Sunday 19 October 2003
Port Stanley, Malakula, Vanuatu
Greetings to Everyone --
Sorry we have been a bit out of touch in the past week or so, have had a few glitches with computers and power and have just not been focused on email. We left Port Vila a week ago Friday and sailed through Havannah Harbor -- it's a beautiful, large protected harbor which was a cyclone hole for the US Navy during WWII -- then over night to Lamen Bay on Epi Island -- home of the local dugong (cow fish in the local language). The Dugong is similar to a manatee but with a whale shaped tail, about 7 feet long and perhaps 300 pounds. We both got to pet this most interesting creature. He feeds off grass on the bottom in 8-10 feet of water and surfaces every 3-6 minutes to breath. The grass seemed very short to feed this large creature and he must have to filter out a great deal of fine volcanic sand. But maybe it's good for his digestion.
After a very rolly night in the anchorage, our third night there, we decided to pass on an invitation on shore for local dinner and sailed to Banan Bay on Malakula. We saw a really wonderful kustom dance here with 9 other cruisers. Great enthusiasm and spirit from the dancers and the feeling that they were performing from their hearts and not just to raise some money for the village. We paid about US$15 each, seems to be a nice way for the villages to earn money during the cruising season. A group of about 30 men performed four dances for us and then 40 women performed two dances for us with the female cruisers invited to participate in the second dance. The men had painted body's and wore the traditional penis sheath and the women only a grass skirt. After the dances we were presented with drinking coconuts and asked to introduce ourselves and tell a bit about us. We were a very international group with almost all of the Americans having lived outside the US plus a couple from Australia (she was originally from Germany), a visiting friend from Switzerland on one boat, and a couple from South Africa who had immigrated from England in 1966.
We had to leave here a day earlier than planned (is this a pattern that is developing?) as a low pressure system is supposed to come in and it would not be a good anchorage in the new wind direction. We had a wonderful, quick and "spirited" sail 30 miles north to more protected Port Stanley along with four of the other boats in the anchorage. It's been gray skies for almost a week now and started to rain yesterday about 5pm and has rained almost non-stop since. We are filling our water tanks and may do laundry in the dinghy (with all the water it has collected) when the rain stops. First the wind was too much to comfortably visit the other boats in the anchorage as you would get quite wet from waves splashing in the dingy and now you would get too wet from the rain. We did go for a dinghy adventure yesterday afternoon to check out the various corners of this part of the bay and we stopped at two of the boats to say hi and were invited on board for coffees. Nice to get a bit of socializing even if we were just in our bathing suits! Figured why wear shorts an t-shirts when they would just get wet? We are making new friends and excited that a number of them will be crossing the Indian Ocean with us next year.
Well about all for now, we will try to stay in better touch with all of you. Don't forget to write and let us know what you are up to.
hugs and lots of love -- Suzette and Paul