Day 132, Year 2: Bread, Granola, and Fish
Date: Monday, September 3, 2007
Weather: Still Sunny and Windy
Location: Still Here in Banam Bay, Malekula, Vanuatu

The number of boats in Banam Bay is steadily shrinking, and when we leave tomorrow morning only Kathy II of Australia and Galaxie of New Zealand will be left behind. There is one other boat anchored far away from the designated anchorage, but we have no idea who it is. So maybe three boats will be still be here as we head north to the Port Stanley area. We didn’t hear from our friends on Scot Free II or Arctic Fox today, but we did hear from a couple of New Zealand boats that left here yesterday
and spent last night in the Port Stanley area. They said they had 30 plus knots of wind when they arrived there yesterday and the entire anchorage area was unsettled. So they were moving on today. We are hoping things will be a little more settled when we arrive tomorrow afternoon. The winds are supposed to moderate some, but they were still blowing strong this afternoon.

This morning, I made bread and granola. Mark did a little stainless polishing, and in the early afternoon we picked up Paul and Marie and went searching for the snorkeling spot we had been told about by New Dawn and Monkey’s Business. They swore they saw 80 to 90 pound humphead parrotfish and huge groupers, but we were unsuccessful in finding their magic spot. We tried snorkeling in two different places, but then gave up and went back to the area we have been snorkeling for the past couple of
days. Two days ago, Mark and I found the most beautiful lettuce coral we had ever seen. And it was huge. But, of course, the camera battery had just run out of juice, so we didn’t get a picture. Yesterday I searched and searched for the spot, but just couldn’t find it. But today, Mark was successful in finding this treasure and he got some good pictures. This thing was not only beautiful, but it was huge–probably ten to fifteen feet wide and maybe twenty to thirty feet in length. Marie and
I also found some very interesting fish today. I had seen them yesterday and had no idea what they were. They swim in a head-down vertical position and are almost flat with a needle-like nose and a sharp razor-like tail. They look like floating leaves, except that they are almost transparent, not green, with a dark spine running their length. They were just hanging out in the staghorn coral and we found them fascinating. I had to look this one up tonight, and it is called a Razorfish. I also
had fun today playing with the Christmas tree worms. I love approaching them with my finger and watching them pull their frilly little Christmas tree-shaped bodies back into the coral. While doing this, I saw a little worm-like creature peering up at me. He looked like a submarine periscope. Half of the little creature was down in a hole in the coral, and the head was sticking up. I was curious and got closer, and all of a sudden, he shot out of his hole and came directly at me. I diverted
and he slid on past after giving me a good scare. He was only half the size of my little finger, but he was certainly aggressive. He was a garden eel and nothing to be frightened of, but anything that moves that fast underwater certainly gets your attention!

Banam Bay has been a wonderfully relaxing anchorage. The local people are friendly, but they totally leave you alone. We’ve been interested in the fact that there is not one fishing boat or sailing outrigger in this bay. I wish we had asked why. It is so strange not to see local boats. Maybe someone in the next anchorage will be able to explain this to us.

070903 Day 132 Malekula, Banam Bay Underwater 5