Day 124, Year 2: Rainy Day in South Malekula
Date: Sunday, August 25, 2007
Weather: Rain, Rain, Go Away
Location: Gaspard Bay, South Malekula Island, Vanuatu
It was another rainy day in paradise. Early in the season, we had heard that by the time we reached Vanuatu, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) would be headed south and might possibly sit right on top of us. I’m not sure if that is what is happening, but we sure are having the kind of rainy days we had in American Samoa when the ITCZ was sitting on top of us there. There are periods of sunshine between the rainy times, but it is hard to open up the boat and get air down below. Just as
soon as you do, the rain comes again. So we are using the fans to try and keep cool. I think the humidity is about the same as the temperature, somewhere in the 80’s, and it feels very hot and sticky. But no complaints, mate. The scenery is beautiful and I actually got to see the back of a dugong this morning. Early in the morning, I kept spotting signs of underwater life across the bay. I know I saw a turtle or two surface, and I thought I might be seeing dugongs. So we went out for a slow
dinghy ride around Gaspard Bay. While deep in the bay, I did see the back of a dugong surface, but only once, and only for a short time. Dugongs are related to elephants and aardvarks, and look just like manatees except that dugongs have v-shaped tails much like dolphins. Manatees have a rounded tail shaped something like a beaver’s tail. They both have paddle-like fore limbs that they use to move themselves along the bottom grazing on sea grass. Dugongs are often called sea cows or sea pigs,
and the one I saw today definitely looked like a sea pig. We keep searching for these guys, but they seem to be elusive.
It was a quiet day on Windbird. After getting back from our dingy tour, both Mark and I worked on photos. I named photos and Mark started looking at all of the video we have from the festival. He would like to put together short videos of each of the dances we saw. Mid-afternoon, Mark and Gerry from Scot Free II took the dinghy across to Sakao Island to meet Chief Willie and find out about anchoring over there. There are three moorings that can be used by visiting yachts, but one is already
in use by some men from New Zealand. They are here building a catamaran for Chief Willie. Tomorrow we will move to Sakao Island and snorkel on the reef. Then on Tuesday, we will continue on to Uliveo to visit the marine reserve and giant clam farm. Of course, all of this is weather dependent. If it is still rainy, we might just stay here one more day.
We had dinner aboard Ranger tonight, along with Scot Free II. We ate some of that delicious Wahoo Paul caught on the way to North Ambryn and enjoyed the company of Paul and Marie and Donna and Gerry. Gerry has recovered from his kava overdose and Paul is holding his own with the infection in his leg. The leg is still red and swollen, but the open sore is healing nicely. We just need to figure out how to get that swelling and redness to disappear. We need some more of that Ambryn black magic.
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| 070826 Day 124 Malekula, Vanuatu–Gaspard Bay |
