We headed out of our anchorage in Tanna at 7am and had a wonderful sail to Erromango. Flat seas and 20-25 knot wind gave us speeds of 8 and sometimes 9 knots. Arrived in Dillons Bay in time for a swim before lunch and then we set off for the village. David welcomed us on shore and we took our gifts of seeds and fishing gear to the community centre. Everything will be divided up by the committee here for the 500 plus residents of this village. The community council gave us a formal welcome and thank you speech, showing appreciation of our gifts. We then asked directions for the school so we could donate some educational supplies. David offered some advice, he said we should follow the road until we came to the big mango tree and then turn up the hill. I should explain at this point that the island is called Erromango, which translates, literally, to "Land of Mangoes". There are hundreds, if not thousands of mango trees to be seen in one sweeping glance. Still, we managed to find the r ight mango tree, and the school. Pens and books and other materials gifted, we turned back to explore the village some more. We met Donald who has a sandalwood nursery here. He explained the process of planting the seeds and transplanting the seedlings into bigger and bigger pots until they were ready to plant in the fields. Donald had met David and Patricia some years before and was excited to learn that we knew these good people. By the time we had had a tour of the nursery and chatted about David and Patricia we were new found friends. We have been invited to lunch tomorrow, which we insisted will be a "pot luck" lunch so we can contribute to it as well.
The community of Dillons Bay has a very pretty setting, with a fresh water river running beside the village and out to sea. They have rich fertile soil, sandalwood, mangoes, plenty of fresh water and an idyllic bay. Unfortunately cyclone Pam conspired against them, with strong winds stripping all the fruit and all the branches off the mango trees, and, torrential rain causing flooding of the river and the village. All of their crops were destroyed. The people here have been very busy however, and have already repaired much of the damage to houses and replanted many gardens. They take pride in their surroundings here and place a huge emphasis on education. After school, we saw children sitting in the fields diligently doing their homework. The school motto is "Nothing without education and labour" and this sums up the culture we saw in the village. As we headed back to our dinghy on shore, David met up with us again and showed us the yacht club he has been building for the last 7 years. What a wonderful setting and a great facility he is creating! He will have it completed in time for the next cruising season and it will be a popular spot for yachties to watch the sunset over a cold beer. Dillons Bay is a "must do" for any cruisers who visit Vanuatu.