[password] NZL9424A27ZMU3791
[position] 17 44.818S 168 18.657E
[status] We have been in Vanuatu for a week now. We have just picked up a mooring in Port Vila and the time is 6.50am. We have travelled through the night to be as we need to clear immigration!! When we arrived into Anatom last Monday we were advised that we only had to get our cruising papers from here and do all our clearances when we got to Vila. We didn't have to show our passports or any other documentation. It seemed a very loose way of arriving into a new country. So at Anatom I went on a village tour and then we had a traditional welcome and feast. It was a beautiful welcome with a speech from the head man and then our stand in head man had to reply. Then as individuals we all introduced ourselves to the villagers and head people. I had to stand and introduce myself as Glen has been sick and wasn't present for the ceremony. We had one extra day at Anatom to give Glen a rest. Mid morning on this day Glen heard some strange noise coming from the back of the boat and on
investigation found a little Vanuatian man coming onboard. He spoke to us for a while and said he was swimming between the beach and a supply boat that was in the bay. Glen offered to take him in the dingy to the boat but he said he was ok. In the end he was really looking for a ride to Port Vila. Glen ended up taking him out to the ship and leaving him there. The whole episode made us feel a bit vulnerable, but some of our fleet were very vigilant and had seen someone boarding our boat, so we felt like we were being looked after. We left Anatom heading for Tanna, which has an active volcano and where we were picking up some friends. We climbed up Mt Yasur with smoke billowing out of the top and loud eruption sounds. Further around the crater we could see down into the core with red hot lava very visible. Then it would blow and send showers of hot rocks straight up in the air, with the plop plop sound as rocks landed on the floor again. Very spectacular and scary at the same
time. After leaving Port Resolution we headed to Dillons Bay on the island of Erromango. This island along with Tanna were the ones most affected by cyclone Pam. You could see the damage along the coast line with trees stripped bare of any greenery. They are now just starting to sprout new growth. The village at Dillons Bay were given seeds as part of there recovery and restart. We traded dry goods for some beautiful lettuce, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, spring onions and silverbeet. Every house in the village had well tended vegetable gardens bursting with produce. After a welcome and trade we were taken by boat to a cave where we saw skeletal remains of previous generations. This was not a place where they get tourists, only people like us of yachts. It was a privilege to have this part of there history shared with us.
All good on board.[END]