Blue Book of Boats

This is our last island before Australia. I got up early to watch us come in. The weather was cloudy and cool (23C) but humid. From a distance the island was not as impressive as the Polynesian islands, but as we approached it looked better and better.

Port Vila harbor is large, deep and well sheltered with several commercial docks. We tied up at a cruise ship dock which was under construction, no buildings or facilities, located about 5 km from the center of town. No brass band here! There were lots of taxis and buses waiting, and just outside the port there were many vendors with tables set up.

Vanuatu was formerly the French/English joint protectorate known as the New Hebrides (shouldn’t it have been run by Scots?). It has been independent since 1980. There are three official languages, English, French and pidgin. I never really thought of pidgin as a language, rather I thought it was a “dumbed down” version of English.

Hearing it spoken, I realized it is a real language, and I understand about as many words as I would if it was Korean!

I left the Port and turned right (town is to the left) and walked along a dusty road until I came to the water then followed the beach past some attractive waterfront homes, some with swimming pools, interspersed with tin shacks. There was a boat repair yard with about a dozen yachts inside, one or tow nice ones, the rest pretty rough. Although it was a weekday, and the gates were open, I couldn’t see any work going on. I met and spoke to a few locals on the beach, but they didn’t have much English, just Pidgin. One older man with a little boy (the boys hair was almost blonde, bleached by the sun I suppose) spoke to me in a friendly manner. I asked if the boy was his grandson. He didn’t understand so I said “Him son belong you?”. Amazingly he understood that and shook his head, said “Blong brother belong me” which I took to mean he was the boys Uncle.

The people here are Melanesia, and look negro, but with different features form Africans. The have lined faces and even young people look older than they really are. Most are not good looking by our standards, but are gentle and polite. You would never guess that this was the land of headhunters and cannibals, the Big Nambas and Little Nambas and the cargo cult that worships John Frum. Look it up! There are lots of other islands and this is the capital, so maybe the original culture is still out there somewhere.

I walked further and came to a lovely sheltered beach with clear blue water and white sand, not a soul on it. This sign was on the beach. Can anyone translate it?

The next day, I was able to get a translation for this sign. Here it is:
PUBLIC NOTICE
U BLON KAREM
COREL MO SANBIS
LONG PLES IA
SIGN: OWNER

Translates as:

YOU DON’T CARRY CORAL OR BEACH SAND AWAY FROM HERE

From Raratonga of the Cook Islands, we proceed next to Pago Pago of the American Samoa. An earthquake generated tsunami had just devastated Pago Pago on September 29, 2009, and at the time, Table 29 is already aboard MV Amsterdam, and the ship captain’s was unsure then whether to proceed to Pago Pago or not. But today, we are at Pago Pago and witness the devastation two weeks after the clean up.

We arrived in Pago Pago this morning. Approaching the island it looks like may other volcanic islands with steep hills and verdant vegetation. As you get closer you see commercial docks, tank farms and tuna canneries. Not as pretty as many other places, but at least we tied to a dock.

If you stepped of the ship and turned left, you would never know there was a Tsunami here just a couple of weeks ago. Beachside restaurants and hotels are undamaged and in full operation. Turn right and walk to the head of the harbor and it is a very different story. This house was originally located on the right side of the road, on pilings out over the water. The pilings are still there but the house has moved hundreds of feet!

At the yacht harbor, a heavy ferro-cement yacht was deposited on top of the dock as you see it. Two boats ended up in the yard of a Mormon church, hundreds of yards from the water.

I spoke to friends of the yachtsman who died here, Dan Olenski(sp?). Follow the link to a blog about the disaster.  They had a funeral on the dock for him a few days ago. His wife is selling the boat to some New Zealanders and giving up cruising. Understandable. I met an older Polish guy who lost his boat. He’d went up the mountain and stayed 3 days, afraid of another tsunami. Now he is living in a tent on the dock, and he told me that today is the first day he has thought about getting another boat, so I guess the shock is wearing off.

About 11 people were killed in Pago Pago, another 100 in surrounding areas. The schools new the drill and the teachers had the kids run inland at the first quake so no students were hurt. Look closely below and you will see a car literally embedded in a house. Next door there was a fishing boat in the living room. A big one!

Despite all this most businesses and tours operated as usual. I had a beer at the yacht club, lunch (fish tacos, very good) at the Goat Island Cafe, and more beer at a local seedy bar where I was beckoned by other ships passngers, all a little drunk. 3 beers today, a record for me on this trip.

Despite the destruction the people are very friendly and cheerful. I met some Homeland Security men who were trying to find out how the government could react better next time. The locals seemed to think they did OK. At the local seedy bar a large black gentleman name Dontae explained local customs to us. He is married to the daughter of the local Senator, the highest ranked politician on the island. He is from Miami Florida! Beer (24 oz. bottles) was $3!