Tanna IV

Hope this is not too boring to you out there reading this. It has been better and better for us so bear with me.

The ride in the dink to shore here is easy when the tide is up and treacherous at low water. There is a big reef right in front of and outside of the beach landing. The dinghy beach is well protected though with no swell and trees to tie up to with some sand or coral depending on the water level. At low tide you have to pole in the last 50yds though over reef rock. Coming in at low water is possible with good sun behind you otherwise you will hit coral heads and the reef. At night you just go at idle speed with a flashlight up ahead and take lots of detours at the last second. There is a steep cliff to walk up off the beach and the Port Resolution "Yacht Club" is there overlooking the anchorage. They have a restaurant and bar (open air like everything here) and some bungalows for visiting tourists, with real flush toilets. It is still roughing it though. No toilet paper in the toilets and the showers might make some queasy. Beautiful spot though. Nice lawn, palm trees, bamboo and grass hut bungalows. More of a backpacker type place.

The village is nearby along the road. There are huts and even a couple of cinder-block houses with tin roofs, but mostly just grass huts. Doors may not exist or may just be a piece of wood, woven mat or cloth. Floors are dirt covered by woven mats which they sit on, cook on and sleep on. Cooking fires are wood inside the huts or in a separate hut. Clothes are dried on lines if they have them or just left on the ground to dry. Clothing is very old, well worn and often torn and sometimes looks dirty but is in fact just very very old. The people here do not use deoderant though and the smell is not for the faint of heart. They are not dirty people, just don't have the same goods we do to spiff ourselves up. It can be overpowering though.

There is always a wave and a smile. The kids are the friendliest as usual. Some villagers are friendlier than others. Some speak English, some French, some both, some only Bislama and the local languages. There are over 20 separate languages (not dialects of the same language) on Tanna alone! Everywhere are palm trees, vines, banana trees, papaya trees, gardens, bushes, cows, pigs, etc. Very lush. Every few years a bad cyclone will come through and blow away the huts and they just rebuild them. They use hollowed out breadfruit tree logs for canoes with the traditional outriggers. Very South Pacific. Every day we have one or more canoes come out with boys, girls or older adults. They come just to talk or often to trade for fruits and veggies. Brian wants to borrow DVD's though that he watches at his hut with his electric generator.

I took on a little project to help the locals. They drink kava every night (men only) and have to grind the kava roots and stems up. They are way past doing the chewing and spitting routine you read about. They have sausage grinders made out of cast iron and one of the handles had broken in half. Welding cast iron is difficult and they asked if any of the yachties could weld it for them. Not very many yachts have welding equipment on board but I volunteered to look at it to see if I could jury rig it. I took some brass bar stock I had for electrical work and doubled it up and had to drill and file out a hole in one end in a "D" shape to fit on the grinder auger with its tapered shaft. Took me two days part time with lots of brass filings all over the cockpit of the boat but I got a pretty good fit. I took it in and fitted it on the grinder but I fear it will not last long grinding big hard roots and tree limbs, which is why the cast iron handle broke in the first place. Made me feel good though to try to help.

We have also made gifts of the flip-flops we got cheap in Lenakel after finding out they needed them. Leia, the woman from the restaurant, was so happy we got them. She loaded us up with bananas, papaya, onions and lettuce. Excellent, organic produce. I almost forgot - we had a little incident the other night coming back from the dinner at the restaurant. We had had a little bit too much wine may be. It was way dark and we were laughing and joking in White Swan's dinghy coming back. They got to MD to let us off and the swell was really big so getting off on up the wildly pitching side of our boat would not have been easy sober and in daylight. Plus our little wooden step we depend on had lost one of its rubber bumpers so we could not use it to make it easier. Cindy went first with the dinghy being held fore and aft by Bob and Dianna and me trying to help Cindy keep from falling as she stood up in the bucking seas. One thing led to another and all of a sudden Cindy starting tipping over to me and then to Bob. The three of us went over the side of the dink in to the cold water, in the dark, with clothes and glasses on. MD was right above us rocking back and forth and bumping the dink. I was worried first about someone drowning, then about losing our expensive eyeglasses then just about how to get everyone back in the dink which we managed. I had to literally pull Cindy out as she does not have enough arm strength to do it herself even when we go snorkeling. We managed to get on to our boat, dripping seawater wet. We rinsed off in fresh water and went to bed and found out the next day that Bob lost a fancy sandal and got his digital camera wet which would not work any more and he lost some of his pictures from the day. Funny enough some kids found his sandal on the beach two days later and returned it. Their are some lessons in all this but I am sure we have not learned them.

Next - Fear and Loathing on the Volcano - Part Deux

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