One of our goals here in Vanuatu was to climb the volcano on the island of Ambrym. This is about a four-hour hike up about four thousand feet, partly through jungle and partly over an ash plain. You reach the crater rim on the north side, and, hopefully, the prevailing southeast wind blows the smoke away, letting you look down into Dante’s inferno. Day-to-day weather is also a factor, of course. If the mountain is socked in, no views at all.
We arrived at Ambrym last Friday, and found the guide in the village the next day. Sunday’s weather didn’t look good, but we tentatively arranged a two-day trip for Monday and Tuesday. The plan was to stay at a hut below the rim Monday night, get a view of the crater at night — this is supposedly the best time — and hike back down on Tuesday. Monday’s weather turned out rainy too, so we rescheduled for a one-day trip on Tuesday. This would have been a long day, but we were running short of days before we needed to be back in Port Vila. Alas, Tuesday also saw the mountain socked in, so we sailed on south to Epi, the next island enroute back to Port Vila.
So, we’re batting five hundred right now. Our first goal was the festival on Vanua Lava, which we raced north to attend, and which was just great. We struck out on our second goal. Our third goal is to visit the volcano on the island of Tanna.
Tanna’s volcano is billed as the most accesible volcano in the world. You can drive to within a short walk of the crater. Tourists fly in just to do that. We, on the other hand, would have to sail upwind some hundred and thirty miles from Port Vila — that’s a fifteen-to-twenty-knot beat in eight-to-ten-foot seas, not fun for more than an afternoon, if that. Either that or wait in Vila for a lucky break in the Trades. Don’t know yet how that’ll turn out, but we’re determined to get there.
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