August 12, 2011
Latitude: S 15 32.231
Longitude: E 167 10.830
This morning, August 12, 2011 at 10:15 we tied up to a mooring at Aore Resort across the straight from Luganville on Espiritu Santos, the big island of Vanuatu. We had traveled just a little under and hour and a half from our anchorage on Ratua Island. With a strong east setting current we flew down the channel towards Luganville at 10.5 knots!
Here’s our Vanuatu week in Review.
Monday, August 8, 2011 – Malua Bay, Blue Hole and Workshops
On Monday morning, we went into the Malua Adventist School about 10:00 a.m. in the morning. It was a sunny, beautiful day. Gerry the headmaster was waiting to take us for a hike up to the blue hole. It was a short walk of only 15-20 minutes through the jungle passed his personal garden. He said that family members of the students helped to take care of his relatively large plot so that he could conduct his work at the school. By the time we reached the blue hole, we were ready for a dip.
The hole was a beautiful deep blue green with a small waterfall cascading into the pool. Unfortunately, we had left the camera on the boat so we didn’t get any pictures. Russ and I enjoyed a cool swim. The water was a bit chilly but incredibly refreshing. Close to the waterfall, it felt as if we were swimming in champagne bubbles. It was quite lovely. On our way back from the swim we passed a garden where there were three teenage girls from the school clearing the jungle for a new garden. They had huge bush knives and were whacking away at the vines and trees. The headmaster said these girls had broken some rules (skipped classes) and were doing some hard labor as a punishment.
We returned to the school house about 11:30. School was out at 11:45 and the workshops were supposed to start at 1:15. Men were already milling around the school yard with generators, chain saws, and weed eaters waiting for the workshop.
They were eager to start. Word had spread about our workshops. Turned out that in addition to the teachers at the Malua school, five other schools were sending teachers for the professional development workshop I was to conduct.
We had a hard time getting away and back to the boat for a little break and to pick up our gear. We had promised one of the teachers Mr. Isacc and his son Joses a trip out to the boat, along with a couple of other young ladies who had enquired. One of the girls was an eighth grader (class 9). Viana said she had to get her other friends. Turned out they were the ones up in the jungle doing some hard labor punishment.
We told Viana she was welcome to come, but we didn’t think it was appropriate that her friends who were being punished should have the opportunity. So the five us, Russ and I and our three visitors went out to the boat. We had just enough time for a quick tour, pick up our gear, and pack a lunch to go before heading back to shore. As soon as we got to shore, we were escorted to our rooms.
We each had about 15 participants in our workshops that lasted until 4:15. Russ gave both a lecture about electricity and then guided the men with the broken equipment through a troubleshooting and fix it process. All of the participants, with the exception one of the men with a chainsaw, got their equipment in working order, and were delighted.
I arranged my room in a big circle so that participants could see and talk with one another. This in itself was a learning for them, as they never have the desks arranged except in a face the blackboard arrangement. These teachers face the same classroom discipline problems as in the states (bullying, fighting, disrespect of property, blurting, being noisy, walking, talking, etc.) and have only a few rudimentary techniques at classroom management and student motivation.
Most of what I taught them was pretty standard in America but very non-traditional here in rural Vanuatu. They seemed to be very receptive, but without on site guidance I would be surprised if more than 10 percent of what we talked about is implemented. I showed them how to arrange their seating for classroom management, teacher proximity, group work, planned walking, talking.
We talked about the need for young people to talk, walk, move around, learn by doing. For those of you who are teachers, Vanuatu students rarely get beyond the second level of Blooms Taxonomy. Knowledge and comprehension are about it. We talked about the importance of the teacher to walk around the room and not sit at his/her desk. We talked about corporal punishment and discontinuing its use.
Vanuatu has quite a bit of domestic violence in this male dominant, kava drinking culture and corporal punishment seems to confirm that violence is an acceptable means of discipline and making people do what the bully wants them to do. The bully could be the father or the mother, or the older sibling, anyone bigger holding the switch.
I showed them how to play some active learning games, pattern clapping to gain student attention, caught you being good incentives, etc. By the end of the day, Russ and I were exhausted and exhilarated.
We were invited to the principal’s house that evening for a thank you dinner. Actually, the principal’s wife Irene prepared the meal but it was served on the minister’s front veranda spread out on woven mats on the floor. Irene had hoped to come to the workshop herself, but cooking a feast over an open fire took the better part of her day.
On behalf of the school and community we were presented with beautiful lays made from frangipani, and a very old, handmade traditional tom-tom. One of the teachers told us that he believed we were sent to them as a blessing from God. We were warmed by their acceptance of what we had to share with them, and never let on that we were just every day Americans who happened to be atheists.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 – Happy Anniversary Snorkel
Originally, we planned to leave on Tuesday, but decided to spend our anniversary just relaxing and doing some snorkeling. Russ’s skin infection on his shin was finally under control and the water clarity was incredible. We had a great afternoon snorkeling and just hanging out.
We did have one visitor. One of the young men from the Joe family, and his little son paddled out to the boat in their dugout canoe. He had a converter that wasn’t working and asked Russ if he could see if it was putting out a charge. It wasn’t, and he couldn’t fix it. In so many ways, these folks are caught between the old world of their agrarian ancestors and the new world of technology that they do not really understand. Before he left in his dugout, he took a picture of our boat with his cell phone. What a kick!
Wednesday, August 11, 2011 – Goodbye Malua Bay, Hello Ratua Island
We were on our way out of Malua Bay by 7:30 in the morning. As we left, there were several school children on the beach. Russ blew our horn a couple of times, and the villagers rang their bell. This will be remembered as one of our favorite places.
The sky was a bit overcast as we left and the sea was like an undulating grey satin ribbon without a single wind ripple. We motored the entire way to Ratua Island which is on the south eastern side of Aore Island. As we came into the straight, we spied a couple of large turtles. The tide line was filled with bobbing coconuts, but every once in a while one of the coconuts turned out to be a turtle head popping up for some air.
The bay we anchored in is pretty small and there is probably only enough room for one or possibly two boats to anchor safely in deep water without bumping into a coral head. Fortunately we were the only boat in the bay. We dropped our anchor in about 40 feet of water, around noon, ate lunch and spent the afternoon snorkeling on the reef. The soft coral and tropical fish were beautiful. There was just enough dappled sunshine coming through the high overcast to see the rainbow of colors. We looked for the turtles, but didn’t see any. Maybe tomorrow.
Thursday, August 12, 2011 – Diving with Rays and Turtles
We had a leisurely morning. I made some papaya/blueberry coconut milk pancakes for breaksfast. Yum! Afterwards we took another snorkel and look around, but still no turtles. By this time, another boat Riga II from Switzerland with Richard and Gabby aboard had come into the anchorage. We stopped by to see them. They looked pretty close to some of the coral heads. Turns out they have a swing keel and could raise it out of harms way. We invited them over for some sundowners around 5:00 p.m.
After snorkeling in the morning and still not seeing any turtles, we decided to dive down off the reef where they reportedly hangout. We got out the dive gear and dinghied over to a buoy marking a huge coral head. During our dive, not only did we spot a huge turtle, four-five across, but we also saw a large ray and a cuddle fish. Mission accomplished! Sure wish we had an underwater camera. Without our friends Brian and Claudia taking photos, we can only tell you about these fish stories!
We enjoyed our evening with our anchor buddies from Switzerland. They too are traveling around the world. They left from France four years ago across the Atlantic to South America and 50 miles up the Amazon, through the Panama Canal, South Pacific, New Zealand, and are heading to Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand, then probably around the cape of South Africa over to Brazil and complete their journey in the Caribbean. It is amazing how many people are out here doing what we are doing. We look forward to seeing them again as at this point they too are planning on the Sail Indonesia rally next July.
Friday, August 13, 2011 – Moored at Aore Resort
We left this morning from Ratua Island and came around the corner to the west side of Aore Island across from Luganville on the south end of Espiritu Santos. This resort has moorings in 98 feet of water, so we don’t need to worry about our anchor. Or so we thought!
We went ashore to register and enjoy some pool time. We were keeping an eye on Worrall Wind as she seemed to be dancing all around on the mooring and stretched a long way from the mooring ball, coming dangerously close to another boat. Was she untied? We made a dash for our dinghy, hopped in, started the engine and gunned it for the boat. The two boats were only 5-10 feet apart, stern to stern. Yipes! Normally, boats swing on a mooring like synchronized swimmers, bow to stern, but the current in the strait is swirly and the long ends of the boats were nearly touching. Too close for comfort. Worrall Wind was tied securely, but the mooring was line was stretched way out from the original position.
We quickly turned on the motor, disconnected from our mooring buoy and found another one further down the beach where we have no close neighbors. Fortunately, we had a choice as there are only four mooring balls in front of the resort.
The resort here is quite lovely, with a scheduled taxi service back and forth to the mainland. On the mainland at Luganville, there is only an anchorage that can get pretty rough with easterly winds. The moorings in front the Aore are better protected and guests can take advantage of the resort amenities. The only draw backs from our perspective is that there is no wireless Internet and our dancing partners might get a bit close.
We heard from Brian and Claudia on Skylight on our 6510 0700 UTC Friends Net. They are leaving Port Vila for New Caledonia tomorrow morning. They had some news to share with us. Brian proposed to Claudia while they were on a deep dive. He used sign language. Of course, she said Yes! Woohoo!
Tomorrow, we’ll take the water taxi across the strait to Luganville where there is a coffee shop with free WiFi. Yes!
All is Well with the 2 Sail R’s on Worrall Wind
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