Free diving the coral cavern
Well, three days really, if you do not count the day we arrived. After four days and three nights of passage we finally arrived in Aneityum (pronounced Anatom) Thursday afternoon, along with our buddy boats Sarah Jean and Merkava. We were very happy to arrive and anchor safely in a calm bay - not that our passage was particularly rough or long - but it was the first since New Zealand to Fiji and, to put it bluntly, I do not like passages. Unfortunately the customs official was too busy to visit us that day, so we were confined to the boat for yet another night. I was going a bit stir crazy after having been stuck on the boat for five days, but it was nice to be able to watch a movie and cook food without being thrown around.
The next morning customs and immigration officials came out to the boat to clear us in. After the formalities we served them cold Coca Cola and asked them what we must see and do in Vanuatu. They said that the land diving on Pentecost islands is very impressive and we should go see that. Land diving is the original bungee jumping. In this sacred ceremony the men of Pentecost tie vines to their ankles and jump off bamboo platforms, hoping that their vines are just long enough so that their heads brush the soil, ensuring a fruitful yam season. This sounded like quite a spectacle, so we asked when they perform this ceremony, assuming that it is in a special time of the planting or harvest season. "Ah, whenever the cruise ships come in." Of course. Silly us. In spite of being incredibly remote and rugged islands, capitalism has reached and is prospering in the far flung corners of the Pacific.
Anchorage at Aneityum
This is not all bad. Last night the local villagers offered to do a traditional feast and kastom dancing for a group of yachties (there are 8 boats here). For 1,000 vatu each (about $12), we were invited to the local nakamal at Reggae beach. We watched the women cook the food over open fires and watched the men prepare the kava. Fortunately they have kicked the tradition of having the young boys chew the kava and spit it in a bowl, which is apparently the most effective way to prepare it, but also totally disgusting. Now they grind it up. we were warned that this is not Fiji kava, this is Vanuatu kava, and it is the strongest kava in the world. Of course we were all keen to try it.
First, the local children dressed up in traditional ni-Vanuatu (of Aneityum) costumes - grass skirts for the girls and leaf loin cloths for the boys. For everyday life the women typically wear long skirts and t-shirts or modest dresses and the men wear board shorts. While the ni-Vanuatu are concerned about maintaining their culture and history, wearing a grass skirt everyday is just not logical.
After the fashion show, a few of the young men showed us how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Literally. They made it look way easier than it probably is, but I'd like to think I could do it now in a pinch. A note on the ni-Vanuatu: most of them have the dark skin and dark kinky hair of typical Melanesians, but some have bright blond afros that have got to be some of the coolest hair I have ever seen. Maybe they have a little European in them. After all, the French and English have been fighting over these islands for a few hundred years.
Back to the feast. After the fire demonstration we saw watched two traditional song and dances, before the obligatory "get the white people up and make them feel like fools" last dance. Fortunately the Vanuatu dancing is not quite as complex as that of Polynesia, mostly consisting of foot stamping and tree branch swaying. Their singing, however, rivals anywhere else.
Finally, we got to the kava. Natu, the school teacher who was in charge of the feast told us, "Drink your kava before you eat because then you will feel the effects more. Then you can eat a little bit and then drink some more." In the kava bar, called a nakamal, you order your kava as low tide, high tide, or tsunami, and it comes in a half shell of a coconut. The locals got a kick out of watching us wince and shudder as we drank our shells. Really, kava is not that bad, a bit bitter and a bit like muddy water, but the instant numbing effect it has on the mouth is pleasant.
After a few bowls (one high tide and a few low tides for me) I was feeling very warm and fuzzy toward Vanuatu. The effects of kava are mellow and peaceful, and give one a sense of happiness and well-being. It also made me feel a bit queasy, but this could be because I was drinking on an empty stomach, which although recommended, didn't seem necessary to me. I decided to taste some of the local fare, most of which is starchy roots like manioc, taro, cassava, and pumpkin, all cooked to incorporate coconut cream. But the best dish of the night (which I feel very guilty about) was the curried sea turtle. Most of the ni-Vanuatu food is bland, but the turtle was spicy and salty and tasted like roasted turkey, but chewier. Trust me, I was dismayed with how much I liked it. That aside, I spent the rest of the evening chatting with the locals, learning about their culture, where the good dive spots are, learning some Bislama - a pidgin English/ni-Vanuatu language - and just being stoked to be in Vanuatu.
That stoke did not wear off this morning, although the grogginess of a kava hangover did. Mark had arranged for Keith, a local who is trying to promote diving tourism, to take us out and show us a few dive spots. Mark and I did two dives the previous days which were pretty awesome - filled with soft coral, turtles, rays, reef fish and the occasional shark - but we were not sure if we were missing something. Keith took us to an awesome cave in the reef that becomes a swim through, and after working up my courage for ten minutes I finally dove deep, followed the bright blue light, and popped out on the other side of the reef. So freaking sweet. He also took us on a dive to find eagle rays and bronze whaler sharks, but they were not around today. Maybe tomorrow.
Tonight Mark and I are going back into the nakamal to drink more kava, practice Bislama, and let Mom and Dad celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary together. You would think they would be sick of each other by now, but miraculously they are not. In the meantime, tanku tumas! mi likem yu! (Thank you very much, bye!)
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At 9/22/2012 2:32 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 20°08.36'S 169°48.29'E
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