Monthly Archives: September 2024

Ambrym, the Volcanic Island

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Ambrym is a volcanic island with one of the most active volcanoes in the country.  This volcano has a very large caldera that is 12km in diameter and has two very active craters: Marum and Benbow.  The Benbow crater includes two lava lakes near the summit.

The locals offer 2-day hikes up to the summit, but you can only hike if the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo Hazards Department deems it safe and a level 1 or below.  During our stay on Ambrym, the volcano was rated a level 2 so we were not able to even consider the hike to the summit.

Ambrym is the 5th largest island in Vanuatu and is a beautiful triangle shape. It is known for the very active volcano which dominates the island with its desert-like caldera. Small parts of the island are inhabited by locals and the rest of the island, the majority, is covered by a dense jungle.

We start off on Ambrym at the West side of the island at Lonwolwol Bay.  There is a lovely family here that runs the Lonwolwol Yacht Club.  They offer cultural events, host 4 festivals a year, and give tours of the famous Lonwol Lake crater.

Lonwolwol Bay

This bay has a very interesting history.  Jessie, the owner of the land, explains that in the very early 1900’s Europeans settled here and brought with it Christianity.  They established a hospital, several buildings, and a nice community.

However, the chiefs noticed that the locals lost their culture and respect of their heritage so they performed black magic.  This sorcery caused the volcano to erupt and completely destroy the Christian community in 1913.

So the remaining locals were able to re-establish their heritage and cultural ways.

Lonwok Lake crater

Prior to the massive volcano eruption of 1913, there was a lagoon where many boats and cargo ships would shelter within the protection of the island.  However, after the eruption, the open lagoon was closed off and became known as the Lonwok Lake crater.   It is said that it is so deep that you could put a cruise ship right in the middle and it would float.  This crater now serves as a place to swim and kayak.

Beautiful Garden

Jessie and his family now live on the edge of the lake.  They earn a living by offering cruisers tours around the lake and cultural events.  They also have a beautiful garden full of tomatoes, potatoes (regular, sweet, and kasava), pumpkins, cucumbers, salad, onions, carrots, and more.

We ask Jimmy to give a us a tour around the lake.  It took about 2.5 hours to do the 5.3km walk through the forest.  He showed us where the megapode and ducks lay their eggs, procured us some coconut cake, and protected us from 6 stampeding cattle (running from his dogs).

Craig’s Cove

Just around the corner is another anchorage called Craig’s Cove.  Supposedly they had a market which we wanted to visit. So my friend Chris on Moana asked me to join him on a dinghy adventure.  Craig’s Cove is only 3nm away so it should be “no problem.”

Famous last words.  The winds and the seas were showing off and causing havoc on our dinghy.  In retrospect, we should have turned around.  We ended up having 20+kts on the nose and 2.5-3m seas.  Which are huge in a little dinghy.  But we pushed on.

The top photo is before things got dicey.  Once we rounded the corner the $hit hit the fan.  But we arrived safely at Craig’s Cove.  I will skim over the fact that I fell in the water as we were beaching the dinghy (first time ever in 14 years).  There are two ship wrecks in the anchorage and the holding is supposed to be horrible (which is why we did not bring the big boats here).

We seek out the chief to ask his permission to walk around the village and he assigns three local boys to give us a tour.  They took us by the primary school, the church where we found a tam tam (tall, wooden, carved, slit traditional drum), the airport, the market, and the store.

Here are our fearless leaders (top left), a shot of the village and the airport.

Traditional Local Dinner

Jessie and his son Jimmy asked us if we would be interested in a traditional, local dinner on the beach for $1,000vt/pp ($10 USD) and we said “yes.”  By mid-afternoon, two more boats showed up so we invited them as well.

They started preparing around 1430.  First they prepared the loc (or lovo which is an underground oven).  They dug a hole, laid sticks and then rocks on top.  They set fire to it and let the rocks get very hot.  Then they laid banana leaves forming a bowl.  Inside the banana leaves the put bananas and pumpkin and then folded more banana leaves on top.  

Next come more rocks, more leaves and then it is topped with a burlap sack and left to cook for hours.  They used sticks that are split at the end like chopsticks to remove the rocks.

Dinner: fresh salad picked from the garden, boiled salad, yams, island taro, pork, & chicken.

After we all enjoyed our delicious dinner, they built the best bonfire.  We sat around and enjoyed the music and even had a little dancing.

Check in with us in a few days to see the beautiful bays we find in Ambrym.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred over the 4th of July weekend.  Did you discover the Mysteries of Maewo Island in our last blog post?

The Mysteries of Maewo Island

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Maewo is famously called the Waterfall Island because it has the highest rainfall out of any island in Vanuatu.  It is fun to count the shear number of waterfalls as you sail up and down the coast.  Maewo is the home of the tallest waterfall Naone Waterfall and the most waterfalls of any island.

We did not get to Naone Bay on this visit, but we hope to see it on our way out of Vanuatu.  We did enjoy lots of waterfalls and the beautifully lush hillsides covered in trees and vines that look like curtains falling down the side.

Our stop first in Asanvari Bay first which is the southern most anchorage on the island.  We anchor between the reefs near the waterfall that falls a mere meter or two from the boat.

We head to shore where we meet Carl, a nice local who offers to show us around the village and take us on a tour up and around the waterfall.   The village is really beautiful with brightly colored houses, well groomed grounds, huge banyan trees everywhere and views of the ocean.

The first swimming pool is easily accessed from the beach.  Like I said it is almost flowing into the anchorage it is so close.  We hike up the muddy trail to get to the top of the first part of the waterfall and it is really pretty.

Matt and I both jump in to the refreshing water.

And we have some pretty views of the anchorage.

The sunset glow across the island was simply beautiful.

Mbenavui Point 

There are two caves that we wanted to see at Mbenavui Point which is mid-way up Maewo island.  We found a beautiful anchor spot in the middle of two giant reefs and right below another waterfall.

Cave of the Moon Myth

The Cave of the Moon helps locals share their belief of creation, and in particular, the way it is influenced by the direction of the sun and the moon as they travel across the sky. 

A very long time ago the moon lived inside this cave and its brilliant light did not shine beyond the walls.  Tagaro, the god of sea  saw this and thought it was not good.  He threw the moon out to the south.  But then Targaro noticed that the people in the north did not have any light.  So, he took it and threw it north, but then the people in the south had no light. 

Unhappy with that, he took the moon and threw it to the west where its light shone on all the people in Maewo.  This made Tagaro very happy.

Tagaro created three enormous holes into the cave each time he through the moon into the sky.  

The Vast Hole Left by the Moon

Just a few miles up the coast of Maewo you come to the Sanasom anchorage.  This is where we hope to find the Cave of the Moon and the petroglyph cavern. 

Only accessible by boat, the Cave of the Moon is spacious and lit with rays of sunlight that strike the water and create an iridescent yet eerie glow. 

The three canals of water, are the places where the moon passed when it was thrown. 

Once you jump in the crystal clear waters you see lots of giant boulders, fish, and beautiful sea life.

Petroglyphs 

Just next to the Cave of the Moon is the Malangauliuli cavern with “ancient rock etchings, petroglyphs”.  Both the cavern and the cave are within a conservation area and require a guide which can be provided by the village chief.  However, our anchorage was not near the Sanasom village so we went on our own.  I am sure the woven tales about each cave would have been spectacular.  What we found were pretty worn out, hard to read, and certainly hard to discern – a guide would have been useful.

A cave important to their kastom beliefs.  They place stones on top of each other and over time they form stalagmite like formations.  

The curtains are just starting to form and take shape…

The island of Maewo is certainly full of lots of mystery and wonder.  It was a pleasure to visit the “waterfall island” and see some of its beauty.  We hope to come back on our way out of Vanuatu to see the Naone Waterfall.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early July.  We share with you a little bit about life on the island of Pentecost in our last blog post.

Loltong Bay, Pentecost

Island Life on Pentecost

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We head to Bwatnapne (pronounced bat-naap-knee) Bay on Pentecost, an hidden bay not on the guides.  It is a large, calm bay that we had all to ourselves.  The lush hillsides were covered in green vines that drape over the rocks, and trees forming these beautiful curtains.

Matt was able to get some great drone shots of us all alone in our big, beautiful bay.

We went ashore and were greeted by a few local children who were practicing saying “hello.”  It was absolutely delicious.  This village does not get many tourists so we were a bit of a curiosity.  Many people came out of their homes and children came out of their schools to greet us.

The main part of the town which is at sea level next to a luscious stream has a small “store”, a fuel station shed, 2 schools (primary and secondary), and a police station.  The villagers all live up in the mountains.

Supply Ships in Pentecost

On our second day we were surprised with not one but two “supply ships.”  The smaller one dropped off packages and two dozen bags of flour and rice.  The larger ship unloaded a barge and put a small container on top of it.  Both ships sort of landed on the beach to unload and load. 

The barge took on hundreds of pounds of kava root that they harvest on the island.  This is their main source of income.  They make $100-$150VT ($1-$1.5 USD) per kilo. They filled the entire container and then 6 gigantic bags full of kava root.  This ship comes weekly to collect the kava and brings it to Port Vila, Efate.  Kava is their natural version of alcohol and can be a hallucinogenic.

Loltong Bay, Pentecost

We move 8nm up the Pentecost coast to the Loltong anchorage. It is a beautiful bay full of several reefs and large bommies so anchoring was tricky but doable on a sunny day with a lookout at the bow.  One thing to be aware of is that several supply ships come and go during the week.  They mostly hover in the anchorage as small skiffs go back and forth to shore.  So, it can be tight when 2-3 ships come in at the same time.

They did have a small Red Cross center, but it was unmanned, had very few supplies, and only open a few hours a day.  They had a few “markets” that were stocked with canned goods, a few sodas, some oil, rice, and flour. 

One of their oldest banyan trees fell over a few months ago virtually blocking their beach and main road.  It was so sad to see as this tree had to be hundreds of years old.  It just got tired and decided to lay down.

The Lower Village

One of the villages in this bay is the sub-hub of the Vanuatuan government and it is also the main government location for the island of Pentecost.  Which is absolutely strange to us as the infrastructure was very, very rustic and minimal.

We visited the community center (top two photos) where they gather to work and share with each other.  The entire roof is being held up by tree trunks.  The engineering is fascinating to see.  We also saw their drums (large wood pieces carved out) (middle 2 photos) which they use for church and school. 

And surprise surprise, they have a turbine that supplies electricity and running water to the village!  Yep, that was a total surprise!  They have lots of spickets throughout the village where you can get fresh stream water and it is cold and delicious.  This was a first for us.  We have not seen a turbine power system on  Pentecost, or Vanuatu, or frankly any small island before.

In the afternoon, 3 supply ships came to drop off goods, rice, flour, and fuel.  The funniest thing about this delivery was the fuel.  They load gasoline in 200L (55gal) drums, then they dump them overboard. A skiff will pick them up and drag them as close to shore as possible and then the men come out and roll it over to the beach.

Hope you can read the sign (top right) it says “sanbich on sale.”  A group of kids who followed us around, a small market where they sold vegetables and pre-made lunch, and a beautiful banyan tree and men’s meeting house.

Mysterious Cave

We heard about a “mysterious cave” in Loltong so we asked Matthew and Mary Bule at the Loltong Bay Beach Yacht Club.  The yacht club was destroyed in the last cyclone but they still offer lovely services such as tours and specialy cooked local meals for the cruisers. 

They introduced us to Glenda who became our guide and storyteller.  She said that her husband Derek was told the story from his father, Patrick.  Patrick had a dream in which Moltobo uto visited him and told him about the hidden cave in which he lived for many years.  The next day, Patrick went to where Moltobo uto told him and dug out the opening and discovered the cave with tools (shells and carved coconuts), weavings, and sand drawing inside.

This is Glenda who gave us the tour. Before we entered we rubbed a plant that is believed to have special protection powers.  This was to ensure that the spirits of Moltobo uto and his friends remained friendly with us.

Moltobo uto was the first man to live on Pentecost.  He lived alone in this cave for a long time until he heard singing coming from a tree.  He went to explore and discovered a snake who said he had been living inside the cave with the man for many years. But he lived really high up where the man couldn’t see him.  Later, a mother chicken  joined them but she does not tell us where she came from.

The belief is that he and his friends (the snake and chicken) spirits still live in this cave.

The cave is covered in gold flakes that shimmer when you shine a light on them. It was so very pretty.

Sand Drawing

Our first sand drawing in Vanuatu!  There are 3 beautiful sand drawings inside the cave.  The first (top left) has 3 smaller drawings.  The far right is the symbol for Pentecost and the far left (is the symbol for fishing, it is a bird).

The second drawing (top right) is the “bowl” where spirits go to pass on to the next stage of life.  When someone dies they walk to the “point” where they have to leap into the bowl.  If they do not leap or if they encounter someone on their way to the point, they have to return to life.

Sand Drawing #3 represents the kava ceremony.  The cups and bowl are used by the elders when they are thinking.

The Tools

While Moltobo uto lived inside the cave he used sea shells to carve coconuts and open fruit (pamplemouse, bananas, oranges) like silverware.  The cow tusks provide protection for the spirits and the top left photo shows you where the snake lived – way high up in the cave where Moltobo uto could not see him for many years.

The popo shell (top right) is used by chiefs to signal to the village that he is ready to prepare for a festival. 

The three stones are part of the black magic ceremony and are used by the elders to bring rain and or storms.  Moltobo uto carved three walking  sticks.  He had a vision of a snake and carved it on the head of one of the sticks before he met the snake.  It is believed that is how the snake was summoned to come out of hiding.  The bottom left photos are the weavings of the clothes worn by Moltobo uto and also worn by Glenda our guide.

Local Dinner

After our wonderful Mysterious cave tour,  Matthew and Mary served us a traditional tasting dinner where they provided 12 different tastings.  Man oh man we were stuffed when we left.  Everything was incredibly tasty.

We really loved how they explained what everything was (all local produce, all grown in their garden, or caught in their bay).  They then explained how it was prepared.  It was a delightful evening with extremely delicious food.

We had a wonderful time on the island of Pentecost!  The land diving in Wali Bay, the beautiful waterfalls in Waterfall Bay, the hikes and gorgeous landscape of Bwatnapne Bay and then the mysterious cave and lovely dinner of Loltong.  

Our blog posts run 1–12 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred at the end of June.  Did you see all of the surprises we found on Pentecost in our last blog post?