Pentecost Land Diving - Pictures

I have early memories of reading about the nagol or land diving of Pentecost in National Geographic in the library so I was excited about bringing my own children to see it in person.

The first boy getting ready to jump

and going ...

and gone ...

still moving fast when they hit the ground

and hitting the bottom

and hitting the bottom

Dancing and singing as part of the nagol

Another boy jumps

You can see the vines they use in this photo.

For such a famous event, you would kind of expect/dread a more touristy infrastructure.  The white sign marking the location of the nagol is a sheet with the "Land diving" written on it.

The nagol tower.  Liz got this photo the day before when the light was better for photos

The French village just north of where we saw the nagol.  They do the nagol as well but it appears that there is significant tension between villages on who can stage the nagol for yachties and tourists

Liz and her usual entourage

Kids communicating by drawing in the sand

Liz talking to Luke who, as we understand it, was the driving force years ago to bring foreigners in to see the nagol.  Benjamin appears less interested.

Volcano Hike on Ambrym

Liz wrote about the volcano hike here and Johnathan wrote about it here. And now, finally, some more pictures.

It was a good work out after eight months in atolls - about eight hours of hiking and not a lot of flat ground

The ash plain was a nice break when we got to it.

The vibrant flowers were a pleasant surprise on the ash plain.

The vibrant flowers were a pleasant surprise on the ash plain.

No more ash plain.  Heading up the ridge with my little helper.

Taking a break - almost there

Don't follow Johnathan's hat - looking 400 m down to the lava.

400 m down to the lava

Lava !

The view from the top

The view from the top

Lunch break - hold onto your children !

Post hike feast on Honey. Medicinal wine for the parents ...

Watching the volcano from the anchorage in Epi.  At night you could see it glow.

Maewo and Honey - In Pictures

Liz wrote about our adventures in Maewo in her earlier post. Besides being a beautiful and less visited part of Vanuatu, the main objective of our trip there was the long awaited rendezvous with Honey.  The kid had been asking us almost hourly when we were going to catch up with them.

We finally meet up with the Honey crew again

and in no time at all the kids are in the water together.

Honey and Fluenta at anchor

Village tour at Ansavari Bay.  The chief is explaining some of the challenge with new regulations on non ni-Vans purchasing or leasing land

The falls at Ansavari Bay

A great place for a swim of course.

Into the Cave of the Moon

Cave of the Moon

Swimming with Benjamin on my back.

After dropping off some locals at the northern tip of the island, we tried to anchor there.  Here Honey is temporarily anchored in an uncomfortable spot.  We tried 1/2 nm further north and it was even worse.  We ended up giving up and went half way down the island to a safer location.

A petroglyph of the early European visitors

Petroglyphs.

The local chief explain the story to the petroglyphs

A cave important to their kustom beliefs.  They place stones on top of each other and over time they form stalagmite like formations.  The guides - including the chief - debated whether they would take us here.

With the Honey crew and our guides.

Honey invited our guides back to the boat for coffee.  A great idea and we got to learn more about Maewo.

An interesting mix of traditional and modern.  Notice the Digicel mobile phone top up station.