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Sapphire II - 13 July, Vanuatu



After a speedy but uncomfortable passage from Fiji (25 kt winds and confused seas) we arrived at the island of Tanna in Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) on 10th July. After the turbulent sea, it was nice to be in the mildly rolly anchorage of Port Resolution.

Tanna I think has probably fulfilled most people's expectations of what to expect in an undeveloped Pacific island. We visited a village near to the anchorage with some 300 inhabitants, of whom 120 were kids under the age of 10. The people are very welcoming and appear very contented with their life. The village has closely spaced huts with frond roofs, sand paths and pigs, chickens and dogs roaming at will. Everybody smiles and waves; many speak English and French (both countries shared ruling here) and we even managed to buy bread from a woman who cooks it over a roaring open fire on the ground inside her small hut!

Tanna's main claim to fame is the large, very active volcano which sits in line with the anchorage. Every few minutes it shoots out molten lava, rocks and sparks. This is accompanied by thunderous sounds and lots of billowing smoke. At night, sailing to the island, one has a perfect red beacon visible from a good 30 miles off!

We have visited 2 villages on Tanna. Most interaction was with the village described above. We had an "exchange of gifts" ceremony, attended by all villagers, from grannies to babies, and all the sailors. We provided stuff they needed (school supplies, pots and pans, lanterns and machetes). They provided us with hand-woven baskets filled with local produce. There was native dancing and singing and the schoolchildren's choir performed beautifully. The evening was rounded off when the villagers cooked a traditional meal for us (roasted pig, chicken, taro, manioc and rice).

The second village we visited was on the rain forest track to the volcano. Here, in a clearing in front of the huts the dancing welcome was much more earthy. The men were naked except for a sort of penis-sheath. The women wore grass skirts and clutched a grassy sort of cover to their bare chests. The kids of all ages were gorgeous. The dancing consists primarily of moving around in a great big circle, stopping frequently to stomp feet. All of this is done with tremendous vitality accompanied by chanting and occasional shouts. The performance,at dusk, in the forest, came closest to what one imagined indigenous culture would be like, but which we really hadn't experienced before.

We are now on a short passage to the island of Eromanga. We expect to spend a couple of days and then move on to Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila.


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