June 3, 2009

Out of Port Vila
We've moved from the bay where Port Vila is located, and are now in an area known as Havanna Harbor. The harbor is located on the NW coast of Efate Island, and is enclosed by two long islands that shelter it from the ocean. The water between Efate and the barrier islands is a couple of miles wide, and most is too deep for anchoring in a small vessel. There are a few places along the edges were there are sandy shoals, rather than reefs or abrupt drop-offs, and these plateaus, sheltered from winds by the high hills, are favorite places for yachts to spend some time away from town. There is a road that roughly follows the perimeter of Efate, and the American and Japanese govts have contributed to paving it. As we sailed up the harbor area we saw activity with heavy equipment working on that project, and also development of several resorts. Where the road is good, tourism becomes a viable industry.
We had intended to move out here to the more rural Vanuatu a few days earlier than we did. We needed to get off the mooring that Yachting World was supplying for 1200 Vatu ($12) a day. We hadn't budgeted for such a cost when we left Majuro; we were supposed to be back working in NZ in a month. But, as we readied to head out of town, Karen came down with flu symptoms, and felt far too bad to go anywhere. We spent another night on the mooring, and I went out in the dinghy looking for likely spots to anchor in the town harbor. From what I saw, and what I heard from a few local sources I determined that those who own the moorings and the resort facilities strongly discourage staying without paying. The resorts want to protect a perimeter of open water around their little piece of shoreline, and the mooring owners want to collect revenue. Only a couple of spots near the town looked reasonable, and we only stayed a couple of hours at the first one. Then a "security" guy in a rough old skiff came by to say it was "not safe" there and we had to move. I don't know what the danger was, but it seemed inadvisable to object. We had met a NZ couple who had arrived by yacht, and had recently bought a house, and we had asked them about anchoring. They said that although the mooring owners will tell you that you can't anchor anywhere near the quarantine buoy, where arrivals are cleared in, it is in fact unrestricted. They had lived there for two months while they shopped for a house. There are rocks on the bottom, which cause annoying problems with tangled anchor chain if the wind shifts, but it's legal and possible. So that's where we spent the next couple of days.
Early Tuesday morning we were ready to go. We started to pick up the anchor, but in the end I had to get in the water and untangle the chain from a rock overhang. From there it was a pleasant sail for a few miles, to the mouth of the Baie de Mele. The chart shows rough water and wave overfalls there, caused by current and wind encountering a projection of the island called Devils Point. Once you sail through there, the nomenclature is obvious. It's only a couple of miles, but a 20 knot trade wind was producing 4 meter seas, closely spaced with the crests breaking. It gets the attention. I can't say I'm looking forward to gong back against that when we return to town. But soon enough we were running along the coast, increasingly protected from the wind, and by the time we entered the Hilliard channel which leads to Havanna Harbor, the wind was light, gusting up to moderate. We were also experiencing very light, misting squalls of rain. Not much of a squall, just enough to require some sail trimming, so we had to be out where we got good and wet, and a little cooler than was comfortable.
We'd been offered the use of a mooring by a local charter operator, whose boat is being repaired at the moment, with the proviso that we might have some trouble FINDING it, unless another charter boat was on a nearby mooring, which would give us a reference point. We arrived in the area while the other boat was out working, and couldn't locate it, so carried on down the coast until we found a suitable sandy spot which was over a mile from the nearest road construction. It has proved to be both secure and quiet. Very soon after we arrived we felt and heard a rumble. It sounded like the anchor chain dragging across the bottom, but the whole boat was shaking. We ran up on deck, but it was completely calm, with not a wave in sight. Karen said jokingly it was probably an earthquake. Sure enough, 2 hours later on NZ radio they announced there had been a 6.2 quake just 45 km from us!
We saw a skiff on the beach, but no evidence of a house. And just before dark around 30 locals piled into the skiff and made their way across the bay to Moso Island. It turns out that the villagers from Moso, the barrier island across the harbor, have an extensive garden plot here. I had an early morning chat with a fellow who paddled in with a wheelbarrow tied onto his outrigger canoe. He told me "We kip carton her". It took a few minutes for me to figure out that he wasn't coming with a wheelbarrow to get boxes. That was "We keep a garden here". So far they've shown no more interest in us than a friendly wave and greeting on the way in and out. It seems that the skiff makes two trips each way daily, loaded so deep with garden workers and children that I'm sure they must sink it a couple of times a year if the water gets a little rough. No place in the Pacific does anyone seem to have any concept of a safety margin when it comes to boat capacity.
Since we've been in Vanuatu I've been exploring the HF radio bands, looking for good information programs. I find that between 3:00 and 5:00 in the morning Radio Australia has a couple of "ideas" programs, interviewing some pretty interesting people. Why they do this when most of the population is asleep is a question that comes to mind, but I suspect the answer. Can't intrude on sports commentary time for the bulk of the population, just to feed the thought process of a minority who aspire to the "elite intelligentsia". Anyway, the speaker this morning was George Friedman, editor of Stratfor, and author of a book, "The Next 100 Years". He tries to predict the big geopolitical events of the future, and makes quite a good case for his reasoning. I expect I'll try to get my hands on the book. If you have some time for an internet search, I think he's worth a look. And last night on Armed Forces Radio, on a lighter note, we listened to Car Talk with Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers. Entertainment from Cambridge, Massachussetts via NPR. And we are able to pick up Radio New Zealand for much of the day. So we are in touch with all things Kiwi and don't feel so far from home. Cruising to out of the way places is a lot different now than it was a few years ago. The communications improvements continue to delight us. Ted