Day 128, Year 2: From Sakoa Island to Banam Bay, Southeast Malekula
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, Clouds, and Lots of Wind–Just E of SE 25 knots
Latitude: S 16 degrees 20.358 minutes
Longitude: E 167 degrees 45.305 minutes
Location: Banam Bay, Malekula, Vanuatu

The sea doesn’t allow you to get sloppy. We know this, but sometimes we need a reminder. Well, we got the reminder today. We left Sakao in the Maskelyne Islands just on the south coast of Malekula this morning, and knowing we were only going to be out three or four hours, we didn’t secure things like we would for a major passage. We knew it would be windy once we got out of our secure little bubble on the north side of Sakao Island, and we knew that there would be two to three meter seas. But
still we didn’t latch everything down. Big mistake. Everything on deck was fine. It was down in the main cabin that we had the problem. As we headed out of the pass between Malekula and the Maskelyne Islands, the winds started building quickly, and along with the winds, the seas. We hadn’t bothered to put up the mainsail as we thought we would be headed downwind and would probably just use the headsail. So we had nothing to stabilize us, and all of a sudden, “Whammo.” It was that old time
rock and roll with Windbird rolling far to starboard and then far to port. Everything not tied down went flying. The oven door flew open and my precious cooking stone flew out and broke in two pieces. But at least it didn’t shatter. I can still use it with a bit of care. Other things went flying, but nothing else broke, so we were lucky that our sloppiness didn’t result in more damage. We altered course to ease the rolling a bit and finally got the headsail out. That helped tremendously.
And even though the rest of the trip was an adventure with fairly steady 25 knot winds and gusts to 34, we made it to Banam Bay with no other “little” disasters. On days like this, I always want to blare the song, “Old Time Rock and Roll” from our tiny little speakers, but I still don’t have that song on CD or on the MP3 player. We definitely have to get that when we fly home from Australia. Since we are not quite half way home yet, I know we will have many more rocky and rolly days.

As we rounded Bangon Point, we could see four sailboats at anchor in Banam Bay–Cynthia, Tim, and their son Cameron on Arctic Fox, Donna and Gerry on Scot Free II, Laurel and Jason on Monkey’s Business, and Ross and Lauren on New Dawn. Ranger was coming in with us, so now there would be six boats. Tim on Arctic Fox had talked with us on the SSB this morning and told us that the villagers had invited everyone to a kastom (custom) dance this afternoon, followed by a tasting of local foods–the ever
famous laplap of Vanuatu. This is grated cassava or manioc root that is wrapped in leaves and baked in an earth oven. It has the consistency of baked polenta, but the taste is different. So we arrived in Banam Bay, tried to get the boat back in order after the mayhem of the rowdy sail, and then headed to shore with Ranger for the afternoon festivities. Once we got to shore, it was a short walk to the first village. I think this village is called Vetgot. There is a larger village, Fartapo with
Chief Saitol further around the bay, but Chief Saitol’s son, John Eady and his wife, Lena Owen, have established a little resort in Vetgot and they welcomed us and announced that we would have laplap today, but dancing tomorrow. It was just too rainy for dancing today. They have a little thatch-roofed shed where they had beautiful shells, shell necklaces, and vegetables on display for us to purchase. And they actually had a few plastic chairs so that some of us could sit while we slowly met the
locals and started to talk. It is not as easy here as it was in Fiji to talk to the locals as many times they speak very little English. Many speak French and the rest speak Bislama, the pidgeon English that is hard for us to understand. But despite the language problems, we did make connections with some of the people. A couple of the young men were very charismatic and fun to talk with. There are about thirty young men here that make up the “Hefa Sar Culture Club.” Many of the young men were
sitting under the shed with us today and tomorrow they will present their Small Nambas kastom dance. We can’t wait to see how this differs from what we saw on Ambrym. We understand that only tourists are allowed inside the nasara for the men’s dance. The local women and children will dance outside the nasara, but are not allowed inside. We’ll find out more about this tomorrow.

It started raining when we were about half way here on our sail from Sakao, and it continued to rain through the afternoon. In fact, it is still raining enough that we can’t open the hatches. Just when you think you can, another little rain comes along. It has been days since we have seen either the sun or the moon. Early this morning the sun broke through for a few minutes, but that was it. It looks like we are in for a few more days of this overcast weather. We just have to ignore this ugly
weather and enjoy this fabulous country despite the non-cooperation from the weather.

We got a surprise last night in the form of an email from Margaret and Patrick of Aqua Magic. We sailed with them last year as far as the Marquesas, but we haven’t seen them since. They are currently in Australia and are planning much the same trip back to England that we are planning for getting back to the US. It was great to hear from good friends. We have also heard from Doug on Sylvie on Windcastle this week. They are currently back in California getting ready for Sylvie’s son’s wedding
in September. In October, Doug and Sylvie plan to be married and they will return to New Zealand in January and prepare for the continuation of their Pacific cruising in the 2008 season. We probably won’t see them until we are all back in the US, but it is wonderful to keep in touch.

070830 Day 128 Malekula, Vanuatu–Saying Goodbye to the Maskelyne Islands

070830 Day 128 Malekula, Vanuatu–Arrival in Banam Bay