September 13-24, 2008: South Pacific

Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu (S 15.32.223 E 167.10.831) http://maps.google.com/maps

All reports had said that Vanuatu would be the most undeveloped of all our destinations and for some cruisers this was the best part of the South Pacific. Spiritu Santo where Luganville is located is the largest of Vanuatu's islands. It was also suppose to be a diver's paradise with one of the largest shipwrecks in the world to be explored. We were looking forward to the passage which would take about 5 days to cover the almost 600 miles of sea. For the first two days the wind seldom got above 10 knots so we did a lot of motoring. By the third day out the wind was back and we made good way with fine weather to our first landfall Bedo Point on the island of Pentecost. Pentecost Island is where the natives dive off of high bamboo platforms with vines tied around their ankles to break their fall. The original bungee jumpers, only they used vines not bungee cord to take the plunge! We did not go ashore because we had not cleared into the country making it illegal to land. After spending the night at anchor we made the short trip to Luganville where we anchored at the custom's clearance anchorage.

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As you can see by the pictures below the customs and immigration facilities were in need of some rehab. Basically all the government's facilities were left over buildings from WWII. Clearance was straight forward and hassle free despite the condition of the buildings.

After clearing we move across the channel to Aore Island another South Pacific paradise.

We dropped anchor just off a small resort called the Aore Resort. It was a great place to stay since we had access to their swimming pool, restaurant and ferry service to Luganville . The resort was busy but not crowded. Again it was full of mostly Australian and New Zealand tourists and a few Europeans.

Luganville itself has that sleepy tropical feel about it. During WWII it was a major base and provisioning center. At the time there was nothing but jungle and natives. By the time it was finished there were 40 cinemas, four military hospitals, five airfields, a torpedo boat base, jetties and market gardens. More than a half a million military personal were stationed here waiting to head into battle in the Pacific. As usual we were eager to see it all and do some diving. We ended up hiring a guy with his Toyota truck to show us the sights by land.

As you can see the people in the countryside have very primitive homes and some of the kids have only loin cloths. The ruins of the airbase are now mostly absorbed by the jungle and the cattle industry. The main export of Vanuatu is kava, growing in the picture on the left. They've just started a beef industry the quality of which is quite high.

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Our guide asked me how old I was. I told him 61. He laughed and said that if I lived in Vanuatu I'd be dead by now. We all had a good chuckle but knew he wasn't joking as life was no easy thing on the island.

When the war ended the United States offered to sell its equipment to the local government but then reconsidered and decided to dump it into the sea. Million Dollar Point is where hundreds of tons of US military equipment was dumped. Everything from bulldozers, airplanes engines and jeeps to crates of Coco-Cola went into the sea, You can still see the coral-encrusted machinery and tons of broken Coke bottle glass on the shore.

We also visited a crash site where one of the returning aircraft of the war didn't make it. You could almost feel the ghosts. They said there were hundreds of sites like this on the island.

Next on the agenda was to dive the The USS President Coolidge, a luxury liner turned troop carrier, which hit a friendly mine very close to Million Dollar Point. By so doing it became the world's largest accessible and dive able shipwreck having settled at the bottom just off the shore. We were really psyched! Unfortunately because of weather the water clarity was only about 8 feet but oh what a site. It was gigantic! On the deck there were still rifles and helmets laying about. Inside dozens of jeeps. It would take multiple dives to explore the whole thing but the weather kept getting worse along with the visibility so the best site of the trip went unexplored after one dive.

We'd only been in Vanuatu a few days when one morning while charging the batteries the genset started to accelerate. I tried to shut it down from the control panel but no luck. Soon the panel lit up like a Christmas tree and black smoke started pouring out of the exhaust. The motor just kept running at higher and higher rpm. Finally after the smoke turned white, the motor stopped running. Other boats around us thought we were on fire and came to assist. When I told them that I had a run away generator one of the helpful yachties said "Its a Panda right?" He then explained he had the same problem with his Panda but replaced it before going cruising.

When I got back into the engine compartment to have a look, I discovered the seawater exhaust hose had broken flooding the sound proof case and shorting out the control electronics. The generator only had 300 hours on it, virtually new! So much for compact fully automatic gensets. There was no chance of getting it fixed in Vanuatu assuming it was still salvageable. The closest dealer was in New Caledonea four hundred miles away. Now the only way we could keep the batteries charged was by running the engine and running the engine while at anchor just to charge the batteries was not a good thing. The accumulation of these equipment problems was starting to wear me thin. If the alternator gave out we'd have no way to keep the batteries charged. After consulting with my shipmates, we decided to head for New Caledonia without lingering any further.

On September 24th we left Aore Island heading south to the Maskelyne Islands and finally Noumea in New Caledonia. Due to timing and distance we did not have a very good chance of making the Maskelyn Islands before dark so we anchored at Southwest Bay on Malekula for the night. There are too many ship wrecks out here and it is much better to be safe. From a distance this place looked desolate but soon after dropping the hook the locals showed up. It has been our experience that not very many locals come out to greet us in outriggers. The people are always friendly and usually have something to offer in the way of fruit or vegetables. Getting an up close look at the construction of the boat and paddles gives a good idea of the abilities and ambition of these islanders. All that we have seen have been wearing westernized clothing and spoke passable English. There are many cultures fading away and we have witnessed up close the blending of the old with the new. Of note, we passed an empty outrigger many miles offshore between here and Luganville. Not knowing what to do with it we left it to drift. There was one other yachtie there who asked us for the weather as they were almost out of power and had only solar charging capabilities.

On the 25th we made our way to Sakau Island in the Maskelynes. The Meskelynes are just gorgeous. The coral reefs make for excellent snorkeling. Our first sight coming into Sakau Island was a sailboat on the reef! It had run aground the night before but luckily there was another yachtie there rendering assistance. We asked if they needed any help. They said no explaining there was fishing vessel was on its way to pull the sailboat off the reef. The grounded vessel was being singlehanded and the story was the skipper fell asleep. They soon got him off the reef with almost no damage to the boat. Talk about luck.

This is where we ended up anchoring. The guy in the dugout came to tell us the best spot. He and his family lived in the hut on shore. From time to time his neighbors passed by on their way to other destinations. We gave our host some trade goods for him and his family and they in turn gave us some of the best papaya we'd tasted. They were dirt poor living a substance existence but were some of the most gracious and friendly people we came across.

We only stayed a day but could have stayed a week in this pristine setting. The generator needed fixing and I could rest until I knew it was fixed so we up anchored on September 26th to make the 411 mile passage to Noumea.

September 7 - 13, 2008: South Pacific Musket Cove, Malololailai Island, Fiji (S 17.46.22 E 177.11.07) http://maps.google.com

After gingery threading our way through the coral heads we dropped anchor at Musket Cove at just after noon. Musket Cove is usually the last jumping off point for any yachtie going to Australia or New Zealand assuming you've made your way to Fiji. Its also a very well developed resort so there is lots to do here. You can also see it was pretty full of boats. There must have been 20-30 anchored in the bay or tied up at their docks.

On of the great things about the place was a common barbecue and bar set up. You could buy your meat at their store bring your sides from your boat and cook it up on their grills while communing with the other yachties. The facilities were really first class. The best we'd seen since San Diego. When we were in Rarotonga we heard about a boat that was suppose to have hit a whale on their way to Tonga. We met the captain at the barbecue. He had also just run aground while coming to Musket Cove the night before ( talk about bad luck) and needed to have major work done on his rudder because of the grounding. It least he could get it as this area had major marine facilities to do just such work. This was his second trip across the Pacific so it doesn't matter how experienced you are before you number comes up.

First on our agenda was the diving. This is the area where the film "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks was made. That's a picture of the island.

The water was clear and the coral was nice but not a lot of large marine life. Its amazing how picky we had became in judging the dive sites. The dive boat came right to Present Moment to pick us up so it was well organized and convenient.

The Mamanucuc Group is a major tourist destination full of resorts ranging from very high end, built over the water like in French Polynesia, to the family budget resort. They were busy with Australian and New Zealand tourists. Its definitely worth visiting and the prices are much more reasonable than French Polynesia.

Having worked out the Club Med cravings in our system, we moved to Port Denarau on September 10th to do more provisioning and clear formalities in Fiji. We also took the opportunity to rent a car (very inexpensive) and tour the main island of Viti Levu. We drove from Nadi, which has a major international airport, alone the coast to Sigatoka. Sigatoka is a neat grid of a town tucked into green hills on the large Sigatoka River. The countryside was nice, mostly sugar cane fields.. Other than the tourist areas it was economically very poor. A Dengue fever epidemic had just broken out in Port Denarau so it was time for us to move on . On the 13th we started our 585 mile passage to Vanuatu in very calm winds and seas.

September 6, 2008: South Pacific

Momi Bay, Viti Levu, Fiji (S 17.54.818 E 177.15.988) http://maps.google.com/maps

Beqa Island was in the path of the trades and the winds were steady and strong (26 Knots). But, once we rounded the southwestern tip of the big island of Viti Levu the wind reversed, literally 180 degrees and then almost shot off. It was like being in an entirely different place as you can see.

We planned to enter the reef through Navula Pass and anchor in this bay. We were the only boat here and once again this place was incredibly quiet with very light winds. The only sounds heard were an occasional tractor on shore or the roosters at sunrise. The weird thing is that if you did not know where you were you’d swear it was Sonoma, CA.

Well almost like Sonoma. Momi Bay was a major gun placement during WWII protecting this side of Fiji. The only time the guns were fired was when they mistook a friend ship for a Japanese battleship. The surrounding area like most of Viti Levu is all sugar cane fields. The locals have done a good job preserving the sight.

Our base in the Mamanucas was to be Musket Cove only about 10 miles from here but you have to pick your way through the coral heads to get there.

September 4, 2008: South Pacific

Malumu Bay, Beqa Island, Fiji (S 18.23.083 E 178.09.092) http://maps.google.com/maps

According to the guide books some of the best diving in Fiji was in the Beqa Islands only some 10 miles from Suva. Its volcanic and rugged and known for its onshore villages that practice firewalking and of course its ofshore dive sites.

All of our destinations are researched with charts, charting software and cruising guides prior to departure. We need to know if there is an anchorage and the quality of the anchorage in order to commit. After entering the fringing reef of Beqa Island (Bengga) off the southern coast of Fiji we easily located Malumu Bay where we intended to anchor overnight. We found what appeared to be a very small resort with no activity and a small pier with an anchored sailboat in their water. We dropped the hook on a small secluded beach across the bay from them but realized it was too risky of an anchorage. We pulled up the hook and headed deeper into the bay. What we discovered was a pristine, undeveloped and unpopulated bay. In effect we were surrounded by lush green hills and flat glassy green water. There were a few locals fishing along the shore but we never saw their village. The stargazing at night was outstanding since there were no city or shore lights. This was by far one of the most peaceful places we'd seen in a long time. These places do exist and we found one.

Unfortunately the water was not that clear so on September 5th we made way to another anchorage on just off Yanuca Island. Compact and beautiful Yanuca is a mass of green hills with a surf camp and lovely beaches.

The water was much clearer unfortunately all the scuba dive centers had gone out of business or were already booked so all we could do was snorkel. While it was a beautiful spot we decided to move on to the Mamanuca Group on the 6th as heavy winds were headed our way.

September 2008: South Pacific

Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji pt 1 (S 18.07.297 E 178.25.405) http://maps.google.com/maps

The water is so shallow approaching the docks that we probably were touching it in places. We managed to squeeze in a spot between boats and got a side tie. As is always the case, all docks and all marinas and all cleats and all water and all power are just different enough to make it a new experience every time. This is a very small marina and the quality of the floating docks conveys that they don’t put much money into keeping them up. We were tied to a floating concrete dock yet when we turned the corner we stepped onto another floating concrete dock. When that ended we then stepped onto a really floating dock; individual floating cubes held together to make a floating walkway.

Once on the land the building and the grounds greatly improved. This yacht club has a very long history and is vibrant in the local community. The setting is quite peaceful with a bar, pool tables, lounge area, laundry, showers, fuel, etc. A guard gate keeps it safe and the staff is friendly and the place is clean. This will be home for a few days. In its day this was probably a nice waterfront property and I wonder how the Suva Prison was able to set up shop right across the street, or is it the other way around. And from its appearance of what we can see above the solid wall is that it looks to be a hundred years old, and scary.

Captain Cook briefly passed thru the Fiji islands. Briefly, meaning the fear of cannibalism was so strong that they may have stepped on land and then quickly left and never came back. I’m not sure of the connection as to why the remaining piece of the Bounty’s rudder found its way to this museum.

The fish market was small considering the size of this city and that the produce market is the largest in the South Pacific. Much of the fish is caught spearfishing with band guns and the boats are tied up directly behind the stands. Along the walls you can see dive gear and wetsuits hanging to dry.

The downtown area is fast and loud, dangerous and dirty. The traffic directions are reverse of what it is in the states and you must be on your toes to look the correct way before stepping off the curb. This particular downtown area is congested.

The parts arrived without any holdup. I was also able to find a mechanic named Peter who had done a similar repair just so there would not be any surprises. Peter knew the Harbor Master where I kept my boat in Emeryville, small world. By the end of the afternoon the repairs had been made and Present Moment was good as new.

The walls of some yacht clubs are decorated with memorabilia specific to that club and this one did not disappoint. There were letters of approval from the British government allowing the use of the word Royal in Royal Suva Yacht Club and well as many letters of correspondence for this. Artifacts and pictures from the old days I find interesting.

Checking out was somewhat of a hassle. I had to take a cab to the main port and waste about half a day getting permission clear the port so we could move on which we did on the morning of September 4th. Time to do some diving in Beqa