Vanuatu October 2006

Our season with Project MARC finished last week, it

was a learning experience with variety. We are now

back in Port Vila getting Alvei ready for the passage

to Brisbane. Here is an account of our wanderings from

July to October.

In July we went to Sakau in the Maskelyne Islands. We

delivered a 16-foot Hobie Cat and then stayed while

Kat taught the boys at the sailing school how to sail.

Sean converted our galley into a clinic and everyone

lent a hand stocking and organizing the clinic on

shore.

We took all 10 Ni-Van students on a 3-day sail to

Ambrym. We gave them lessons in knot tying and line

handling. They all took turns steering. The students

were all quiet, attentive and had amazing appetites.

At one breakfast they ate 7 full sized loaves of

bread.

The first of August we were due back in Vila for our

official start of the season. Chief Willy provided us

with 5 members of his family to transport to Vila. The

southeast trade winds were blowing a fresh 25 knots.

All the NiVans and half the crew was sick. It took us

3 days motor sailing to get back.

In Vila we loaded half a saloon full of medical

supplies, school kits and hygiene kits. On the MARC

team we had 4 British med students, two dentists,

Alexia and Tasha; and two doctors, Lucy and Natalie.

They are all smart, lively and very attractive. Along

with them we have an older couple, Gene and Myrna as

technicians and Eric a male physician’s assistant.

Also joining the crew was a tall blonde Swede named

Johanna and a Canadian physiotherapist named Elisa.

Back in the Maskelynes the med teams were busy

treating a variety of patients and extracting teeth.

We sailed north to Banam Bay to deliver supplies to

the clinic there. The teams did workshops in hygiene

and birth control. We gave out boat loads of school

kits and hygiene kits.

I took a boatload of 7 used mountain bikes ashore. It

felt like being Father Christmas. Wish I could

describe the smiles and wide-eyed amazement on the

faces of those kids as the tinny landed on the sand.

The beach became a spontaneous parade with each

bicycle surrounded by a half dozen kids, all of them

laughing and shouting, as the bigger boys rode off

down the beach.

After being embayed with fresh trade winds for a few

days the weather calmed down long enough for us to get

back to Sakau and then carry on along the south coast

of Malekula to Matanoui Bay. The little village of

Malfakal, on this forgotten corner of the island, was

in need of supplies and treatment. Here and from here

on there were no docks or protected anchorages.