Gaspard Bay, Vanuatu

Hello All,
We decided to stay another night here in the bay. The Chief of the area came out to the boat in a dug out canoe an hour after we arrived and told us there was an anchoring fee and if we were swimming there was a fee for that also. He said after paying we could do what ever we wanted in the area as long as we liked and he would show us around one of the Islands as a tour guide. I agreed to this extortion and sent him on his way.
So yesterday we took the dingy over to the Sakao Island just south of us and went and found the chief. He met us on the muddy flats in front of the island. It was low water so we had to anchor the dingy out a ways until the tide came back in. This is the areas Plantation Island, so most of the surrounding villages grow there crops here.
The Chief introduced us to a few folks and we took a walking tour around the Island and he told us about traditions, customs and showed us how they used to dress using us as manikins, I'll tell you more about this at a later date (hehe). We returned to the beach where the dingy was and they fed us lunch and had a nice visit with the plantation keepers. We said our goodbye's and went out to the pass that we entered through and Rafal went snorkeling on the reef, Paula and I just headed back to the boat, it was over cast and I didn't feel like swimming and nether did Paula so Rafal swam back to the boat. On his way back one of the dug out canoes fishing on the reef invited him to jump in the boat so he hitched a ride with him. He really got a kick out of that.
This morning we will head for Craig Cove on Ambrym Island 16 miles north of here. It looks like another good sailing day so we should make the crossing in good time.
I must finish my coffee and get the boat ready to get under way so I will talk to you soon.

PEACE