Cruising with Courtesan in Vanuatu - volcanoes, tsunamis and religion

Courtesan at anchor SW

Banks Islands © SW

We've spent the last couple of weeks in the remote Banks Islands, in the most northern area of Vanuatu. Here the supply ships only visit every 4 to 6 months and yachties provide a lifeline for these communities. Many of the canoes that visit us wanting to trade a papaya or bananas may ask for our windsurfer or a sail, but in reality they are happy with matches, flour, sugar, containers, seeds, linen, cutlery etc.

The islands are rugged with spectacular waterfalls and active volcanoes. Ureparapara is an extinct volcano with its eastern side blown out, the crater forming the anchorage.

There is a 340 degree vista of steep walls dropping down from the rim, covered with jungle and the ubiquitous 'Mile a Minute' vine which the Americans introduced to the islands in WWII as a method of camouflage.

Chief Godfrey Manar © SW

Our strangest experience in this area was at Twin Waterfall Bay on Vanua Lava. Within minutes of anchoring, Chief Jimmy was commandeering our yacht to transport 9 villagers to a religious festival 6 miles up the coast the
following morning. We woke at 5 a.m. to enable us to make several dinghy trips to shore to collect our passengers and get them to the opening prayers at the festival at 8 a.m.

The 9 passengers swelled to 19, and then we said 'No More!' Another couple of dozen villagers were transported on the other two yachts in the bay. After prayers, which we boycotted (they're not that interesting in a different language), we ate a delicious stew of wild pig (they'd caught two the previous day), island cabbage and banana.

Next on the program was the string band, and finally the sing sing with the tamtam and numerous other percussion instruments and the kastom dancing led by three chiefs, their faces painted, and wearing board shorts, coconut fronds and leaves.

Tsunami, reactivating volcanoes and religion?

It's been the best of times and the worst.
We didn't feel much effect from the earthquake and resulting Tsunami here in the Banks Islands luckily, but Niuatoputapu, the northern most island of Tonga where we spent an idyllic time 3 years ago, has been devastated by a wave reported at 6m that went 600m inland, which means all the areas people were living in were inundated. We sincerely hope that the people we met and spent time with are safe, but know the small community of 1000 will have
suffered terribly. We also visited the south coast of Samoa where many homes have been inundated and significant numbers killed or injured.

Here we were preparing to go ashore for a dental clinic at Waterfall Bay and had not turned the HF radio on to listen to the morning news from the wonderful Radio Australia.

Our practice is to always have the VHF on 16 (emergency and calling channel) and friends at the next anchorage up the coast radioed us to let us know that a wave of unknown size was expected in 30-40 minutes. I took off in the dinghy straight away to warn the nearby villages and found the water level had already dropped alarmingly low, below low tide level. This is the precursor to the arrival of the wave. The chief asked me to warn his young daughters who were out on a reef fishing in their outrigger canoes a mile away. This done and the girls heading for the hills, which at least here on Vanu Lava they have to escape to, we headed for deep water ... fast. Well nothing terrible happened here thank goodness, but no dentistry was done that day.

We also had news that Mt Garet, on the Island of Guau just to the south (where we had viewed the volcano on our 9 hr walk) was revving up and much more active then normal. In the 1970's the whole island was evacuated when
similar activity deteriorated further. Then we heard of the big earthquake in Indonesia, super typhoons in the Philippines and after shocks in Samoa.

Ureparapara satellite image © SW

So where did we anchor that night? Ureparapara, which is an extinct volcano with the east side blown out of it to form a deep opening right into the old caldera. Surrounded by the rim which ranges from 300 to 800m, Lorup Bay is
an eerie place with williwaws cascading off the mountains from seemingly every direction and a disturbing swell which runs right up the indent some 2 miles. welcome to 'rock and roll'.

We've had so many roadsteads and rolly anchorages that it was not a real issue for a few nights, and as Hez (Etha to the locals) has said, a very successful place for lobster and red crab.

Rolly anchorage Ureparapara © SW

I must thank Paul and Frances from 'Seaspray' for their chili crab recipe, prepared with fresh chilies from the locals gardens traded for fishing gear and a shirt. It was beyond fabulous. I said it was better than sex and Heather said it was messier!

It's been apparent that all is not always well in paradise at some anchorages, with too many chiefs looking out for themselves and sometimes selling donated items and even medicines back to their own villagers! This luckily has been balanced by most stops where the community is a real unit, with a spirit of giving that comes through the instant the first canoe arrives. Island politics!

Vanua lava © SW

On to religion. It's pretty hard to make sense of the goings on in the world with all the natural disasters lately, but religion has brought peace to these islands where not too long ago inter island and intra island wars and cannibalism were a way of life.

So when 20 Nee Vans turn up to go to a religious festival with Kastom dancing, it's a great way to spend a day, along with diagnosing and fixing Paul's outboard motor problem with him. a near disaster as a significant piece went to the bottom in 6-7m on grey black sand. why do Yamaha paint their motor bits grey?? Anyway Paul found it and the diagnosis of a blocked exhaust proved correct and rectifiable.

So there we have it: eruptions, crabs and dying dinghy outboards, vying with religion, politics and sex.

As the ancient Roman poet Horrace aptly said:

'Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He, who can call today his own;
He, who secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have
lived today'.

He would have made a fine cruising sailor that Horace