We went diving at Elephant Island (Lathu Island) on Saturday, with Sue and Bob from Mawari. We went over in Aradonna together and anchored on a narrow shelf. A quick check of the anchor showed we were perched on the edge of a shelf that dropped straight down to 100m plus! So Heather and Sue went diving together while Karl followed in the dinghy and Bob kept watch on Aradonna. Then we swapped over and Bob and Karl went diving while Sue followed in the dinghy and Heather kept watch on Aradonna and made some lunch. All went well with no dramas, but prudent to have been keeping watch as if the anchor had shifted into deeper water we would have drifted out to sea very fast! The visibility was outstanding. Even at 25m depth we could look up and clearly see the dinghy above us. A wonderful view of large coral formations and plenty of sea life. Nice to dive a drop off with such good visibility.
One of the locals needed some rope to tie up his cow, so we gave him some spare rope and he presented us with a sack full of coconuts, pomplemousse, grapefruit and passionfruit. A great exchange! In the afternoon we picked up our laundry from the resort only to find it was still very damp - in fact some of it was still wet! They had our laundry for two days and had hung it out under a large roof to protect it from passing drizzle showers, but it felt like it had been left sitting in the rain. The inside of Aradonna quickly became like a Chinese laundry with limp clothes hanging from every conceivable hooking point. Luckily we were invited to Mawari for dinner so we escaped having to sit amongst the damp clothes all evening! Yesterday we got an early start and motor sailed across to Ambae Island, also known as Aoba Island. Our destination was Lolowai Lagoon, which we knew had a reef in front of it and a tricky entrance, but once inside it is a very protected spot. As we approached the reef we were not entirely sure if we were in the right spot. We could see one triangle marker on the beach but could not find the other one to line up with. We thought we had the coordinates right and so moved in very slowly. Karl was on the bow watching for obstacles and Heather was on the helm watching the depth sounder. The first part of the reef went OK and according to the chart we should be almost through, when suddenly the depth went far to shallow and - bang! We hit the reef! Heather reversed hard - we were stuck at first but with some graunching noises as the motor revved, Aradonna started to move off the reef. Then Bang! We hit another rock! The next thing, the rudder angle instrument stopped transmitting the rudd er angle, so Heather had to guess the position of the wheel as she turned left and right trying to follow the hand signals Karl was giving on the bow. The bow thruster helped, but we were in a tight spot. Next, everytime Aradonna was put into gear, there was an ominous clonking noise on the prop, conjuring up images of all sorts of damage!!! Eventually, with several bumps, knocks and scary scraping sounds, we were once again in deeper water, clear of the reef, but still outside the lagoon. We were just about to head around the corner to another bay when a man in a dinghy approached from the catamaran already anchored inside the lagoon. "Follow me!" said the man, so we did. The channel through the reef into the lagoon was further to the left of where we had tried and once we were lined up we could just see the second triangle peeping out between the trees on the hill - so hard to see! Once safely inside the lagoon and at anchor we snorkeled under and checked for damage. Apart from a couple of new scratches on the keel, all looked in order. We had picked up a small piece of rope from the reef on our prop which was easily cut away (this explained the clonking) and all was well! Phew! A very picturesque spot and some lovely neighbours who had clearly earned the fruit cake we gave them to say thank you.
Today we awoke to blue sky and sunshine, such a welcome sight after a few drizzling days. By 8am Aradonna was festooned with fluttering laundry hanging from every rail and every line we could hang from somewhere outside - at last we could get the washing dry! We went ashore and met Ronan who took us for a walk to the crater lake and showed us where they grow their vegetables. The lake is a bit of a swampy area or wetland, so no good for drinking water but perfect for the gardens. In the village we were able to buy freshly baked bread along with some eggs. There is a hospital here that services all the villages on Ambae as well as people living on the islands of Maewo and Pentecost. To supply clean water to the hospital the Japanese have donated a solar powered desalination plant which was commissioned earlier this year. We gave a few watermelon seeds to some of the locals here as we have so many of these seeds left over.
This afternoon we had a snorkel on the reef, not as clear as Hog Harbour but still plenty of nice things to see. A large carpet of unusual soft corals in dusky pinks and mauves, a huge grouper lurking in the rocks, and a pair of blue fin unicorn fish along with the usual selection of pretty reef fishes. Later as we were drying off on board Aradonna, we spotted a whale cruising by the mouth of the bay. A real surprise to see this large creature blowing and diving - and quite a thrill! Later, a sizable ferry-come-cargo vessel motored in through the reef and over to the village to drop off supplies and people. A busy little bay in a remote island, full of surprises.