Tanna- Vanuatu

Clearing into Tanna Island was recommended by yachties and is a must do. We arrived before dawn having tried to slow down during the night – stronger winds than we expected – and had to hover around waiting for light to break before tackling the entrance. Imagine our surprise to find 3 other yachts converging on Port Resolution at the same time!

Once settled we all introduced ourselves and had a ball for a week – sharing sundowners around the boats each night,

Tanna is completely different to our New Caledonia experience. We were literally guests of the 3 villages around the bay.

Tanna Highlights:
The “yacht club” on the point operated by the main village – Chief Ronnie is the proud commodore. The village prepared a feast and we paid a donation to assist one of the girls to go to secondary school.
The day long trip in the back of 3 pickup trucks, over the mountains, past the Mt Yasur volcano, to the small town of Lenakel to clear customs and immigration – in 3 different offices spread all over the town.
Mt Yasur volcano – active, smoking, belching out molten rock – standing on the edge of the crater as night fell and the eruptions became silhouetted against the black night sky.
David falling over the back of the dinghy into the bay one night after successfully untangling the prop from a fishing net – the laughter from our dinghy was so great that Robyn was powerless to assist him back in.
The third birthday party of the chief’s granddaughter in village number 3. Fabulous feast food and company, followed by a game of Aussie rules footie with the local boys.
A visit to village 2 – complete with a whole village welcome and demonstrations of fire walking, pandanus weaving, bow and arrow shooting and magic carrying leaves.

And to top it off, we caught a metre long Spanish mackeral (our first serious fish) on the overnight sail from Tanna to Port Vila, with the help of local Tanna lad Stephen (our guest on board) who wanted to get to Vila to visit his mum.