AKAMA REPORT 27
28 June 2004
Honiara to Vanuatu
We started out early on 10 June, east bound from Honiara for Vulelua
Island (9-30S x 160-28.5E), our planned anchorage for the night. The
GRIB weather files we downloaded at midnight promised an easy ride with 8
to 10-knots on the nose. Little did we know! Before we'd even got
half way the wind began to pick up. It built steadily throughout the
morning until by noon we had steep choppy seas, big whitecaps and the
high wind alarm was going off, signalling gusts to over 30-knots. We
were relatively comfortable with this, given that we only had about a
half-day's motoring to the anchorage. In any case it was to be worth
the bother, as we had read that there was a friendly little eco-resort
waiting to serve us an early dinner and drinks. We arrived and found no
resort, not even a trace of one; we surmise that being of leaf
construction it was simply burnt down during "the tension". We got
canoed shortly after arrival, but we were tired and simply ignored them
until they went away. Once rested, we dove on the hull to check the
running gear and give the prop a scrape. Just before sunset, in a small
pang of conscience we let some balloons go to the canoe kids who had
reassembled. Everywhere we go we are the centre of attraction.
The next day we left well before daylight, in the hope that the winds
would abate in the night as they often do. No dice. We had another
rough ride to Port Mary (10-50S x 162-27E), which is on a Santa Ana
Island, at the east end of San Cristobal (a.k.a. Makira I.). This was a
superb, albeit a little deep, anchorage to wait for the weather to
clear. There is an island to the east to protect us from the SE trades,
and a fringing reef in nearly all other directions, to protect us from
swells and any wind shifts in the night. The people are friendly,
though not overly intrusive. We let some balloons go for the kids to
race after, traded with the locals for fruit, veggies and crays, and did
some minor maintenance. Some kids jumped in the water and helped us
clean the beard off the waterline, so we paid them for their efforts in
lollies and balloons.
We had to fix the blasted generator (again). This time it was the
voltage regulation (again). We believe that Westerbeke, the
manufacturer, did not used tinned boat wire in building the thing. So,
over the years everywhere there is a terminal crimped on the salt air
has introduced corrosion, which makes the joint a bit resistive. We
spent hours re-crimping the joints and in some cases replacing
terminals, and away she went. This fix is sure not to last, as there
are lots of joints we did not re-crimp or replace. This is the second
time we have had to do this; last time we also replaced with crimped
connections some automotive style plugs that Westerbeke used. The
lasting fix, which will come later, is to rip out absolutely all of the
wiring, and replace it with proper, tinned boat wire.
We did not leave Santa Ana until Thursday the 17th, due to crummy
weather. Late Wednesday afternoon the wind died and we knew we would be
good to go in the morning, as the GRIB weather predictions were
favourable. The plan was to make a 180-mile, one-night trip east to
Nendo Island, rest, and then island-hop to Vanuatu via Utupua I. and
Tevai I. As it turned out, Mother Nature played a trick on us, because
after we got well out to sea the wind returned with a vengeance. It was
not a comfortable passage and we decided to press on to Utupua, as the
angle to the waves would be better. Before long we realized that we
still could not make a decent cruising speed so it would still be dark
upon reaching Utupua, and the anchorage there is a bit tricky. So, we
decided to make a long passage of it and head for Hiou Island, the
closest one belonging to Vanuatu, about 150 miles southeast of Nendo.
Upon arrival at Hiou we did not like the look of the anchorage, given
the winds, so we decided to push along to Tegua. But, conditions in the
anchorage there were not much better. So, we decided to bite the
bullet and head for Sola, the capital of the Torres and Banks Islands
province, on Vanua Lava (13-52S x 167-33E). We thought we might make it
there before nightfall, given the expected favourable currents. Of
course they did not materialize and we did not get in until well after
dark. Fortunately, this is a fairly safe anchorage, and with the help
of the GPS and the RADAR we were able to drop the hook right in a good
spot. We had turned a simple overnight passage into a 360-mile marathon
that took nearly three days, but in the process we had advanced our
position considerably, making up for time lost in previous anchorages
waiting for favourable weather windows. We are only about three weeks
behind the rough plan that we made over a year ago.
Since we have left the Solomon Islands, a few thoughts about the place
would be in order. First, contrary to what the media reports have said,
it is mostly very safe. Apart from one minor incident we never felt
threatened or even at risk. The "tension" reported in the media is
over, and it only existed around Guadalcanal. Not surprisingly then,
the people in the SI are all very friendly, with the exception of a few
spots near and on Guadalcanal. In contrast to PNG, where we expected
only villages but discovered cities, nothing is big in the Solomon
Islands. Honiara, the capital, is supposed to have a population of
about 40 thousand; but as far as we could see, it is not much more than a
big town spread out along a highway. We wonder where all the people
are. Gizho, the second-largest centre is barely a town at all, and Noro
is not much more than a huge fish canning plant. Clearly, one does not
go to the SI for the city life! The country has a population of over
500 thousand; clearly they all live in villages and are predominantly
babies. In every village we went to we saw children by the scores. The
main exports are supposedly copra, timber, rice and cacao, although we
did not see much evidence of production or shipping. An exception would
be timber where we saw a few typical deforestation projects, and we did
see a small commercial fishing fleet and cannery. In terms of things
to see and do, the Solomon Islands ranks very high if your interest is
sport fishing, WW-II history and artifacts, snorkelling and diving.
There are a few mostly rather rustic resorts and no big hotels. Our
favourite resorts are Zipolo Habu on Lola Island (for fishing and simply
relaxing) and Uepi in the Marovo Lagoon (for diving). We found the
native culture to be more varied in PNG; the S. I. is about 95 percent
Melanesian with a smattering of Polynesian. For cruising, the Western
province was by far the best in the Solomon Islands.
A few words about trawler yachts might be in order too, as we have now
logged a significant number of miles under our keel in areas where few
boats tread, let alone power boats. Lots of our correspondents are
boaters and many will build or buy a new boat one day. We have observed
that we are just as good as a mono-hull sailboat when going to weather
(of course at that point of sail they are a power boat too) and about
the same as a heavy cruising sailboat or motorsailer. We suspect that
if it were to get really, really snotty the sailboat would be the better
bet. We've also observed that most of the time we are more
comfortable, but only when our stabilizers are working. When we loose
stabilization sailboats beat us hands down. We've never been partial to
catamarans and have observed that the ones we have been with are not
that great going to weather; we usually outrun them in such conditions.
But, once the wind turns to that they can sail they leave us in their
dust. Overall, so far, we usually come out ahead by a nose though. The
biggest difference is in creature comfort. When we host a party or
have guests aboard space is no object. We have room that sailboat
owners (of any size less than about 70-feet) could only dream about.
One young lady from a buddy boat, a cat, paid AKAMA the nicest
compliment. She said she liked visiting us because it was like visiting
a posh apartment. The non-boaters we meet, and a few boaters, are
often taken aback when they realise that we have no sails. The notion
of going around the world in a power boat is still rather alien to most
people. So far, at least, to us it is the only way. One of the
downsides to power boats is that you have to put diesel fuel in them,
sometimes a lot. Up around the equator, where the seas are relatively
flat, we routinely ran at about 6 to 7 litres per hour when making about
5 to 6 knots. Now that we are in an area where the seas are rougher,
our consumption is greater. On the passage from the Solomon Islands to
Vanuatu we used about 10 litres per hour but averaged only about 5.5
knots. Still, for the $30k or so we did not have to put into sails and
rigging we can afford to buy a bunch of diesel!
That's all for now, folks. Stay well! |
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