[password] forester11
[position] 15 27.607S 167 13.218E
[status]  THE MASKELYNE AND MALEKULA ISLANDS TO LUGANVILLE
Three nights was just not long enough to do justice to this area. We took the west coast route with Pixie, spending the first night tucked in behind Awei Ialand where we were welcomed by the family who live on the island and were not only able to trade papaya, but also promised crayfish should they catch any during the night - unfortunately they were not successful! We had a beautiful sail to South West Bay (Metenovor Bay) the next day, and an equally good one to Malua Bay the following one. We were welcomed by Kevan, the chief's son, in his dugout canoe, and Vivienne in hers - bearing papaya & pablomousse ... and by the time Pixie arrived there was such a welcoming committee in dugouts that they could hardly anchor! Kevan and his family later gave us a tour of their village where we shared birthday cake with his sister (the kindy teacher) and corn with Vivienne's family. The village's greatest need seemed to be ropes for their cows, so both Peter (from Pixie) and Ben were able to find suitable ropes they could spare ... which we took ashore along with some clothes, books for the school and paper for the kindy. Everyone was so welcoming and generous to us - we returned to our yachts laden with pablomousse and yet again were blown away by the willingness of the villagers to share their lives and goods with us with no expectation of payment - Vivienne said to me that by sharing we become friends!
We had some fishing success on the way to Surunda Bay, and on our arrival there I gave the fish to a local woman who had brought out a beautiful bouquet of flowers to give us. Maybe she had seen the stress on board as we became members of the Coral Club ... yes, we managed to get stuck on some coral. Fortunately Rick from Oscar came and helped us off using his dinghy ... for which we were very grateful. Along with Pixie, we caught up with Zest, Amici & Oscar for sundowners on Felix. Next day we had a welcome visit to the market and supermarket in Luganville, where we were delighted to meet up with Jillian & Glen from Malekite. Lunch at a restaurant which also housed some really interesting WW11 memorabilia topped off the outing.

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