Episode 23 Sailing from New Caledonia to the island of Tanna, Vanuatu

We left Havannah Pass, New Caledonia in the late afternoon to time the tide to give us a few extra knots. Wind was against us for a while then eventually came around onto our beam for a good sail. It blew from the north west to the east over the duration of the passage, enabling us to sail all but the final 3 hours to Tanna.

We arrived in Port Resolution, Tanna on Saturday and had to wait until the Monday for Customs Clearance. The Customs arrived on the Monday and cleared us and another boat in, gave us an Inter Island Permit which we had to take to Port Vila.The only thing they didn’t do was Quarantine which we did in Port Vila two weeks later ( a bit bizarre!)

We met the Chief, Werry his wife Monique and brother Stanley who were very friendly and helpful.
Our visit up to the volcano was delayed for a few days because of the overcast weather conditions. We also had a few days that we had to sweep the decks of the boat to get rid of the black volcanic ash.

The trip up to the volcano is quite expensive (10,000vatu = $130AUS) each but when you consider its the most accessible volcano in the world and compare it to some other attractions around the world its good value. I don’t know anywhere else where you would be able to walk around the rim of a live volcano and observe the forces of nature. There are a few rickety handrails in some spots, not many. It was a very windy day and some of the rumbles knocked you back on your feet. We made our ascent at 4pm observing the volcano during the day and experiencing the transition into night with the erupting lava lighting up the night sky. We eventually left at 7pm very happy to have had such a wonderful experience.