Sep 24 - Oct 3, 2015 Maskelynes and Pentecost

Sep 25-30 Maskelynes

Sep 24 we sailed from Efate to Epi and spent the night, then headed out in the morning to the south end of Malekula, which is known as the Maskelynes. Here we celebrated the most important day of the year, or so we are told by Gigi, her 13th birthday. It is hard for us to believe, but this year Gigi became a teenager. I made Nanaimo bars for her dessert, but she did the creative decorating.

We anchored in a peaceful bay near Awei island, where we were visited by many traditional canoes. Two days later we moved to Gaspard Bay to see the dugongs, and were very fortunate to see many. Dugongs are close cousins to manatees. The big difference is that a dugong has a tail like a whale, and unlike manatees, dugongs do not drink fresh water. I tried my hardest to get a photo of one, but they surface very briefly and are afraid of humans in the water, so you can't get close snorkeling.

 We arranged with 2 other boats to go together to see the Kustom dancing on a nearby island. Frank, off Another Adventure, kindly took us, along with Sicki and Deter from Tomaro, on his boat to the island of Uliveo to see the dancing. We definitely got a unique cultural experience. We were not sure what dance they were going to perform until we got there, and it ended up being the small namba dance. The namba refers to the penis sheath that they wear, and the descriptor 'small' means that the scrotum is not covered. What Gigi and I found interesting was that the men didn't seem naked to us mainly due to the paint they had all over their bodies and the intrigue in the expressive dancing they did. The dances represented things that are important in their lives, such as paddling their canoes, using a bow and arrow in a big hunt, paying homage to the wind, …

We liked that the old guys were the musicians, so they could still participate. After the dancing they offered us a coconut treat, a mixture of coconut milk, roasted coconut and young coconut (which is gelatin like). They also let us take photos with them. That was when Gigi started to get embarrassed. Gary and the oldest guy, who told us he was 100 years old, got some good banter going back and forth. Sam asked if he could get a namba, and managed to obtain the bark belt, but the guys told him he had to climb to the top of a coconut tree, gather the youngest leaves and make his own sheath, as that was a very personal item. As of yet, he has not managed to climb a coconut tree, so we are all resting easy knowing he is not going to stroll to the breakfast table in a namba. Although the same cannot be said for Axel. When we got home that night he made his own namba out of star spangled duct tape. Needless to say there have been a lot of namba humor on the boat, and Gary keeps threatening Gigi to walk her to the first day of high school in his namba. Gigi is not amused.

Sep 30-Oct 3, Pentecost Island

We had a very pleasant sail to Homo Bay where we met up with Lumbaz. We were not thrilled with the greeting we received there from the locals, so the next day we headed just 4 miles up the coast to the village of Hot Water. This is not a good anchorage, as there is not even an indent in the coast, but there is a sand bottom with good holding and the wind wasn't too strong, so it was fine. Lumbaz wanted to stop here as they knew someone in the village. Gary and Sam joined Lumbaz ashore immediately after anchoring. They didn't come back for hours as they were given the warmest welcome. The village was preparing for a big church fundraiser the following evening, and they had just slaughtered a cow and had begun cooking it. They tried the delicious beef, drank some strong kava, and met everyone in the village.

The following day we toured the school, saw how they prepared the food and the girls cleaned the church for the celebration. Janet, our hostess, showed Genie and me how she made the local delicacy, loplop. It is made from grated cassava and coconut milk, wrapped in special loplop leaves, cooked over hot coals and covered with hot lava rocks. It is delicious, but very dense and filling.

The church celebration started at 6:00 pm and people from all the nearby villages came. There was singing, dancing, skits and a sermon. Every village performed at least once, but generally several times. At 8:00 a local parishioner got up, and we thought it was over, but not so, he had everyone do some stretches, then straight into the second half. The kids were trapped inside the church, and the look of desperation on their faces was classic. Eventually they escaped outside, but they did such a good job at sitting quietly through the performances, some of which were really bad, and most were in bislama. At this point our hostess, Janet, went and got our dinner packets which were wrapped so nicely in loplop leaves and tied with a vine. Awesome presentation. Most of the packets contained meat with loplop, although some came with yams, and some with rice. The food was incredible. After a big meal and more skits in bislama, we were ready to head out to the boat, but that was when the minister started his sermon. After 20 minutes of sermon, we decided that we couldn't last through the entire service. We reached our limits at 3 and a half hours of church. Our friends on Lumbaz decided to stay, but even they had to bail after 4 hours. I guess it eventually ended after 4 and a half hours. That was a marathon church session.

 The kindergarten class room

 Children looking into the kinder class over the calk slates they use for writing.

 Janet unwrapping the loplop, her oven is immediately behind her.

Luna reading to the local children

 Our poor kids trapped in the church

 Some of the better performers.

My dinner packet.

Dinner - beef and loplop in coconut milk.

 The ladies with the loplop packets at the church

The village as seen from our boat. It is not very big.

Oct 3rd we sailed to Asanvari at the southern end of Maewo Island. This is an incredibly picturesque anchorage, well protected, has a waterfall flowing into the ocean feet from our boat, with a great restaurant beside the waterfall. We have just started to explore this place, but we all agree it may be the nicest place we have been in Vanuatu. More about Asanvari next time.

Calm winds and fair seas,

Julie