From Pentecost Island we moved on to nearby Maewo, where the signature feature of our anchorage was a beautiful 30′ waterfall plummeting to the sea. For yachts with fewer amenities than AVATAR (items like a washer and dryer and plenty of fresh water) this provides a great opportunity to catch up on the laundry.

From Maewo we have crossed over to the misty island of Ambae, catching a mahi mahi en route which went on the evening’s dinner menu. Our protected anchorage is actually the caldera of an ancient sunken volcano with one wall collapsed enough to let in the sea. Ambae provided James Michener with inspiration for the mysterious fictional island of Bali Ha’i in his book Tales of the South Pacific. During World War II the US fleet, Michener included, set up a significant presence on the islands of Efate and Espiritu Santo (more commonly referred to as Santo). More than 500,000 Allied soldiers passed through Vanuatu over the course of the war. On this trip we have met islanders who still remark on the fact that US forces protected the ni Vanuatu (Vanuatu people) from invasion by the Japanese.

It is a gray drizzly day here, perhaps not that uncommon. A native of Maewo told us that he has never, in his entire lifetime, seen the summit of Ambae free of cloud cover. Ambae has its own semi-active volcano, Mt Lombenben, again only accessible via heroic hiking conditions – this time through lush cloud forest to access the volcano and its three crater lakes, one blue, the other hot and lime-green, the third dry but with a cold water spring. Again, lacking a helicopter, we elected to pass. This is a ‘must see’ attraction that will have to be postponed for our next lifetime. We did hike to two smaller more accessible lakes, swampy and muddy but both volcanic craters in their previous incarnation.

I went paddling in the harbor in a light mist just for the exercise and scared up a couple hundred mackerel, averaging a foot or so in length, the entire school leaping clear of the water in a panic, straight towards my kayak, shoulder high, parting around me like a stampede of buffalo. I’m really surprised I didn’t catch one or two in the boat. It was quite startling!

After dinner, in the black of night before moonrise, we had an awesome display of phosphorescence – the best I’ve seen since 2005 in Fiji, our very first year of South Pacific cruising. Overhead the sky was gray and overcast, but the black lagoon waters twinkled with luminescent plankton mimicking an entire universe of stars. Sitting on the aft swim step and kicking my feet in the water stirred up a regular fireworks of light. Occasionally a deeper and larger glimmer would signify a passing fish. Further out we could see my school of mackerel, a submarine glow of light the size of a swimming pool, shifting and gliding through the water.

Tomorrow morning we’re off to Santo, a 50 mile passage to the big city with resorts, restaurants, Internet, and the world’s largest accessible wreck dive!