Photo Journal – Loltong, Pentecost to Dickson Bay, Ambae
Local Traditions
We normally start our days with a breakfast of bananas, some grapefruit, and black coffee (there is no fridge or freezer onboard Waimanu so milk is not a daily item for us). The bananas we normally have raw but we sometimes fry them in cinnamon to change things up a bit.
The hospital people put on a thank you dinner, with French red wine! We were also given beautifully handcrafted carry baskets. These are beautiful, handmade, plant woven basket like bags that are oh so incredibly useful!
So now we have more than one, which reminds me of our time back at Loltong, Pentecost where we received our first one. We unintentionally found ourselves in the middle of Day 50 while there. When someone dies there is a set time for mourning that lasts 100 days. A feast is had on Day 50 and again on Day 100. During this period, the widow spends a lot of time in the nakamal while others visit.
A nakamal is a traditional meeting place that in northern and central Vanuatu usually takes it’s form as a hut assembled using nearby materials and built by the entire local community (in southern Vanuatu it is more often a large, sheltered outdoor space such as under a banyan tree).
When we arrived, they were most insistent that we join in with their feasting. As we were the furtherest traveled we were given food first. We were also given a bag of food in one of these traditional basket type bags.
It was fascinating and touching to be able to participate.
Life in General
This is what quite a “normal” day looks like now:
Morning:
While anchored in another stunning spot (Loltong Bay, 15°32’42.84S, 168°08’56.64E) Phil did a bit of general engine maintenance while Jenny puttered around the boat. We worked in companionable quiet while listening to the birdsong from ashore and the laughter coming from our chattering neighbours. We also watched a ship unload supplies.
Afternoon:
A spot of swimming and watching the local kids having a ride in a longboat dugout with the local fishermen and then we’re off ashore.
In short, life is good and you have to make the most of the adventure it is (or can be).
Yummy Rain
We sailed from Home Bay up to Waterfall Village on our next leg and boy did it rain!
It is currently what is known as the “Dry Season” at this time of year although perhaps a more apt name would be the more-common-to-have-few-cyclones season. (Dry Season is NZ winter, traversing April through to October while Wet Season, or Hurricane Season, or Cyclone Season usually happens from November to March, usually being the operative word) It was nice to have a bit of a cool down, though, as even when you are jumping in for a swim the water tends to be a lukewarm temperature. Not only refreshing, it also topped up our water tank with Phil emptying two full 10 litre water buckets just from what we collected using our sun awning. There is nothing quite like fresh rain water.
We also headed ashore to have a bit of an explore, walking up to the Ranwadi school. Ranwadi takes students right the way through, from 5 years old to 18 years old. For the local villages, it can be a bit of a walk (depending on how far away the students live) but it also has dorms for both boys and girls, catering to those who are just a bit too far away. When Anita came up here in 2007/2008 it was their summer holidays so she and her friends lived on site while working on upkeep and maintenance jobs. It is a special place.
A Year 13 student (17 or 18 years old and in his last year of school before he becomes University/tertiary/collage age) did a good job showing us around as the staff were in a meeting.
The next day we visited the Waterfall Village where we tracked down a local girl Anita used to spend a lot of time with while here and wrote letters to for a number of years. She now has her own girl pikinini (child) who is a year old.
Jenny had a serious headache by this afternoon so we watched the UK version of the movie Death at a Funeral to have a good laugh.
Trade Winds
The crossing from Ambrym to Pentecost was a bit wild with guusts of up to 35kts. Just a little windier than anticipated… We spent the night anchored in Home Bay on the southern end of the island. This was also the spot cruise shops anchor off and home of the seasonal and infamous Land Diving (the original bungee jump).
Phil has also been learning how to trade, swapping a big bunch of small eating bananas (they taste much better than the ones in NZ) and four huge pampelmouss (grapefruit) for an old tee shirt and a pair of trousers.
