FEAST OR FAMINE

Irene Palmer

(New members Warren Johnson and Irene Palmer, plus `dishwasher' Bill Harford, left New Zealand last year at the start of a circumnavigation aboard Embezzler, their 44ft cutter.)

Vanuatu, June '94

What a farewell! What a trip! What an arrival!

Our dear, dear friend Dave Sutherland managed to reduce even the most cool and collected of us to tears when he played We are sailing on his bagpipes as we left the Opua wharf. Nice going Dave. It was one farewell which will never be forgotten.

We left Opua, in the Bay of Islands, at 1130 on 10 May and were escorted down the `creek' by Pip & Oliver Campbell's A Place In The Sun. They left us off Russell Point, and we slipped around the corner to Robertson Island to get our compass swung. Gee whizz, talk about leaving things to the last minute! Actual departure from the Bay of Islands was 1430; clear skies and clean forecast. By 1700 we were into big, messy seas with 30 knot winds, plus gusts. Believe me, this was not the stuff of our dreams.

I tried to cook a stew for tea. A bit like riding a wild stallion while trying to do needlepoint, and a total waste of energy. My two staunch male companions promptly feed the fishes ... and then tried to blame my stew. I can prove they were lying as I was feeding the fishes too and I didn't eat anything.

Lots of hot water, seasick tablets and dry Marmite sandwiches later, approximately 2 days' worth, we came right. I got particularly bad and couldn't understand it, as I had taken a Stemetil suppository each day -- the most sure-fire cure of all for mal de mer. However, all became clear once the sun started shining -- I had been taking Voltaren suppositories by mistake. What a pain! At least I can say I was the only one on board who came right without medication, whatever that distinction gives me.

Two to three days of sh.., plus two days of very pleasant sailing, plus another three days of sh.. saw us into Vila, Vanuatu, at 0800 New Zealand time (0700 Vanuatu time), on Wednesday 18 May.

We stayed in Port Vila until the Friday, during which time we managed to get the boat cleaned up, have a look round, swim, swim, swim in 24water (eat your hearts out), put yours truly's neck out, and have a great feed at the Waterfront Restaurant. For those of you who have never been there, this restaurant doesn't have any walls to its dining-room, a bamboo and thatch construction overlooking the sea and Iriki Island. The atmosphere is fantastic and, as a mobile attraction, they have a pet coconut crab tied to their servery area. Fortunately I didn't see this pet until we were leaving (when I nearly walked on it) as I had Garlic Coconut Crab for dinner. Superb! 2500 vatu (about $38.00), but well worth the money.

I might add here that `man the hunter', who supplied us so well in New Zealand, has STILL not caught a fish. A seafood famine has descended on us.

Havannah Harbour, around the corner from Vila but still on Efate Island, was our next stop, and five hours later we anchored off Moso Island at the north end of the harbour. We visited the old village, Moso, and the new village, Tasariki, where we dropped off clothes, books and medicines. Moso village had been hit by a hurricane the previous year and was very poor and run down. The new village was started by villagers from Moso, and although it is still poor it is well laid out and prospering, considering it is only a year old.

Dillion's Bay at Erromango Island was next. We arrived on 25 May after an eighteen hour sail with 25 knots bang on the nose and unpleasant seas. We sailed overnight as we were told the trade winds die at night, but somebody lied... Never mind. The village was very friendly and interesting. Beautiful thatched huts line a fresh water river and a wedding was in progress the next day.

From Erromango Island we went to Port Resolution at Tanna Island, Another overnight trip taking ten hours, same as before but 30 knot winds and a tricky, sharp, cross sea this time. A rolly anchorage but great place, and well worth the effort of getting there.

We visited the Sulphur Bay John Frum Village, (a cargo cult religion -- weird). The villagers are either John Frum, Seventh Day Adventists or Presbyterian. The trip to Mount Yasur was... How can I tell you what it's like to stand on the edge of an active volcano and watch it spit lava and rocks hundreds of metres into the air as it roars and smokes? Scary, dangerous, awe inspiring, adrenalin pumping, spooky. I could go on and on. Even the men were scared and speechless!

We seemed to adopt (or did he adopt us?) an 11-year-old called Stanley. Many sore feet later he has shown us a beautiful, clean, prosperous village with gardens everywhere. Pigs, goats, chooks, kids all over the place and the most amazing fresh water hand-pump you could ever wish to see. And a dugong. If you don't know what a dugong is, let me tell you that it is the original mermaid. The villagers are a little frightened of their resident dugong, but we suspect she's very friendly and lonely. Unfortunately I was not given time to test this theory, as after a great feast put on by the local yacht club we departed on 30 May for Lenakel, an anchorage on the west of Tanna.

Guess what? The wind was only on the nose for about thirty minutes -- fantastic. Yeah? We got 40 knots plus on a broad reach, with seas tossing us so high we were surfing at 12 knots, and that was with two reefs in the main and storm jib. What I would like to know is, when does the pleasant cruising start? I'm exhausted.

Lenakel was a disaster. The winds curled around the island so that a south-east wind became a south-west wind. This pushed a sea over the reef straight into Lenakel, which wasn't big enough to swing a cat, let alone a yacht. A team talk had all agreeing that the only thing to do was to head out to sea and back to Vila. It was far too dangerous to attempt anchoring at night in some unknown, uncharted bay, and the sea and weather were too adverse to stand off all night. 30 knots gusting 40, beam to broad reaching, taking the odd wave aboard. We made Vila at 1430 on 31st. We've certainly had a famine of fair weather sailing.

I promptly let it be known that I had no intention of letting Embezzler move again until I had had a rest and caught up with some chores, and had a chance to RELAX.

We had a bit of a squall go through on 2 June -- 50 knots of wind for five minutes, with heaps of rain. But that was enough to have two boats thrown against the seawall, with pushpit damage, solar panels torn off, radars smashed etc. Quite an exciting night. Warren and I had Bezzie safe and snug on a friend's hurricane mooring, so we ended up being the `Kiwi Cavalry', escorting (by dinghy) one boat to a safe mooring, diving on another's rudder because it had no steering, stitching up torn fingers, etc etc. Heroes have nothing on us, man!

We are into work mode at present. Chafed sheets and mainsails need repairing, more mosquito netting made, Bezzie cleaned out, stove reorganised on gimbals and much, much more.

Mail! We now have a mail famine as well. Whoever thought we would miss getting all those bills. The postal services in this neck of the world are inclined to be dicey, to say the least, and after insisting that there is mail for us we can usually get the post office staff to come up with something at about the third attempt.

We stayed in Vila (Efate Island) until 9 June and then headed for Havannah Harbour where we spent two nights and Warren built a roof for the Tasariki villagers. They didn't give him anything for his efforts as is the custom, so we decided they were bludgers and headed up to Emae Island to the north. For once it was a lovely sail, but the weather turned on us the next day so we stayed in a very rolly anchorage waiting for it to clear.

Come 14th we took off for Port Sandwich on Makakula Island. Guess what? 25-30 knots with horrible 2 metre cross seas. But at least it was from behind. We made the trip in good time.

Port Sandwich is a beautiful, fully protected anchorage with very pleasant friendly natives. At one time it accommodated a fish processing factory, with the result that sharks are so numerous that swimming is totally out of the question. There is a huge Roman Catholic Mission school at Lamap on the point, and the children are very charming and happy. A store sells fresh bread and produce and we bought heaps of fruit and greens from the locals.

We had a great downpour on the 20th. Opened all the water tanks, washed heaps of clothes and ourselves and sat back and read books all afternoon. It rained solidly for about eighteen hours and then cleared to a steamy, hot day. The 21st saw us into a pretty anchorage called Crab Bay. Bombies everywhere but that's par for the course around these waters. We collected some amazing shells off the reef at low tide.

We awoke to a beautiful sunshiny day on the 22nd, the first in ages, so we shot up to Port Stanley, and the next day on to Palikula Bay in Santo Espiritu Island. The weather didn't hold for this trip and we ended up surfing in huge seas with occasional gusts of 40 knots. The speedometer showed a top speed of 12.8!

Palikula Bay is just around the corner from Luganville, where we restocked Bezzie and cleared customs for Vanuatu. Shopping is reasonable here with a good market and butchery. It is a tropical paradise with excellent snorkelling and a sheltered anchorage.

The Americans dumped huge amounts of machinery and war equipment into the sea near here, at a place called Million Dollar Point, and it's supposed to be an excellent dive site. Apparently the local Government wouldn't pay the nominal price requested by the USA for the trucks, jeeps, bulldozers etc, hoping to get the goods for nothing. The Americans felt used, got stubborn, and dumped it!

Solomon Islands, August '94

Nuts, bolts, screws, washers, nails. Thousands and thousands of the sods scattered all over the saloon floor of Embezzler. The skipper's rolly kit, with all his spare bits and pieces in it, decided to collapse. What a mess! I have the skipper down on his hands and knees sorting it all out, so if he starts talking about carpet burns don't believe him.

We cleared out of Vanuatu on 28 June, from Luganville on Santo Island. In fact we didn't actually leave Vanuatu waters, but wandered our way up the islands to Hogs Harbour. Here we were amazed to find a resort that GROOMS the sand. At Champagne Beach, Hogs Harbour, Santo Island, Vanuatu the sand is raked, sieved and combed after every wind change, every change of tide, and each time a guest uses it. It's a stunningly beautiful place -- white sand fringed by red hibiscus trees, all bordered with a brilliant emerald green sea.

July 2 saw us leave Vanuatu and arrive in Lakona Bay, Santa Maria Island in the Banks group. More than fifty miles and no wind! Talk about feast or famine! The anchorage has good holding but is exposed if the wind should turn. However all was calm and pleasant so we decided to stay. We traded for fresh vegetables from the natives and I found some tomatoes. Wonderful! It's about five weeks since I last saw a tomato. It's funny this cruising life, how the little things can mean so much.

Unfortunately the wind came up during the night, and we had little sleep as the swell was running straight into the bay and making Embezzler roll like the proverbial drunk. The weather didn't look good at all the next morning so we decided to make a run for a safer anchorage on the west coast. This didn't turn out any better as the wind and sea swirl around these islands making all shores lee shores. Eventually we anchored in Port Patterson on Vanua Lava Island, further up the Banks Group. Even though it is a deep bay, Port Patterson turned into a nightmare with a huge roll sweeping right around the bay and katabatic winds funneling down from the hills at 40 knots plus.

The weather eventually broke on 11 June so we bolted for the west side of the island, to Waterfall Bay. It was a gamble that paid off, as the bay was beautiful, flat calm, and is protected by an outlying reef. Twin waterfalls cascade down the southern side of the bay and the reef extends around its circumference about l00 yards from the foreshore.

The life on the reef was straight out of a travel brochure. At low tide one didn't even need to get one's feet wet to see every shape and size of tropical fish and coral, merrily living out their lives in the many crevices that punctuate this flat outcrop of rock. During the three days we stayed there we obtained crayfish, prawns, watercress and pawpaw from the locals. Much needed supplies.

By 14 July we were on our way to the Torres group, where we anchored in Hayter Bay after a splendid twelve hour sail with poled-out drifter and main, Bezzie honking along at 9 knots with 20 knots of wind pushing her rump.

So it's goodbye Torres and off to the Santa Cruz Islands which are part of the Solomons. We cleared in at Lata on Nendo Island and found a new novelty straight off -- betalnuts. Everyone chews betalnuts. The customs, police, church leaders, everyone. They all have bright red lips and tongues, red or black decayed teeth, and there is red spit all over the pathways. Yuck!

We had an interesting five days. It blew 30 knots plus the whole time. Our regulator threw a fit and our electrics went down. A very interesting time.

July 21 dawned and we rocketed out, heading for Makira Isla and Star Harbour. This is a well protected anchorage, tucked right up a mangrove-lined river. Not the prettiest of places and no swimming, as the water is like pea soup and crocodiles are reported to be resident nearby, but an excellent opportunity to catch up on jobs. We scrubbed and cleaned, made and put up baggywrinkle, made slides for the companionway hatches, made dim-sums and soups for the freezer, caught, cooked and froze down crayfish and oysters, filled our water tanks, etc etc. Tough life this cruising!

August 3 saw us dutifully heading off to the Marau Sounds at the bottom end of Guadacanal Island to join up with friends. We anchored in Tavanipupu lagoon, the most beautiful place I could ever imagine. Irridescent turquoise water, brightly coloured parrots and dainty birds, an abundance of coral and tropical fish, and added to all that ... a totally safe anchorage.

Notes and comments on Vanuatu

Good fuel and water are readily available, though in some places jerrycanning is the only option.

We used British Admiralty charts plus the Alan Lucas guide.* Be careful of this guide -- it is old, inaccurate in places, but very helpful in others. Bob off US yacht Renaissance puts out an excellent guide. It is not marketed commercially so try obtaining it from the Opua Yacht Club, Opua, Bay of Island, New Zealand.

The local people are friendly, speak Pidgin or English, and will trade vegetables and fish for clothing etc.

* Published by Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson Ltd. A new and completely revised volume is in preparation and should be available within a year or two.

Winds and weather

During the months of July and August, throughout Vanuatu and the southern Solomon Islands the south-easterly trades blow at a constant 20-30 knots, particularly in the afternoons. Seas can become very steep and short and overfalls are downright dangerous. We sailed in the evenings and mornings as much as possible.