More Vanuatu News

We are now anchored in front of Oyster Island, a tiny island just a
few hundred yards offshore of Espiritu Santo Island. We're about 160
miles north of Port Vila. All is well, so I'll take a moment to catch
you up on our trip up here.

We left off our story with our arrival in Tanna Island in the southern
end of Vanuatu's island chain. We did indeed make the 4X4 trek to the
town on the other side of the island to clear customs and immigration.
It took about 2 hours each way. The standard mode of transport is 4wd
pickup trucks, and everyone rides in the bed in back. There's a little
wooden bench that surrounds the inside of the bed and everyone sits on
that and holds on where possible. We shared the truck with half a
dozen of the villagers from Port Resolution who were going into town
for market day. There was beautiful scenery along the road and we
passed many pretty, very well kept villages. The only downside was the
pouring rain. Luckily we grabbed raincoats as we left the boat, but
the soaking we got was thorough and by the time we arrived at Lenakel,
were all shivering violently. Checking in was easy and we had a couple
of hours to kill before the truck headed back to Port Resolution. We
found a family cooking on a small fire in a hut and asked them if we
could huddle by the fire to warm up.

Sophie got to ride in the cab with the 2 kids on the way back and I
got to enjoy some more rain in the back. We made lots of stops on the
way back. the locals would stop to buy vegetables from the villagers
selling them by the roadside. They told me they do this in order to
spread out the wealth of Port Resolution's village since they have
more money than the mountain villages thanks to the income from the
yachties. When we got back to the boat we made hot chocolate and all 4
of us cuddled in bed and watched Star Trek IV. You know, the one about
the whales. The kids got a big kick out of seeing the Monterey Bay
Aquarium where they'd just spent several days during our last visit to
the States.

The next evening we took the same pickup truck up to the volcano with
another family of yachties that had just arrived in the bay. It was a
45 minute trip up to the top of the mountain. The last 15 minutes of
steep, rutted road we were surrounded by a lunar landscape with no
plants or animals, just black rocks and sand. Once arrived at the
"parking lot" where there were several other pickups from the various
tiny "resorts" on the island, our driver got out, pointed to the top
of the crater and said "go Left, eh? Not Right. Left is good. I will
wait here in da truck." There were no railings, guides, signs, or
waivers to sign. Now this is the way to visit an active volcano. There
was a 10 minute walk up to the edge of the crater and then we could
see down into the bowels of the beast. It was still daylight, but we
could see a deep red glow down there. After about 10 minutes of
waiting, there was big BANG! and lava shot up into the sky right in
front of us. We'd been told to watch the rocks shooting up and coming
back down, and to get out of the way if one was coming towards you.
Huh. No kidding? The wind was howling, and was blowing the molten
boulders away from us, mostly, so we felt pretty safe. Except Massimo.
His two big fears in life are spiders and volcanoes, so he was
terrified. After three or four eruptions–which really were quite
impressive–Massimo screamed, That's it!! I'm out of here! So Sophie
took him back down to the truck. Annabelle stayed with me and we
waited until dark and headed down after seeing several more dramatic
eruptions. A couple of times we had boulders hurled over our heads and
landing less than a hundred yards from us. When we were on the rim, we
were only 60 or 70 yards from the center of the crater where the lava
was coming from. Massimo still talks about his experience daily.

From Tanna, we needed to make our way north to Espiritu Santo island
to meet our good friends' daughter Coralie and her boyfriend who would
stay with us all the way back to New Cledonia. On the way we had to
stop at Port Vila (the administrative center of Vanuatu and it's
largest town) to finish clearance formalities. We did a long day of
motoring and sailing towards Erromango where we planned on breaking up
the trip. About 2 hours out of Erromango, under full sail and going
8.5 knots, one of the fishing reels sang out. We slowed the boat down
a little bit by taking in the genoa, but with the min up we were still
doing better than 6 knots. The reel kept screaming, even with maximum
drag, and pretty soon there was barely any line left on it. I could
see a fish jumping out of the water several hundred yards behind us,
but I couldn't slow the line down. The reel was literally smoking and
smelled of burning oil. I clamped down on the spool with my thumbs and
finally the line gave way, sending me flying backwards on my butt.

About 15 minutes later the second reel rang and this time we made a
bigger effort to slow the boat down. The problem is that to do that
quickly can be a challenge for 2 people, but I was busy with the
fishing pole, so Sophie had to do most of the work. We managed to slow
the boat and an hour later we had a beautiful striped marlin gaffed
and tied to the transom. We gave it to the village at Erromango and
they were VERY happy.

We spent a couple of days at Port Vila, the capitol and main town in
Vanuatu. We found it very charming and enjoyed smoothies and internet
at the Numbawan Café (which took us a while to find since everyone
told us to look for the "Number One Cafe"...).

After Vila we visited Epi and the East Coast of Malekula on the way to
Espiritu Santo to pick up our friends.

More updates soon, hopefully.

New Outboard, Rough Crossing, and Beautiful Vanuatu

We're now safely anchored at Port Resolution in Tanna, Vanuatu.

But first, let me rewind and catch up where I last left off.

I believe I was drenched in gasoline from trying to fix the outboard's
carburetor, throwing a tantrum out of frustration with Sophie looking
on mildly annoyed and the children hiding in case they somehow became
responsible for my difficulties. Actually Massimo is becoming helpful
as he learns the names for various tools and hands them to me, saving
trips up and down the transoms and in and out of the dinghy.

So the problem turned out to be a cracked float and a damaged little
rubber boot, both parts of the carburetor. I wasn't able to fix both
adequately. I think the main problem, since carburetors function
through a combination of 20% engineering and 80% voodoo, was that I
wasn't wearing any chicken feet around my neck while attempting the
repairs. Anyway, once we realized on-board repairs were not possible
and required spares, Sophie and I went through the options together.
The outboard is important to us. Without it we can't get ashore easily
(or at all in some places), can't go diving, exploring, etc. It's like
not having a car all of a sudden. We could either have parts flown in
from Australia or the US (there are no Honda distributors in New
Caledonia), but that would take at least a week with customs, etc. We
could spend a month in Vanuatu without an outboard, but it would be a
real pity to miss out on a lot the visit has to offer. The last option
was to pull out all the stops and get a new outboard. The challenge
wasn't just the money, but how to get an engine quickly without
delaying our trip too long. There was bad weather coming and we needed
to be in Port Vila by the weekend to take shelter. We decided it would
be worth trying to get an engine quickly and leaving immediately
afterwards in late morning.

I called my good friend Jean Paul who owns, among other things, the
Yamaha dealership in New Caledonia. It was 5:00 in the afternoon
(businesses are closed), he said he'd look into what was in stock and
asked where we were. I told him the bay we were in–which was somewhat
remote–and he had no idea where that was, despite being born and
raised here. That gives you an idea of just how remote the location
was. I told him we could move the boat to Yaté, where there is a road.
Ten minutes later Jean Paul calls back and says he has the motor we
want in stock (a Yamaha 25hp 2-stroke Enduro–the good kind, extra-
tough, that they only sell in developing countries). He could have one
of his guys drive it down to Yaté by 0900H the next morning with a
full tank of premixed gas. We could worry about the paperwork, etc.
when we got back from Vanuatu. Wow. How's that for service?! Call a
business after closing, and have an engine delivered 1 hour after
opening the next morning in a remote area. I'm sure that if we were
too remote to reach by road, Jean Paul would have had the motor
delivered by helicopter. I'm not joking. (As an aside, Jean Paul just
called me on the Sat Phone to tell me that there's another tsunami
warning. Apparently a volcano just exploded in Northern Vanuatu. So
far so good here...)

By 11:00 we were ready to head out to sea. We were in a rush because
we wanted to get to Tanna before dark the next day and the wind was
not going to be favorable. We started by motoring with calm seas and
very little wind. Now I'll let Sophie tell the story of the crossing
since it was even tougher on her than on me (which is unusual).

Well, let's say that it was one of the most miserable crossings - even
if it was a short one - for me and for the kids. The first day and
night went well but when we woke up the next morning, the sea was all
messed up and the boat had transformed in a washing machine!! The wind
had turned to be right on our nose and it was stronger than
forecasted, blowing up to 20 knots. Not a big deal but combined with
waves coming from everywhere, it was not fun. For the first time since
we started our trip, Massimo complained of being seasick and then
Annabelle and I felt the same way. I was still able to perform my
"duties" but that was painful. What kept me going was to thinking
about the house will have when we come back to live on land! It is
like when you deliver your second child: you keep asking yourself why
you wanted to have another kid when you knew how painful it could be
during the delivery..... never mind, you go through the pain because
at the end you know that it is worth it. Same thing for sailing.
We "survived" and we are now all super happy to be anchored in such a
beautiful place. We got our reward.

Tomorrow we will take a 6-hour round trip via 4X4 to the "town" on the
other side of the island to clear immigration. We're also planning to
visit the volcano here. It is apparently one of the only places in the
world where you can walk right up to an active volcano and peer into
it's lava-filled core. You just need to watch out when it erupts not
to get hit by one of the boulders coming back down.

Drat!

We're still in New Caledonia waiting for wind. It looks like the nice
Southeasterly that was supposed to show up this afternoon and tomorrow
is not going to happen until the end of the week, and then it's a full
on depression with 30 knots and lots of rain. So the plan is to head
out tomorrow morning and if we have to, we'll motor.

In the meantime I've been trying to fix the stupid outboard. I found a
crack in the little float in the carburetor, which caused it to fill
up with fuel, which made it not float anymore. That causes the whole
carburetor to flood with fuel, etc. etc. I fixed it by filling it with
an epoxy/ultralight filler mixture and then painted over that with a
special epoxy paint which is supposed to resist fuels (after initial
inspection though, I am doubtful). After putting it all together this
afternoon, the outboard seemed to run pretty well with only a little
fuel seeping out.

We mounted an expedition to the beach and half way there the engine
starts to sputter and cough. We turned around and ran at 1/4 throttle
where it seemed to be happy. Got back to the boat and tore it all
apart again. The infamous little float is empty, but I noticed a
little rubber boot on the carb that was cracked open and that's
probably where the fuel was coming out. I've reached the end of my
patience and instead of doing the manly thing and coming up with
(another) "duct tape and spit" solution, I threw down my tools and
sent an email to my friend in Noumea who owns the Yamaha dealership,
and asked him for a quote on a new motor. Parts for Hondas are not
available in New Caledonia and certainly not in Vanuatu.

Once my tantrum wears off, hopefully I'll find a more sensible
solution. For now I'll return to my pouting. Sophie is being very
tolerant and the kids are a couple notches quieter than usual, fearful
for their lives.

That's today's update.

-MC

Off to a Semi-OK Start

Yesterday we left Noumea to make our way to Vanuatu. Not long before
we were supposed to cast off, I noticed that one of the shower pumps
wasn't shutting off the way it's supposed to. An hour later the pump
was completely rebuilt and I climbed out of the engine room drenched
in sweat, holding tiny little piece of purple plastic that had caused
the problem. I don't own any purple plastic things...

We had a good motor-sail with the wind pretty much on the nose for 4
hours. The wind was light though and the water was flat since the wind
was coming from the shore. The weather reports showed that the wind
would be northerly for the next several days, which meant dead against
us on the way to Vanuatu, so we'd have to hang out for a bit before
leaving.

We made it to Port Boisé around 3 in the afternoon. Just as I turned
off the wind to head into the pass, my favorite Big Orange Cup blew
over and rolled down the transom steps into the water. It didn't sink
right away, so I made a lop around where it went in, but the water was
way too rough to see it. I bought that cup in Mexico and, with it's
brother Big Blue Cup which went overboard in New Zealand, it has been
key to my happiness on board. I hate drinking out of small glasses and
I can never get enough to drink unless I have a big cup that I use
throughout the day. Big Orange Cu was probably about 750ml and did its
duty serving up everything from hot ramen noodles, to my daily morning
tea. This morning I wandered around the galley, despondent, not
knowing what to have my tea in. So I found Big Measuring Cup. It has a
1 Liter capacity and a nice handle. It's a little too wide and tapers
outward too much to make it practical for long-term service, but it
will do until I find a replacement in Vanuatu. I think developing
countries have the best plastic tableware since it needs to be
inexpensive but last a long time.

This morning I have to keep trying to fix the outboard. We wanted to
go ashore yesterday, put the motor wouldn't start. I opened it up and
noticed that when I pumped the fuel bulb, gas would squirt out of the
carburettor. This is a bad thing. After disassembling it and putting
it back together 3 times, I finally tried to seal one of the gaskets
with RTV and let it dry overnight. On the positive side, I got to wash
both my hands and forearms in gasoline, so I know they're REALLY clean
now...

Today it's a beautiful day. The northerly breeze is still running, but
we might move to another anchorage a little further up the coast. From
there it's about 220 miles to Tanna, our first landfall in Vanuatu. We
should be able to do this with only one night at sea if the wind is
right. Looks like it will turn southerly on Tuesday, so we plan on
leaving early in the morning then.

Our new satellite system is working wonderfully. I'll write that up
later since a couple of you have asked me for more details. The only
hitch I've had so far is not being able to hook it up with our on-
board WiFi which would allow all the computers to access it and get
email, including my iPhone. How cool would that be, to read email on
an iPhone in the middle of the ocean? The real advantage being that it
compresses email to use less bandwidth, which means it costs us less
to use.

That's it for now. Have a great Sunday (or Saturday, depending on
where you are).

-MC

Pictures of Ile des Pins

We're heading out in the next few minutes. The wind for Vanuatu is not favorable, so we're not sure what we'll be doing, we may stop on the way and wait for the wind to change, which looks to be Tuesday...

Here's some pictures of our trip to Ile des Pins and Annabelle's birthday a few weeks ago. I'm afraid you'll have to scroll down the blog to read all about it in previous posts. Inelegant to be sure but alas, wind and tide wait for no man.

Heading for Vanuatu Tomorrow

We're setting sail tomorrow and loosing our "broadband" connection, so I wanted to post some pictures. We'll be able to post text along the way, but no pics, so here's a boatload of them to feast on.

I still owe you guys an update on my great week in Brisbane visiting Jean Paul's new boat, so I'll have to write that up soon, but I'll post some pictures now as a teaser.

The Gold Coast pictures first, then Iles des Pins will be next. (Oh, and you do know that if you click on one of the pretty pictures, the computer will show you a nice, big version of it, right?):