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Cruising The Land That Time Forgot…
PART 2 - ERROMANGO & EFATE
In the September issue of AHOY Sailing, we shared the highlights of our time at Tanna Vanuatu in Part One Of ‘The Land That Time Forgot’. In this article (Part Two), we continue the adventure departing Tanna and head north to Erromango and Efate.
“They say when you leave somewhere, you shouldn`t look back, but I confess to looking back as we departed Port Resolution (Tanna Island) with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. The time we spent there was very special indeed...” John Hembrow
Erromango is located to the north of Tanna, and at just over 5O nm away, the passage is easily made in daylight hours.
However, it is still an ocean, so the weather and the sea state dictate both boat speed and the comfort level of the crew.
We had perfect downwind conditions with a 1-1.5m following sea and around 15 knots of breeze from the aft quarter.
However, not all had a good start. s.v. Desire discovered they had two broken engine mounts when they went to depart the anchorage at Tanna. See the article on page 9, ‘A Desirable Outcome.’ Incredibly, the engine mount was removed, welded, and refitted, and the engine was realigned in just four hours thanks to the resourcefulness and skills of David from Breeze II, Rod from Pnuema, Tim from Boreal, who had a welder on board. Boreal was not an NC2V Rally participant, but we had befriended them during our time in Tanna and welcomed them to join our events, for which they were grateful and, as such, delayed their departure to assist Desire. We are incredibly grateful to Tim and the crew of Boreal for their help.
Dillon’s Bay Erromango
By mid-afternoon, the majority of the fleet had arrived at Erromago and were resting comfortably at anchor in Dillon’s Bay.
Steve & and Deb hosted sundowners aboard s.v. Bijoux, along with many of the fleet who were joined by David from Dillon’s Bay Yacht Club, who paddled out in his canoe.
I caught up with David afterwards aboard Cavillino III. It had been a few years since we had last seen David, and after catching up, we went over our plans for the next couple of days.
We awoke to another sunny day and headed ashore, where we were met by many willing helpers who proceeded to carry our tenders over the rocky foreshore before we gathered and were led to the village where we would be officially welcomed by the chief & the community.
