March 16, 2015

Back home at the moment. Watching the news about the devastation in Vanuatu. We were there for several weeks in July of 2014.

The World ARC has a special relationship with one village in particular. A small village of maybe a hundred or so in Port Resolution on the island of Tanna. One of the hardest hit islands. Past projects have been to put a new floor and roof on the school. Fundraise for a bunkhouse so the small school can bring in more teachers. And a gift exchange where we brought in needed supplies and they gifted back to us what they have in abundance. Which is fruit, vegetables, and kindness.

I am going to bore you with some stories but more importantly if you can help they will be in desperate need of just about everything. The ARC has set up a fund but there are others as well.

A special account has been set up for the fund:

World Cruising Club Limited - Vanuatu Cyclone Relief Fund

Sort code 15 99 00

Account 76213610

SWIFT     HOABGB2L

IBAN       GB72 HOAB 15990076213610

Alternatively cheques should be made payable to "Vanuatu Cyclone Relief Fund", and sent to World Cruising Club at 120 High Street, Cowes PO31 7AX, UK

https://www.unicefusa.org/donate/cyclone-pam-help-save-lives-children-vanuatu/22791?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Vanuatu%20Cyclone&utm_term=vanuatu%20relief%20fund  

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/vanuatu-cyclone-relief-fund/

Now for some stories and pictures. And believe me my eyes are welling up as I type this.

We visited 14 countries during the first half of the way around the world but the people of Vanuatu hold a special place in all our hearts. We were all deeply moved by our experiences there. Particularly the people of the small southern island of Tanna. They live very simply. Pretty much in abject poverty by developed nations standards. They share 13 baking pans to make bread in a central bakery. 5 or more families will share one cooking pot in a communal kitchen.  They fish, and farm, and forage and get by. Thatch huts. Once in a while one will have a light bulb.  Dug out canoes. But you almost never see anyone who does not have a smile on their face and a pleasant greeting for you.

The kids are awesome. They will about drag you into their class rooms to show you their art projects or get you to read to them. Felt like we were disrupting their day but the teachers seemed to enjoy the break. And rabid World Cup fans one and all. They were all making flags of their favorite teams countries out of whatever they could find.

One time we were talking with some school kids who were around 8 or 10 years old. I had some marbles in my backpack and showed them to them. Not something they had seen before. Told them they could have them if they promised not to eat them. They are not candy. Next day I saw some younger kids playing with the marbles. I ran across one of the older kids and asked him about it. He said they liked them and wanted to play with them so they all gave their new marbles to the younger ones. I asked if they told them not to eat them and they looked at me like I am some kind of dumb ass. “Of course we told them!” “They know not to!”    My bad.

I had about 40 pair of inexpensive reading glasses that I had brought with me. 60 cents a pair. I had about a dozen in my backpack one day while I was up in the village. There were some older gals sitting under a tree chatting it up and I went over to ask if they might be able to make use of a pair or two. None of them spoke English but a fellow who was passing by offered to translate. I had various magnification levels and it took a bit of sorting out but I got a pair to 3 or 4 of them. Then the fellow who was translating asked if he could try a pair. Big hit. Then he starts calling over some others and before I knew it I had given out all of them. One fellow said he had not been able to read for a couple of years because of his failing eyesight but now he would be able to. For 60 cents!!!  Word got out and I was asked if I had any more. And if we had any old sunglasses. If I had known that I would of bought 100 pair in Fiji where you can get them for a buck a pair.

The next day was departure day so we rounded up every pair of reading glasses I could find and every pair of sunglasses we could spare and dropped them off with my translator for distribution. Word had gotten out and three villages were asking. I think I could have given away 300 pair. And if I ever get back there I will.

At the same time we rounded up some gifts for one fellow who had been very kind to us. He spent a lot of time showing us around and describing their lives there. He was not a tour guide. Just a fellow we met on the muddy trail one morning who offered to show us around. He had been to the big city, once, and said he would never go back. They have everything, but they have nothing, he said. We gave him a Vivo Tee shirt, some fishing gear, and a nice knife. When we went to delivery the gifts we couldn’t find him but we did find his brother and his wife. When we gave the stuff to his brother he said, “Now I have a knife”. I looked at him a bit funny I guess because he then explained that his brother already had a knife and he did not. So naturally his brother would give him the knife.

I could tell ten more stories like that and amongst the ARC sailors they could tell hundreds. Please help.

Capetown South Africa   Jan 2015

Been quite a spell since my last posting. We were home for a couple of months regrouping. Holidays and all. So were off again.

Long trip to Capetown. Two nights in the air. Not to impressed with Dubai airport where we spent a nice long 8-hour layover.

Small glitch at the airport coming into South Africa. They were going to refuse Dawn entry. She didn’t have enough empty pages in her passport for their liking. Very tense time there while we successfully talked their rather crabby customs and immigration officer into using a half page rather that the two unused pages they require. Thanks for that. They could have tossed us out. The thought of getting back on a plane for another 36 hour travel run back home was not to enticing. Had to go to the American embassy to get more pages sown into her passport. That was fun as well.

Only had a couple of days in Capetown before we left on passage so really didn’t get to see to much of the place. Next time. Later this year maybe. This time we are joining our friends Russ and Laurie on their cat Nexus as crew. The Atlantic awaits.

1700 miles, 10 days to St Helena. A rock in the Atlantic. Very smooth passage. If only they were all like that. Motored for a couple of days in very light air but for a change……   it wasn’t my fuel. I am enjoying being crew and not captain.

Our send off committee. They came and played for a while.

Didn’t really know what to expect of St Helena. Its 28 sq miles of volcanic rock and a territory of Great Britain. Probably most well known for being the place where they exiled Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo. They stuck him here because no one could think of a more remote place to stick him. And remote is certainly is. Only access is by boat. They have no airport. But a very interesting vibe here. People are very friendly and seem genuinely pleased to have you visit. 5,000 permanent inhabitants. Plus about 75 ARC sailors to liven it up a bit.

First night in had dinner at a Chinese place owned by a Pilipino gal. Chinese food

and Karaoke. Normally not a big Karaoke person but after a few glasses of wine we were all belting it out at the top of our lungs. The owners son, the cook, was a very good singer. We did a duet of something or another that I cant remember. We were joined by a French couple so it was 4 Americans, 3 French and one Kiwi and we had quite a good time. And after a ten-day dry passage (no alcohol) we all got pretty loopy on the very nice wine they were pouring. Or maybe it was lousy wine but after ten days it didn’t really matter.

From Left, Finnbar (New Zealand), Dawn, Me, Eric (France), Laurie and Russ. The Nexus crew for the next month or so. Through Brazil.

This is the owner and her son. Very nice folks. What a meal they put on. Provisioning there is a little spotty so our order for dinner was……   whatever you want to cook , whatever is the freshest, and however you want to prepare it. It was excellent.

Took a guided tour of the island. 9am-5pm. Rather long. There really isn’t all that much to see there. This is Colon, our guide. The “bus” is a 1929 Chevy with 28 screaming horse power. There were ten of us on the bus. But it has “been in the family, and making it up and down the hills for 60 years”. Then it rained. And O’l Chevy is not particularly waterproof.

Didn’t really know what to expect of St Helena. Its 28 sq miles of volcanic rock and a territory of Great Britain. Probably most well known for being the place where they exiled Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo. They stuck him here because no one could think of a more remote place to stick him. And remote is certainly is. Only access is by boat. They have no airport. But a very interesting vibe here. People are very friendly and seem genuinely pleased to have you visit. 5,000 permanent inhabitants. Plus about 75 ARC sailors to liven it up a bit.

Our NZ fellow crewmember Finnbar got an email from his “grannie” informing him that he has relations on St Helena. He had three names on a piece of paper and went off to find his kin. Turns out he is related to about ½ the island. They gave him a large printout of a family tree that goes back to the 1600s. Got a big mention in the local newspaper (circulation 100 copies or so). Met a couple of his family. Very nice folks. I will look them up next time through.

A “small portion” of the family tree that they gave Finnbar. Whoa!

Side bar story: An ARC cat that was anchored behind us was slowly dragging anchor. Heading for the very rugged unfriendly shore line. I hopped a ferry to shore to try to find the owner who was not carrying a VHF radio. On the way in I asked the ferry driver to do a circle around the cat and give an opinion as to whether or not is was an issue. They know the bottom topography and holding. He was concerned enough to call it in to Harbor Control who sent out a good sized boat to help keep it off the rocks. Took me ½ hour to find the captain and another 20 minutes to ferry back out. By then the boat they sent out had it under control. The local guy who was on the cat securing lines was a relative of Finnbars. He is on that chart somewhere. Brian is his name.

Another attraction here is a stairway they call Jacobs Ladder. 699 steps up to the top where there is an old fort. Or, “another crumbling wall”, as Paige would say. Friggin heart attack is what I call it. The record for climbing it is held by a local fellow. Just over 5 minutes. We took 22. Which they said was actually not bad for first timers. Got a certificate and everything. The rest of the crew went snorkeling with whale sharks. Next time through I’m going to fit that one in. The pix were something.

Then on our way to Salvador Brazil. 2000 miles. Wind forecast did not look to good and unfortunately it was correct. Lots of very slow days and lots of motoring. I could blog it day by day as a cure for insomnia. It was Ground Hogs day over and over and over. And over. Fishing was lousy. Hooked a couple but landed zero. A couple of the boats did land fish but over all it was pretty barren. We fished at night with glow sticks. We towed bubblers to make fish noises. We threw out the entire tackle box to no avail.

Moving back up toward the equator and the sun is growing in intensity. You could fry an egg on deck. Or your feet if you would rather. My dogs are barkin! And yes, I know them is some ugly feets.

So we arrive in Salvador Brazil. 13 day, very long passage. Out of the last 27 days we have been at sea for 23 of them And Brazil is not going to go down as one of my favorites. I think I will be heading home from here for a while. Nexus has solid crew to get back to the Caribbean. They don’t need me. I will possibly join them again in the West Indies and crew for them back up to the States. But for now…..   escape from Brazil and back to the cold and snow. I’m sure I will regret this.

All for now.

M

New Zealand     At the airport in Auckland.   Heading home.

This phase is complete. Heading home for a couple of months. Vivo safely on the hard in Mackay. Hard to believe its been 10 months already. What a ride!

Giant tree fern in bloom. Hard to see the scale of it but this branch (if thats what its called) is about 2 foot long.

Another nice waterfall. I wonder how many waterfall pix I have. Has to be hundreds.

A waterfall on the hike to see the other waterfall.

Camped just down the hill from here. This is the valley where they filmed a lot of the Hobbit movies.

Home here we come. 

M

New Zealand     Back on the north island

Ferry back north.   Uneventful.   Blast through Wellington and head north.   Wind, raining and cold.

Some friends of ours on a catamaran called Nexus have a young man from NZ named Finnbar on as crew. We don’t know him. He got on Nexus in Bali. Through the captain of Nexus I asked for some advice from Finnbar on top 3 things on the north and south islands. Got some good advice and an introduction to his parents who live on the north island.  They invited us for dinner. Typical Kiwi hospitality. Three degrees of separation. A friend of a friends parents. Lovely people. They showed us around New Plymouth and had a very nice dinner and conversation. They put us up for the night. Hope to repay the kindness one day. And, small world, she knows the wife of the fellow John Britten, mentioned in a previous post.

Cool bridge in New Plymouth. On a nice sunny day…..  even nicer.

In the area of New Plymouth is a volcano called Mount Egmont. Also called Mt Taranaki. We went up there monday afternoon but it was pouring rain and blowing stink. You could not even see that there was a volcano there at all. Hoping for better luck Tuesday morning and after leaving our new friends place we headed there again. Completely socked in. Cloud cover probably 1000 foot or less. Drove up it anyway in the hopes of it clearing. Which it did nicely. Got some great pix and did a brutal hike. Like an hour on the stair climber. Thighs are a brining tonight for sure. Then after about 2 hours it socked in again. Hit that one just right.

It is said to be a perfectly symmetrical volcano. It closely resembles Mt Fuji in Japan and was used as a backdrop in the filming of The Last Samurai staring Tom Cruise.

From Wikipedia:

“Although volcanic eruptions are notoriously chaotic in their frequency, some scientists warn that a large eruption is "overdue". Research from Massey University indicates that significant seismic activity is likely again in the next 50 years. Prevailing winds would probably blow ash east, covering much of the North Island, and disrupting air routes, power transmission lines and local water supplies.”

I hope not.

From the north looking south. Hiked up about 1/3 of the way. About killed me!

Coming to an end here. Only a couple more days. We will have put about 5000 Km on this RV before we are done. Hope I had the unlimited millage deal!

M