Sunshine Days

Current Location: Noumea, New Caledonia

Current Position: 22°16.65' S 166°26.42' E
Next Destination: Undecided, New Caledonia

I am loving the weather here in Noumea. After months of clouds and rain in both Fiji and Vanuatu, the endless sunshine that has beamed down on us since arriving in New Cal is most welcome. On top of that a cool breeze seems to continuously blow, perfecting the temperature such that even the likes of Goldilocks couldn’t complain!

Living dockside these last few days has also been terrific. No wet dinghy rides, no “car-pooling” or schedule synchronization. We just step right off and on and come and go as we please, either together or separate, no longer having to coordinate with each other. Our location is ideal too … just a few short blocks from the city center. Shopping and sites mere minutes away.

The only huge downer is that Chris has remained off and on sick, so we’ve yet to really be able to explore and take advantage of our great location and the ideal weather.

The language barrier can also be a bit frustrating – very few people speak English, and I only know about three words in French. I had an especially comically time at the outdoor veggie market today. MJ (Island Sonata) and I walked over just to grab a few items. I didn’t have any change or super small bills, but the market here is a bit more ‘advanced’ and hoppin’ then other countries, so I thought I’d be alright. First stop was some terrific looking vine-tomatoes. I grabbed three, the vendor weighed them and I saw the price of 144 (which is roughly about $1.50 US). I pulled out a 1000 bill (about $10 US), and asked, “Change?”. The lady gave me a strange look and shook her head no. I was a bit surprised because 1000 isn’t really that much, but figured maybe she was just a small vendor and business had been slow. Not having anything smaller, MJ spotted me some change. On to another vendor …. this time I’ll buy a few more things so I can get change. I pick out some onions and garlic, and he shows me the price on the calculator (as neither of us can communicate the price) – 680. Ahh perfect! I try to hand him my 1000 bill, but he shakes his head no. What?, I’m thinking and re-look at the numbers of the bill thinking that perhaps I grabbed a 10000 instead of a 1000 ($100 US vs $10). Nope I hadn’t. I kind of look at him again and he still shakes his head no, almost looking at me in slight disgust. Gee, well fine, I can’t believe he doesn’t have some 400 in change, so whatever I think and we move on, telling him we can’t buy it then. By now I’m a bit frustrated, I mean, what’s the deal, I’ve got to have the exact amount??? I’m not giving up yet, we move on, but this time before I pick out my desired capsicums (bell peppers) I pull out the 1000 and ask, “This ok?”. The lady shakes her head no. UGH! But with my wallet open she can see inside and points at my money. So I start digging through it, only seeing larger sized bills, but she is adamantly pointing, so I’m still looking. I pull out another 1000 and she still shakes her head no and points. But there’s nothing smaller in here! Finally I just hold out my wallet and tell her to show me, and she touched another 1000 bill. I just don’t get it, I’m thinking, and say to MJ, “But it’s the sa….” and that’s when I notice that the color and texture between the two 1000 bills is different. A closer inspection and I’m feeling like quite the fool… my other two 1000 are Vanuatu money!!! Neither MJ or I had noticed and the other vendors didn’t speak enough English to tell me …. no wonder they thought I was nuts … trying to pay in New Cal with Vanuatu money! Well, I was able to pay for my capsicums and then went laughing back to the onion/garlic guy and showed him my French money and laughed, gesturing dramatically to let him know I knew what a fool I was. He instantly smiled and laughed along, handed me my items and, still laughing, my change …. in Pacific French Francs!

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Getting to Noumea, New Caledonia

Current Location: Noumea, New Caledonia
Current Position: 22°16.65' S 166°26.42' E
Next Destination: Undecided, New Caledonia



Billabong's crew is getting just a wee-bit tired of weather work. It seems this season has been full of it, and honestly it is wearing me down! Not only that but the winds have been higher this year too ... 15-20 if we're lucky, and even then always closer to the 20 knots (which when beating into it is closer to 25 apparent). I long for some aft of the beam, 15 knots apparent, sailing. I know what you are thinking -- stop your bitching, look at where you are! And thankfully that is my saving grace, so far every destination has been worth the effort and sea-sickness to get there.

We spent five, mostly rainy, days in Revolieu Bay trying to get a somewhat decent weather window for the beat back to Port Vila. Finally on the 22nd we were off .... a 12 hour sail against the winds, but luckily in not-to-bad of seas.

We spent a week wrapping up errands around town and on the internet, while waiting for another weather window to get us to New Cal. Early morning on the 28th, we released the mooring and headed towards New Caledonia.

Port Vila to Noumea is another 'beat', we waited for the winds to clock as much as we thought they would and then left in time to hopefully arrive before they clocked South. Our first day out was hell ... and I don't feel as though that is an exaggeration. We had 25+ knots at 55 degrees, with big confused seas. We were tossed and thrown all over the place and continuously punched our bow. Waves threw themselves into our cockpit, and green water ran down the rails, spilling over to the cockpit floor. For the first time we actually took a few waves directly into the cockpit, leaving standing water (even if only a few inches)! I was the sickest I think I've ever been, both nausea and a splitting headache that I'm sure went beyond migraine status. Chris was a trooper and let me lay like a dead fish, barely moving but to let him know I was okay.

Renaissance 2000 had departed the day before us, and on the SSB reported that the first 24 hours was bad, but everything had smoothed out by the second morning .... so there was hope that all would be better "soon". The first night Chris took all the watches, as for only the second time in our three years, I was, as Chris put it, "driving the porcelain bus"!

True to prediction, the following morning was ten-times better, with flatter seas from a single direction. By night fall things were nearly peaceful and the sailing was terrific. We were sailing with 15 knots, at about 65 degrees. I was able to take watch and give Chris a near solid 6 hours of sleep (as solid as one can get aboard a moving sailboat anyway). At 5am, during Chris' watch, we caught a big-eyed tuna (about 30-35 lbs). Surprisingly I didn't mind getting up to help bring the guy aboard -- happy knowing that not only would we be docked or anchored that afternoon but we'd also be having a terrific Sushi dinner!

We couldn't believe the beautiful mountains and landscape as we sailed to Noumea. And as we rounded the last 'corner' the gigantic city emerged before us -- boy was it big. We had known Noumea was great for kite boarding, but we hadn't expected 30+ kite boarders along with numerous wind surfers to be zooming about. By 3pm we were relieved to finally be safely docked and ready to relax. Both of us were feeling a bit under the weather, but we still had to get through the check-in procedures. We lucked out with one of the easiest quarantine searches we've been through, perhaps because it was after 5 on a Saturday night. We'd heard rumors that the quarantine lady was quite strict and would search out our frig in detail ... however she barely glanced into our fridge & cupboards.

That evening was calm and relaxing, we enjoyed the stillness of the marina along with the continuous flowing hot water showers! Unfortunately we were both a bit sick, especially Chris with a low-grade fever and shivers.

Sunday was a combination of relaxation and chores. Chris was still sick, so spent a huge portion of the day in bed, while I took advantage of endless fresh water, to wash down the boat and do laundry.
I still can't believe how big of a city Noumea is ... no doubt a culture shock. And with that
big city comes big city French prices. On one hand you can buy just about any meat, cheese or vegetable, but on the other hand most of it is beyond our budget! It's especially shocking after the low market prices in Port Vila. It's weird to be somewhere with so many white faces -- even if they are still speaking a different language. And, as with the other French countries we've visited, Noumea is ALL French and nothing but French!!! So far French Polynesia and Noumea are the only tourist areas we've been where signs, pamphlets, etc are not in more than one language .... it makes it a bit tough to get around, but we're making due and dusting off the French dictionary!

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Vanuatu Wrap up - Photos

Port Vila, Efate (9/22 - 9/27)



Finally on the 22nd we figured it was as good as it was going to get, and spent the next 12 hours beating against the winds for Port Vila.  Luckily the seas weren't too bad, and we were able to point pretty high into the wind, making good time and good heading.  Unfortunately we didn't leave quite early enough, and therefore found ourselves racing against the setting sun.  We need about an extra hour, but with Island Sonata helping us we were able to make it safely to our mooring ball in the dark.



We couldn't believe when we first rounded the point to Vila's bay ... there wasn't a single cloud hovering over Vila!  Never had we seen Vila so clear ... it was a bit ironic, as it seemed the clouds had been following us around over the last few weeks.  Once inside the bay, with the sun just having set, we were motoring up the channel, when a huge cruise ship was making it's way out of another bay into the channel.  Although we knew he was going to turn, and had given him ample space, having such a massive ship pointed directly at Billabong was a bit nerve-racking!  When the cruise ship finally turned, and passed just along side us (heading out the channel while we were heading in), we could feel it's vibrations!

The next five days it was cloudy and rainy ... go figure!  We did our usual 'get the boat ready' routine, some last minute internet-ing, and of course the typically weather watch.

On Thursday, the 28th, we said good by to Port Vila, and Vanuatu, and headed for New Caledonia.

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Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

Whew, made it back in one piece... First thing I did was stop by Ed's (the local coffee shop) and get a nice steaming hot Mocha. I haven't had a good one of those in a while! All coffee in SE Asia is Nescafe...which you do get used to after a while, but bleck, I would much rather have a nice espresso. So I stopped at Ed's, said a quick hello, slurped down my mocha in about 4 seconds (S, you would be proud) and got down to business - Laundry.

When you are travelling, and especially when you are travelling light, you go by the "underwear theory". This is that...until you don't have any clean underwear left, there is no need to do laundry. So, if you take 14 pairs of undies, you only need to do laundry...every two weeks. That having been said, I REALLY needed to do laundry by the time I got home. I had worn my bathing suit as much as possilbe just to save those few extra pairs of undies... I know, some people my think that gross. S is one of them; he was begging me to find a laundry place about every two days... What he doesn't understand is that usually the people at the laundry place do not have dryers. So you have to wait at least 24 hours for the laundry to be cleaned and dried. If it is even dry when you get it back, you are lucky. If it smells good, you are even luckier. After getting mine back a couple of times still smelling like not so dry, semi moist, little bit dirty laundry, I say 'forget it, I would rather go without'. So I'm sticking with the "underwear theory".

I finished my laundry, went and got a huge burrito (another thing I always miss when I am away from home) and promptly fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up, I figured that was the last of my jet lag, but alas, that was not the case. I slept 13 hours last night....from 11:30 pm to 1 pm. I am wondering what time I will finally be able to fall asleep tonight...(or tomorrow perhaps?)

Next Stop: Tomorrow I am off to Lake Oroville for some fun in the sun and waterskiing with the Keesling family... I have not been waterskiing since I was about 10 so am looking forward to showing off my (lack of) skills. After that, I have decided to go up to my parents house, hang out with them and finally...fix my car (her name is Sadie - she has been dented for a few years, but since I have been living in the city and travelling, I have not really needed a car so I have let her sit). I will be doing it myself, so it will be a good learning experience (maybe teach me some patience...haha, yeah right) for me and then she will also be ready to roll for the next time I need her....

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Revolieu Bay, Epi

Revolieu Bay, Epi (9/18 - 9/21)



We had been dreading heading back to Vila, as it is against the winds, and we'd have to really watch the weather, waiting for a shift or lighter wind.  The trip to Revolieu wasn't too bad, but it was still to weather, and by the time we set the hook in Revolieu we were worn out.  For only the third time in the last two weeks the sun was out and the sky was clear when we entered Revolieu.  That night the sky was lit up with thousands of stars.  We were highly disappointed when we woke the next morning to clouds and rain!

We spent four nights in Revolieu, mostly just entertaining ourselves while waiting for decent weather to finish the trek south to Vila.  Twice we walked the dirt road to a nearby village and school (about 45 minutes one-way).  Here we met a young Peace Corp's worker, Kevin.  We ended up having him out to Island Sonata for dinner, where he entertained us with his guitar playing and singing.  He writes his own songs/music and they are amazing.  We also ended up leaving the solar oven with him, to pass on to the village.  Kevin and Beth, from Red, had given us the oven in Majuro.  We had originally hoped to pass it on to 'our village', Naviqiri, in Fiji, but we never had enough sunny days to teach them how to use it.  Most of our time in Vanuatu had also been cloudy and so we were getting worried we'd never find a place to leave it.  Since Kevin will be in Revolieu for a couple of years, we figure he'll have plenty of sunny days and plenty of time to show the locals how it works.This text will only appear on after the reader clicks "continue reading.." Delete if NOT needed

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What Day Is It Anyway?

Today is the longest day ever... I am leaving Manila at 11:45 p.m. on the 20th. Next I have about a million (well, two) layovers and about a million (well maybe more like 27) hours before finally arriving in San Francisco on the 21st at 9 a.m. Using the points program for United Air has been nice on the pocketbook, but man, do they make you work the clock! There were no direct flights from Manila to anywhere I wanted to go and of course no layover is shorter than, um, 5 hours.

Ah well, I am headed home!

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A small Vanuatu loop: Malekula, Ambrym, & Epi

Current Location: Revolieu Bay, Epi Island, Vanuatu
Current Position: 16°43.68' S 168°08.68' E
Next Destination: Port Vila, Efate Island, Vanuatu

Over the last eleven days we've completed a small loop, visiting three anchorages on the South-Eastern side of Malekula (Maskelyne Islands, Port Sandwich, and Banam Bay) and one anchorage on the Northern side of Ambrym (Ranon Bay).

We enjoyed our time in the beautiful and calm anchorage of the Maskelyne Islands, but after three days of on and off sun, the clouds rolled in and have hovered over us ever since. We've been desperately praying to the sun gods to part the clouds and clear the rain, but as of yet they are ignoring us.

From the Maskelyne's we moved up the coast about 12 n.m. to Port Sandwich, a very calm spot to be anchored during some shifty winds. In Port Sandwich we enjoyed some time with a very funny local couple, Ezekiel and Serah. Ezekiel was quite the character, talking non-stop in his heavily accented English, of which we understand about one out of every ten words! They were an extremely giving couple, loading us up with fresh eggs, fruits and veggies after only knowing us less than a day!

Banam bay was terrific, but crowded .... the most boats we've been at anchor with in a long time (about 15)! The village caters to tourist by offering crafts and custom dancing (at a cost of course). The dancing was terrific and energetic, but couldn't compare to the thousands dancing at the Nekowiar festival in Tanna. Still it was great fun, and as always the locals were more than welcoming. The following evening we enjoyed dancing to the tunes of a local string band. We continue to be impressed with the creativity of their musical instruments (a 5-gallon barrel for the drum and a box-stick-string contraption for bass). The fishing just off the nearby reef was outstanding. One afternoon Chris went out in the dinghy and in under ten minutes had caught a dog-toothed tuna! Chris seems to be becoming more and more well known amongst the cruisers for his love and knowledge of fishing, and creative home-made lures. He has now hosted over five
lure-making sessions aboard Billabong!

We motor-sailed to Ranon Bay specifically to hike the ash planes of Ambrym's active volcano, only to learn they had "closed" the volcano for the planting of yams (for spiritual beliefs). So instead we spent the afternoon viewing various wood-carvings by
the locals. Unfortunately Ranon Bay is extremely keen on tourist, so much so that they charge for EVERYTHING (cruise ships visit this bay, so they are used to getting money for everything/anything). To walk through the village and view the various carvings we had to pay for a "tour" .... granted it was only $4 each, but it seemed weird to be paying to go 'shopping'! Ranon Bay has a beautiful long black-sand beach, which Chris was
quite excited about, as it was his first [black sand beach]!

With our visas close to expiring and still having to beat our way back south to Port Vila, we departed Ambrym for a hard on the wind sail back to Revolieu Bay on Epi. We had stopped briefly in Revolieu on our way north, but hadn't had a chance to explore, so yesterday we went on a great walk to a nearby village. There we met a local Peace Corps worker from Idaho. Kevin joined us on Island Sonata for Mexican night and music (he
is an outstanding guitarist/singer).

Now we are just hoping for a half-way decent weather window for the remaining trek south to Port Vila. We figure it's going to be a hell-ish trip, but luckily is under 70 n.m., so we'll just have to tough it out! Once back in Port Vila, we'll prepare to check-out and move on to New Cal. As usual we feel our time has been cut short .... but we must keep moving if we are to have any time in New Cal before departing for cyclone season. Oh woe is us ... having too many wonderful places to visit!!!

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Ranon, Ambrym

Ranon, Ambrym (9/17)



It was another motor-sail over to Ambrym.  We anchored near Ranon Village, as we knew they offered tours to the volcano.  Ambrym's active volcano is purportedly not as impressive as Tanna's, but the ash planes are supposed to be an impressive site.  Unfortunately, we learned that the volcano was 'closed' for the planting of the yams (related to spiritual beliefs).  Typically they don't close the volcano until October, but this year they had planted early.  We joined some other cruisers who had also just come over from Banam bay and were taking a village tour in order to look at the wood carvings.  We had to pay for the tour, 400 vatu ($4) each (normally 800, but on special then), which according to the little paper we had been given included tour-like stuff, such as pointing out various plants & foods, demonstrating weaving and carving, and so on.  What we got was a person taking us around from one wood-carver's home to the next, showing us the carvings that were for sale.  Granted, we wanted to see carvings, and even purchase some, but where was the "tour"?  Chris and I only bought a couple of items, but the cruisers we were with spent tons of money ... and still at the end of the day we were all charged for the "tour".   Ranon is definitely one of the places in Vanuatu who has taken tourism and making a buck a bit too far.

Ambrym is also where the Rom dance takes place.  Originally I had really wanted to see the dance, but a few other cruisers didn't give the dance that great of reviews.  The costume is quite impressive, but paying $40 bucks each just for the costumes seemed a bit pricey, so Chris and I decided against it. With no Rom, no volcano, and everything else at Ranon costing money, and with our visas running out of town, we decided it was time to head back towards Vila.

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600 Meters Under The Sea: Palau Sipidan

After leaving the Kinabatangan, we boarded the bus, went back down the bumpy road, and headed to Semporna, which is the gateway to Palau Sipidan (Sipidan Island) where we would be doing most of our diving. I thought Semporna would be a biggish city, with all the amenities of home, but S and I walked from one end to the other in about 20 minutes, then looked at eachother and said "what now?"

We found hawker stalls - our favorite. This is my idea of Malaysian fast food. You go into an area that resembles the food area at your local county fair. There are tons of different things to choose from, all being made on the spot, right in front of your eyes. You point at what appears to not have chicken in it (and cross your fingers) and 2 minutes later you are sitting down having a wonderful meal. I have gotten lucky; nothing has had hidden meat (similar to hidden charges?) in it; somehow with all of my grunting and pointing I got my point across.

We spent the next three days diving in Palau Sipidan...this is a wall dive, which means that the coral reef at the shallowest is about 5 Meters down, but then falls off into a wall formation down into the deep sea. At the deepest, this wall goes down to 600 Meters!! That is about 1800 feet! You wouldn't want to accidently get stuck going down there! We saw so many cool things: sharks, tons of turtles, lots of HUGE fish (that's a huge fish!), schools of hundreds of fish, many different types of corals, anenomes, sea cucumbers, starfish, shrimps, eels, rays, triggerfish galore (watch out, they bite!) and even some weird animals I could not identify (I saw one fish(?) that looked like a lump of mud. It hopped along the ground and the mouth was on the top! what kind of animal was it...I don't know!) We stayed on an old oil rig which had been coverted to a dive rig. You could go diving any time you wanted...you just took a lift down, then jumped off the rig and took off. We also just jumped off the rig anyway for fun (it is about 25-30 feet off the water).

We left Sipidan and headed to Tawau, where we would catch a plane to go back to Kota Kinabalu...

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Banam Bay, Malekula

Banam Bay, Malekula (9/15 - 9/16)



Banam bay was an easy motor-sail up the coast from Port Sandwich.  It was again a bit crowded, the most boats we've been at anchor with in a long time (about 15), but it's a big bay and there was plenty of room.  We went in that afternoon with a number of other cruisers to see the dance performance.  At the Nekowiar I thought I had gotten used to the nambas (penis sheaths), but as we entered the dancing area for the men, I found myself trying hard to not stare!  Apparently there are different types of nambas, and some cover quite a bit more (or less) than others.  Here, they wore minimal coverage, with, as we call them, "the boys" hanging right out there!  I had seen pictures, and some men at the Nekowiar had these type nambas as well, but still it was shocking to be around twenty men raging from 17 to 80 years old, all practically naked.  We were greeted by a line of about five men, who all shook our hands, and then one would put a leaf wreath over your head; you had to bend forward, and holy-moly, look at what you're looking directly at now!



The men performed four dances for us, and they were all terrific.  They were laughing, singing, and energetically jumping around.  They wore bean pods around their ankles to add to the beat of the older men playing the drums and tam-tams (ni-Van carved drum).  A few 'photography' friends, as well as some of the books on photography, have said that when filming or shooting, try to get at a different angle; either lower or higher.  So I was squatting down, filming, I glanced away for a minute, and when I turned back and looked through the viewfinder, one of the dancers had turned and was enthusiastically jumping towards me ... and oh my gosh the 'boys' were coming right at me!  I nearly dropped the camera!

We moved to a different area to watch the women's dance, where the main attraction was a little girl trying to keep up with her mom.  The women's dance wasn't quite as exciting or energetic, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  Afterwards the men had us introduce ourselves and then provided us with drinking coconuts and their local dish, lap-lap.  We had to pay for the dancing, but it was well worth the small fee, and one of the things I feel they are totally justified in charging for.

We returned to Billabong, just before sunset, and Chris decided to make a quick dinghy fishing run. About ten minutes later I saw him coming back and figured he had broken something or tired quickly.  Imagine my surprise when he returned with a dog-toothed tuna!  Word got around the fleet quick, and the next day he was hosting more fishing lure 'sessions'!  Besides the barracuda which we threw back, we caught two other good-eaten fish during our short stay!

Banam Bay has a great beach with thousands of neat shells; we spent part of our morning just walking the beach and admiring the shells ... usually joined by curious children checking out what the whities are doing!  On our second evening in the bay we walked inland a bit to another village, who had string band.  They had the box-stick-string bass instrument as well, and a five-gallon barrel for the drum.  The locals and cruisers all danced, and there was an abundance of laughter.

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