South West bay – Malikula - Vanuatu
Wednesday, 16. September 2009, 07:34:52
South West bay – Malikula - Vanuatu
After the canoe race and after helping Doug of “Windcastle” sail his boat back to port Vila James flew back to Lamen Island to rejoin Mind the Gap. Bidding our farewells to “Squid” and “Integrity”, we set off the next day for the Maskelyns but as we approached the area it looked too miserable to stop. Poor visibility and reefs encouraged us to push a little further on to South West bay where more festivities were prepared for the cruisers. We caught a big Wahoo just before entering the bay and shared the huge fillets amongst the cruisers as our fridge is still on the blink and we cannot keep anything reliably cold. The head and tail and connecting bits were welcomed by a canoe paddler on his way back to the village.
We stayed a few days in this very sheltered bay joining the other cruisers on a visit to Tenstick beach where the locals had bedecked the beach with exotic flowers and greenery and set their fresh fruit and vegetables for sale on large banana leaves. A good time to replenish the stores with kumara (sweet potato) and green peppers making a welcome addition to the usual bananas, papaya and coconuts. The local string band provided the live music.
The instruments themselves were entertaining. A large wooden box with a stick protruding from the top corner with one piece of string connecting it constituted the base. The sound was worked by moving the stick around. The drum was an oddment of PVC pipe from a building site with a piece of rubber tied securely over the top end, presumably from a cars inner tube although as cars are a rarity that piece may have been specially imported. A home made ukulele/guitar from a chunk of local timber, a tambourine and a few guitars all in various states of repair with the guitar strings ranging from a basic two to a full compliment of six some of fishing line and some the real McCoy. They produced a happy and entertaining island style sound and rhythm.
The locals laid on food, music and their local dancing. We mostly relaxed. We met many new friends - Luke and Jackie on their Trimaran called “Sloopmoesh”. Nancy and Burger from “Halikai”, Sally and Geoff from “Grace” as well as Anna and Cliff from “Concerto”. We also spent some time with Graeme (Ding) Wilding (no relation) on his 50’ Italian sloop called “Conchita”.
We then headed for Espiritu Santo but stopped at the top end of the Malakulas overnight. Here, the next day Burger (a medical doctor) held a clinic under the palm trees for the much appreciative locals as we headed the 20 odd miles to Luganville, Espiritu Santo.
Espiritu Santo
We will write about out experiences in Espiritu Santo, the blue holes and the Maskelyne’s as well as Lloyd and Ngaire’s visit to us.
After the canoe race and after helping Doug of “Windcastle” sail his boat back to port Vila James flew back to Lamen Island to rejoin Mind the Gap. Bidding our farewells to “Squid” and “Integrity”, we set off the next day for the Maskelyns but as we approached the area it looked too miserable to stop. Poor visibility and reefs encouraged us to push a little further on to South West bay where more festivities were prepared for the cruisers. We caught a big Wahoo just before entering the bay and shared the huge fillets amongst the cruisers as our fridge is still on the blink and we cannot keep anything reliably cold. The head and tail and connecting bits were welcomed by a canoe paddler on his way back to the village.
We stayed a few days in this very sheltered bay joining the other cruisers on a visit to Tenstick beach where the locals had bedecked the beach with exotic flowers and greenery and set their fresh fruit and vegetables for sale on large banana leaves. A good time to replenish the stores with kumara (sweet potato) and green peppers making a welcome addition to the usual bananas, papaya and coconuts. The local string band provided the live music. The instruments themselves were entertaining. A large wooden box with a stick protruding from the top corner with one piece of string connecting it constituted the base. The sound was worked by moving the stick around. The drum was an oddment of PVC pipe from a building site with a piece of rubber tied securely over the top end, presumably from a cars inner tube although as cars are a rarity that piece may have been specially imported. A home made ukulele/guitar from a chunk of local timber, a tambourine and a few guitars all in various states of repair with the guitar strings ranging from a basic two to a full compliment of six some of fishing line and some the real McCoy. They produced a happy and entertaining island style sound and rhythm.
The locals laid on food, music and their local dancing. We mostly relaxed. We met many new friends - Luke and Jackie on their Trimaran called “Sloopmoesh”. Nancy and Burger from “Halikai”, Sally and Geoff from “Grace” as well as Anna and Cliff from “Concerto”. We also spent some time with Graeme (Ding) Wilding (no relation) on his 50’ Italian sloop called “Conchita”.
We then headed for Espiritu Santo but stopped at the top end of the Malakulas overnight. Here, the next day Burger (a medical doctor) held a clinic under the palm trees for the much appreciative locals as we headed the 20 odd miles to Luganville, Espiritu Santo.
Espiritu Santo
We will write about out experiences in Espiritu Santo, the blue holes and the Maskelyne’s as well as Lloyd and Ngaire’s visit to us.
WIDGETIZE
How to use Quote function: