New Caledonia: Loyalty Islands

One mantra of cruising sailors is that we are not on vacation.

Too many things go wrong with boats and weather, to say nothing of the general lack of conveniences, to be carefree. Our time in New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands was a rare and welcome exception. Nothing was broken, the weather was reasonably cooperative, and we felt—like we were on vacation!

Ouvea

Ouvea is a low narrow island, 15 miles of white crescent beach with a necklace of tiny islets on an outer reef aptly named the Pleiades. The blue hues of the lagoon defied description, the sand was soft as powder, and we usually had the whole place to ourselves. Paradise found…

Sundowners on the beach, woo hoo!
(in case you're wondering,
that bottle of duty free gin lasted a very long time)

Turtles were large and curious

We visited caves along a cliff on the windward side of the island, accessed by wading across a salt water river then climbing a ladder the local people use.

After providing shelter for villagers during a cyclone,
an altar was placed in this cave

The pouch around our guide's neck,
woven from traditional fibers and decorated with sea shells,
held his cell phone!

Mouli was the most traditional village we saw anywhere in New Caledonia. The French government has provided electricity, phone service and running water almost everywhere, but the people here still live in cases (conical thatched huts).

The chief's grande case is surrounded by a fence of large logs
and has the most decorated ornament at its peak

Lifou

The island of Lifou is not far from Ouvea, but its geology is radically different. High cliffs predominate, with coral gardens along the base of the cliffs.

A local family adopted us for a day, and we got a chance to experience how the Kanaks are balancing aspects of their traditional culture with Western influences.

We were invited for a lunch of fruit, bread and sausage,
on the porch of their small European-style home
(painted orange, which is a very popular color for both clothes and houses)

However, they also spend a great deal of time in their traditional case,
which is right next door to the other house

Sleeping mats, a drying rack for fish, and popping corn for the fire
(the fire pit, not in the photo, is right in front of our feet)
are visible inside the case

On Lifou, the living arrangement of both styles of homes side by side is very common

The structure on the right is an open-air space for family gatherings

A well-preserved carving

Snorkeling was superb in that crystal clear water!

New Caledonia: Grande Terre

Grande Terre: Noumea and the Bay of Prony

Culture shock!

After three months of feeling at home in small villages, barefoot and without electricity, we arrived in Noumea: capital of New Caledonia, and the most cosmopolitan city in the South Pacific island nations. The waterfront market sells fine cheese and olives rather than taro and cassava; food stalls make crepes to order, and one is never far from a pastry shop. New Caledonia is still colonized by France; for better and for worse, it shows.

Once again our arrival timing was fortuitous, just in time for the 30^th annual Carnival of Noumea--a Mardi Gras-style parade with 1200 stunningly festooned participants (photo above) and a fireworks display worthy of any major U.S. city on the 4^th of July.

With a European feel comes European prices, so we didn’t spend much time in the capital. A few scenes from our days there:

We could resist the fancy pastries

but we couldn't resist these expertly made crepes

French fast food: baguettes and more baguettes

The Tjibaou Cultural Center, in honor of the Kanak pro-independence leader assassinated in 1989, is an architectural masterpiece that houses traditional and modern Kanak art.

The tall curved structures evoke both Kanak huts and graceful pines.

On the outer grounds are traditional carved statues
and lengths of fabric tied to posts.
A gift of fabric is the standard offering
from guests to hosts in Kanak culture.

Carving is still the predominant art form,
especially of intricate symbolic designs on large pieces of wood

A "living display" of traditional costumes,

instruments and music

Outside of the city, the rest of Grande Terre—and it really is a very Large (Is)Land—is sparsely populated. It’s also a remarkably dry island, more akin to Australia (almost 800 miles to the west) than to lush Vanuatu (about 250 miles to the east).

We took some nice hikes in the Bay of Prony, on the far south end of Grande Terre. The landscape is

characterized by red earth and dense scrub vegetation, occasionally dotted by araucaria pines.

Hiking up (and up and up) to a lighthouse

Red mud colored our dinghy line, shoes and feet

Remains: there is a great deal of mining, particularly of nickel,
on Grande Terre

At 30-45 meters, the indigenous columnar pines
tower over everything else

Hunter-gatherer Art found a genuine treasure!
The nautilus is frequently associated with New Caledonia,
but finding a shell of this size and condition is rare

Tracking Second Wind

If you're interested in knowing where Second Wind is--and by extension, where we are--we have changed the site where our position reports are filed. 

Yachts In Transit (www.yit.nz) is a New Zealand-based site that hosts and shares information about voyaging sailboats in the South Pacific. It was created by a cruising couple with years of both cruising and meteorology experience; they broadcast extremely helpful weather information via long-range SSB radio every morning. The website helps cruisers share position, weather and status information with each other, which is both useful and fun. 

I file reports whenever we change location. If we're on a passage, I send an update every day, so you can watch us cross the ocean; if we've arrived somewhere, I send an update when we change anchorages. You can get directly to us here:

www.yit.nz/yacht/secondwind

The site places our location on a Google Earth map, so you can "see" where we are.

Enjoy!

VANUATU CODA: Epi and Efate

Lamen Bay on Epi Island served as a one-night stopover on our way north two months ago, but we returned to spend a couple of days there on our way back to Port Vila. It’s a spot well known for its resident turtle population and frequent visits by a dugong.

Sure enough, the turtles were easy to find—and they were unafraid, munching leisurely on sea grass as we floated above them. There was also some first-rate snorkeling, with attractive coral formations and a huge array of colorful fish very near our boat.

Unfortunately, our timing was poor for the dugong. While we were there, one patrol boat and four cargo ships came in and out of the bay, the cargo ships’ activities amplified by the large number of small boats speeding back and forth with supplies. Things finally quieted down the afternoon we left and the dugong returned, but no matter how far we swam, it was a wild dugong chase; we got to see a face and flippers from a distance, but didn’t get to float over him. Though we could probably have been successful the next day, a change in the weather meant we had to head south while we had a chance.

Ah well, it was worth a try!

I would have preferred a photo of a dugong in this space,
but the cargo ships are pretty interesting too!

So we are now near the end of our long loop around Vanuatu’s many islands, having arrived back at Efate Island. Before going into Port Vila, we spent a few final days in nearby Havannah Harbor, catching up on some maintenance in peaceful anchorages there.

Our final instrumental interlude included a special treat: the village at our last anchorage was very musical. They had a washtub bass (large plastic tub outfitted with a stick and a cord) and a small ukulele; people took turns playing those instruments, and when they weren’t playing, they were improvising clapped rhythms and singing their hearts out. We played for each other, and jammed together in our style and theirs.  What a fun finale!

Then, a truly Grand Finale. We made reservations at a beach restaurant very near Second Wind in Port Vila to celebrate our 43^rd anniversary, noticing they made a note of the special occasion. When we arrived, they had set up a beautiful table just for us—a lovely gesture. But we were astounded when they seated us in the middle of the evening’s entertainment, a spectacular fire show! It was a celebration beyond anything we could have imagined, and a sensational way to bring our adventures in this phenomenal country to a close.

How to leave Vanuatu? How to say goodbye to a country so full of gorgeous places, exciting activities, and fascinating customs? 

More than anything, we will miss the people. Ten years ago a United Nations study proclaimed the ni-Vans are the happiest people in the world—and that must still be true. We received the warmest welcomes possible and made friends everywhere we went; the closeness felt extraordinary.

Magic lives on in Vanuatu!

VANUATU: Malekula and the Maskelynes

Kastom (custom) dancing brought us to Banam Bay. These men are part of the Smol Nambas on Malekula Island, meaning they traditionally wore small penis sheaths (as opposed to the Big Nambas, who wore larger leaf coverings). Though the dances were not quite what we expected—fewer men, and no women’s dances—it was still an interesting variation on others we had seen, and we were glad to see the traditions being continued with boys involved as well.

For us the main attraction to Banam Bay was the children. Throughout Vanuatu the children are independent, fearless—and happy. Laughter is everywhere! We played with the kids, traded with them, walked with them between villages while they showed off their tree climbing and nut gathering skills. When Katelinn passed through Vanuatu on her circumnavigation, she described “children dripping off of me”, and we had the same joyful experience. There is a lot right with a place where all the children are bright and curious, and such fun to be around!

Trading fishing line, hooks, and colored pencils
for pamplemousse and bananas

Playing pat-a-cake
Art started the game, joined by fellow cruisers
Dina from Canadian S/V Good as Gold and Murray from Kiwi S/V JAMS

Learning how to eat cacao beans from the shell

July 30 is Vanuatu’s Independence Day, and we wanted a taste of small town—rather, small village—celebrations rather than attend the city-style activities in the capital, so we chose to be in Banam Bay for that day.

They combined it with their annual Children’s Day, honoring the kids by giving them gifts of balls and sweets. All the children lined up and adults moved along the line shaking hands with everyone—and sprinkling talcum powder on them for good luck!

Picnics, Vanuatu-style: families with baskets of food, sitting on woven mats under the trees

Little did we know we would become part of the program!
Once the officials learned we knew their national anthem,
we were seated on stage and became part of their entertainment for the day.

Men and women generally don’t dance together, but one grandma scooped Art up and the “old folks” provided much hilarity!

Almost without exception people have Westernized first names, but I had never met another Nancie (or Nancy)--until this area, where there were four of them! This Nancie and I spent a fair amount of time together, so she was dubbed Young Nancie and for some reason I was dubbed Old Nancie.

Spontaneous moments like this one, hanging out with a family at their home before the festivities began, were often the best…

...and made parting a sweet sadness.

MASKELYNE ISLANDS

Evoy! (Hello!)

The Maskelyne group, a cluster of reefs and islands at the southeast corner of Malekula Island, has its own language and customs.

The islands are mostly small and flat, so families paddle their outrigger canoes to a separate island--"the garden island"--to raise their crops. That makes for a lot of paddling!

The Maskelynes were the only place we saw outriggers fitted with sails; this canoe was on Awai Island.

Uliveo, the largest island in the group, is home to three substantial villages, with about 1,000 people and the group’s only school. They also foster a giant clam sanctuary, creating a man-made island and oasis 25 years ago to protect the three remaining species (the largest ones have sadly become extinct, though we saw some of the enormous shells on display). We were heartened to see such active stewardship and supported their ecotourism efforts by paying to swim in the sanctuary one afternoon.

Because some places are tabu—and also to protect visitors from getting lost—all villages provide a guide for walking around their lands. We were accompanied by Philip a few times and he later invited us to his home for lunch—not a frequent occurrence with visitors, so we felt honored.

On the menu was laplap, a traditional dish made of grated roots—cassava or yam—mixed with bits of fish and some coconut milk, wrapped in leaves and baked in a stone oven. Philip was pleased to have caught a squid out on the reef the previous night, so fresh squid smoked on the fire was a real treat.

A lovely presentation in their eating area

Meriam and Sera in the cooking area

In return we invited his family to our boat, expecting his wife and two daughters—then nine people showed up at the dinghy landing. Ah, extended family; we should have known! Crowded but festive, it was their first time on a “yacht” and we all had a good time.

Binoculars provided much entertainment

The clan on deck
(without Philip, who was taking a picture of his own)

We play for schools almost everywhere, and often the men hanging around by the water end up with a spontaneous mini-performance when they see us off-loading our instruments from the dinghy. Women are working in their homes, yet enjoy the music as much as anyone—so we seek them out on their turf.

When we asked about trading for a lobster,
Andre brought us 4 of them!

Water world

We wanted to stay longer in these lovely anchorages, but as always, weather dictated our itinerary. Strong southeasterlies on the way meant it was time to sail back across open water towards Port Vila.

Pelan! Sippa! Sippa humbat!

(Goodbye! Thank you! Thank you very much!)