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?