After our most comfortable passage yet of 3 nights, we arrived at the entrance to Port Resolution on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu. This, unfortunately, would be the only island that we would get to see in Vanuatu, our reduced time frame due to the repairs in Fiji has us not seeing as much as we would like. As we got closer we could see the smoke rising up from Mount Yasur, one of the worlds most accessible volcanoes, and the main reason for our visit to this particular island. Anchored next to Ooroo 1, another Aussie boat, we spent the afternoon tidying up and getting ready for our check in the following day.
G and P went ashore to find where to check in and managed to find the yacht club. After contacting the customs official by sat phone and finding out he was having some car trouble and would be delayed by a couple of hours, we returned to the boat to see how the kids were going with their schoolwork. As H whipped up some lunch for us he spotted a couple of whales breaching just outside the entrance to Port Resolution. It’s the first whales we have seen on our trip.
Later on P went ashore and filled out some of the paperwork so we could all visit Tanna. We still needed to check in with Immigration and found out they would come the next day. The checking in and out of a country just requires a little patience and lots of paperwork to complete. We should know everyone's passport numbers off the top of our heads by now, but by the time we’re checking out, the numbers have faded from memory. Luckily we have a boat folder with all our details that we take to shore for checking in and out of each country. The following morning P paddled to shore on the SUP to complete our check in while G repaired a leak in the dinghy and left it to sit for the day to cure.
H removing the quarantine flag and raising the Vanuatu flag
We spoke with the crew off Ooroo and Maja and decided to arrange our trip to the Volcano for the next day. Stanley from the Port Resolution Yacht club was our go-to guy. He could organise transport, tours and village activities for us. The yacht club is the most unique one we’ve visited and nothing like yacht clubs at home. The Pacific islands we have visited have been very diverse but Tanna is the most primitive place we have visited so far. There is no electricity, only the occasional generator and some people have solar panels, generally donated by yachties. People wash in the ocean each day, and they walk everywhere.
The yachties met on shore at about 2:30pm for a 3pm departure. All were pretty excited about visiting Mt Yasur and maybe even a touch nervous, after all, it is an active volcano. We piled into a 4x4 ute and made our way along the dirt track to the volcano entrance. A couple of locals jumped in with us as they were delivering some lights to another village.
We arrived at the volcano entrance and paid the 10000vatu (about $100 AUD) admission fee. The children's tickets were about 7000Vatu, and we got lucky as they only charged us for 3! From there we were led to a seating area where you sat in the group from your country. Australia had the largest group on that day! After everyone was seated there was a presentation of kava to the chief of the village to ask permission to visit the volcano. Then a group of villagers performed a welcome dance, a volcano dance and the chief signaled permission.
All the paying guests and the guides then piled into 3 utes and made the 10 minute trip to the upper car park. The wind had picked up a bit so donning our jackets we followed our guides, Nancy and Marie up the steep track to the rim of Mt Yasur. It was quite a sight to behold, watching the smoke rise from below and listening to the rumble. We walked higher along the western side and the view was even better. You could see the molten lava shooting up into the air, and the noise (a bit like thunder) made us all jump a little. P held onto the boys hands as the track was only about 2 metres wide, and falling down either side was not appealing. One way was down the outside of the volcano about 2 km long, and the inner wall down towards the molten lava! OHS standards are pretty relaxed as there were no barriers, you are just told to stay with your guide.
We walked along the edge until we found the best vantage point to view the spectacle and watched in awe as the lava bubbled and spat as the sun set behind us. A plane flew around the edge above us, making several passes. While the view would have been spectacular, I preferred our vantage point, as you could here the rumble and feel the ground shake as she roared. We sat for a couple of hours in the dark, mesmerised by the natural light and sound show, before returning to the entrance for some refreshments and then home to Be and Be.
The following day we arranged to go for a walk through the village of Port Resolution with the crews from Free Spirit and Steely Dan. We had met Free Spirit in Viani Bay, Fiji, and it turned out they are from P’s home town of Bairnsdale. And even closer to home, Ken worked with Papa at the tech school and secondary college. Fancy the people you meet while sailing a boat halfway across the Pacific! Steely Dan belongs to an English family living in New Zealand for the past 12 years and they arrived in Vanuatu a few days after us. They have 4 kids on board so our kids were super excited to hang out with other kids. We went ashore and a local man named Nelson walked with us through the village. He explained a bit about the local customs which includes women doing all the manual work and the men have meetings to discuss the running of the village. We visited the beach where the kids all played together and had a swim in the crystal blue water. Nelson showed us a villa that has been built with the help of an Australian school. The same school visits each year and will help build two more villas, with the income earned helping to support the village. In the village is a large open area where during the day the kids play soccer but come 4pm only men are allowed in the area as they drink kava and the chief conducts further discussions. In the evening we had a little get together on Be and Be, inviting the boats in the anchorage over for a drink and a snack. Everyone brings something and we chatted for a couple of hours. There are so many interesting people out sailing it's nice to get to know them, even if only for a short time.
On the Friday I decided to go to Lenakel with Belinda from Free Spirit, Mike and Leanne from Ooroo and Chris and Paul from Georgia. Belinda and I sat in the back of the ute with a couple of locals.
We stopped on the side of the road and Mike bought us all some fresh bread and even had a surprise of butter and vegemite, so we all had some for brekky.
The trip across the island took about 2 hours and we drove along the ash plains at the base of the volcano and then up and over the mountains.
In Lenakel we picked up a few things from the market and small grocery stores and then checked out of the country.
The ride back was bumpy and dusty so when we stopped to see if there was any fresh bread left Leanne, Mike, Chris and Paul laughed when they looked at us. Belinda and I were quite the sight, covered in volcanic ash from head to toe. Back at the yacht club we got a quick photo with Stanley, who was greyer than he was black! G picked me up in the dinghy and then proceeded to push me out of it when we got back to the boat as there was no way he was going to let me on board in the state I was in.
As soon as P was cleaned up we went ashore to visit John Frum village for the evening. Noel from a neighbouring village had organised transport for us. 15 people squeezed into the 5 seater ute with 8 people in the tray, not a bad effort! Along the way our driver Joe told us how the people in the village worship John Frum, as he will come back to save them and create a prosperous relationship with America. We sat around while waiting for the singing to start. At around 8pm one of the tribes started singing outside of the shack and then proceeded to come in and sit down. They sing their new songs outside and then their old songs inside. The people sang heartily but to our ears most of the 10 or so songs sounded much the same. Outside the local children danced and played. After watching about 3 different tribes perform their songs we decided it was time to go.
The ride back to the yacht club was a bit harrowing as it became clear that the driver and his passenger were likely under the influence of kava. We asked several times for him to slow down over the bumpy road to no avail. We did arrive safely after what seemed like the longest time and everyone exited the vehicle quite relieved! The following day we visited Noels village at the head of the bay with the black sand beach. Noel had been out to visit us in his dugout canoe with his daughter, niece and another local child. He said the kids wanted to see the boats, so I invited them aboard for a look. Only one of the kids was keen, so I showed her around the boat and then helped her back into the canoe.
Once ashore we walked through the village and met Noels brother Willy. Willy is a school teacher at Port Resolution primary school and needed a hand to fix his generator. Between G, Mike and Andreas it was decided the generator was not going to work again without parts that we couldn't supply.
We walked back down to the beach, stopping to admire a gentleman husking the coconuts to feed to the pigs. He was pretty impressive, doing 1 in about 3 seconds!
One thing that kids and adults enjoyed were the lollipops we had stocked up on and would hand out in each village. On Sunday P went around the anchorage to see if everyone was interested in getting together for a pot luck lunch as most of the boats were planning to leave the next day. All arranged, we met on shore at the yacht club and everyone bought something to share. It was a really nice afternoon as we chatted and ate and then returned to the boat to prepare for our passage to Lifou, New Caledonia!
