VUREAS BAY FESTIVAL

The festival here this year turned out to be a bust because the organizer, a chief from up the coast a bit who had asked for the job months before, for some reason never did anything.  Our friends in Vureas Bay only found this out when they asked him a couple of weeks ago.  They felt obligated to put something together, and even though it was rather short notice, they organized a one-day affair.  As it was, only one other boat showed up.  If we had been the only boat there, we would have told them not to bother, but ….  The result was a little low key, but quite nice anyway.

We of course would have enjoyed a full festival, but it was enough to spend the time with our friends in the village there.  After a few days, though, it was time to head south again.  The season was progressing and we had a long way to go upwind to Port Vila, before we could even think about departing for New Caledonia.  

Our first stop was back at Lakona Bay, a convenient stop for the night.  We probably wouldn’t have gone ashore, since we were leaving early the next morning and we had already said our goodbyes.  We were anchored in full view of the village, though, and we didn’t want to be rude, so we did go ashore, not intending to stay long.  They don’t fully understand our desire to be back on board before dark, and it’s sometimes impossible to get away, especially when they insist that we stay to drink some kava with them — this being a somewhat significant ritual.  We’ve been through this before, and it’s always been meaningful, but we were somewhat taken aback by the level of ceremony this time.  This was more of a formal acceptance of us into their community, well more than as just casual visitors as we’ve experienced in other places.  The kava was prepared strictly according to tradition, pounding in a stone mortar, soaking and squeezing, with multiple repetitions, a time-consuming process.  When it was ready, Chief Starr and his wife Susan each filled a shell, asked us to stand before them, and gave a brief speech.  We replied as best we could in Bislama, whereupon they handed us the shells simultaneously, which we then downed together in one motion as per custom.

We were touched.  I don’t know if we will ever return to either Lakona Bay or Vureas Bay, but we hope to, and we know that if we do, it will be to rejoin a community which we feel somewhat a part of, and which we are sure they feel much the same.

We are in the final preparations for departure from New Caledonia to New Zealand, planning to leave early tomorrow morning, so I’ll leave you here for the time being.  I’ll be back after we get this passage behind us, and fill in more gaps.  It looks like this passage might be a little more “interesting” than we would like, but the potential for cyclones is increasing, so we need to take this opportunity.  It should be safe enough, but maybe not very comfortable.