Lon 151:13.99E
We've done it!! We sailed into Sydney harbour yesterday afternoon, crossing the imaginary line between the heads that had been our finish line, at 4.30pm. Our sail down from Port Stephens was more of a motor sail for the first 10 hours, but when the Nor'easterly wind filled in we were back to doing what we love - downwind sailing in the sunshine, watching the Sydney skyline get ever closer!
Our friends Chris, Liz and Mike sailed their boat out of the heads to meet us and sail over the finish line with us, which was fantastic. So great to see some friendly faces with beers in hand and shouting congratulations from nearby. Chris made sure everyone in Sydney knew we were back by shouting "WELCOME HOME" over VHF 16 just in case the officials were wondering who was entering the harbour in the sparkling white beneteau! We slowed down to sail with them for a bit, and then parted ways as they headed home to Manly and we continued down the harbour.
Chris, Liz and Mike welcoming us home out the Sydney heads
It was awesome to be seeing Sydney from our own yacht - somehow it seems a bit more crazy to own a yacht and be sailing it on Sydney harbour than it has done across the Pacific. I used to look at people sailing their boats on the harbour and now we were the ones being looked at by commuters on the Manly ferry! Sydney really is such a stunning place - I can't imagine a more incredible harbour to arrive into by boat. With the sun shining and the wind picking up we rounded Bradley's Head and the bridge came into view. We were really home now!
Sailing through the heads - across the finish line!
We docked in Rushcutters Bay at 5.30pm and we hadn't even finished tying the lines before another couple of friends were walking down the dock with bottles of champagne in hand! Some more friends joined later and we had a great celebration. Needless to say the blog isn't getting updated until this morning with a rather fuzzy head!
The first of several bottles of bubbly
It is wonderful to be back, but we are full of mixed emotions. We are really incredibly happy to have achieved our dream of crossing the Pacific. We are grateful to Mystic for giving us the most incredible adventure of our lives. There is a huge amount of relief, that we got home safely, really without any major problems for the whole trip. There is great sadness that the trip is over and it is all behind us. There is excitement that we are back in Sydney seeing friends and celebrating tomorrow night with everyone that we have missed over the last 9 months. There is also excitement that we are one step closer to moving home and starting our new life in the UK, but also with this we are so so sad to be leaving Sydney and the friends who have become like family over the last 5 years.
I thought I would cry as we sailed through the heads, but it seems it has taken writing this final blog for all the emotion to come through and the tears to get the better of me! Thank you for following our blog. I realise that I have rambled on a lot of the time, but I hope you have enjoyed following us on our epic adventure. I have loved writing the blog and have plans to get it properly printed and bound into a book that we will keep forever.
This is JoJo signing off for the last time.
Mystic out.
Well done Mystic. Thank for looking after us all.
You are a clever yacht. To have found your way safely across so many miles of ocean which can be mean at times, and to have carved your way through rolling seas, has been a triumph.
You have sailed well, handled well, and at times put up with some rough handling by inexperienced crew.
By and large the crew have treated you kindly and fuelled and watered you when needed. The crew have slept well some of the time, and your gentle rocking, and slapping, have provided respite to tired hands.
Our time together is nearly over. Before then, you will be washed, polished, greased, wiped, buffed and generally pampered. And we will make sure that the new Sydenysiders who take you on, are responsible, loving and caring owners.
So, one more leg to go, which we hope is uneventful, and then a grand entrance into the greatest natural harbour in the World. You will be famous, have your picture in the paper, and be celebrated as a fantastic yacht.
Thank you Mystic, for the ride of a life time, for exhilarating sailing, and cosy nights. You will not be forgotten. ]]>
Lon 152:06.26E
We miss the trade winds! Our sail down the coast has been fun, hairy, scary, quick, slow and everything in-between. Coastal sailing is definitely more challenging that the cruisiness of sailing in the trade winds across the Pacific. Mostly because the weather is so changeable and we are having to watch it like hawks. Luckily, being close to land means we have phone reception and the iPhone has been invaluable as we have been able to get up to date forecasts from the internet most of the time.
Port Bundaberg Marina
Mystic at Bundy marina
Our sail from Bundaberg was actually a motor to Fraser Island, as there was no wind. We were glad to leave Bundy and be on our way after being there for over a week, having expected to only be there for two days! On the way, we caught another Marlin! A bit smaller than the one Jamie caught in Fakarava, but Archie was pleased he had matched Jamie's fishing success! We unhooked it and gave it another chance at life because we really didn't need the food. Sailing (motoring) through the Sandy Straits between Fraser Island was fun - it was very calm, and quite serene - we anchored for the night off the island and then got up at 4am (first light) to carry on through the straits. We crossed The Bar at the south of the island without any problems - it can be quite dangerous as it is exposed to the trade winds and there are numerous shoals which must be navigated around. The Aussies have a great marine rescue system where by you sign on with them in your port of departure, and you check in and out with them over the radio as you travel down the coast - after you've signed off with them in one area, they send your details and an ETA to the next station who is then awaiting your check in. If you went missing or something happened, the authorities would be aware very quickly. They also give weather updates all day, so for once we have had the VHF on the time and I am getting plenty of radio practise! The VMR (volunteer marine rescue) at Fraser Island gave us GPS waypoints as a route across the bar and it was pretty easy with these in hand.
Ricky Marlin's mate received a better fate!
Sunset over the Sandy Straits
Motor sailing through the sandy straits - dead calm early morning
From Fraser, we sailed south, and slightly offshore to get into the East Australian coast current. This is brilliant - free speed! We spent most of Thursday night sailing downwind with 25kts of wind behind us, and 3 knots of favourable current, so we were hooning along at 10kts for the whole night! If only it had continued…a southerly front was coming up the coast and while it wasn't meant to last more than about 15hrs we decided to seek shelter and not risk anything. We are desperate to get to Sydney, but Mystic definitely comes first at this stage of the trip and the most important priority is getting her back in one piece! We've witnessed a lot of southerly fronts on the aussie coast during the last 5 years and they are generally quite brutal when they first hit. So we pulled into a town called Yamba, which is 50 miles north of Coffs Harbour. Getting over the bar and through the breakwater was quite interesting with the tide ripping in and a couple of people watched us from the shore as we rolled around in the swell. We tied up at the marina just as the southerly arrived and brought a lashing of rain with it, so we were glad to have got to safety just in time. Yamba is a holiday town, full of caravan parks and stink boats, but the town is alright and we had a good curry despite having to walk to town in the rain.
Blondie
On Saturday morning, there seemed to be no wind. We had expected the southerly to last all day, but it seemed to have passed overnight. We hot footed it out of the marina, never having even seen a member of staff as we arrived at 7pm and left at 7am! (Don't worry we are not total gypo's and did pay our way!) We knew we had a window of only about 36 hrs to get to Sydney before the next southerly front came in so we were eager to get going asap. We had to motor into the wind, although it was quite light, it was still a headwind so progress was slow, but it was still progress! Last night we had been expecting easterly winds of about 15kts which would have been great for an easy sail down the coast. What we got was 30kts of SE wind, with rain, thunder and lightning storms all night! The swell increased, and we were rolling around, still doing 7 or 8 knots with 3 reefs in both sails! It was quite a ride! We never felt out of control though, with so little sail out, and Mystic coped really well. We got very wet, didn't sleep much, but at least we were getting some good miles on the clock.
Knarly conditions early this morning
Just a few storms around! iPhone being very useful.
The wind, swell and storms calmed down this morning and with an updated weather report we realised that we just had too many miles to do to be able to get to Sydney before the next southerly front came up the coast. We only needed another 12 hrs and we would have got back this evening. So it's a little frustrating, particularly as with some hindsight we could have made different choices that would have meant we arrived tonight. Still, Port Stephens is a really beautiful bay and we have been here before on long weekends from Sydney. As we entered the bay this evening, we were accompanied by loads of dolphins and we even saw a whale breaching! We are now tied up in a marina here, and expect to be here for 2 nights. At least we can get some more cleaning done and make Mystic spick and span for her glorious arrival into Sydney!! (or spend some time in the pool, sauna and spa that is attached to the marina!)
Dolphins escorted us into Port Stephens this evening
Me with very orange looking hair! Happy to be escaping the southerly winds.
A small 36 hr window between two massive southerly fronts looks like it might appear on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning so if the forecast holds then we will sail overnight on Tuesday and get to Sydney about midday on Wednesday. We really hope there's no more delays. We only have 90 miles to go and feel so close! We must get back before Friday as we're meant to be having an engagement party on Friday night!
This is what we are avoiding. Red = 50mph winds (no thanks!)
Escaping the southerlies at Port Stephens marina. ]]>
Spent the night in Yamba marina and now on our way again. ]]>
Lat 25:24.48S
Lon 153:00.47E
Anchored off Fraser Island for the night, up again at first light.
Lon 153:00.47E
Anchored off Fraser Island for the night, up again at first light.
We finally received our gas permit this morning and got our clearance to leave Bundaberg. I think Archie had started the engine before I'd even got off the phone!
So we are now out of the marina and on our way to Sydney, the final leg of our trip. We are heading towards the sandy straits, which is a massive shortcut inside of Fraser Island. It's meant to be very beautiful with lots if wildlife. It's also very shallow, but the locals assure us that with our draft we'll be fine. We're anchoring there for the night and will continue through the shallows at first light.
We've just sailed through a massive baitball, full of leaping fish, birds and sharks! We've seen loads of these throughout our trip but we've never managed to sail right through one as the fish always swim away. It was cool to see sharks on the hunt just a couple of meters from the boat!
We hope to get to Sydney on Monday, assuming we don't have to stop on the way to sit out any inclement weather. The winds look a bit funky on Friday and there may be the remnants of a southerly on the NSW coast over the weekend, so we'll play it by ear. We may need to stop in Coffs Harbour for a night.
So we are now out of the marina and on our way to Sydney, the final leg of our trip. We are heading towards the sandy straits, which is a massive shortcut inside of Fraser Island. It's meant to be very beautiful with lots if wildlife. It's also very shallow, but the locals assure us that with our draft we'll be fine. We're anchoring there for the night and will continue through the shallows at first light.
We've just sailed through a massive baitball, full of leaping fish, birds and sharks! We've seen loads of these throughout our trip but we've never managed to sail right through one as the fish always swim away. It was cool to see sharks on the hunt just a couple of meters from the boat!
We hope to get to Sydney on Monday, assuming we don't have to stop on the way to sit out any inclement weather. The winds look a bit funky on Friday and there may be the remnants of a southerly on the NSW coast over the weekend, so we'll play it by ear. We may need to stop in Coffs Harbour for a night.
We're still in Bundaberg, or Bundy as it is affectionately known by the locals. We had hoped to be on our way to Sydney by now but we are still waiting on some paperwork that we need in order to clear customs. Mystic is currently prevented from leaving port as part of the importation process which we have to complete in order to sell the boat in Australia.
There are some silly rules here, and by far the most ridiculous one is that we have to apply for a gas license from the "Department of Ozone gases" because we have a fridge on the boat which uses gas refrigerant which means we are a "gas importer". This in itself is new information to me - why on earth would the fridge have gas in it? Apparently it is used to do the cooling. Who knew?! Anyway, the levy for the tiny amount of gas our fridge uses comes to the grand sum of $2.46, and in order to pay this, the application fee is $400. WHAT?! Anyway, we are waiting for the man from the department of funny gases to grant us our permit, and only then will the government accept our generous payment of $10,000 import duty. Fun times!
It's ok though, as we've been having a "great time" cleaning the boat. This is not like cleaning your house. Not even close. The boat has so many compartments and sneaky hiding spots, and is made from so many different materials that all require different cleaning products, that it is much more demanding. And it's 30 degrees. We've made a good start though, although it can be very hard to get motivated! Archie has done some awesome work on the deck - we have found a wonder product from the chandlery which is making light work of it. A little acid goes a long way! I've been cleaning the bilge (that's under the floor boards for you non-boaty types) which has been a delightful mixture of cockroaches and grime. Yummy. We've had a bit of a roach issue recently, after 8 months of being so careful about bringing cardboard onto the boat, somehow the buggers found a way onboard in Vanuatu, and multiplied like, well, cockroaches. On my recent trip back to Sydney I bought some traps which are doing the job and most of them are dead now.
The good news is that we passed our termite inspection today (another Australian requirement, another $600) and are officially termite free. They don't seem to care about any other bugs which is quite bizarre.
Despite the complaining about importation procedures and cleaning, we are loving being back in "civilisation" and our trip to the supermarket in town was a joy! Fresh milk, strawberries, crunchy nut cornflakes, broccoli and haloumi. Hurrah! (not all at the same time…) The marina here is full to bursting, with a lot of boats from the rally here and not moving on because of the weather. We actually got the very last berth available, after they moved a boat whose owner hadn't paid his rent, in order to accommodate us! It's a really nice marina, quite new with very friendly staff, and has a good restaurant, chandlery, laundry and free bus into town.
There is a big southerly wind coming up the coast over the weekend so we couldn't really have got further than Fraser Island even if we'd been able to leave today, so we are staying in the marina for the weekend, and then will hopefully be on our way on Monday. We will sail through the sandy straits between Fraser Island and the mainland, which is meant to be beautiful, and then we will probably hotfoot it down to Sydney, maybe stopping in Coffs Harbour for a night if we need to escape any inclement weather. The rally organisers gave a talk yesterday about anchorages south of Bundy and how to get through the sandy straits which are very shallow in parts. We had initially thought we couldn't get through but apparently it is easy, and because it's Australia, very well marked. There are even local volunteer radio operators that will give us gps co-ordinates to get over the shallow bar at the end!
We hope to get to Sydney next weekend. WE CANNOT WAIT to see everyone and get Mystic through the heads!!!
Mystic looking sparkly in Bundy marina
Results of our toil - anyone looking to buy a yacht?
The galley all scrubbed up
9,500 miles and 249 days since we landed in Panama, we have sailed across the Pacific Ocean! We arrived in Bundaberg this morning, and are now safely berthed in a marina. It's a bit weird to think we have successfully achieved what we set out to do, because really until we get to Sydney the trip is not over and we haven't quite completed our challenge! Still, it does feel VERY good knowing that we have sailed across the largest ocean in the world.
The second half of our passage was not as enjoyable as the first. Friday turned out to be just as "light and shite" as Ewan predicted, and we had recollections of being back in the doldrums at the very beginning of our trip out of Panama! We had to motor for 28 hrs, and were getting a little worried about our lack of fuel, when finally at midday on Saturday the wind filled in again. The passage took us exactly a week which is pretty good going really - helped by some very speedy days at the beginning. Huge thanks to Ewan for being an awesome weatherman every day!
Australian customs are notoriously strict, and there is a bit of faff to go through (plus a rather large cash sum to be deposited) as we have to import the boat into Australia before we can sell it. We knew about that though so that part is ok. The kick in the teeth is that the quarantine department believes our boat is a 'high risk' boat for having termites, which the authorities seem obsessed with! No worries about any other pests, it's termites they're after! So before we can leave Bundaberg we have to have a termite inspection which we could not get before Friday, for the wee price of $600. That's for an hours work for two people! Having the guy from quarantine uproot the whole boat and look in every locker and every nook and cranny this morning felt like the walk of shame! Our boat needs a serious clean and we've had a bit of a cockroach issue in the last couple of weeks so Mystic was not looking her best! Needless to say we will be spending the week in the marina cleaning and scrubbing! We need to do this anyway to glam her up for sale, so it's not too much of an issue, but we are keen to get to Sydney asap and were hoping we'd be out of here in a couple of days.
The passage was easier than I thought it would be - this is the longest passage we've done just the two of us. We do shifts of 3hrs on, 3 hrs off at night, but it's amazing how you get used to it, plus it's the perfect excuse for granny naps during the day! With a whole week to do not very much, I have been thinking about wedding plans (I raided the newsagent of bridal mags when I was back in Bondi the other week!) and Archie has been designing and building his sailing app that is going to make us millionaires :-)
It's nice being in the safe comfort of the marina, despite the cost. I'm looking forward to a hot shower and a white magnum ice cream…maybe at the same time?!]]>
The Hitchhiker - a silly poem created on a long night watch!
I've been flying for days
But with the sun's last rays
Tiredness peaks
I must rest my beak!
Aha! What a sight
A ship sailing into the night
The top of the mast
A nice perch at last!
Bank right, bank right
I can do this alright?
But it pitches and rolls
And I fail to grab hold
The people they stare
I give them a glare
Feet out to land
On the bimini stand
Damnit I missed
Swark! I hiss
Hit my wing on the back stay
But I'm fine, I'm ok
A rail on the side
Looks like an easier divide
I slowly descend, (my wings are on fire!)
And wrap my claws firmly around the metal wire
At last I can rest
This ship is the best
Use my tail feather to balance
Head tucked in - a funny stance
Ditch my crap on the ship
While my head gets some kip
The humans keep watching
The miles of ocean we're crossing
It's finally dawn
The humans yawn
Time to be on my way
Lots of fish to catch today!
I spread my wings and lurch
Beginning the breakfast search
Farewell and thanks for the ride Mystic
p.s Enjoy clearing up my bird shit!
Lat 22:19:00 S
Lon 155:59.00 E
Lon 155:59.00 E
Lat 21:17.00S
Lon 157:36.00E
Lon 157:36.00E
Lat 19:47.07 S
Long 160:15.99 E
Long 160:15.99 E
Lat 19:46.93S
Lon 160:16.33E
Thursday 1st November
We've passed through a few light squalls, but Mystic has done her usual trick of taking advantage of the extra wind from the rain clouds without actually getting us wet! (Although I'm sure the captain would like to think it's his 30 yrs of racing skills coming into play!) Weather for the last 2 days has been glam - sunny, clear days and friendly wind - 12 to 20 knots. We are currently approaching Chesterfield Reef which is in the middle of nowhere but as it's half way between Vanuatu and Bundaberg, it's a popular stopping point for yachts on the Port 2 Port Rally which we are participating in. The reef has a tiny island and water depths suitable for anchoring. However, we will be passing it in the dark, and we just want to get to Aus as soon as possible. The Port 2 Port Rally is organised by a friendly group of yachties that live in Bundaberg. We pay an entry fee but come out on top as they pay our customs and immigration fees for us. It's a bit of a gimmick to get more yachts into Bundaberg to boost the marine industry and tourism in the town, but when they're selling free money and an easy process of clearing in and importing the boat, it was the obvious choice for our entry port in Australia.
Speaking of Australia, I have a confession to make - I was back in Bondi last week! I undertook a secret trip back to Sydney to attend my citizenship ceremony and officially become an Australian! Highly annoying that I couldn't change the ceremony date for when we would be back in Aus, but rules is rules and it was not for lack of trying! Thank God for frequent flyer points! I'm now a proper Aussie and will get my Aussie passport when we get back. Don't worry Brit kids - I still keep my British citizenship too, and in an England/Australia rugby match I will still be cheering for England and singing Jerusalem down the pub! I now have dual nationality which is pretty damn cool as it means I can come back and live in Australia or NZ anytime for the rest of my life. Not that we're thinking of it in the foreseeable future, but it might be a good retirement plan! I wanted to keep my visit a secret as I didn't want any early celebrations of being engaged or back on dry land until Archie and I arrived together. I stayed at a friend's and it was lovely to catch up. Lucky Archie got to stay on the boat in Luganville and clean the boat! His head is much better and seems to be healing well. It was very strange to be back in civilisation again - even my iPhone got recharged and used - how amazing it is to be so connected to the world all the time, and have access to anything you want at the touch of a button. (well, not actually even a button on an iPhone). Some people complain about the fact that they are so contactable, but try living without it for 8 months and then tell me how you feel!
I think we're heading into what Ewan referred to as a "light and shite" day of no wind tomorrow (Friday) but then hopefully the wind should pick up again and we expect to arrive into Bundy on Monday morning. Morale is pretty good. We've been sleeping well and we are super excited to be so close to completing our crossing of the largest ocean in the world. Plus, I have all the time in the world to pester Archie about wedding plans!! Haha!
Sally the mayor presenting me with my citizenship certificate - I had to run to the shops to buy a new outfit as all I have on the boat are stained boardies and ripped t-shirts!
With Jenny - my guest of honour! (Plus Warrick too!)
VB and a Lamington. At the same time. Could I BE more Australian?!
After leaving Oyster island and a failed attempt to sail back to Port Villa, (big swell and upwind so we bailed) my fiance and I are back in Luganville harbour, anchored in front of the beachfront resort again. We are preparing to leave for our passage to Australia. Unfortunately there is no wind until at least Sunday so Mystic is stuck here until then. No wind does mean that the anchorage is nice and flat though! We are taking the opportunity to do some long overdue boat cleaning, but yesterday we hired a car and went up the East coast of Santo.
The southern part of the coast is covered in palm tree plantations. Either side of the road was thick with lines and lines of them - I have never seen so many palm trees! We're not sure how they collect the coconuts but assuming they are collected by hand, half the population of Santo must be up in the trees come harvest time!
Palm tree plantations line the road up the east coast
Our first stop was at another blue hole, similar to the one where Archie proposed. This one was a bit more commercial, and we had to pay a fee to swim in it, but we were given a coconut each to drink and there was a slide and another rope swing. The water was again extremely blue, and even clearer than at Matevulu.
Archie jumping off the rope swing at Shark Bay blue hole
My fiance and I :-)
We continued up the road to the famous Champagne beach which is the beach featured in all of Vanuatu's travel industry promotional material. They wanted 2000 vatu ($20) off us for the privilege of seeing it so instead we went to the beach next door - Lonnoc beach, where we could enjoy an almost identical beach for the price of two cans of coke. It was a lovely spot, save for the drones of flies and ants that were on the beach.
Our engagement photo shoot on Lonnoc beach
Until the dog ran in (actually we look happier in this one!)
Further up the road, we found Port Orly, which again is supposed to have a nice beach but again they wanted 1000 vatu from us for access to it. We've seen enough amazing beaches on this trip and not ever had to pay for the privilege, so this was rather annoying. I think it stems from the fact that the owners of the blue holes charge a fee so they think they can charge for every tourist attraction. Unfortunately for them, the blue holes are novel and amazing natural formations, where as you can find a nice beach pretty much anywhere in the South Pacific!
Hide and seek at Port Orly
On our way back we found another blue hole, that the Lonely Planet guide described as a blue lagoon. There were no fees to pay, no-one waiting for you to arrive, just a wooden stand that they use on cruise ship days, and a path down to the swimming spot. This was actually 3 pools that were connected, and we swam through all of them until we reached the sea. The effect of the fresh water mixing with the salt water underneath was cool - it makes the water look fuzzy, as if it's got oil in it or something. You could also dive down into the salt water where it was much warmer than the cooler fresh water at the surface. This 'blue lagoon' was pretty cool. I have no idea why no-one was charging us to visit this one! Daft!
The blue lagoon
We returned to Luganville and dropped off the car, and then went to an outdoor screening of a film about the SS President Coolidge wreck. It is the 70th anniversary this week so there is a small exhibition on, which we went to, and also a nightly screening of films about the ship. After the film, which was pretty interesting actually, we had to find our dinghy in the dark. We'd parked it that morning in the river tied to a tree, with a stern anchor lodged around some old metal pylons in the water to keep her off the shore. Unfortunately we couldn't lift the stern anchor; it was completely stuck. We should have just left it there and found it in the morning, but Arch decided to swim for it. It's not fun swimming in pitch black water at the best of times, let alone in a dirty river with rusty old metal spikes in the water! He came up after freeing the anchor and my face dropped. He had a stream of blood about 2 inches wide flowing from his forehead all the way down his nose and chin. He was clearly in pain and shocked by the amount of blood pouring out from his head. We got a towel and some pressure on it and that seemed to stop the bleeding fairly quickly. I tried to find somewhere to get back to the shore (we had drifted off downstream) so that we could get into the light to assess the need for stitches. We decided a trip to hospital wasn't necessary, and back at the yacht I patched him up with some butterfly strips to try and close the gash in his forehead and minimise the scar. Apart from a big headache and a few other nicks on his nose and forehead he seems to be ok. Fingers crossed the wound heals ok. I learnt how to do proper stitches on my first aid course, but I am not about to take surgeons tools to Archie's face when my only experience was on chicken breasts!
Archie's injury without all the blood
On Saturday, finally under some sunshine, we hired a double kayak from the resort at Oyster Island and headed up a nearby river in search of the famous 'Matevulu' blue hole. The river is more of a creek, but in a tropical sense of course, so discard any ideas you have of muddy water with rusty boats and lots of litter. The water in the river was clear and shallow, and we could clearly see fish swimming underneath our kayak, as we paddled through the forrest. As we moved further inland, the water became clearer and clearer and the jungle more wild. There wasn't a sound except for our paddles in the water and the birds singing in the trees.
Paddling upstream
After 40 minutes we turned a corner and emerged into a beautiful pool of deep and very blue water. We had arrived. Next to the pool among the trees, was an enormous banyan tree, with it's giant roots in the spring fed water feeding the vast tree above. Hanging from the tree was a rope swing that someone had put in place. A friend had described this as 'the world's greatest rope swing' so clearly we had to give it a go. In order to get enough height to clear the water, we had to carry the rope and use the roots of the banyan tree as a climbing frame, to get about 15ft in the air before jumping off. The height gave us a pretty good swing and it was awesome fun.
Matevulu blue hole - banyan tree in the middle
Site of the proposal!
We swam in the pool to cool off and then as we were sat on the roots of the tree, Archie said....
"Jojo, will you marry me?"
Ah those longed for words were finally alive! Of course I said "yes!" No one could ever make me happier. A small root from the banyan tree was hastily woven around my finger as a symbolic placement ring. We are going to use some diamonds from Archie's Great Grandmother's engagement ring, which will be chosen and set into a new ring when we're back in the UK. After all the drama, we kayaked back to the resort with big smiles on our faces and full of happiness, excitement and a little relief that the moment had finally arrived!
Betrothed
My banyan tree root ring!
Once back on the boat we popped the bottle of Moet that had been chilling in our fridge since Jem and Ewan conveniently left it behind :-) That evening we treated ourselves to dinner in the restaurant at the resort and enjoyed paella, brownie and sangria. After the Moet and Sangria we were both feeling a little woozy! We don't normally drink much on the boat, just a beer or two in the evening, so our heads were a little sore in the morning! But we are so happy, excited, and bursting to tell everyone our news.
And that is the story of how Archie and Jojo got engaged! ]]>
It's been a while since my last missive, almost 6 months! This one is unfortunately more of a narrative as I've had to take over Jo's duties as she didn't quite see all the SS Coolidge.
It's been left to me to write about the fine ship SS Coolidge. The Coolidge, which was converted from a luxury Cruise Liner to be a troop carrier during the war, unfortunately hit a friendly mine when entering the main pass into Espiruto Santo, Vanuatu. Will the Americans ever learn. The captain rammed it ashore, saving 4999 troops out of 5000. The ship then rolled back into the water 86 mins later with the Captain still aboard searching for the engineer who was killed in the initial mine blast, thus making him a hero and an idiot at the same time, (for blindly entering the harbour without a pilot).
Anyway, now it is one of the best preserved wreck dives in the world. However, equally they are called 'wreck' dives for a reason and being Vanuatu the wreck hasn't been as well preserved as it could have been. Never-the-less it was quite cool. When the dive was described, we were told of how we'd enter the grand dinning room, complete with chandeliers, (I imagine twin stair cases winding down into a great ballroom). The reality is a gaping slot across the ship, which runs vertically below us, as the ship is on it's side. Our torches hardly illuminate the wall 4m down, yet alone the vast depths 30m below. However we are shown a chandelier dangling on the side, aka roof.
The Elegant Chandeliers
Again in the description, we are told of the medical room and armoury, where I imagine, a few hospital trollies at the bottom and a medical cabinet and the armoury with a rack of guns, grenades and helmets. The reality is a line of bottles that a diver has arranged horizontally on one the roof girders in a corridor for the medical room and the photo opportunity on the ship side, where they have retrieved a helmet and gun for punters to put on.
The original loos lined up french-style.
That was the first dive. The second dive was much cooler. The SS Coolidge also contained a heap of armaments, from tanks to plane fuel pods to jeeps and trucks. When the ship first went down, as part of the salvage operation to retrieve all the armaments, they cut large holes in the side of the ship, which thankfully allows some light into the ship. Again we entered amidships, around 35m deep and swam towards the cargo holds near the bow, squeezing through tight slots on the way forwards, over flat bed trucks, jeeps and tanks. On the way, we also peered into a sealed, dark room, full of 'flashing' fish. Imagine looking down onto the roads of London at night, with lines of lights going by. The other highlight was the plane fuel pods. These are egg-shaped tanks, large enough to fit a Jojo inside. They were strewn over the bottom side of the ship. Picture one of the early scenes from Alien, where they enter the crashed ship and see a sea of the Alien eggs across the ship floor!
The Ships elevator running across the ship.
Unfortunately Jo wasn't able to enter the ship, as her ears just weren't playing game, so she had to entertain herself on the ships exterior surface. This was the deepest dive either of us had ever done at around 40m.
My overall impression of the dive was that the descriptions didn't quite live up to the reality and 70 years underwater eventually takes its toll, with all partitions having disintegrated and individual items rusted or coral encrusted into one amorphous blob. There were obvious exceptions in the deeper parts of the ship. Perhaps next time, we'll hit 60m!
If you look through port holes and it looks like this. Get out!
Never fired in anger.
Since we arrived in Santo it has hardly stopped raining. We are now into our 4th day of downpours, which are making it hard for us to get out and explore. We anchored near the beachfront resort in Luganville, which is a bit of a stretch of the word "resort" but our opinions are again probably affected by the rain! I fear we are being given a glimpse of what it will be like in England...We have managed to do a bit of shopping in Luganville, although it is much smaller than Port Villa and there is barely anything resembling a supermarket. Some of the cafe's have free wifi though so we've bought plenty of milkshakes and muffins! We had been meaning to do some cleaning on the boat and fix a few things up, but the weather is not great for our motivation!
Luganville's attractions are mainly underwater - Million Dollar Point is where the US army dumped a load of their unwanted jeeps, diggers, and tanks after the end of WWII. Apparently they couldn't agree a selling price with the people of Vanuatu, so they just dumped the lot in the water! We got out the bikes and cycled to the point. It was good to use our legs again, and for once we had enough sunshine to burn our noses. We snorkelled the area, but because of the previous wind and rain, the visibility was terrible, although you could make out some things if you dove down.
Archie in a sunken jeep
Standing on the jaws of a rusty old crane
Across from where we were anchored was another island with a resort called Aore. Mike and Sammy had recommended the steak there so we dinghied across the channel for a hot shower and a very good dinner. The people there were really friendly and it was nice to be back in civilisation again. The steak was as delicious as promised.
On Thursday we did what we came to do here - dive the wreck of the SS President Coolidge, one of the largest and best preserved wrecks in the world. We were picked up from the resort and then jumped in a boat to cruise over to the wreck site, which is just at the entrance to the harbour channel. The dive boat was made from a rather daft design where by the person driving at the back can't actually see over the front of the cabin roof at the front, so our dive guide, Aidan, had to keep swerving to check that we weren't about to crash into anything!
The Coolidge was a 200m long, luxury cruise liner during the 1930's, but during the war it was converted to a US navy crew ship. On entering the harbour at Luganville in October 1942, it hit a US laid mine. It's not known whether the incident was a result of bad sailing orders or bad sailing. The captain, realising that he was going to loose the ship, drove it straight into the reef and ordered everyone to abandon ship. Everyone got safely ashore except for one person who was noted as missing on the lists, and the captain bravely went back onboard the sinking ship to find this one crew member. Whilst searching for the missing crew member the captain lost his life as the ship slid back down the reef and sunk, just 86 minutes after she had hit the mine. It was later revealed that the missing crew member had died on impact with the mine in the engine room, and had been dead long before the captain went back on board to search for him. It is nearly 70 years to the day since the ship sunk, and there are numerous plans in town to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the sinking and the heroics of the captain.
The ship - she lies on her port side
We were using our own diving gear, but as we were about to get into the water, my regulator spat the dummy and started free-flowing air. So we drove over to Million Dollar Point where there was another dive boat who leant us another regulator. Then we had a further 20 minute delay while we waited for another guy who had rocked up late from the airport and who wanted to dive with us. Anyway, shortly after that we actually got down to the wreck. We haven't dived a wreck before so it's hard to know what to expect when someone says that it is in 'great condition'. To us it still had reef and coral growing all over it, and it was quite hard to tell what bits were which. We explored the bow and picked up some conveniently placed helmets and guns for the obligatory cheesy photo before we approached our entry point into the hull. Unfortunately at this point my ears decided to play up, and I couldn't equalise. After a few minutes, I told the others to go on and I would go back to the surface and back to the boat. I was really dissapointed as I had been really excited about doing the wreck. Half an hour later the others surfaced and we had some gross egg salad sandwiches on the beach, and then went down for a second dive. Again, I got as far as the bow and was then unable to equalise to go any further. It seemed like it was just not meant to be. Archie enjoyed the second dive, and says he will write a blog about it. My ears have historically been a bit dodgy in the past, but I haven't had any problems with them on the whole trip so it was really annoying not to be able to explore the wreck from the inside.
Wearing a helmet and gun retrieved from the wreck - they were really heavy and I had to be supported not to lose my balance!
On Friday, after another night of heavy rain, we sailed up to where we are now, Oyster Island, just about 18 miles north of Luganville. It's a really nice spot, between tiny islands and reefs, making it very sheltered. Unfortunately we draw too much depth to be able to get into the really sheltered anchorage, but it is still pretty flat water. There is a really nice resort with one of the best seafood restaurants in Vanuatu here. Tomorrow we are borrowing some kayaks from the resort and kayaking up the river to a 'blue hole' which is meant to be a very beautiful swimming spot in a pool of very clear blue water. The forecast looks a little brighter so hopefully we might get a break from the rain.]]>
The last few days have been pretty cruisy, and we have basically been slowly making our way up to Espirito Santo - the last island in Vanuatu before we depart for Australia!
We dropped Jem and Ewan at Craigs Cove on Ambrym to catch their tiny plane back to Port Villa and on to Sydney. We saw some dolphins in the bay just before they were about to leave so Jem and Archie jumped in for a quick swim. The dolphins were cautious but this time did not flee and a couple of them got within a few metres. I was jealous that I didn't go too!
Jem swimming with dolphins!
After saying our goodbyes, we headed off to Malecula, another island to the west of Ambrym. On the way we saw Jem and Ewan's plane overhead and I was waving madly but I'm not sure if they saw us! Malecula doesn't really have that much to offer in terms of entertainment, but Archie wanted to try and see one of the famous "massive man eating sharks" that supposedly hang out at Port Sandwich because there is an abattoir there, and they chuck the carcasses into the water, creating a healthy snack for in-the-know tiger sharks. The bay was actually one of the most pleasant and peaceful bays we've seen, and certainly one of the flattest anchorages we've had all trip. It's very sheltered, and the glassy water and sounds of birds signing off for the day meant we slept well. Archie threw some of the remaining inedible Panama chicken into the water to try and lure the big sharks. We've been keeping it as ice packs in the freezer with no intention of eating it so this seemed like a good use! Surprise, surprise there was no sign of anything in this still, beautiful bay, although apparently an 8 year old girl was killed here some years ago.
Yesterday we moved 30 miles up the coast to Port Stanley, and anchored against an island in the mangroves called Uri. A couple of guys from the village came out and invited us to visit the village so we popped over in the dinghy. Unless it is low tide, access from the beach to the village involves walking through shallow water, and along a mini concrete jetty in the mangroves that was funded by the NZ government. The village here seemed a little more affluent than others we have visited - most of the houses had a few layers of breeze blocks acting as foundations. Willy showed us around the village and the friendly locals supplied us with lemons, pumpkin and bananas. In return they were asking for reading glasses, which funnily enough we don't have (!) but we did find a magnifying glass that we've never used so we gave them that so that some of the older women can continue reading! One of the guys was tucking into a strange looking meat. When asked what it was, I was dismayed to find out that they were eating the turtles that we had seen swimming around our boat. They seemed to sense my disapproval and quickly justified it by claiming that there are "many many many" turtles in the bay. I'm pretty sure a turtle wouldn't satisfy my 60% rule. (Only kill and eat something if you can eat or utilise at least 60% of it - created when arguing for saving Coco the Coconut crab!) We tried some and it tasted like pork, but I couldn't face more than the tiniest piece. Willy also mentioned that they have dugongs in the bay so this morning we went on a dinghy safari in search of the elusive creatures. They are still eluding us!
Archie and Willy at Uri village in the mangroves
Turtle on the menu
This lady gave us some bananas and then ran after us to give us a pumpkin
We spent most of today sailing up to Santo, our last island in Vanuatu! We caught another Mahi mahi on the way, which I reeled in for a change (though I still wimped out of gutting it!) It's currently sizzling in the pan for dinner. We are anchored near the town of Luganville which is Vanuatu's second largest town after Port Villa. Again it is much smaller than we imagined. We are planning on staying here for a few days to do some diving on the SS President Coolidge - the world's largest accessible wreck dive, and also at Million Dollar Point where the yanks dropped tanks, bulldozers, jeeps and all sorts of other machinery into the water at the end of WWII. We are also planning on exploring the east coast of this island so it will probably be a couple of weeks before we're ready to leave Vanuatu. We are loving it here and it rates very highly on the trip list in terms of the experiences we've had here.
Reeling in tonight's dinner, another Mahi mahi. The guns are coming along nicely!
We rose early in the morning, ready for our hike up Mt Marum, but unfortunately Jem was sick and had spent most of the night in the bathroom! She decided to stay on the boat which turned out to be the right call as the walk was pretty tough, but it was a real shame that she couldn't join us, as this was the reason we'd put in all the sailing miles over the last few days! Still, the three of us headed off, left the dinghy on the beach and met up with Ben and Tapit, who spoke a little English but were not exactly chatty! We walked back to Lalinda and picked up 3 of Ben's dogs, and continued through the village and then away from the coast and into the jungle. There was an old vehicle track that we followed for about half an hour before the track became single file. The jungle was thick and we were glad of the shade as we followed an old river bed, and then began climbing up a ridge, along another river bed and then up another ridge. We thread our way through wild kava plants, giant taro, palm trees, vines and towering tree ferns with faces carved into the trunks (known as tam-tams).
Making our way through the jungle
A tam-tam
Ben leading the way up an old stream, littered with dead palm leaves
After 2 hours we caught a view of the coast and realised how high we'd climbed. The going was tough, especially considering we'd been chilling on a yacht for 7 months and weren't exactly in finest form! Still, with Archie's homemade flapjacks and a couple of razor sharp machete's to cut down stray palm fronds across the path, after another hour we finally burst onto the ash plain. And 30 knots of wind. Suddenly our landscape had completely changed. From green, dense jungle, we were suddenly faced with a never-ending plain of dark brown ash and sand. The two volcanoes loomed to the left, covered in cloud and smoke, and another mountain 1000m high was to our right. Between us and the volcanoes was a vast desert of ash, sculpted by lava flow and water into mini mountains and canyons. It was incredible. It felt like we'd landed on the moon, albeit with a little more gravity, and the stories of Mordor in Lord of the Rings came to life.
Mt Benbow across the ash plain
The ash plain
For another hour and a half we made our way across the ash plain, towards the dark clouds above Mt Marum. We reached the lava flow which was similar to what we'd seen on Isabella in the Galapagos - sharp rock sculpted into all kings of crazy shapes before it solidified from it's molten state. Ben told us we were approaching the first vent - "the small one". We could see steam and smoke rising from a hole in the distance and as we got nearer, suddenly we were on the edge of a massive hole in the ground. We all caught our breath and cursed. Let me remind you that this is Vanuatu - there are no health and safety standards, no warning signs, no fences or rails, and certainly no waiver forms! We were standing right on the edge of a large crater, all sides dropping away vertically into the depths. We couldn't see the bottom, only the smoke and steam rising from below. It was amazingly raw, and pretty scary being so close to the edge, especially as a slight tremor in the earth could pull the very earth we were standing on into the crater! We didn't hang around too long, and avoided the area that had a massive crack around it!
The small vent
Archie crossing the lava flow
Another 30 minute walk amongst the mountains of ash and we were walking up a ridge of Mt Marum, up to the main crater. It wasn't long before we could hear the hissing and banging to our left. We traversed across a steep side of the crater, and emerged onto the top of the rim. Huge amounts of cloud and mist were circling above and within an enormous crater. We couldn't see the other side of the crater - it was that big! The guides kept standing close to the edge and peering over. I wasn't really sure what they were looking for - this was it wasn't it? Suddenly Ben shouted 'lava!' and we moved back to where he was positioned. Carefully we stood as close to the edge as we could to allow us to peer down and see the bottom. None of us was expecting what we saw. Beneath us, probably close to a kilometre straight down, inside the vertically descending walls of the crater, was a large area of red hot molten magma, thrusting and booming and exploding at mind boggling speeds. Imagine the roughest ocean you've ever seen, imagine it is contained by walls meaning it bounces off the sides and generates huge explosions of liquid in the middle, and now imagine that rather than water, it is molten magma from the centre of the earth, burning and convecting at temperatures over 1000 degrees celsius! It was awesome in the truest sense of the word. The forces and power within the magma pool were incredible. We really were looking into the Earth's angry, burning core, all the while perched on the top of the the rim, only a metre away from the vertical drop into the crater! It was one of the most amazing visual experiences I have ever seen. While perched on the edge we felt like we were on borrowed time. It was a certainty that eventually the earth we were standing on would collapse and fall into the crater. If the world decided your time was up, it would just crumble and swallow you up. In 1995 a Frenchman fell to his death from the edge, and a few years ago a man from Hong Kong fell from the edge but somehow didn't fall all the way down and was rescued with a rope in some kind of modern day miracle. Funnily enough those events must have failed to be mentioned to the writer of the Lonely Planet guidebook! (not that it would have stopped us!) Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice at all. The video is better but it's one of those things where you really have to see it with your own eyes, and not even the 60D could capture the magnitude of it all.
Tapit - on the edge
Archie and Ewan as close as they dare
What lies beneath - the red pool of molten magma, approx 1km down from where we were standing
Burning at over 1000 degrees C!
We ate our lunch and after 90 minutes, made our way back across the back of the crater, down the ridge of the volcano and back across the ash plain to the jungle. It was 5 hours up and 4.5 hrs down so by the time we got back to the boat it was nearly dark and we'd been gone for 11 hours! We were knackered, and filthy, covered in ash, but we'd seen something we'll never see again and we'll certainly never forget.
Survivors!
Descending down the ridge onto the ash plain - the first vent is top right
As we walked back to Port Vato, we bumped into a group of local boys, who took great pleasure in letting us pass them and then marching behind us. We were walking pretty fast, looking forward to getting back to the boat, and they mimicked us as we marched along, all the way back to the beach! They loved having their picture taken and even helped us get the dinghy back into the water. It's great being a novelty around here!
Arriving back into Port Vato - a little late
The local boys posing for their picture