Unfortunately I left Lenakel without visiting the market again on Friday morning. Dean was keen to get away and not so keen to eat anything that I might have bought anyway, no matter how safe, so up anchor it was. There had been a few drops of rain overnight that had turned the ash covering the boat into a black mess. Dean gave the decks a quick sluice while I wiped down the cockpit but we were expecting a swell when we left so that would do a better job than we could, on deck at least.
Once we left the protection of the bay the swell was significant and we bashed to windward all of the way down the South coast of Tanna. As we thought the waves breaking over the bow did a better job of washing the boat than we did, however what we really need is a good rainstorm. Still, I fear black ash will be haunting us for months to come.
The coastline was really picturesque and all the way along you can see evidence of small villages and farms cut out amongst the dense rainforest. The weather was quite funny in the respect it was raining quite heavily on parts of the island adjacent to us, but we had fine weather as we travelled along the coast.
After we left the protection of the island to follow the island around the swell was very messy and it felt a bit like being in a washing machine. We had spoken over the radio to a couple of yachts nearby that were sailing over from New Caledonia to help them contact Customs, and it must have been a long uncomfortable journey for them. Despite the bumps Dean spent most of his time dosing and occasionally I just needed to boot him back onto the seat before he was nearly rolled off with the swell.
Once we rounded the cape we were able to hoist the stay sail which as well as giving us an extra knot of speed, also stabilised the boat somewhat. I don’t have the strength to winch up the main sail and today nor did Dean, so that was going to have to do us.
We came to Tanna because it is the first port of entry into Vanuatu from New Caledonia which then allows us to cruise the islands without backtracking. But for many the lure is the volcano. The volcano sits quite low compared to surrounding peaks so we couldn’t get a great view from the sea, though we did get a peep as we travelled towards Port Resolution and we certainly had a very good view of the smoke bellowing out of it. It is like it is breathing. There is nothing, then big plumes of smoke rise up before it settles down again. I would say every few minutes it would do this cycle. It is currently on level 2, the same level as White island when it erupted, but its level of activity does fluctuate. They are very different volcanoes, one big difference is White Island had formed a plug and had pressure building up, while this one is open and able to “breathe”.
Nevertheless we will follow our plan, and won’t be visiting it up close and personal. But since it is a major reason why people come here, I will provide you with the description out of the Lonely Planet guide because it is quite fascinating. As I said its activity levels do fluctuate somewhat so I imagine the following description is when it is tending to be more active. Everyone we have met who have visited it thinks it’s awesome. Anyway, for us it is just one of those conscious decisions where we weighed up the risks and benefits and made our choice.
“Along the path to the crater rim, there are whiffs of sulpher and whooshing roaring noises. Ahead is a silhouette of people on the rim, golden fireworks behind them. Then you are looking into a dark central crater where three vents take turn to spit rocks of red-molten rock and smoke. The ground trembles and a fountain of fiery magna shoots up and spreads against the sky. All turns quiet except for the thundering of boulders as big as trucks somersaulting down into the vast campfire.”
Port Resolution is another rolly anchorage. There were six boats at anchor when we arrived other than ourselves with three Australian but all foreign. Although the website says you cannot clear in here since the reopening, people are asking and being granted permission. Of course they pay extra for the officials to travel here, but it is very convenient, though it seems to take many days as opposed to ours completed in half an hour.
This is an ideal place to clear in if you are arriving from Fiji due to the location. Most people want to visit, so it meant sailing right past it to Lenakel then another 5 hours back again. When we asked the Aussies from New Caledonia why they didn’t go to Lenakel as it was easy for them location wise they said they heard it was a bad anchorage. We have found Port Resolution up to know just as rolly, but I think the big difference is this is a lot safer in more directions of weather. It is also large so a lot of boats can fit here.
Lenakel can be difficult to anchor in if you don’t have the luxury of choosing a sandy spot. And even when we did we still got snagged on rocks or coral, and had to motor around the anchor a bit to get it up. And if you cannot fit into the bay you need to anchor further out where it is more exposed and in about 30m of water. Funnily enough though a few have had to make the long arduous journey to Lenakel by truck anyway since they didn’t have enough vatu to pay the officials, as there is no bank here.
Before you enter Port Resolution there are some beautiful white sandy beaches. The actual bay widens after you pass through the entrance and the edge is a mixture of black volcanic sand beaches with thick vegetation extending all of the way up to them and steep cliffs. The smoke from cooking fires give away the position of the villages hidden away in the trees and puffs of steam show the location of hot springs. On one stretch of rocks I can see the washing draped out for drying after being washed today.
The first stucture you see is a hut overlooking the bay. This belongs to the Yakuveran village which is situated in the trees behind it.
Along the beach you can see many dugout canoes pulled up that the villagers use for fishing. We see them netting along the beach in the bay.
Finally a good half of the bay is surrounded by mountains. As I write, one large moutain peak is covered in cloud. And to our West, our friendly volcano is hiding behind some hills still breathing out its ash laden smoke that is being blown back across to Lenakel. We travelled 31 nm to get here but it is only 13 as the crow flies. Thank goodness we are now in a position that the prevailing trade winds are blowing the ash away from us.
At night there is absolutely no ambient light. Our first night there was no moon and when I sat in the cockpit I could spot just three lights on shore. The fire light in the villages must be too far into the trees to be seen. Otherwise it was just the yacht anchor lights, all using the correct lighting! The villages do not have electricity.
We spent two days at anchor here so Dean could recover before we went ashore. We did give the boat a good wash to try and get the ash off that keeps appearing but as soon as he does any physical activity he needs to sleep for a few hours. We got some dinghy visits which was nice, but we will get the chance to talk to people better once we are able to go ashore.
Run to Paradise 