Big nambas, smol nambas

Around any barbecue, going back in time to cannibal feasts, blokes have tended to polarize into one side or another of a bipolar issue. Holden vs Ford, Mac vs Windows, Nikon vs Canon, league vs AFL, etc and bloody etc.

In Malekula, (sounds like molecular) which is a large island south of Santo, there are two tribes; the Big Nambas and the Smol Nambas.

A namba is a penis sheath.

An uninitiated cynic might think that this was a contest of member size. 

But no. It is not member size that is the differentiating feature, but the width of the belt of the namba. Big nambas have wide belts. Smol (small) nambas have narrow belts.

We sailed south from Luganville to Wala Island on the east coast of Malekula. We had a number of interesting experiences there, including a visit to a Smol Nambas display of dancing and other kastom activities.

They were essentially trying to leverage some preservation of their traditions from tourist money. It was good to see the kids and young people being drawn into the process.

George talking to a local on Wala Island

The happy beneficiary of some of the reading glasses we distributed.

Tamtam split drums on a ceremony ground on Wala Island.

Outrigger canoes on Malekula Island

Smol Nambas men and boys

With a couple of ring-ins! 

Smol Nambas women and girls.

Luganville market

Markets are wonderful places for people-watching. George is busy haggling and choosing food, and I follow her around carrying bags and being a sort of 'beast of burden'.

If the mission is not too onerous, I take a camera and ask people if I can take their photo. Almost always, they agree.

The stalls are mostly run by women, mothers and grannies. Often they are also supervising a baby or toddler. Some of them are pretty cute.

The people in Santo are Melanesians, a bit different to the people in Fiji and Tonga, who are more Polynesian. 

Some of the styles and music suggest a black US or Caribbean influence. This is a taxi-driver.

Exploring Santo

We were pretty tired after the crossing from Fiji, so took things as gently as possible to start with. It was necessary to check in with biosecurity, immigration and customs. Tedious, but it got done reasonably quickly.

We left our RIB tied up at a wharf. Some bastard moved it to a spot over a spike of reo which punctured it. More repairs...

Then some provisioning at the Luganville market, before heading off around the coast anti-clockwise to a sheltered spot near a resort at Oyster Island.

The Rocket Guide to Vanuatu is very helpful, especially with tricky coral entrances.

Another useful text if you are coming this way is the Vanuatu Cruising eBook.

Sign in the customs office

Locals crossing Segond Passage

Girl in market

Nimrod at Oyster Island resort

Dave recuperating after the crossing from Fiji

Near Oyster Island is a beautiful river up to a Blue Hole. We took the RIB up.

Boy swinging into the Blue Hole from a big banyan tree. A similar tree features in the movie 'Tanna' which is a 'must see'. Trailer here.

Nearby is a tour to Mount Hope, a reserve owned by Cate Blanchett. It features a lovely guided river drift down rapids using life-jackets and neoprene boots. The drive to it was also interesting, and we passed some 'kastom' villages.

Ni-Van kastom village on road to Mount Hope.

Under the lip of the cascade.

Passage to Santo

From Fiji to Vanuatu is about 600 nautical miles.

The planning had to factor in the considerable extra cost in checking out at a weekend in Fiji, or checking in at a weekend in Vanuatu. The original plan was to leave on Thursday 27th October and arrive on Monday 31st. But the Grib files suggested that would feature a visit from the SPCZ (South Pacific Convergence Zone) with plenty of rain, squalls and risk of becalming.

So we decided to 'get a wriggle on' and check out as early as possible on Monday and make a dash to Santo and try to get in before customs closed on Friday.

We did it! 15-20 knots of wind nearly behind us. Using the kite on two days. Hooting along at 7 - 10 knots, we blasted through Selwyn Strait (playing Dire Straits loudly) with a welcoming pod of about twenty Spinner Dolphins leaping around the bow. We arrived in Segond Passage by Luganville at 2 am on Friday 28th. Tired and happy. The final approach was in the black of night hurtling along with negligible visibility, trusting to all the chart-plotters, apps and radar at hand. Exciting and scary. All went well.

So now we are settling in, with checkin procedures complete, provisioning underway, and plans developing for exploring the islands around Santo.

Sunset on the way to Santo

Fire-dance show

When we were in Savusavu, some other yachties strongly recommended that we leave Nimrod in Denarau rather than Vuda Marina, and also that we attend the fire-dance show at the Robinson Crusoe Resort on Likuri Island, just south of Nadi.

So after arriving at Denarau, and getting most of our jobs done, we rented a car to explore.

We loved a botanical garden called The Garden of the Sleeping Giant.

The fire-dance show involved being picked up from a jetty and taken by boat to Likuri Island. Yachties could anchor there themselves, but we had run out of time when we were in the area.

The show was indeed spectacular, and to be recommended. 

There were moments when it became a bit 'cruise-shippy', and we heard the chant 'Bula' more times than we needed, but the main effect was that the locals were making a good effort to monetise their culture in a world with limited need for the things that Fiji produces, while still keeping some level of authenticity. A very difficult balancing act!

Two worlds collide

There are various challenges involved in the cruising life.

Weather

Navigation, especially where the charts are dodgy

Sea-sickness

Stuff breaking and needing to be fixed

Provisioning and cooking

They all cause their moments, but by and large we get better at dealing with them.

The one I find most difficult, when cruising in the Third World, is poverty and inequality.

After Waya Island, we continued south down the Yasawa Chain to Musket Cove, which is a sophisticated port on the cruising circuit in the Mamanuca Islands, not far from the main Fiji Island of Viti Levu. Fiji is a country which has a GPD per capita of US$4,375. The equivalent figure for Australia is US$67,458. There is a lot of obvious poverty in the villages that we visited. Mere, the wife of our guide up the mountain on Waya Island, worked at a local resort for FJ$2.20 per hour. That is AU$1.40. She serves glasses of wine at $20 a glass.

But Fiji is also a favoured cruising ground for superyachts. Musket Cove is one of their stops.

'Encore'. 144 feet. Approx $50 million. The owners are Australian philanthropists.

I've got more balls than you!

Dragonfly, owned by a senior Google executive.

A Sunreef 60 catamaran

Likuliku Lagoon resort. Overwater bures for FJ$22,000 per week

'Atlantic' a three masted schooner 227 feet long. Available for charter.

Opulent, yes. But she sure does look pretty under sail. Here posing for a cameraman under the umbrella on the beach of a cay. 

A handsome Kiwi ketch in Musket Cove

Sheraton Denarau