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Firefly - Kastom Dancing on Avoki Island



Its Sunday 5th October and we are on an 80nm passage to Espirito Santo. We left our anchorage at Avei in the Maskelyne Islands on the south of Malekula at 0700 and once we reached the open sea we initially had a 35 knot squall. Its cloudy and rainy (yet again!) and we did remark that there is no way we would be heading out of Salcombe in these conditions if we were still at home. Actually the rain stopped pretty quickly and we have had a good sail on a starboard tack broad reach in what has mostly been about 20 to 25 knots - so ideal and fast.

Despite our speed its going to be dark by the time we reach Santo but this being the second largest port in Vanuatu it should be reasonably well buoyed and lit. Having read through the pilot information we decided that picking up a mooring off the Aore resort would be the best plan for this evening as the anchorages here are not the best. So using the mobile with a local SIM, (mobile works really well out here), we called the resort to find there are only 2 buoys free and they won't reserve. There is a boat a couple of miles ahead and we are trimming the sails as well as possible to try and overtake!

During our 2 days in the Maskelyne Islands we arranged activities at the local villages of Uliveo and Avoki. With local guide Stewart we walked about 2 miles to the other side of Uliveo island, to Pollonk Village, where there is a marine reserve with Giant Clams. On reaching the village we were taken by dugout canoe to the artificial island that has been built near the reserve where we got out of the canoe, donned our snorkeling gear and went off the see the Clams. The reserve has been open since 1991 but recently they have encountered a problem and some of the Clams are dying - however there was a cluster of about 20 that were healthy - they are fantastic to see, the colours are spectacular and are amazingly varied. Having dried off we each had a cocunut, expertly prepared by Stewart using his machetee - drinking the milk first, followed by eating the flesh.

We left Uliveo and sailed the short distance to Avei and it was there that we met Chief Kaiser from Avokh Island. A Dutch crew we had met in Vila told us that the Kastom Dancing at Avoki was fantastic and that we should definately see it if we could. So we set about arranging this with the Chief - initially they did not want to do it for just 2 of us. However, there was bad weather forecast and eventually we had 4 yachts in Avei and we managed to persuade everyone to come along having negotiated a reasonable price (as long as we took some gifts - we took 3 'used' polo shirts and an exercise book) and that the kids from the other boats went free.

Because of the strong winds getting to Avoki was somewhat of a mission as it was about 2 miles away from the anchorage - we managed it eventually in a convoy of dinghies with the Chief piloting ours through the corals. Arriving at Avoki a huge number of villagers greeted us and we were given hibiscus garlands as we started a tour of the village. The Kastom dance takes place is a special location - non of the locals were apparently allowed to watch, if they wanted to they would have to sacrifice a pig!

So Chief Kaiser gave a brief introduction regarding the dances and then the drums began to beat and 25 practically naked 'warriors' emerged. These men are from the 'small namba' tribe, their old enemy the 'big nambas' live in the north of the Island and apparently have different size of clothing when dancing. In fact their only clothing was a leaf, wrapped around their penis and held in place by a string around their waist!!! - they each carried a spear and had various designs of war paint on their bodies. The atmosphere was intense and whatever the message of the dance was intended - these men really meant it.

Paul and Susie


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