Leaving Bay of Islands

After six months in beautiful New Zealand, it´s time for Yaghan to sail to new horizons again. Together with our family crew, Linda and Birk, we went to the customs office in Bay of Islands Marina in Opua early morning on the 22^nd of April.  Only half an hour before we had been debating whether we should go or not.  The weather forecast showed little wind in the beginning followed by a through. Together we decided that we should give it a try even though we had to go a slightly longer route. The friendly customs officer asked how we liked New Zealand, stamped our passports, checked that the time was 8:40 and gave us 30 minutes to leave the dock and country.

We had already said goodbye to the nice staff in the marina and now we let the lines loose and waved to fellow sailors on Seamer when we passed on the way out, leaving Opua and Russels, the oldest town of New Zealand, behind. We motored out saying farewell to Waitangi, the place where the treaty (Te Tiriti) between the British crown and Mauri chiefs was signed in 1840.  The lush green coastline of Aotearoa (Maori name for New Zealand meaning long white cloud) and the islands around Kerikeri got smaller and two small penguins were cheerfully swimming around Yaghan and we hoisted the sails and looked forward to our journey to Tanna in Vanuatu.

The sea around the north tip of New Zealand was quite choppy after some days of strong winds, but the further we came, the calmer the sea got. We could sail on reach for 23 hours and then some hours downwind, until we had to start the engine.  Some squalls made us change the course and strong winds ahead let us go west. On the third day we sailed wing on wing with winds of 17 knots on our stern. We had come halfway and were surrounded by clouds, sailing on the edge of a depression. The next night we got 35 knots of wind for some hours and all four of us was awake in the rolling sea, sails reefed so we felt safe but alerted.

We still had around 400 NM miles to go and the sunrise with calmer sea and swell was very welcoming. The weather forecast promised lighter winds and we started the engine and had to continue motoring for some days.

Approaching Tanna, Vanuatu

On the Morning of the 28^th of April we finally saw land, the cone formed island of Tanna with smoke rising from the active volcano, Mount Yasur. After just little less than 6 days, and 1100 NM, we arrived at Port Resolution on the Tanna island in the magic island nation Vanuatu.

The bay of Port Resolution, named after captain Cooks ship Resolution, gave us a good anchor ground and we were amazed to see smoke arise from hot pools on the northeast side of the bay. The tiny Tanna island hosts 29’000 of Vanuatus ca 300’000 inhabitants.  There was only one other sailing boat in the bay and the French solo sailor, Eric, came to greet us. We were told that we are the third international visiting yacht in 2025.

Clearing in to Vanuatu in Port Resolution

Anders had been contacting the customs in Port Vila and also in Lenaka on Tanna several days in advance and now also emailing and calling them again. We got promised to check in at 1:30pm, so we slept a little and cleaned the boat after the six days sail. Half past one, there were no sign of action in the bay and nobody answered the radio. Anders called the customs again and we heard that they were on their way from Lenakel to the bay. At three o’clock we finally got a message on VHF that we could take the dinghy ashore, which we quickly did and on the beach, we had to ask bathing children for the way to the Yacht Club.

We climbed the rainforest hill and saw a shack with flags and a patrol car. Customs, Immigration and Biosecurity had to drive on almost non existing roads from the other side of the island to clear us in. They were truly friendly and welcoming. The customs officer greeted us, and we sat down under the roof in the provisory yacht club. The paperwork was complete in the shade of a roof which was what remained of what was the Port Resolution Yacht Club until destroyed by a cyclone a few years ago.  The officer excused for the delay and said the conditions of the road made it very complicated to travel. We were happy that he came all the long way to clear us in.

Tanna village Irepuow

We met our new friend Stanley who brought us to his village, helped us to book lunch in the little ocean front “restaurant” – to celebrate Nilla’s 50 year birthday tomorrow. The village was very close, and we walked the path through the vibrant green rainforest, with goats and chicken grassing around banana trees and  Stanley showed us the village of beautiful huts with walls made of bambu and roofs out of coconut tree leaves.  The children `pikininis` were curious and glad to meet and play with us. We were looking for a restaurant to have lunch the following day and heard that one was closed, because of a funeral in the neighbor village, but the Seabreeze restaurant on the beach would be open. On the way through the village, we also passed the Kava place , or Anders and Birk could pass and meet the men, women were not allowed to be present while the men were drinking their kava.

Stanley

Birthday on the Vulcano Mount Yasur

The next morning, Nilla woke up to song and cake on her fiftieth Birthday! After some celebrating and snorkeling among beautiful corals, we had a delicious lunch on the beach with manioc, christophin, pumpkin and a beef stew, made by the chef Kalo and his daughter. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and men were fishing close to the shore, looking for octopus around the corals. After lunch we went with a pickup on the bumpy almost nonexciting road to the Vulcano, Mount Yasur. We passed large banyan trees, so large you can build a house inside them. Now and then the driver stopped and got messages from the villagers.

After an hour, we arrived at the foot of the mountain of Yasur,  Tanna’s main attraction. A 300 meter high active volcano, with a round crater with three “hot spots” erupting with few minutes intervalls and have done so since it was first described by James Cook and most likely several hundred years before. Repeatedly  we could hear the active volcano roar. We waited in the small museum which exposed different kind of volcanic rocks, some large but still extremely lightweighted, other dense and heavy. Together with five other cars, we drove on another bumpy road and were happy we had scaffoldings to hold on to.

Mount Yasur

The amazing view rewarded all the efforts. We walked on the black volcanic rocks to the ridge of the crater, where we could look down in the sulfur cloud without any fence protecting us from falling. A quite terrifying feeling. With local guides walking bare foot around us, we felt quite safe and could enjoy the breathtaking views while the sun set over the ocean. When it got darker, we lightened our lights and walked to the other side of the ridge were we could look down and see bright orange lava, 2.6 km downwards. Every now and then the volcano was roaring and puffing a cloud of sparkles. We had never been so close to feel the earth breath with the sounds of waves inside a drum.