruit and a pumpkin, and then were led on the “short-cut” path back to Nadala Bay. The dinghies were where we left them but floating in two feet of water. That night we cooked the two Sweet Lips fish on Vera — they were delicious.
The snorkelling in Land Harbour was excellent. The coral was almost as good as Navadra and there were lots of fish, including big fish. The water was not as clear, however. The Vera’s were the only other boat in the bay all the time that we were there.
We will continue to retrace our route through the Yasawa Islands and back to Lautoka. We expect to provision and check-out of Fiji in a week or so, heading for Vanuatu about 520 miles away.
We had “Italian food night” on Sabbatical III last night. The Vera’s brought antipasto and wine and we provided pasta and meat sauce. Rain arrived just as the Vera’s were leaving at 9 pm and continued for some hours. It conveniently washed the salt and schmutz off the deck, but it was a bit warm and sticky in our cabin with the hatches and ports closed. This morning it cleared and a nice cool breeze blew in from the southeast. We had a great snorkel on the nearby reefs which are teeming with fish. This place suits us fine and we and Vera have decided to stay here (Land Harbour) for a few more days.
Hard to believe June is almost over. We ended up staying 4 nights in Blue Lagoon. It was very comfortable there (no ocean swell to keep us up at night) with nice views and good snorkeling. Big excitement yesterday was finding a large reddish colored octopus on the reef where we were snorkeling. He (she?) was not more than 5 feet below us and was quite large. He saw us and blinked a lot, and then instead of hiding like they usually do, he decided to show off a bit and proceeded to slink in and out of little crags in the coral, spread out its arms, turned upside down, did some amazing camouflaging (it went from being reddish purple to looking exactly like the reef, complete with bumps and fissures right before our eyes), and played a little with a huge grouper that was nestled in next to him. Very cool.
We decided it was time to get away from the cruise ships that come into Blue Lagoon every day so today we headed north to another anchorage. We are still traveling in tandem with our friends on Vera. Our new anchorage is on Yasawa Island and is called Land Harbour and it is the farthest north in the Yasawa Island chain that we will be going.
It was only a 12 mile sail (motor actually) – but right in the middle of it we had to traverse an area that was exceptionally shallow. As with most of the waters around here, it was not accurately charted for depth so we had been proceeding cautiously, but still it is always scary to suddenly see the coral heads right under you – with just a few feet of water between the bottom of your boat and the coral. We managed to make it through, but not without getting our fishing line snagged on coral and losing the fishing yo-yo (holds the fishing line) and a couple hundred feet of fishing line and a good lure. Oh, well – certainly could have been worse.
In a few days we will be heading back to Lautoka (about 50 miles south-east of here) and check out to begin our trip to Vanuatu.
We have been in contact with some of our friends who did not leave New Zealand when we did because they were were either not ready yet, or were not comfortable with the weather forecast for that week (which was really very good). Hard to believe, but one month later only one of the 20 or more boats waiting in New Zealand has been able to leave to make the passage up to Fiji or Vanuatu(and that boat apparently had a terribly difficult passage). There has just been one storm system after another between New Zealand and here – so if we had not left when we did we would still be in New Zealand – one month later! We knew that it was hard to find a good weather window for the crossing, but this is even stranger than we had expected. We would have been so frustrated by now.
We are currently anchored outside the Blue Lagoon Resort in the Yasawa Island Group of Fiji. Blue Lagoon is a wonderfully protected anchorage surrounded by several relatively small islands (Matacawa Levu, Nanuya Levu, Nanuya Lailai, and Tavewa Islands in case you were interested). It is named after the Brooke Shields movie which was shot here in 1980. Each island has one or two resorts on them, but we have not gone to any of them yet. There is one resort that is very exclusive (Turtle Island Resort) and costs about $5,000 a night. We are not allowed to go onshore there – but, we don’t feel the need to. We actually have a more beautiful view from the boat than any of the resorts have.
Three days ago we left Navadra Island for Likuliku Bay of Waya Island. We did the passage to Waya Island with “Vera”, but without “Wombat of Sydney”, who had to return to the big town of Lautoka to fix their generator. We have had to motor between anchorages most of the time in Fiji rather than sail because there are so many uncharted reefs around. It is much easier to avoid hitting a reef if you are motoring and don’t have to mess around with sails. Too bad, as it is in theory a wonderful place to sail. It is just a little too hair-raising to know that you can be sailing along in 60 meters of water one minute and up against a 2 foot deep reef the next. The charts for Fiji are only partially accurate – and with this type of adventure you need perfect accuracy. So all of our “sails” are done with the engine on and Laura sitting high up on the mast to look out for reefs as Mark steers.
The anchorage at Likuliku Bay looked exactly like a picture perfect postcard of what Fiji should look like. When we pulled in there were 6 other boats in the anchorage (which is a lot around here) the water was calm and clear and wonderful. Plus, the Octopus Resort was on the shore with a bar and restaurant. The Australian manager of the the resort was extremely hospitable. After a beach walk with Michael and Britta and some Fiji Bitter beer, we enjoyed a delicious and plentiful Indo-Fijian curry supper at the resort. After dinner, it was a bit hair-raising to get the dinghies off the beach and through the shallow reef to get back to our boats in the dark as there was suddenly some surf running. As we neared Sabbatical III we could see that she was rolling back and forth like a pendulum. During the three hours we were on shore, the ocean swell had found it’s way into Likuliku Bay. It was not a good night as the swell was constant and large. Everything loose on the boat rattled and we nearly had to hang on to our berths while trying to sleep. When we peeked our heads out in the morning, we saw that all the boats were leaving and “Vera” called us on the VHF suggesting we leave in 15 minutes. Surf was crashing on the reef behind us and rollers were breaking on the beach where the evening before we had landed our dinghy with ease. These were conditions for surfers, not boats at anchor.
Leaving Likuliku Bay in the morning is not advisable since the sun is in your eyes when looking for coral reefs, but with a swell like this we all just wanted to leave. We headed for Drawaqa (yes, no ‘u’ after the ‘q’) Island which seemed well positioned to have smoother waters. A two and one-half hour sail brought us into another pretty bay but without a good place to anchor. We headed north to a bay at the south end of Naviti Island but it was also too exposed to ocean swell. We were tired and hot but decided to stop wasting time looking at other nearby bays and instead headed for the one place that we knew was protected, Blue Lagoon, more than three hours away.
We arrived sunned-out at Blue Lagoon at 3 pm and promptly took naps. There is no roll in Blue Lagoon, and like the rest of the Yasawa Islands, it is very beautiful. There is good snorkeling, gorgeaus views in all directions from the lagoon,plus long sand beaches for walking.
Our position is
South 16 degrees 56.6 minutes
East 177 degrees 22.0 minutes
We are still anchored off Navadra Island. This place is too special to leave quickly. The coral reef here is perhaps the best we have seen except for Suvarov. There are not many large fish but the coral makes up for that.Yesterday afternoon, Wombat of Sydney anchored here as well. They went hard aground a few miles out and were lucky to have a Fijian power boat come by and pull them off. Last night, we had Vera and Wombat over for a supper of opur ayam (Indonesian chicken curry).
We will stay here today but will almost certainly leave tomorrow for the southern Yasawa Islands.
We spent six nights at Musket Cove on Malolo Lailai Island. It is a very comfortable place to spend time. The weather improved and we experienced clear skies every day after that stormy first day. At Musket Cove we socialized and snorkeled with Vera (Michael and Britta), Wombat of Sydney (Mike and Lynn), Horizon (Ray and Marilyn), and a few other boats.
We became “life members” of the Musket Cove Yacht Club which gave us the right to use the facilities of the resort. Laura swam in the pool, we ate some meals in the restaurant, shopped in the grocery store, and snorkeled. At low tide, a long sand bar would stick out from the water about one mile from where we were moored. Off of that sandy island, there is a beautiful and vibrant reef with fish in such abundance that it seemed like there were traffic jams of fish getting around coral heads. Some of the fish are varieties that we never saw before. The fish are very unafraid of humans because when the boats full of resort guests come out for a snorkel the guides feed the fish so the tourists get their money’s worth. We often took our dinghy to this reef just before noon. During the lunch hour, the resort guests are back at the resort standing in buffet lines, so the reef is less crowded.
Yesterday (June 20), Sabbatical III and Vera headed out for the western Mamanuca Islands. Our first destination was Monuriki Island, which along with the nearby Monu Island, was the setting for the Castaway movie starring Tom Hanks. The problem with sailing in the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands is that there are no good nautical charts. We bought the “Lautoka to Yasawa Islands” (F5) chart from the Fiji Hydographic Office, but this marks only those reefs that are visible from aerial photography. For much of the chart there are no depths noted. These waters are strewn with uncharted reefs and rocks and so the passage required constant attention. Laura sat up on the whisker pole about 15 feet above the water and scanned the clear blue water for color changes or other indications of depth changes. We wound our way through reefs into what we thought was deep water, and Laura got off of her perch to get out of the hot sun. It was a cloudless day. Of course, as soon as she got down, the depth sounder went from 65 meters under the keel to 2 meters. We were over a reef in water so clear we could make out the detail of the coral fans and fish. Fortunately, we turned around and made our way off the reef without touching bottom. Vera was 100 meters behind us so our sudden speed and course change, plus a radio call, alerted them to the danger. It was slow going the rest of the way to Monuriki Island. As we pulled up to Tom Hank’s beach, a schooner full of tourists was dropping anchoring and disgorging people ashore. They schooner sent a long boat out to us to tell us that they had exclusive rights to the island, granted by the chief on Yanuya Island. We could not go ashore until they left and even then we needed to visit the chief and obtain permission. Yanuya Island was a bit of a schlep from Monuriki, plus the anchoring depths and holding were only marginal, so we decided to proceed with Plan B, the anchorage at Navadra Island, about two hours away. This time Vera took the lead and we followed, allowing Laura to stay out of the sun.
The Navadra Island anchorage is very beautiful. Protected from the south and east by Vanua Levu Island and from the north and east by Navadra Island. Although these islands are uninhabited, every bit of Fiji “belongs” to a clan headed by a chief. This includes the reef, fish, beach, and water. These particular islands are uninhabited due to a lack of fresh water, but a fishing boat from the village on another island that owns them came by and asked us to perform sevusevu at the cave on the island. This entails leaving an offering of kava root, which we did (we brought 6 bundles of kava with us just for this purpose). The root is made into a drink that is mildly euphoric and intoxicating. The Veras also filled a water jug for the fisherman. We had a nice supper on Vera and watched an almost full moon rise. Sabbatical III and Vera are the only boats here.
We will spend the day here snorkeling and exploring. Tomorrow we will probably head northeast to the Yasawa Islands. The weather forecast looks very good for the next three days, after which the winds and seas will pick up. We plan to be in the Blue Lagoon of Matacawa Levu Island when that happens.
We are safely at anchor in Momi Bay on the island of Viti Levu,
Fiji. About 7 hours ago we transited Navula Pass through the
fringing reef that protects the west side of this large island.
Momi Bay is just opposite the pass. After a quick lunch we napped
all afternoon. We woke up at 6 pm (NZT) just in time to help
guide Vera and Wombat of Sydney via radio through the passage and
into this bay in the dark. They are now anchored just next to us.
The last 36 hours of our trip here was characterized by
gradually increasing wind and seas. For the last few hours we had
wind consistently above 30 knots and often above 35 knots, and
very large seas. The large waves were moving pretty much in the
direction we were so they were not too much of a problem, although
they would occasionally make the boat round up or give the
cockpit a good dousing. With all of this wind, we arrived at the
pass just at noon, earlier than we thought, and thus had plenty of
light with which to navigate.
Tomorrow morning we will head up to the city of Lautoka to do
the formal check-in. It is about 20 miles north of here and the
trip is entirely within the reef.
There is certainly no one left at Minerva Reef. The day that
we left, the GRIB files forecast a very nasty “squash” zone
centered on Minerva starting tonight. An unusually high high
pressure area was moving close to a low coming down from Fiji to
create a zone of 20 foot seas and 45 knot winds. There was no
choice but to leave Minerva well before these conditions were
felt. We even got two emailed warnings about this squash zone
from friends who were worried that we might not be looking at the
new GRIBs. We always look at the GRIBs even while at anchor just
to avoid surprises.
The passage here was pretty comfortable even though there was
too little wind to start and too much at the end. The only
problem was the result of an ill-conceived late night gybe in
gusty winds that broke the spliced loop on the main sail outhaul.
An hour later we had the outhaul repaired and the main sail
back in action.
The nights were quite clear and the stargazing spectacular
during the passage. Both of us saw the largest shootest star we
had ever seen. We are not really sure that it was a shooting star
since it was seemingly so close and was green, red, and gold with
a sparkling tail. I though that it might be a distress flare and
scanned the sea with a flood light. But it had to come from space
given its trajectory and speed.
It’s back to bed for us. The three hour nap only made us long
even more for a long stretch of undisturbed sleep.
Position: 14:10 NZT or 02:10 UTC
Tuesday June 10th
South 19.02.3
East 177.50.8
We should be in Fiji by sunset on Wednesday. The winds we have
been expecting have not arrived yet so we have done way more
motoring than we had wanted to. With the cost of diesel fuel we
might have flown to Fiji cheaper. Oh well, what fun would that be?
Vera, left Minerva about 15 hours after we did, and we have been
in contact with them via our satellite phone. The say they have
good winds now and we hope the winds will catch up to us very soon.
It is about 22 hours since we left Minerva Reef. Winds are
about 8-10 knots out of the east with a small to moderate swell.
We are making only 5 knots. The wind is expected to build over
the next 24 hours so our speed should as well. There is a bright
blue sky with patchy clouds and some distant small squalls.
Our position as of 13:50 NZT June 9 (0150 UTC) is:
It’s 2:00 P.M. Sunday here on Minerva Reef and we plan to leave in
a few hours for Fiji. It should take us 2.5 days. Weather forecast
is for very light winds for the next 24 hours followed by winds of
15 knots the next day, 20 the following day, and then a big low
pressure system with winds of 30 knots or more will be coming. We
should be safely anchored in Fiji a full day before the 30 knots
arrives.
Thursday and Friday at Minerva reef were very windy – too windy to
go out and walk on the reef – but not too windy to have a good
time socializing with our friends on “Vera” and “Wombat of
Sydney”. We are all anchored a couple of hundred feet away from
each other so it is easy to hop in your dinghy and get to the next
boat. It was so windy we never felt inclined to get our own
dinghy off the deck of the boat (where we carry it on long
passages) and into the water, so we bummed rides from our friends
whenever necessary.
Yesterday, Saturday, the winds died down a bit and Mike from
“Wombat of Sydney” wanted to go lobstering. We all went on his
boat (a 47 foot Beneteau First) and he pulled up his anchor and we
motored over to the other side of the lagoon (just 2 miles away).
We pulled two dinghies behind us. Once he had securely anchored
on the other side we all hopped into the dinghies – in our
wetsuits and reef shoes and gloves – and with Mike carrying his
harpoon and his wife Lynn carrying buckets for the captured
lobsters. We dinghied over to the reef which, although it was low
tide, still had quite a bit of water on it, and we had to wade up
and down little heads of coral to cross over to the ocean side.
Then, following Mike, we looked for deep holes in the reef.
Apparently the lobsters like to hang out in those holes and Mike
is experienced at hopping into them and feeling around for the
spiny creatures and then yanking them out. He has done it many
times in dozens of places, and even caught a dozen or so just the
other day. Unfortunately he did not catch any yesterday. It was
an interesting experience though. Mark and Michael were at his
side, but not particularly keen on leaping into the holes, and the
three women were lagging 1/2 a kilometer behind, happier picking
up shells and looking at little colorful bits of coral than
struggling with the crustaceans. Just as we gave up and started
heading back to the dinghies to return to his boat, some very dark
and threatening looking thunderclouds started forming on the
horizon. We quickly made it back to our respective boats and
within an hour we had torrential rain and sheets of lighting all
around us. It was pretty scary. By 9:00 p.m. it had all passed
by and it was a brilliant, calm, starry night.
The weather is kind of unpleasant today – too windy to do anything – we don’t even want to go to the reef for our little daily walk. When the sea is up, as it is now, the ocean waves come over the submerged reef at high tide and make the boat roll uncomfortably. It feels like we are at sea. At low tide it is much calmer as the three feet of exposed reef protects the lagoon from most of the ocean swell.
Sunset over Minerva ReefLooking over reef to the lagoon.
We are still here with Vera and now 3 other boats. Last night we made bratwurst and potatoes and took out pita chips and delicious hummous and drank wine with Vera on our boat and watched “Winged Migration” – very nice. Pretty amazing what you can do smack dab in the middle of the ocean as long as you have a well equipped boat.We had a problem with our generator and Mark called “Vera” on the VHF to ask if they had material to make a new gasket. Within 1 minute two other boats called us (because they heard us on the VHF
as well) to offer their assistance. Within 15 minutes we had another sailer on board with the material we needed to make the repair and he waited with us to make sure everything was working right. Just love that part of the sailing community – everyone helps everyone. The boat is kind of bouncing around in the anchorage today. The wind should die down by tomorrow we hope, and the weather should be suitable to leave for Fiji on the 9th.
Mark in his wetsuit
L.
Laura wades ashore at Minerva ReefLaura in her wetsuit on "Wombat of Sydney"Lagoon edge of Minerva ReefMike from Wombat steers his boat closer to the reef for late afternoon lobsteringBrittaFissures in the reef where lobsters hideSquall approaches Minerva Reef
Current position:
S 23 degrees 39 minutes
W 178 degrees 54 minutes
We arrived at Minerva Reef this morning – 8:30 a.m. local time. We had another beautiful day sailing yesterday – a few hours with some steep swell, and lots of wind (20 – 25 knots). By sunset everything calmed down a lot and we had an absolutely magnificent sail all night. We had to reef the sails so we would not go too fast – we didn’t want to arrive at Minerva before sunrise. About 5 miles before reaching the atoll we could the masts of three sailboats who were all inside the lagoon. All you can see of the reef as you approach are a few spots where there are waves crashing and a few rocks sticking out.
Minerva Reef is an amazing phenomenon. You really have to look up the coordinates on google earth to see where we are. The atoll is a doughnut shaped circle of coral with a lagoon inside. It is about 2.3 miles in diameter (about 6.5 miles around.) There is just a very pass at the western end of the circle that you can sail into. All around us the seas are 7,000 – 12,000 feet deep, but once you are in the lagoon, the depths are only about 50 to 60 feet with a sandy bottom that you can anchor in. At high tide the reef is completely under water. At low tide the reef emerges several feet above sea-level and you can take your dinghy over to the edge and walk on it. It is breathtaking. At low tide the reef is about 200 meters across as you walk from the lagoon side to the ocean side. Water from the ocean side continues to flow over the exposed reef even at low tide so as you walk you feel like you are walking on a horizontal waterfall. The water at the lagoon edge of the reef is turquoise blue and filled with fish.When we arrived our friends from Vera immediately hopped in their dinghy and came over for breakfast. We spent a few hours catching up on all that has happened to them (and us) since we last saw them. They were the ones who continued on to Minerva when we turned back to New Zealand 2.5 weeks ago – and on route they had their autopilot fail which made it a challenging trip. They have been here for 2 weeks already – a very long time to be at Minerva Reef, but amazingly enough they had their very good friends from Roxi here with them for several days – then just 2 nights here alone – and now we are together with them. The other two boats in the anchorage – “Key of D” and “Wombat of Sydney” made the sail with us from Opua this week – but arrived a whole day earlier than us. Mike from Wombat of Sydney plans to go night snorkeling and hopes to catch lobsters for us all to share tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day – sunny and pleasantly warm. Tonight we are planning to have dinner on the boat with Vera and then crash very early.
All in all a very successful and pleasant passage.
June 2, 2008
0300 UTC (3:00 P.M. in New Zealand)
Position: S 25 degrees 2 minutes West 179 degrees 15 minutes
Heading 10 degrees at 6-7 knots
100 miles to Minerva
Yep, if you have been looking at our longitudes and latitudes over
the past week you will see that we have passed from the eastern
hemisphere to the western – crossing the date line last night at
10:30 P.M. ( so I guess it suddenly became yesterday). We will
only be in the western hemisphere for a few days while we are at
Minerva and then when we head back west a bit we will cross back
into the eastern hemisphere and our longitudes will show “east”
again. I am sure you are waiting with baited breath for that big
excitement!
We have had another good 24 hours of sailing – with the winds
picking up and gusting strongly for extended periods at speeds of
20-24 knots at times. The seas are rougher today than they were
the past 5, but still not bad at all. Sun is out again today and
it is definitely feeling warm and almost tropical.
Last night I was listening to one of our audiobooks (a fantastic
addition for our night watches) – and made the mistake of
listening to “The Life of Pi”. I had read the book a few years
ago and loved it. I had forgotten however, that it is all about
shipwrecks and storms and sharks (not to mention hyenas and
tigers) and it got me totally freaked out. Couldn’t even sleep
afterwards. I was pretty convinced I was not going to be attacked
by a tiger, but otherwise, it seemed a little too realistic to me.
All is well. Should be arriving at North Minerva Reef (look it up
on Wikipedia) tomorrow early morning. We anticipate having a fun
reunion with Michael and Britta. We are bringing them lots of
fresh fruit and vegies as they have been there for 2 weeks already
and are all out of that kind of stuff.
Things are still going very well out here in the middle of the
ocean. We really got lucky with the weather window – the winds
have now picked up nicely so we are cruising along at between 6
and 7.5 knots consistently. Seas still nice and gentle. Beautiful
sunsets and sunrises out here. Lots of shooting stars. The tiny
sliver of a moon rose last night at about 4:00 a.m. – bright
orange over the horizon and smiling just like the Cheshire cat.
This is really perfect sailing.
We should arrive in Minerva in less than 2 days. Will have to slow
down tomorrow so we arrive at the reef after sunrise.
Position
S 27 19
E 179 34
COG: 15-20 degrees
Wind speed : 12-18 knots from the east
June 1 0300 UTC
We are continuing to have great weather for sailing. This is our
fourth day out now and the skies are blue, the seas are very
light, and we now have good wind – 10 – 15 knots – moving us along
at 6 to 7 nm per hour. Very lucky – and the weather forecast
for the next couple of days looks good as well. We decided to
stop at Minerva Reef which is southeast of Fiji. We had always
thought we might do that if the conditions were right, and it
looks like they are fine. It will be fun to sail in there – and
find our friends from “Vera” who have been there for 2 weeks –
just resting up from their hard sail and awaiting delivery of
spare parts for their autopilot. We are not carrying those parts
for them – but the folks on “Wombat of Sydney” have them and they
should arrive a half a day ahead of us.
We have the mizzen spinnaker flying which is red, white and blue.
It really increases our speed as well as makes it a smoother
sail. There were a zillion stars out last night and it was gorgeaus.
Dinner last night was Shirley’s meatball recipe – delicious of
course. (Hi Mom – love you!)We had prepared and frozen several
nights dinners and are having an easy time getting nice, simple,
hot dinners ready every night.
It was cold the first few days – but each day it is perceptably
warmer. By tomorrow the long underwear will probably be put away
for good.
Our position at 0230 UTC, May 31
S 29 10
E 177 46
Miles to go: 375 nm to Minerva
Coarse over ground: 10 degrees
Wind 10-12 from east/southeast
We are in the 3rd day now of our trip to Fiji. It has actually
been a little over 48 hours and we have made about 300 miles of
progress – very slow for this boat. It is quite comfortable
though – with very smooth seas, not much swell at all, and a light
breeze. We just set our mizzen spinnaker to get a little boost of
speed – for a while we were going only between 4 and 5 knots and
we like to try to go at least 6 knots if possible.
Weather forecast is for calm conditions for at least a couple more
days. Although we would prefer more wind, it is great to just have
a slow comfortable sail.
We are in daily radio contact with “Wombat of Sydney”. A couple
other boats are joining in on the net – including Fast Forward
(who is still in New Zealand, but is joining our net in the
morning to give us weather updates), Horizon, and Key of D.
Several other boats we know should have left New Zealand the day
after us, but we have not been able to hear their SSB broadcasts yet.
Our position is S 31 degrees 8 minutes and East 176 degrees 33
minutes.
Coarse over ground: 17 degrees
UTC time: 0200 – May 30
We expect to leave for Fiji tomorrow morning (Wednesday, May 28) about 10 am local time. (That is May 27 at 2200 UTC). It has been raining torrentially all day but there should only be scattered showers when we leave. The forecast is good, although after about 4 days forecasts are not very reliable. We may stop at Minerva Reef, about 780 miles away and a bit to the east of the rhumb line to Lautoka, Fiji, if we need to rest and reassess the weather.
Yesterday the weather was nice so we borrowed Risho Maru’s old Subaru from it’s news owners, Dieter and Renata of “Symi”,and drove to the town of Kerikeri. Kerikeri is in the middle of a major fruit growing area — kiwis, mandarin oranges, avocado, persimmons. Walking through town we saw a little sign for the Cafe Jerusalem in English and Hebrew. We stopped for lunch and Laura spoke Hebrew to the two proprietors, both young men from Israel. We then hiked up to a small waterfall on the Kerikeri river and stopped for flat whites (expresso coffee with steamed milk) and a chocolate slice (brownie) at a little place on the river. — M.
Laura at the historic Kerikeri Mission
Laura with a bag of mandarin oranges at an orchard outside of Kerikeri
We posted a short video of New Zealand on our blog. Take a look at the “Photos and Videos” page and scroll half way down the page to see a link to a video of us in New Zealand. If you watch it you will see almost as much of New Zealand as we have seen so far. We are kind of tied down to the boat here – awaiting a weather window that just doesn’t want to come. First it was too rough and now the forcast is for almost no wind at all – plus lots of rain. We thought we were leaving tomorrow (Sunday), but have revised our plans to wait a few more days. We will see what the morning brings. In the meantime we are enjoying things at Opua Marine. Just went out to dinner with our new friends Gloria and Willi from the greatly named boat “Linger Longer”…. We may go to the weekly market in Keri Keri in the morning. It is supposed to be great – although, to tell the truth, I don’t think there is a single thing we need or want to buy at this point. We are full up with supplies.
We have been in Opua for 5 days now, after aborting our initial effort to sail to Fiji. We have been keeping tabs on our friends Risho Maru and Vera – via e-mail and SSB radio reports – to track their progress – as they head towards New Caledonia and Fiji respectively. Risho Maru left here a few days before we did in what was expected to be a “perfect weather window”, but it apparently was nothing perfect at all – they had a few days of too little wind ( and their boat carries a tiny engine and very little fuel, so they have to try to sail no matter how slow it is) – followed by 4 days of very high winds coming right on the nose – making for a wet and difficult sail up to New Caledonia. They had to heave to one night – meaning they turn their jib so that it is actually facing the wrong way into the wind (backwind), but leave their mainsail in the correct position – and lash the wheel in one direction. By doing this you prevent forward movement of the boat by balancing rudder and sail (although in the ocean of course you never stay in one postion). It is what you have to do when the wind is too strong (in the wrong direction) to allow you to follow your course . We have never done it, but probably will at some point. It is a nice manoeuver to do to allow you to get some rest and stop smashing through the rough seas. They have reached New Caledonia and we are very glad to hear it.
Our friends on Vera are having an even more difficult experience. Just a day after we separated at sea with us turning back to New Zealand, and they deciding to continue on to Fiji, their autopilot failed. The autopilot is one of the most important “comfort” features on modern boats – it allows you to set and follow a course without having to hand-steer the boat. This lets you basically sit back and rest and watch and listen while you sail, always watching for changes in wind direction, but allowing you to make adjustments in boat direction by just pushing a button occasionally. You don’t have to handle the steering wheel and continually watch the compass which can be tiring after a few hours- and extremely exhausting after a few days. It is especially difficult when it is dark – and it is dark from 6:00 P.M through 6:30 a.m here. Without their autopilot Michael and Britta have to take turns steering which means that no-one can really sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. They can not fix the autopilot while at sea because they are missing the spare parts for it. We will be bringing them the parts they need – but of course we can do nothing until we meet up with them in Fiji. After 4 days of hand-steering through very rough seas and lots of rain and wind they just arrived at Minerva Reef – a famous spot just a few hundred miles from Fiji – that has a shallow lagoon protected from the open ocean by just a coral reef.
Minerva Reef
Sailers sometimes stop there for a few days, dropping their anchors and resting. For the Veras it must be an incredible relief to be able to drop their anchor and close their eyes and have a good long sleep without worrying about steering the boat. They will have another 2 to 3 day sail to arrive in Fiji.
So, after all that, we have been very contented to be here at the nice dock in Opua arranging the boat as best as we can in order to have a comfortable passage. We will be better prepared both mentally and physically when we set out again – possibly as early as this week-end.
L.
Today is the first day since we arrived in New Zealand that we have been able to relax. We slept 11 hours and lazed around the boat in the morning. In the afternoon, we took a walk along the cliffside trail to Pahia. The weather forecast suggests that we may be here at least through next weekend.
M.
Fisherman on the shore of the Bay of Islands, Opua.
Laura on the trail from Opua to Pahia
Opua Marina (blue marker "A") and Russell (yellow icon 'B')
I am writing this while Sabbatical III is berthed at the Opua Marina in Opua, New Zealand. At the time that we sent the previous blog entry giving our position after almost a day of sailing to Fiji, we also downloaded some weather information. The new GRIB weather files now showed an area of rapidly developing low pressure in the Tasman Sea that was predicted to move north and east across our route. This storm system was predicted to come with 40 knots of wind, much of it from unpleasant directions, high seas, and lots of rain. Conditions like this would not put us at great risk, but they would make for a few unpleasant days. We called Vera on the sat phone to discuss the new forecast, which they had also just seen. Michael suggested that deviating to the east should reduce the force of the weather system. The problem was that for the previous few hours the wind had moved a bit north and strengthened so that we could not sail our course and were going further west than we would like. The wind was supposed to be southeast, which would allow to sail east a bit, but it was ENE, which did not allow any easting. We were sailing as close to the wind as we could, which made the boat heel and brought waves over the bow. We were making very good time, however, and were already 160 miles out from Whangarei.
This all seemed very much like the trip from Tonga to New Zealand in November. That passage, with a run-in with an unexpected low pressure system, was the most difficult of our voyage so far and one we wished to avoid. So we talked it over and decided to turn around and head back to New Zealand. Vera considered doing so as well, but in the end they decided to continue on to Minerva Reef. They are better placed to get away from this system than us. They started out for Minerva, which is east of the direct passage to Fiji, so were further east when the new forecast arrived. In addition, as a Nautor Swan, a boat built for racing, Vera could sail faster and closer to the wind than Sabbatical III. We just spoke with them on the sat phone and they are making very good time. They expect to arrive at North Minerva about the same time as this weather sytem, so they need to push the boat. Once inside the reef they should be safe and able to rest.
Rather than return to Whangarei, we made for Opua, which is about 50 miles closer. We arrived this morning at 11 am and re-checked-in to New Zealand. We just looked at GRIB files going out 7 days and found that a second low pressure system, possibly even more intense than the one that induced us to turn back, will be following. So we will be in Opua for a least one week. The German weather guru Willifred is just one dock down from us so we have a good source of weather forecasting to turn to rather that just rely on the GRIB files.
The bright spot of this 40 hour passage into the South Pacific and back was the performance of the AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver that I bought in the US and brought back in our luggage. It receives and translates messages send by transponders carried by all commercial ocean-going vessels above a minimum size. I have the AIS data stream fed into a laptop at the nav station. I also was able to get GPS, wind, and depth data converted from our Raymarine Seatalk network, which is proprietary, to the open NMEA standard and also got that fed into the laptop. Using Boatcruiser 2.0 software, I set an AIS alarm range and hooked up a cheap USB speaker in the cockpit to sound an alarm that is easily heard in high winds or with I-Pod headphones on. The test was the night sail up the east coast of the North Island on Thursday night. The AIS picked up vessels 30 miles away that were othewise invisible. For example, at about 10 pm the laptop beeped and flashed the approach from astern of Forum Fiji II, a cargo ship bound, as we were, for Lautoka, Fiji. Only 30 minutes later, it indicated that Pacific Alliance was approaching from dead ahead. The AIS system provides us with basic data from the GPS of the transmitting vessel. For example, the AIS provided our laptop with the name of the other vessel (Pacific Alliance), it length (800 feet!), its beam (138 feet wide), draft (45 feet deep), its type (oil tanker), destination (Whangerai), speed (17.4 knots), call sign, distance (25.8 miles), closest point of approach to Sabbatical III (less than 0.1 mile), time to closest point of approach (1 hour 8 minutes), rate of turn (0 degrees), course over ground, bearing, etc. We get to see the instruments of the Pacific Alliance on our boat since their AIS transponder transmits it to us. Our laptop combines the other vessel’s GPS data with our GPS data to compute closest point of appoach and time to closest point of approach. We often do not see another vessel with our eyes until they are 5 miles away and then it would take some time to figure out if they were heading towards us. With the AIS, we saw the Pacific Alliance coming right for us but we had over an hour to get out of the way. The AIS also showed the 380 foot cargo ship Forum Fiji II coming up behind us and to starboard. Knowing this, we turned a few degrees to port, thus getting out of the way of a supertanker but without crossing the path of a fast moving cargo ship. All this without either of the two ships being within eyeball or radar range. In the end, the tanker never deviated course (we saw them on AIS well before they ever noticed us) and we passed 3 miles apart.
M
 Ray Roberts and his son Carl. Ray owns and operates the Riverside Drive Marina in Whangarei, where we kept our boat for the season.
.
From Laura:
We are back on dry land now after a brief foray into the open ocean. After a hectic week of preparation we felt ready to go to Fiji – and left on Thursday – just 8 days after arriving in New Zealand. The “perfect weather window” that everyone had been talking about here had many cruisers leaving the docks last week-end (around the 10th of May). There was a great forcast for sailers making the trip from New Zealand to either Fiji, New Caledonia or Vanuata . Even though we managed to get everything ready for our trip in an amazingly short amount of time, we really were just a day or two late in setting out from New Zealand in time to catch the optimal weather patterns. Just a day out to sea, we read (via downloaded weather maps and e-mails) that the system was changing rapidly and we could expect quite a lot of wind and rough seas for the week ahead of us. We just weren’t up to facing that and turned the boat around about 100 miles north of New Zealand and spent the night sailing back to safe harbor in Opua where we will await the next good weather window. Mark has written a bit about that already, so let me fill you in on what we did in our week in New Zealand to get ready for departure.
The main excitement was seeing old friends. We were happy to find our friends Michael and Britta from “Vera” in Whangarei with us . Although their boat was down the road from us in a different marina, it was easy to get together, although we both spent most of our days doing boat chores . We somehow managed to go out to dinner with them 4 times. We met a very nice couple whom we had briefly known in Tonga and who had become good friends with Vera over the winter – they are Beth and Ken – two Americans- on board their boat Eagles Wings.  The six of us went out to dinner a couple of times. Beth and Ken have spent the past 3 years going back and forth between New Zealand and Tonga and are doing it again this year.
We had been anxiously awaiting our reunion with Risho Maru, the Austrian couple we befriended last year. They have been in New Zealand since we left – working on their boat and touring the country. It was almost a week after our arrival that we were able to see them – as their boat is in a marina about an hour drive north of ours – but on Monday they drove down to see us. It was a bittersweet reunion as they have decided to start heading home – and will not be going to the same places as we are. They just don’t have the time. They want to get their son Finn enrolled in a real school – rather than continuing with his “boat schooling” – and they are somewhat anxious to return to loved ones at home -after being away for 3 years already. It will still take them a year and a half to get back to Europe, but that means moving relatively quickly through the rest of the South Pacific and hopefully arriving in Thailand by November – a long distance away – and then the Med by May. They will not be going to Fiji with us as we had hoped. Right now they are on route to New Caledonia and then they will go to Vanuatu before heading west. We, on the other hand are going first to Fiji, and then to Vanuatu. It is not easy (from a sailing perspective) to go the opposite direction – otherwise we would seriously consider it. However, if things go right we will be able to meet them once again in Vanuatu for a short time before they leave – we certainly hope so. We are so very disappointed and sad to see them go…… I guess it is something we have to continue to get used to as we meet new people around the world.
Peter and Alexandra of Risho Maru
Mark and Finn on Sabbatical III
Provisioning took up a huge amount of time (and money!) – as we made several large shopping expeditions – filling the boat with canned goods, drinks, sweets, cheeses, meats, sugar, flour…. etc. etc.  Luckily there are great grocery stores here – everything one could want is available – although the prices here are absurdly high especially with the bad exchange rate for U.S. dollars. My favorite store was “The Mad Butcher” – which is named quite appropriately. It is a huge, ice-cold shop that specializes in meat and they will package and deep-freeze it for you. We bought lots of stuff – lamb, chicken, beef – and loaded it into the freezer on the boat – it will be nice to have when we are in places like Vanuatu where I suspect the quality of meat will not be what it is here. Besides groceries we had a small list of other essentials that we had to pick up – new pillows, a couple of new towels – just minor things. The boat is really very well supplied now. We also bought beer and wine – more than we would ever drink in a lifetime at home – but very little compared to what other cruisers seem to keep on their boats, There are limits on how much alcohol you are supposed to bring into Fiji and all of us are breaking the rules – I think they allow 6 liters of wine in all which is pretty paltry when you consider that most boats will be hanging around for months. Anyways, we are all set in terms of food etc.
In addition to the boat provisioning there were several critical boat issues which needed to be attended to – all Mark’s domain – including installing a new VHF radio, an AIS system (see Mark’s blog), new sails, waterproofing seals on all external lockers, re-attaching back-stays, adjusting the new sails, removing a light fixture that was broken (this involved me taking Mark up the mast 4 times). The boat was also in desperate need of cleaning, but we only did the most basic cleaning as we were too busy to do more. I guess that is one thing I can take care of while we await a new weather window.
All of our encounters with the Kiwis this past week have been so pleasant. The shopkeepers here are friendly in a very different way than at home – they seem a little gruff – but invariably go out of their way to make sure you get what you want. Half the time I am not quite sure I have even understood what they have said, and I am sure they must have the same issues with our English. The accents are incredible. Carl is Cal, eighteen is eye-deen, bread is breed… it is a lot of fun.
We left the fuel dock at Riverside Drive Marina at 2:15 pm
on Wednesday (yesterday) and anchored in Urquhart’s Bay for the
night. Vera is anchored beside us. We will check-out of New
Zealand at Mardsden Point at 3pm and then leave directly for
Lautoka, Fiji. Our course takes up up the east coast of North
Island and then approximately 350 degrees magnetic to Fiji.
Lautoka is a bit over 1100 nautical miles (about 1300 miles) from
where we are. The weather is calm and the forecast is excellent.
We will try to send regular updates.
We have been so busy getting the boat and ourselves ready to sail that there has been no time to write. We are trying to leave with tomorrow’s high tide or else we will have to stay 5 more days in Whangarei waiting for a daytime high tide. There is a terrific weather window right now that has resulted in many cruisers leaving New Zealand for places north. The Vera’s and the Risho Maru’s are both leaving for the tropics tomorrow and we think we may join. The tentative plan is to get to the mouth of the tidal river by tomorrow evening and anchor out in Urquhart’s Bay. On Thursday, we can checkout of New Zealand at Marsden’s Point, then return to Urquhart’s Bay to make final preparations, and then leave for Lautoka, Fiji either Thursday evening or Friday morning. It should be about an eight day sail. We will write tomorrow with more definite plans.
The Risho Maru’s are going directly to New Caledonia so we will not see them again until late June in Vanuatu. The Vera’s are going to Fiji and we expect to spend some time with them there. M.
   We left from the Providence airport for New Zealand on Monday morning, May 5th. Our good friend Robin Ringer picked us up from our comfortable sabbatical house at 20 Cooke Street along with our eleven bags. Luckily, she has a huge SUV otherwise everything would not fit. The photo below shows us outside T.F. Green airport with the seven large duffels that we checked-in. Check-in was a lengthy but not difficult process. They charged us $88 per extra bag all the way to Auckland, as we had been told. Quite a bargain.
Â
 At the Providence airport
 We had a four hour layover in Chicago and Hannah took the airport bus from Evanston to see us. We had lunch at the airport Hilton and then sat in the sun beneath the control tower. It was the fifth time we were able to see her since our return. It was so nice to just be with her for a few hours. We only wish Ben could have been there too.
 The next leg took us to LA before the 12 hour + Air New Zealand flight to Auckland. We did manage a few hours of sleep on the flight and arrived at 5:30 am in a reasonably coherent state of mind. We were prepared for some trouble at customs since normal tourists do not travel with nearly 450 pounds of baggage. On the customs form, I check both the “yes†and the “no†box on whether we had more than $700 of possessions, figuring that would cover all the bases. The customs guy looked at our piles of stuff and waved us through.Â
Our rented Toyota Camry had just enough room for everything once we moved the front seats all the way up. We headed out into rush hour traffic until we came to a distant suburb and stopped for breakfast. The weather was great – sunny skies and temperature in the 60’s. The past two weeks had been stormy on the North Island so we were quite lucky.
 The drive up to Whangarei was beautiful. Everything was green and lush with only a few traces of the impending winter. When we arrived at Riverside Drive Marina we were happy to see that our boat was in the water. It had just gone in that morning (Wednesday, May 7). The bad weather had kept all the boats in the water pinned to the dock so there was no room for us until just that morning. With the weather change, a lot of boats took off north (including our friends on Risho Maru), leaving room for new boats to enter the water. Sabbatical III looked good but there was a bit of mildew down below in spite of our friend Bo’s regular airing of the boat.
Fortunately, it was high tide so dragging our bags to the boat was a bit easier than it could have been. At high tide the car-park and the dock are at the same level. At low tide, it is a steep drop to the dock. In the middle of this process, Michael and Britta of Vera came over from Town Basin, where Vera lies, to greet us and help with the last bags. It was so nice to see them again and begin to catch up on news. Vera had also been stuck on the “hard†by bad weather and was put back in the water just that morning too. She was hauled only to get anti-fouling paint applied to her hull but the rain made it a two week long ordeal. In spite of our fatigue, Laura and I emptied our bags into various piles inside the boat. Only our sleeping berth was not completely covered in stuff. The Vera’s then treated us to a nice meal at an Indian restaurant in town.
Putting on the new genoa
Installing the AIS at the navigation station
The inside of the boat is still a mess as I write this (Sunday May 11), but now the piles are more sensibly sorted by type of stuff. We have actually moved along fairly quickly with our preparations to head north. There were light winds yesterday, so Dave Parr (“Waldoâ€) of Calibre Sails, our sailmaker,  came over to put up our new sails. They are clean and white and crinkle in the breeze. With some help from Michael and Britta, I installed our new AIS (Automatic Identification System) and was able to get AIS data and GPS/depth/wind data from our Raymarine Seatalk network to be understood and displayed on our laptop. We are well connected to the outside world here. We bought a SIM for our cell phone at the airport which has proved very useful. I set up our new directional wireless antenna and wireless router so that we now have excellent access to the internet plus our own inside-the-boat network.  The other projects we completed in the past two days include putting new weather seals on all the outside lockers, reattaching our backstays, and replacing our VHF radio handset with one we bought in the US. We have heaps of food, wine, and engine oil that still need to be put away and more shopping to do, plus some more boat projects. We may be able to finish on Wednesday. Then, if the weather cooperates, we will head north to Opua. Vera hopes to do the same. We probably could not reach Opua until Saturday. We can only leave Whangarei at high tide and on Thursday high tide is late in the afternoon. That gets us only to the opening of the river at Urquhart Bay. It would be difficult to get from there to Opua in one day especially with the short days of mid-May.
We have re-designed our web site and have added a whole new set of high resolution photos from the trip. Click on the “Photos” tab on the home page and then click on the highlighted section to see the Flickr photos.
Also take a look at “Itinerary” and you will see a new link to a summary of where we were in 2007, how many miles sailed, how many nights at sea, and other information.
We have been home now – in Rhode Island that is – for 6 weeks now. We are working on updating the blog and our photos and will let you know when there is something new to look at.
We are missing the boat and the cruising lifestyle – but it is wonderful to see friends and family in the U.S. after such a long time away. The kids were with us over Christmas – Hannah for 2 weeks and Ben just for a few days. Way too short, but we will see them again in February and March.
Tune in once in a while to look for updates to the blog…..
We were hauled out today. The rain continues and has set a new all time local record. Tomorrow we fly back to Rhode Island. We have lots of things to finish up before then.
It has been raining and grey in Whangarei for the last few days with the weather forecast predicting more of the same until we leave this coming Tuesday. Oh well, I guess it is one more step in getting back to reality. We had two sets of visitors this week – one day our friends from Yara drove down from Opua to see us and the next day the Risho Marus came. Both have new “used†cars and they are having a good time doing a little exploring and getting shopping done the easy way. Used cars seem to be incredibly cheap here – for $1,000 you can get a decent car or van. I guess only time will tell if they are in good working order. We borrowed a car one afternoon from some new friends on Lorna (another Amel). They are a Swedish couple, Bo and Vivi, who are just a few slips down the dock from us in Riverside Marina. It is the 4th time that Lorna has been to New Zealand. They have been very friendly and helpful, giving us info about the place and offering us the use of their car whenever we want it. They even offered to drive us all the way to the Auckland airport next week – something we declined since it is at least a 2.5 hour drive each way.
We have been getting some small errands done in preparation for leaving the boat and going through Mark’s extensive list of boat jobs that need to be done – oil and filter changes, meeting with engine experts, sailmakers, riggers and others who will be doing some work on the boat in our absence. Friends here have promised to look in on the boat as often as possible to make sure things look alright and to make sure no little critters have moved onboard.
Just a week-end left in New Zealand and then we will fly home. Our first night off the boat in a year will be spent sleeping on a plane. That should be different! At least we don’t have to stand watch.
We look forward to seeing family and friends soon. Hannah will be returning to Providence a few days after us, after spending the last 4 months in Madagascar studying, among other things, octopus fishermen, and Ben will be coming back for a brief visit from Portland where he just landed a job. It will be the first time in more than a year that the Pitt family has been all together.
Thanks to all our loyal blog fans – we hope we were entertaining – and we promise to pick up where we left off when we continue our journey next May. We’ll be working on the blog when we get back – doing some clean up, adding pictures, etc. – so you may want to check it out once in a while.
Sabbatical III at the dock of Riverside Drive Marina on the Whangarei River
We reached the final destination of our year long journey yesterday, November 30th. It was an easy 3 hours of motorsailing up the Whangarei River to Riverside Marina in Whangarei, New Zealand. For all of you who have followed our blog you know all the fun details of this incredible year, but here are some barebones statistics I wanted to share with you.
Total miles sailed: 10,500 nautical miles or 12,075 regular miles
Total number of hours spent sailing: 1,642 (19% of the 8,760 hours in a year)
Average speed: 6.4 knots (7.4 mph)
Number of nights spent at sea traveling from one place to another: 60.5 (16.5% of the 365 nights)
Number of anchorages: Over 80
We have made friends with people on over 100 boats from numerous countries including: America, Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and New Zealand.
See our slideshows for some new slides of Tonga and New Zealand. Remember to put the mouse curser up towards the top of each photo and you can read captions.
L.
We intended to leave Opua for Whangarei last Saturday, but
the New Zealand weather was not cooperative. It was rainy and
squally Saturday, so we planned to depart Sunday. The wind came
up too strong Sunday and Monday, so we deferred until Tuesday.
Tuesday had gale force winds, so we sat tight. We learned
caution from the experience of one boat that left Sunday morning
and returned four hours later, saying the seas were too rough.
And then our friends Ian and Catherine on Afriki left Monday
morning and found that they needed to seek a sheltered anchorage
within hours.
We left Wednesday(yesterday)about 11 am, after things calmed
down after a night of high winds. It is about two hours to sail
among the islands of the Bay of Islands and out the Albert
Channel and finally come to the open sea. Conditions were not
too bad, so we headed southeast down the coast into a 15 knot
southeast wind. Big ocean tacks took gave us various
perspectives on the eastern coastline of the North Island. We
had hoped to get as far as Whangaruru or even Tutukaka (names I
mention only because of their sound), but decided to pull into
Whangamumu. It is a bay at the bottom of a bowl of steep hills
without houses, and we were the only boat there. We were
surprised to be the only ones in such a beautiful place. We
thought that Whangamumu would be more protected from the ocean
swell that Whangaruru, and today was forecast to be a better day
to sail — wind from the southwest, fair skies, slight seas —
so leaving the bulk of our trip south for today seemed reasonable.
But you cannot count on weather forecasts in New Zealand.
The swell came up just as the sun set on us in Whangamumu and
the boat started to roll like crazy. It did not stop all night.
We got up at 6:30 am to begin our trip south and the predicted
southwesterlies, fair skies, and smooth seas turned out to be
easterlies, lots of rain, and large swells. The easterlies
turned into light and variable wind, but rain showers and large
swells continued for the day. Nonetheless, we made it to our
destination. We now are anchored in Urquhart’s Bay at the mouth
of the Whangarei River (South 35 degrees 50.5 minutes East 174
degrees 31.9 minutes). This may be as far south as we will ever
get with Sabbatical III.
We can only proceed up the river 14 miles to the town of
Whangarei on a rising tide. We will leave Urquhart’s Bay at 10
am tomorrow to arrive at Riverside Drive Marina for the 1 pm
high tide. That is where the boat will be hauled and stored out
of the water while we are back in the States. Our friends on
Vera have been in Whangarei for two weeks and we are looking
forward to seeing them.
The delay in Opua meant that we were there for my birthday.
Both Risho Maru and Yara made me birthday cakes and we had a
very nice birthday party on Sabbatical III. The extra days
allowed us to socialize more with all of our boat friends at
this very pleasant marina. We cannot walk 50 meters without
running into a dozen people we know. A trip to the marina
office or the chandlery can take an extra hour or two when one
stops to greet everyone you know on the way, and exchange
stories about recent and planned passages. Nonetheless, we spent
most of every day getting Sabbatical III prepared for her
season at rest. I pickled the watermaker and changed lots of
filters and had the main sail repaired, while Laura cleaned and
organized. There is still a lot to do before we leave on
December 11. We are amazed to think that tomorrow’s short trip
up the Whangarei River is our last passage on Sabbatical III
until next May. We have not spent even a single night off of
Sabbatical III for a whole year, and in spite of the recent cold
nights, think of her as our most comfortable home.
We have been in New Zealand for 6 days now and somehow never got back to writing our blog until now. On the trip I was filled with all sorts of deep, serious thoughts about sailing and wanted to write more about how the trip was, but now that we are here and comfortable and safe and warm, it is hard to do that. The best analogy for the passage from Tonga to New Zealand is really childbirth. Before it starts you can’t really believe all the horror stories you have heard, and are sure that for you, it will be easier. Then it starts and for a while you just can’t deal with how bad it is. The “doctors” say it is “uncomfortableâ€, but it is way more than uncomfortable. All you can think about is being anywhere but where you currently are. You can weep and swear and do whatever you want, but you just have to keep going. You also want to kill the guy who got you into this predicament. “You got me into this, you ***…….. “. He is standing nearby, all calm and comfortable, and telling you that it’s not so bad and it will soon be over. Then it is over and, within a day, you feel that it couldn’t really have been that bad, and maybe it was all worth it. By the next year you may be ready to try it again, especially since everyone says that it really is never as bad the second time.
On our trip the boats who were within radio distance from us talked twice a day on the SSB (single sideband radio). Originally our informal radio net was called Y2K for “Yachts to Kiwiland” but after our weather difficulties, it was renamed the “Hindsight Net.” The Hindsight Net decided we would all write poems, limericks and songs to remember the passage. Last night we had a party in the Opua Cruisers Club to celebrate and share our creations. Here is mine with a picture of me presenting it and wearing our official hindsight glasses– hope you like it.
Ode to Hindsight
by Laura Pitt, “Sabbatical III”
A bunch of tough sailers in Tonga
decided they couldn’t stay longa.
McDavitt* said “Go!
I promise this low
Won’t hit you, and I’m never wronga. ”
The first 3 days out were amazing.
Every crew was relaxed and just lazing.
When suddenly all,
with our forecasting ball
could see trouble and worries and danger.
McDavitt said “Head west and hurry.
This system gives me cause to worry.”
So we all took a tack ,
we were scared to hang back
in great fear of confronting a fury.
For two days we headed off course.
Our minds filled with fear and remorse.
The skies and sea grey
We just headed away
With SSB check-ins of course.
On Sunday we went through the low.
Perhaps you could call it a blow.
But conditions like these
With wind, rain and seas,
Were nothing we all didn’t know.
By Monday the low had roared by.
To New Zealand we wanted to fly.
But on our way back
with seas that did whack
we suffered and cursed and asked “Why?â€
On Tuesday we waited in vain
as those westerly winds never came
We tacked and we gybed
we coaxed and we cried
but our distance from port stayed the same.
Kate and Jim on Asylum, the Nutcase**,
Reminded us all this was no race.
Through thick and through thin
We’ll surely come in and meet on the land face to face.
Epilogue:
Now we’re all in Opua, so safe and secure-ah
Our foulies*** are hanging to dry,
We all made it by golly
We’re safe, warm and jolly
And next time I think we should fly!
*Bob McDavitt, the New Zealand weather guru we were all paying to get advice from
** Katie and Jim on the boat Asylum were the moderators for the Hindsight SSB net. Nutcase is the name of Asylum’s dinghy
*** Foulies are foul weather gear – rain pants and jackets
What we have been doing recently in New Zealand
Our friends on Risho Maru, Yara and Afriki, who all left Tonga about 5 days after us had a really good trip. It was much easier than ours, and it only took 8 days, as opposed to the 11.5 days it took us and 19 days for some other boats in the “hindsight” group. We are happy for them, but pissed we didn’t hang out with them in Tonga and get their weather for the passage. Oh well, at least we are all here together, safe and sound.
We rented a care yesterday with Peter, Alex and Finn (Risho Maru) and had a great little tour of the northern part of the north island – went to a winery, a chocolate factory, bought blue jeans, drank great coffee, saw huge 500 year old Kauri trees and lots of sheep, took a ferry across the bay with our car and drove around one of the beautiful tourist towns here (Russell) and ate as much as we could!. It was a great day, but sad, as it will probably be the last whole day we get to spend with Risho Maru before we head down to Whangarai where we will be leaving our boat . They will be staying in New Zealand until we return, enrolling 8 year old Finn in school, and just living here until at least May. We hope we will be able to coordinate with them when we continue on to Fiji next year.
Norsand Boatyard, Whangarei
 
