VANUATU

September 27, 2013

Regrettably, the time has come for us to sail on to New Caledonia.  The official cyclone season begins in November and we still have 1200 miles to sail to Brisbane, Australia.  We would have liked to continue on up the chain of islands in Vanuatu from Port Vila but it would have meant a long slog to windward coming back.  I didn't feel we had the time left to do it.  Additionally, as one leaves the island of Efate and heads north, the risk of malaria increases so a decision had to be mad to take some kind of prophylaxis or monitor the possibility of contact with a blood test.  We had prepared for this in New Zealand by buying Doxycycline which is taken a week before entering an infected area and a week after leaving it.  We didn't worry about it in the southern islands since there has been an effective eradication program and it's still the dry season.  We used mosquito netting and precautions from dusk to dawn when the female anopheles mosquito is active.  Malaria medicines are hard on the body and no one who lives permanently in an infected area can use them for an indefinite period of time.

The northern islands of Epi, Ambae, Malakula, Espiritu Santo, Pentacost would have been the most traditional and interesting.  It was on Espiritu Santo that the Americans had a large air force base during WW II.  It was here that, after the conquest of Japan, they disposed of all their equipment by pushing it over into the sea.  The site is called "Million Dollar Point", and is a favorite for divers.  In addition to all the military equipment, there are tens of thousands of old glass coke bottles.  Another favorite spot is the wreck of the passenger ship "President Coolidge" that was used as a troop ship and sunk by one of our own mines.

Pentacoste has the famous land diving towers.  It takes place when the yams are ripe for the picking in
April/May.  Pentecost men take this jump using vines tied to the foot - the original bungee jumping. It is a place where the famous "sand-drawings" are made and have been declared a UNESCO world heritage. Ambae is a volcanic island that James Mitchner called "the most beautiful island in the world".  He called it Bali Hai in his novel "South Pacific".  Malakula has the traditional tribes wearing "nambas" which are penis sheaves made from various types of leaves and bark.  The list goes on but one can't see it all.  I was fortunate to see one of the locals from Pentacost perform the sand-drawing ritual at the national museum in Port Vila.  Using one finger that never leaves the sand and telling a story, the drawings are unbelievably beautiful.  Many times they represent a turtle, a canoe or a human face.  The one I saw was the depiction of a "Blackbirding Ship" that had taken many of the young men away to the guano mines of Chile or the sugar cane fields of Queensland, Australia.  This was a common practice in the 1800's and equated with slavery.

These islands were first seen by 1606 by the Portuguese navigator,  Pedro Fenandes de Quiros.  Later, James Cook rediscovered them and gave them the name of New Hebrides.  They carried this name until independence in 1980.  Between the rivalry of the English and the French they thoroughly buggered the country up to the detriment of the locals.  Vanuatu was ruled jointly by the English and the French with two separate sets of laws, police force, and administrative procedures.  Additionally, there were local tribal laws and customs.  The joint government was called the "Condominium Govenment of the New Hebrides" and came into being in 1906.  One of the biggest problems encountered in the country was language:  there are 110 different dialects being spoken:  The highest linguistic density in the world.   Therefore, a common trading language called "Bislama" (pidgin English) is used as the common means of communication.  In 1980, when The New Hebrides gained independence, Bislama was declared the lingua franca of the country in addition to English and French.  These are the three official languages of the country but English and French are not commonly used in the remote areas of the interior.  Bislama is a  spoken and written language but is not taught in school.  It will,  eventually, disappear and be replaced by English.  Here are a few examples of written Bislama:

Do you talk Bislama? ( Yu save toktok bislama?)
Thank you very much.  (tank yu tumas)
My name is Don. (nem blong mi Don)
I want  (mi wantem)
I have broken my leg.  (mi brekem leg blong mi.)
Goodbye  (Lukim yu)

When we witness how forgiving the Ni-Vanuatu have been towards those that so unmercifully exploited and abused them, it gives pause to the imagination and understanding of human relationships.