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.
