Huge update from Vanuatu...take your time reading

September 11-15, 2007 Port Vila Recap

I really like Port Vila. Its quite expensive, but I’ve been living like a king for a week and splurging. I got a few souvenirs in town and bought wine, kava, and coffee at the grocery store…you know the essentials. The internet is about $8 an hour and the connection is crap for skype. Sorry those of you at home. Maybe I’ll get a phone card if I can in Solo. A town where Agathe, Matt, and James will be leaving from in the Banks. The week in Port Vila went well. We got loads done and Heather and I worked for days on Point coint computer program for data entry for Gau reef study, but we still aren’t done. Have I mentioned Point count before? Well there are 4 transects where about 130 digital photos were taken along the length of each reef. Every pic has 10 random points assigned, and I have to go through and identify each point as live coral, algae with coral, dead coral, coral rock, sand, sand on coral, etc. It gets pretty crazy, and pretty intense. People give us a hard time b/c its not physical labor like they’re doing, but it is hard work and it takes so much time just to go through one transect.

I went out twice in the town of Port Vila. Sleepy little town really. They had a great yacht club (great bbq ribs finally!) and a sweet café that we hung out at a lot. One night I tried to keep up drinking with the English boys. That didn’t happen. Man the English can drink their beer. Ha! Its good with the new guys being here, and the two really negative guys (Matt and James) will be leaving soon. We all still get in our bitch sessions when we go out though. Still good to vent about all the problems on the ship, physical and emotional. I managed to go to this deli twice in town. The Aussie couple that owns it was so excited to see me a second time it was nice, to be welcomed like that. Their food was great, it rivaled Atlanta Bread Company and I forgot the name of the other place just like that. I had great sandwiches on focaccia bread, toasted with mozz cheese. Yum! There are lots of kava bars in Vila, but I never managed to make it to one. Zac went and said the kava was the best ever. Missed it…oh well. The kava is really strong and good here. One night during the week, I cooked a delicious beef roast with Kitty and we had 3 visitors from islands around Vanuatu come for dinner. The beef roast was a success and one of the guys, Eddie that the crew knows from their last trip here, was really interesting. He is a sand drawer (not so sure what that entails…I’m sure I’ll find out soon), but he’s from Pentacost and had some great stories, especially about land diving. Wish we could see that, it’s not the right season though. For our last night we had wine, cheese, crackers, and kava on the stern at sunset, it was nice to have everyone together. My computer still has been touch-and-go with working. I tried 3 times to get AVG anti-virus from the internet places, but the connection was so slow it never worked. I’ll steal someone’s Norton Anti-virus from the ship at some point. We could actually swim in the harbor of Port Vila which was such a treat. Agathe and I, and then all the boys came, had a refreshing salt water shower the last night before we left. James and I went to the national museum in town one day. Not too spectacular, I did find out some really interesting things about the native culture like head elongation, what different masks represent in different ceremonies, circumsion rituals, and the old sailing canoes they used to use. We got lost at first and went to the Parliament house that was vacant b/c everyone was on lunch, but got some great pics from their view and we were able to explore around the big building. Oh, on the last day, Heather and I did the stocking up of fresh food from the market. The market was so different than Suva. It was smaller, cleaner, sold different items, was more expensive, and at all the booths all the ladies had their toddlers with them. I think I saw some kids’ first steps at the market that day. It was so cute. The kids here, it doesn’t matter their age, smile and try to talk to you. It’s not like that in the States, kids are shy and keep to themselves. It was different to actually be able to get their attention and play. All in all, I was impressed with Port Vila and really enjoyed my time there. If that’s just the town, I’m excited to find out what the outer islands will be like, with their rich natural culture that’s still exsists.

As I type this we are on our way north, 250 miles to the Banks. Half the trip from Fiji to Vanuatu, but we’re supposed to make it in 2 days so we can get there in time for the arts festival. Sounds like some motoring to me…yeah! I produced this morning and made cinnamon rolls that everyone raved about for breakfast, and then baked chicken breast in basil and other spices for lunch (delicious as well). There isn’t too much wind, but we have been motoring a bit already. Its nice though, because there isn’t any big swells, because we’re protected as we travel past the islands. Hope this is a quick trip….



September 16, 2007 En route to the Bank Islands

The trip to the Banks, well Santa Maria island in the Banks, went pretty okay actually. It wasn’t rough and we motor sailed most of the time so we were going around 6 knots instead of 1 knot, which made the trip go quicker. We were sailing past islands the whole time too, so it was nice to know that land was right there. I watched a couple movies along the way and all the volunteers had a fun sunset happy hour with kava and cocktails on one of the nights too. It will sure be a different vibe once Agathe, James, and Matt leave in 2 wks. Not sure if it will be a bad thing or a good thing…we’ll see. Good weather the whole trip, clear starry nights and bright sunny days; not too much wind though. We arrived at the anchorage at Santa Maria and we dropped anchor right in the middle of the channel, not even in the anchorage with the rest of the boats. So we’re pretty much blocking the entrance to the harbor and are side on to all the swells that break through the channel. It absolutely sucks and is so stupid. It’s an anchorage they haven’t been to before, so I guess their not sure about the depth to get in. Pretty ridic. So we’re majorly rocking and rolling for 5 days at this anchorage. Grrr! Once we were settled, most of the boys swam over to the reef and I took the dinghy over to the reef with Max and Agathe for some snorkeling. Later that afternoon I watched the sunset from up on the rattlings with the crazy swells and then chilled out with the guys on the bow listening to music. The festival starts tomorrow….



September 17, 2007 Arts Festival Day 1, Gaua Island (Banks)

So the arts festival was music, dancing, and other traditional ceremonies. The walk up to the festival grounds was 20 minutes so it was fairly close, and it only cost $5 a day so it was cheap to go. It was hard to tell if this fourth annual festival was being held for the village people or the group of about 30 tourists that were there for the event. It wasn’t advertised really at all, there were just a few other volunteers from around the island, a couple tourists staying in some bungalows on the other side of the island, and the yachties in the anchorage. Why I am tending to think that the festival was put on for the tourists, is because the main stage area was barb wired/fenced off, and only the tourists could go in. We found out later that if the locals dressed natively (w/grass skirts, leaf bundles on upper arms, etc.) they could enter the festival area. Well it turned out that there were only about 30 tourists in the area and all the locals sat outside the barbed wire. It was very strange really. The place was empty. Oh and what really pissed me off was when the dances and ceremonies were going on, the stupid tourists would just walk right up in their junk and be snapping their pictures (w/flash!) all over the place! It really wasn’t very culturally respective. All in all though, the festival was fun, slow at times, but really unique and cultural experience that I prob would have never experienced elsewhere. I felt like there is a sense of lax Fiji time in Vanuatu too.

The huts in the villages here in Vanuatu are made from natural materials which is nice to see. We found a sweet chill out spot in a village on a bay near the festival grounds. It was perfect with a little breeze under some trees on a hill with a path down to the water so we could cool off and swim. It was so hot. I was semi-worried about malaria and the mosquitoes, so I took a garlic pill and loaded up on bug spray. It turns out that the mosquitoes weren’t even the problem though, it was these pesky flies that were everywhere. It was hard to even relax and take a nap with the flies swarming you.

I guess I should explain what actually went on at the festival now. Ha! Well it was a really long day we got there at 7:30 am and left at 5 pm. We got there so early, but they didn’t start things until around 10. The festival grounds were all cleared and clean bounded by two huge banyan trees. Outside of the festival, thatched stalls were set up where locals were selling food and kava. There was an opening precession in the morning and then hours of speeches until lunch time. The opening procession was neat. All these people came down the road singing. Men, women and children all dressed up in grass skirts, bundles of leaves around their arms, head dresses of leaves, and a few of the women were topless while others had grass skirts around there top. At lunch break, we hung out at the chill spot, and rested and swam for a few hours. We had a pretty meager lunch of coconut milk, peanuts, and horribly stale corn on the cob. After lunch it was the killing of the pig ceremony, which was really brutal. Of course the tourists were front and center in there with their stupid pics, but I could bear it. A big old pig was getting beaten on the head with a club, and it kept squealing so loud. Its funny the locals giggle like little kids about seeing the women topless, but when it came to beating the shit out of the pig, the place was quiet. Even the little kids were watching, enthralled. After the big, there was a long break, and then there was a marriage ceremony offering. Where there were 2 family groups that came out with piglets and large taro to exchange with each other. The whole ceremony was in bislama, the local language here (like a pigeon English), but you could get the gist of what was going on. After that, another long break and then there was the men’s string band and dancing competition. String band as in ukuleles, a drum, and a large tight string tied to a bow and a barrel (sounded like a low cello or something).
I left at 5, before the kava and dancing with the locals got started. I was completely exhausted. I came back to the boat for an afternoon and night of endless rocking and rolling! Yeah! I’m so stick of this anchorage its really pissing me off.




September 18, 2007 Arts Festival Day 2, Gaua Island (Banks)

This morning we saw the water music performances bright and early at 9 am. It was really different to hear actual melodies and rhythms being made from women splashing in the water. Some of the women were topless singing and splashing in the water, and all the locals were able to watch this part of the festival. Water music is unique to Gaua in the Banks, and it used to be used to scare fish together in a circle to be then caught by the men.

We were chit-chatting with the yachties before the water music started and they were asking us why we’re anchored way out there in the middle of the channel! Ha! Ya I didn’t have an answer for them. I guess we’re playing it safe…ya right. After the water music, we headed back to the main area of the festival and it was like a scene from a local county fair back home. There was the biggest pig, biggest cucumber, carvings displayed with a carving demonstration (for sale, super expensive), and a mat weaving demonstration. After another meager lunch of peanuts, rolled sugary dough and coconut juice, we went for a swim and came back to see a few dances including the infamous snake dance. The snake dance has become well known all over Vanuatu and it was sadly cut short from rain, but we were able to see a small portion of the dance. I’m not too sure what it represents, maybe worshipping their totem of the sea snake. The men in the dance were striped white from head to toe (for a black and white striped look). They only were able to dance for about 10 minutes with a band and then that was it. It sure seemed like a lot of hype for the snake dance, but I guess it was cut short because of the rain. It was really coming down though. All the tourists huddled up together, keeping dry under the huge banyan trees. The festival ended shortly after the rain, and I decided I better stay after and have a sunset kava with the guys. James and Zack kept getting shell after shell of really strong kava and I had two halves of a shell and I was good. The kava there was the strongest I’ve had yet. Your mouth went numb and we all bought lollipops because it was nice to suck on something after having that horrible taste in your mouth. Being out drunk by the guys, I proceeded to wander off and dance with a group of the local ladies while a string band was still playing. We were kava-ed out to say the least, feeling all stoned and slow moving. Then it was back to the ship for more rocking and rolling, we ate a great dinner that night, and then had a few of the yachties over to tour the ship and hang out.


September 19, 2007 Gaua Island, Banks

Today was a relaxing day on the rocky and rolly ship. It was the last day of the festival, but it was just boring closing speeches pretty much all day, so I opted not to go. I did some laundry and went for 2 long snorkels on our backyard reef. The boys speared bait fish for fishing tonight while snorkeling too. Agathe and I were on dinner and we made delicious, spicy pizzas. They were a hit with everyone. Just James and I ended up fishing after dinner with the bait fish that they speared earlier in the day. Everyone was so tired, so we just hung out on the sugar scoop with some tunes. I caught a big mutton snapper and James caught 2 muttons and a gag grouper. It was a good fishing night, and fun to hand line in those decent size fish. Hope we get to eat the fish for dinner tomorrow and not for lunch as I won’t be on board…I’ll be trekking to the largest waterfall in Vanuatu.



September 20, 2007 Gaua Island, Banks

Bright and early morning meeting up with 5 other yachties on shore at 6:30 am to go to the waterfall with our guide, Chief Paul
I thought it would a nice easy day as I found out there would be a boat taken to the waterfall, instead of the hike to a large lake on the island that takes 4 hours to get here and 4 hours back ugh!
So we took a slow boat to China for an hour and then got to the village where the trek to the waterfall began
Crazy 3 ½ hr hike there and 3 ½ hours back; sweltering hot then pouring down rain, straight up climb through slippery muck
After the long straight up climb, we finally reached the point where you could see the waterfall, and then it was an even steeper, slippery-er descent for a half hour to get down to the waterfall to be able to swim
The muddy trail down had now become a muddy river down, and at one point we actually had to repel down with a rope, what now was a small muddy waterfall; crazy I have never repelled like that before, but it was really cool
It turns out that this “waterfall” is a whopping 830 ft and the largest in Vanuatu! Pretty impressive and def worth the hike. We were able to swim in the pool near the rocks on the side, but the water flowing in the middle was flowing too fast to swim there
The water comes from the lake and was pouring over the falls so fast, the spray was actually too much to keep your eyes open when the wind really picked up
We had a nice short lunch break at a smaller waterfall off of the huge main one and then it really started to pour down rain again
The hike back was ridiculously scary, people were slipping and falling all over the place in the now steady brown river of water that was our trail
On the way there, there was this dry river bed and we just walked over it on this ledge of rocks…well on the way back its like we had taken a new path! The dry river bed was now a really strong mucky river with no exposed rocks to cross on! Our guide Chief Paul actually strung the rope up across the river to 2 trees and we all literally went hand over hand on this rope over the river. It was pretty fun and risky, like the repelling earlier. Ha! Sorry Mom!
We made it back down though, and it stopped raining as we were finishing the hike. It probably always rains up there though, it’s a huge waterfall. The whole day from 6:30 am to 5 pm was only $15…well worth it. I’m so exhausted tonight though. Open table tonight, I hope no one really speaks their mind tonight, I don’t think I can handle all that.


September 22, 2007 Gaua Island, Banks

So I think I lost track of a day somewhere, but nothing important probably happened on that day anyways if I can’t remember it. Today, Saturday, Sept 22, was my day to stay on board while the second half of the crew goes to the lake. Well last night we ate the fish that James and I caught the night before for dinner and it was so delicious. It was actually my first comment of the night during the open table part of dinner. Zac made a nice sweet and sour sauce to go with the grilled fish caught freshly off the stern. So…the morning after the fish dinner, there is about 4 members of the crew that are actually feeling well. James and I poisoned everyone! Including ourselves! We think it was cigaterra (poison that builds up in larger predator fish that can be fatal in large amounts) in the fish that we caught. Pretty scary! All the sickies have diarrhea and numbness/tingling in their hands and feet. Carol (who ate a lot of the fish that night) was actually almost tripping and couldn’t feel her legs and was acting pretty crazy…which is not so unexpected as she was prob soaking up the attention. The thing is you can’t actually do anything about it, its just a poison that has to work it’s way out of the body. I was actually feeling pretty okay during the day. I was able to help change out the dinghy engines and prepare the ship for visitors that came from the village in the afternoon. I felt fine all day. The chief of chiefs of Gaua, William, cute little old man about 70 came to see the ship along with lots of little boys, some other men from the village, and 3 Peace Corps workers. It was a fun afternoon, the little boys were having a ball jumping off the ship and swimming around. That night, for about 3 hours up to my watch at midnight, I couldn’t feel my feet. It felt like they were stuck in one of those heart rate pressure machines, and I couldn’t stop the swelling. It felt like they weren’t getting blood, and I thought they looked all puffy and swollen. It was a bad feeling to not be able to control it, and it hurt so bad. I got up for watch and just stood up the whole time and drank lots of water and that seemed to help it. By the time I went to bed they were ok and I was able to get some sleep. Pretty crazy though, I’m not sure if it was from the hike or just a mild side effect from cigaterra. Hope everyone is feeling better tomorrow.



September 23, 2007 Gaua Island to Sola, Vanua Lava

Everyone was feeling ok today after our bit with cigaterra, so that’s good. We woke up this morning and sailed the 23 miles to the island of Vanua Lava with the capital of Northern Vanuatu, Sola, a calm anchorage to fix some water fitting in the engine. The sail was only from 9-3, with only 2 hour watches. The wind was pretty good and just a bit of rain. As soon as we anchored and put the dinghy in the water, Matt, Agathe, and James said their good byes and left…just like that. It was crazy, they didn’t even stay for their last Sunday night dinner. Kind of rude really. They were all supposed to stay for another week and then leave when we went to Sola to clear out of Vanuatu and pick up Michel. I guess they were ready to be done with this ship.

I was pretty sketched out to swim at this anchorage. It’s super calm and nice, clear water, but the Lonely Planet boasts about there being 3 salt water crocodiles in the Sulphur River, right near by that empties into the anchorage. Whatever…I jumped in and had a refreshing salt water shower off the stern. I was in the Sunday night skit with James and Heather and our funny punch line for a skit about the cigaterra was “ To throwing back the bad ones.” (As in the fish you know) Dinner was weird, I didn’t know where to sit. We’re only 9 now, and Zack and I were the only ones to mention how we were going to miss the others that had just left, in our speeches. Shitty of the rest of the crew, esp the officers to basically not even care that they left really. I’ll be able to get into the village tomorrow and explore the Northern capital of Vanuatu.



September 24, 2007 Sola

Today was a ultimately stress free day, I did a lot of cleaning and other little chores around the boat. Max was producer for the day, the boy needs to be shown how to do absolutely everything! He doesn’t know how to cut a freakin onion! Where does he come from? The new boys got to have their first intro to the science stuff, and I went on a snorkel with them after lunch.

After the snorkel, all of the volunteers were able to go into the village. I kept wanting to call Sola a town, but it’s really just a village. The post office was the bank too, so I was able to send a few postcards…no idea when those will arrive to the states. There were also about 3 poorly stocked shops selling a few essentials like canned corn beef , a couple kava bars, and thatched huts scattered along the main road. We managed to meet up with Matt, James, and Agathe and we all went to their bungalows and hung out with them for the night. I say bungalows like it’s a nice resort of something. There were only about 4 really-roughing-it thatched huts. The place was really cute though, Elizer’s guest house. It was quaint, with crap bathrooms and showers (like flush it yourself with a bucket of water), with really nice people that lived/worked there and a sweet hammock setup right on the water (big fishing nets really, but huge, like all 9 of us could fit on it). They had a phone and I tried to call my Mom on Max’s phone card, but he only gave me like 3 minutes to use it, so I don’t think she had time to jot down the number to call me back. I’ll try again next time we’re in Sola. The lady that ran the bungalows was so cute. I kept joking with her and giving her a hard time about having to deal with all these rowdy sailors. I brought a bottle of wine that we had over sunset, then we went to the kava bar down the road for a few shells. We all came back to the guesthouse and the lady that owns it had a dinner all ready for us of chicken, taro, fish, and rice. It wasn’t so good, but so nice all the same. All of us but Max (who went back to the ship, exhausted at about 10) hung out all night, listening to reggae that the guest house was blaring, and drank beer and a bottle of rum to wish them farewell. It was really a fun night. Arie, James, Zack, and I all ended up staying and sharing a bungalow (for only $20 for dinner, a place to sleep, and breakfast…such a deal), and being picked up at 8:30 the next morning.




September 25, 2007 Sola to Waterfall Bay, Vanua Lava

I was quite a mess, hung over and hurting this morning. It was a nice easy day of motoring for 20 some miles around the island to our next anchorage, Waterfall Bay. This is ‘the famous’ twin waterfalls that cascade into the ocean, that the Banks is known for. It was an absolutely crazy Cetacean (whales and dolphin) Fiesta for the six-hour motor. We saw 2 sperm whales and about 5 pods of dolphins (all melon head dolphins and spinners we think). I’m in charge of the cetacean log now since James left, so I have some serious reporting to do. One pod of about 8 dolphins swam right up to the stern and stayed with us for a while! We put the boat in neutral and were able to swim with them! Heather was stupidly fumbling with getting a safety line all set up, and I just slipped in off the stern. She got all pissed, but ha! I was first to swim with them and I didn’t even need a mask, I could see them swimming right under me! I’m not sure if I’ve ever naturally been with dolphins that close before, it was almost scary as there were so many of them and they’re so much bigger than us. Once the safety line got set up, 4 of us at a time were allowed to hang on and swim with them. A few others had the chance to get in, but soon they were gone. What an experience! I couldn’t believe it, I wish that would happen on every voyage. In the midst of all these whale and dolphin sightings, we caught a decent size wahoo. Carol taught me how to fillet and skin it properly, it was funny, I was a sight to see, all blood and gutsy in my bikini!

We finally made it to Waterfall Bay about 3. Everyone was in such a good mood, it was such a good omen seeing all those sights today. I’m really starting to think this is going to be okay. I’m really getting close to all the guy volunteers, since I’m stuck with all guys now. I thought it was going to suck, but they’re all so close to me, like brothers really, we can talk about anything. It’s good. Once everything was all set up, we went for a swim off the stern, and I attempted to paddle around in a local guy’s outrigger canoe that came to see the boat. So funny! Water kept pouring in and I had left the bailer on the stern of our boat! I had to jump off and swim it back, I didn’t want to sink the poor guy’s canoe! Canoeing here is quite a skill obviously, its going to take some practice that’s for sure. Fresh wahoo sashimi tonight (oh yum!) and a non-linear movie about some islands off of PNG. Tomorrow night is the full moon, and we’re going to have a full moon party at the waterfall…it should be amazing. You can see the steady flowing twin waterfalls from the anchorage, so cool. I think for the occasion, I will share my Washington smoked salmon for some dip and appetizers for the night.



September 26, 2007 Waterfall Bay, Vanua Lava, Banks

We woke up early and went in to the village for their welcome ceremony they want to give us. It was nice, basically one family that is ‘the village’ showed us around and wanted us to become their 19th member of the yacht club they set up. There are only 7 people in the village. They sang a little song for us and then I got to see the waterfalls up close, and they are truly amazing. On the way back from the village in the dinghy, a pod of small dolphins (spinner dolphins?) were playing off the stern of the Infinity, so we sped past them in the dinghy and they were riding the bow for a while and one did a huge jump in the air right in front of us. So sweet! I def feel like there’s been all these good signs since we’ve got to Waterfall Bay. Its really refreshing. It has been really rainy here (no wonder as the waterfalls are always really flowing strong) and you couldn’t even see the full moon tonight, so we’re going to do the full moon party on another night here. I attempted to deck sleep tonight but it was rocky, rolly, and rainy…not a fun combo. I didn’t get much sleep and ended up coming back to my bunk in the wee hours of the morning.



September 27, 2007 Waterfall Bay

Today was a big diving day. I tended a dive in the early morning. This is probably the best tending conditions to ever tend a dive in. I felt like I was at ‘lab’, in peaceful mediation. It was right in front of the roaring waterfalls, really picturesque. We’ve been told the lobstering is good in this bay, and the locals go out at night and just pick them up off the sand as they’re crawling around out in the open. Well you know me, I said, “Shh I can get lobster during the day!” So I rigged up a tickle stick with 2 pieces of wood and Zack and I took our afternoon dive to do some intense lobster hunting…unfortunately to no avail. It turned out that the area was so cavernous and there were so many deep nooks and crannies to swim through and for lobsters to hide in, it was an impossible task during the day. I obviously see why they catch them at night.

After a great lunch of lentil burgers, I did a bit of science website stuff but then I was able to go in and swim in the waterfall. So amazing! I loved it. I wore my booties, so I was pretty much invincible to the slippery rocks and was able to climb up behind the falls and just hang out admiring the view. I can’t even describe it fully. It was hard to keep my eyes open with all the spray, but the two waterfalls literally flow right into a great surf break on this rocky reef flat. I was in behind the waterfall, looking out at the sunset, our boat, and a great surf break…it was perfect. I kept reminding myself that I was really
here seeing this. The rocky and rolly anchorage is worth it. I had to come back and cook dinner with Max….ya I basically cooked. Everyone loved it. Fried chicken breast, papaya salad, green beans, rice, stuffed green chili peppers with cheese and tomatoes, and brownies and cold milk for dessert…yum!


September 28-30, 2007 Waterfall Bay
So I’m going to clump a few days together…I’ve been losing track of which day it is, while I’ve been enjoying beautiful waterfall bay. I have been able to dive everyday, which has been awesome (since that pretty much the reason I came to the ship). We’ve been working to complete a vitareef science study here to look at the health of 2000 corals in a patch of reef right in front of the waterfall. It’s a really nice reef with corals covering deep walls, and they’re relatively diverse corals here too which is good to see. I think I mentioned it before, but the reef is right off of the waterfall, weird that the corals would be so nice with so much fresh water coming in, but I’ve had to do a lot of tending dives and it’s such a primo tending spot. I’ve had the chance to visit the waterfall twice now…its so beautiful and exotic, chilly, but you can climb up the rocks and behind the waterfall…the view is amazing, right out into the ocean.

We had the family, that is the village, out to the boat for dinner one night, and then the next night we went in and they cooked dinner for us. That night that we all went in, Heather became a member of their family in a silly little ceremony, where nothing really happened…I thought it was pretty funny, she was loving it. I felt close to this family, but not as close as I feel with the all the people we met in the village of Somosomo in Gau, Fiji. Guess she just felt really connected to them. The dinner they made for us was really nice, but I was kind of grossed out by the snails that they made for us that live in the waterfall. Not a fan of the escargot.

One night, we had a chill out party on the stern and everyone hung out and had a couple drinks (besides Max). It was nice to all be together hanging out, with the officers too, not just us volunteers, that really doesn’t happen too often. I had to produce one of the days and I made doughnuts filled with jam and papaya for breakfast and hot dogs with mac and cheese for lunch…long day in the galley, but everyone really liked it. The new guys had their first acting class on Saturday morning. Max hated it a lot, and struggled to even to anything, but James and Arie actually played along and didn’t mind getting into it. Here we’ve been trading kerosene, t-shirts, and empty glass bottles for our fruits and veggies, it’s so nice to live like that, where money isn’t even an issue. We just give them what they need, and they give us what we need. It’s back to Sola tomorrow to get ready for the voyage and pick up Michel. Our time in Waterfall Bay has really been spectacular. Just what I needed. I feel ready for the 2 wk voyage to PNG now that I’ve been diving and relaxing for a week.



October 1, 2007 Sola, Vanua Lava

Today we motored back to Sola from Waterfall Bay. It was such a magical spot there. We even woke up to a pod of dolphins swimming along side the boat this morning before we raised the anchor. The motor to Sola wasn’t too exciting. I’ve had the worst headache the past couple days, so I just slept and relaxed most of the time. Once we arrived in Sola after beating into the wind for 6 hours, we picked up Michel and got to hear all his crazy stories from the toka festival he went to in Tanna. He really loved it, and got some great HD video footage. When he first got back on board it was funny to hear him so mad about James, Agathe, and Matt leaving with pretty much no notice. He was like, “If they’re not happy here…f-them, we don’t need their dead weights here.” Which is true, but none of us have had the guts to say anything like that about them. Tomorrow we finally get to sleep in and have a proper Sunday (with nothing to do) on a Tuesday. Kind of complicated, but ya. Listen to me… ‘proper Sunday.’ Being around all these Brits is starting to change my speech! Ah! It’s been going good though living with all the guys in Paradise. We all hang out a lot and have really gotten to know each other. I even got them to play spades and gin rummy tonight! What a feat! They always give me a hard time for wanting to play card games.



October 2, 2007 Sola, Vanua Lava

It was def nice to sleep in this morning, not be on watch, and have no schedule to follow for the day. I slept until about 10 and then I really felt the headache that I’ve had the past couple days starting to catch up with me. I think it’s the beginnings of a cold…stuffy nose, scratchy throat, headache. So I just laid around all day. Didn’t sleep so much, just set up our sweet spot/couch under the hatch in paradise and watched a couple movies with the guys. In the afternoon, a few of us went into the village. There was all this screaming you could hear from the shore, when we were being dropped off at the dock. Turns out there was a volleyball competition for Tabor Day (independence day for this province). It seemed like the whole village had come out for the game. When we got there it was the finals, and all the women and children were watching the game, and the guys were over near the dock sitting under a tree playing cards. I just wanted to sit, relax, and enjoy the game for a bit, but those boys…they had to start their search for beer. We’ll it turned out as I predicted, that all the shops were closed since everyone was at the volleyball game. In an hour, the shops started to open. I bought a $5 phone card and managed to call my parents for 3 min! Pretty silly…I hung up and was thinking, well at least they know I’m ok. I got the phone card and then had to go to the bungalows we stayed at before to use their phone. I was looking for any of the staff that wasn’t at the Tabor day festivities, and there was this guy that found me and said, “Tanya! Good to see you again!” Such nice people here! I didn’t remember the guy’s name, I think he was the husband of the lady that owns the place. He said “Of course you can use our phone.” He got me all set up and left me in his house while he went to find some beers for his one guest staying at the bungalows. It was free to use the phone too, if I had called from one of the shops, they would have made me pay along with paying for the phone card. In the end, the boys did find beer and crap red cooking wine that they were raving over. We met this one wasted guy, Alan, at the yacht club, that was super nice to us and had a truck come pick us up to go buy the wine. And there are really no trucks here. The boys drank a lot of Alan’s wine and they all started to sing songs from Top Gun. It was so funny…to see all these white guys piled in the back of a pickup belting Top Gun songs with drunken Alan.

When I say guys, I mean Zack and James. Max was there too, but he was just annoyed by us and didn’t want to be there. He went into town to call his mom and that was it, not to hang out, relax, and be off the ship for a bit. He was seriously driving me crazy yesterday! He had this guy open his shop, just to look around at the 20 different items he had on his shelves. You don’t do that here! The people in Vanuatu, as we now know after spending some time here, will do absolutely anything for you…and most of the time, want nothing in return. They are just good-hearted people, that genuinely care for others. Anyways, so Max just walked out of the shop when he wasn’t satisfied…so I went ahead and bought a box of cookies that I didn’t even want. Pretty much just to thank the guy for opening his shop. Well Max found his phone, talked to his Mom about the stupid rugby scores, and then was hanging out with us with Alan, that had too much wine for Tabor day. He sat there and just kept shaking his head and scoffing like a parent would do! Ugh! He would blatantly speak louder than Alan and other locals guys that were sitting with us (interrupting them) to ask me a stupid question like, if I’m going to call my parents today. Grrr! How rude! He thinks drinking is wrong and doesn’t like how people act when they drink so he doesn’t ever want to be around when we’re drinking. Give me a break, bust out of your sheltered life and grow up a bit. You’re about to go to freakin university for christ sake kid! The guys asked him what he thought university was going to be like and he said something like, “There’s all these girls that are just begging to have sex with you.” What? That’s just in the movies Max. I really thought he was going to grow up on board and learn so much, but seriously I’m not so sure if there’s any hope for this one.

Work day tomorrow, I think some hull scraping and galley blitzing is in order. Yeah!



October 3, 2007 Sola, Vanua Lava

Today I spent my morning painting the freakin head. I was getting pretty high on paint fumes in that small space. After lunch, Michel and I went in to the village to pick up some laundry, mail some letters, etc. When I went to the bungalows the other day to use the phone, I met this guy, Reggie, who was with the Department of Tourism in Vanuatu and wanted to know more about the ship and the program. Michel and I also went to visit him in his office, and he was really thankful that I stopped by to give him so info. He was really excited to be starting a website soon for the Banks and Torres islands. When I got back, I took an outside shower and then prepared some photos and a poem for our Vanuatu impressions Tuesday night. Zack and I did a T and Z collaboration poem that was pretty funny. We act like brother and sister all the time, everyone gives us a hard time. Its good though to have someone to crack on. It was an interesting night. Most people had really great short clips from the water music in Gaua. I was the only one with a slideshow of what really happened in Vanuatu. Like the cigaterra fishing night, drinking in Port Vila with the guys, hiking to the waterfall, and other pics like that.



October 4, 2007 Sola, Vanua Lava

Roach War/ Insane in the Membrane Day

There was a roach war today from 12-2ish. All morning I worked in the galley with Heather and Max to take out everything so we could bomb the area along with the rest of the ship. It took forever, because we sorted through all the crap as we took it out. When we set the bombs off at about noon, everyone but Kitty and Carol (who stayed on deck), left the ship and ate lunch at the yacht club with food cooked by Robert and Sara there. It was great food too! I think my opinions of island food are starting to change. We had chicken (which was so good, and probably so fresh), sweet potato, fried lap-lap (grated yam), rice, and curry snake beans (weird local long bean). It was a nice lunch, and we all commented on how it was different to actually be sitting at a table in chairs with everyone. After lunch, Arie, Zack, James, and I walked down the coast a little to go swim and chill out at this nice section of beach. We were maxin and relaxin, wishing we had pina coladas…we all had a great afternoon. We finally decided to drag ourselves back to the dinghy and back to the ship. Well when we started to walk over there, there was a crowd of people mobbing the area where our dinghy was. We were joking, oh crap..I bet they sent a search party out for us since we took our time relaxing at the beach. It turned out that Max and Eibes were laying on the ground with their legs all bandaged up…super scary, we were all kind of freakin out. Mom knows, when stuff like that happens, I switch into my mom mode and feel the need to take control of the situation. Heather was there radioing to the ship when we arrived, and told us the scoop. They were all in the dinghy and Eibes was starting the engine on this new Yamaha that we bought in Suva to replace the one lost in the yellow boat incident, anyways….he started the engine in a high rpm in gear! I guess it doesn’t have an interlock mechanism or something like that, so the engine will start in gear, which is real dangerous. Eibes knew it, I guess he just didn’t check. Well he and Max got thrown out of the boat and both got hit pretty bad by the prop. Max had 3 deep cuts in his leg, that will need stitches, and Eibes is real screwed up. He had a big gash in his leg down to his muscle, he was in shock and had been bleeding a lot. Heather and Michel were in the boat too, but were ok. James, Arie, and I headed back to the boat to clean up the roaches with Carol, and Kitty and Zack made trips back and forth from shore to the boat to give them medical supplies. There is no real doctor in Sola, let alone on Vanua Lava. After a few hours, Michel was able to arrange a plane, for Heather, Max, and Eibes to Port Vila. They all left for Vila about 6:00. I hope they’re all ok. They sounded ok on the radio, right before they left on the plane. What a crazy afternoon though. I’ve never been around serious injuries like that with no hospital or doctor anywhere nearby. That’s the part I’m calling ‘Insane in the membrane.’ They’ll be okay though. We’re heading to Vila tomorrow to meet up with them in a few days. It will be a really small crew of 7 people for the 3 day voyage, but we can do it. Secretly, I am kind of excited to be going back to Vila. I hope I have a chance to call home before leaving for PNG. I’m guessing we’ll be spending a few days there, while Max gets stitched up…I don’t know about Eibes though. Poor guy, I think he did some major damage to his muscle and will prob have to recoup for awhile after some surgery. Just a guess..I don’t know. It kind of scares me though. I don’t even really have insurance anymore if I had to go have something major like that done in one of these hospitals out in the middle of nowhere. Onto Vila tomorrow. p.s. the guys are pissed as they just spent $72 ridiculous dollars on a case of beer for the trip to PNG, and we’re headed back to Vila where beer is a lot cheaper. Oh well!



October 5, 2007 Sola, Vanua Lava to Port Vila, Efate

Life has calmed down a little more today, and we are all moving past the shock of what happened. In the morning today, we received an email from Heather with the guys in Vila. She said everything is ok, they’re in the hospital. Max will need to be stitched up, and Eibes will need major surgery and at least 2 months physical therapy to get the muscle back in his leg. Sounds like Michel will be captain for a while. We left Sola after lunch today, and it should take us 2, maybe 3 days to get to Port Vila, against the wind and current. We’ve been trying to sail, but not gaining too much headway, so the engine has been on a lot (which I like, instead of putting around, not moving). We have to be on 2 person watches with such a small crew, which kind of sucks. My watch from 4-8 isn’t so bad, b/c I have Michel and Arie on my watch. A pod of about 10 spinner dolphins played in the bow wake for a good 20 minutes, which was fun. I’m really trying not to get stuck into my “I just want to get there mode,” but its hard not to. We are moving though, slowly but surely. Michel keeps stressing that there is no rush to get there, but they’re prob going to be stuck in the hospital for a week.



October 6-7, 2007 Voyage to Vila

Nothing much too exciting happens at sea so I’m going to group some days together
Max and Eibes going to New Caledonia
2 humpback whales on my watch at 6 am
motoring a lot, but just started to get enough wind in the right direction to sail
more spinner dolphins
I made blueberry muffins for breakfast one morning, yum