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Exody - Days 177 - 187: Cyclone Pam was for Vanuatu



.....with evidence everywhere of the devastation just four months ago both on the island of Tanna where we made our landfall on 7th July and here in Efate where we are poised to start our next leg to Australia tomorrow morning 16th July.

It's been a busy ten days on Exody with five on board for the 450 mile passage from Fiji - which was mostly kind to our visiting crew though rather on the cool and damp side for us! Unusually we had at least two other boats of the fleet within sight for virtually the whole of the leg which was completed reasonably swiftly in three days. Customs and Immigration had been brought in by 4WD overland to the protected anchorage of Port Resolution for one day only to clear the fleet. We assembled at the 'Yacht Club' for processing and for banking services set up for us at what was later to become the bar. The bay was busy with locals laying fishing nets from small dugouts with outriggers - made from natural and locally available materials - all paddles, no outboards. We toured the village and school and the next day put together two workgroups - one to rewire and light the yacht club and the other to clear land for a forthcoming construction project- all the while watched by engaging and curious children whose very simple subsistence existences curbed not their joie de vivre!

The whole community turned out for the traditional gift-trading ceremony in pouring rain on Thursday 9th. Following a religious introduction, dancing and singing, file past handshakes, presentation of hand woven hats , the whole group formed a procession to the Yacht Club where their gifts (fruit, vegetables and handicrafts) and ours (hardware, cookware, clothing, seeds, fishing gear, cutlery, crockery) were laid out and equitably distributed by our respective leaders after due formal presentational speeches - all the more moving for the significance of our gifts in the wake of the cyclone.

The tour to the crater rim of live volcano Mt Yasur normally requires good weather, but we took our last chance and went for it in horizontal rain and cloud, making our way in three 4WD trucks over very poor roads to the ash plain near the fairly low (circa 350 metre high) crater. Bracing ourselves against the wind we could clearly see the glow through the cloud and the molten lava thrown up following the dramatic 'belching' noises from the crater - not a particularly safe tour and a sobering reminder of the massive forces at work below our feet and sometimes our keels! Our Port Resolution anchorage a few miles away had steaming hot springs dotted around its perimeter just above the high water mark. The day finished with a feast put on by the villagers for World ARC - tasty local produce - served under the roof (for the rain continued!) of the newly illuminated Yacht Club.

Daughter Tessa left Friday 10th joining ARC yellowshirts Victor and Hugh for the long 4WD drive to the airport to begin her long journey home to London. We left later in the day for the overnight sail north to Port Vila on Efate. We were met by the marina's own yellowshirts who helped tie us up stern-to the concrete dock where all berths had been reserved for our fleet. Right next to the town centre and cafes, we have been reprovisioning, laundering, refuelling and tackling a few essential maintenance jobs,interspersed with drinks and meals ashore.

Three minibuses took us on a 100km plus round island tour on Tuesday 14th - we visited a village, a school, a planting project, hot springs, mud baths, a beach and a cava bar. The island seems to be bouncing back from the cyclone with agriculture (mainly cattle and coconuts) much in evidence and much reconstruction in hand. The dual anglo/french history of this attractive but poor island nation has resulted in a curious pidgin language that is spoken in addition to English and some French. The day finished with the World ARC prizegiving and dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant right next to the stern-to fleet.

Wednesday 15th has been a clearing out, stocking up and jobs day - visits to both the hardware store and supermarket show in their stocks our relative proximity to first world Australia where we are headed next. Our crew, Stewart and Catherine, have moved out to an apartment for their last couple of days and Exody is ready for the sea. We are now working out how a watch system will work for just the two of us on this first long leg alone.

Peter (Skipper)




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