Pwetevut Bay, Gaua

Pwetevut Bay

We sailed into Pwetevut Bay on the 1st September under the cover of night, tired after the long, rough sail from Sakao Island. We were expecting to simply rest until daybreak, and then sail on north to Losolava Bay, where our next planned community visit was to be found. The villages around Pwetevut Bay had been evacuated to the northern side of the island in 2009 due to dangerous volcanic activity on Gaua. OceansWatch had not visited these villages before. We were still expecting the communities to be abandoned.

Pwetuvut fisherfolk

However, we soon discovered that the villagers had returned, when we woke up to the exceedingly friendly Henry and his young son paddling over to say hello and welcome us to the area. Pwetevut Bay is dramatic and wild. Jungle covered hills rise up steeply from the shore, and taper up to the mountainous volcano towards the centre of the island. Striking black sand beaches formed from worn down volcanic obsidian alternate with fine, creamy white sand bays. The villages are spread over several areas around the coast, and seem to perch on the edge of high cliffs amongst the foliage. In the two villages to be visited, there is a population of around 196. The community grow vegetables, raise chickens and fish for subsistence. They also occasionally trade with visiting yachts for items such as rice, flour and sugar.
By chance, two other yachts had anchored with us at the same time, and as this rarely happens in such a remote location, the locals had organised a water music show for us. This was sensational! A truly memorable experience. Around 15 women line up in waist deep water and use their arms and hands to ‘play’ the water. How to describe the sound? Deep, resonant and percussive. So unique.

Pwetevut cushion starfish

Grace and I mapped out the tabu areas found along the shore by both Dolab and Ontar villages, and undertook some exploratory snorkelling sessions with a few local guides. The health and diversity of the reef seemed to fluctuate as we swam through the areas, but we did see a good diversity of large coral colonies, particularly soft and foliose coral. Many small damsel and surgeonfish were seen. Invertebrate populations were healthy; we saw giant clam, troka, starfish, sea cucumber, large anemones and octopus. On the negative side, we did see several crown of thorns starfish, and noticeable algal growth closer to the shore.

Island Feast

In speaking with Richard, the Chief Representative of Gaua, we learnt that the tabu areas are not being respected by some members of the community. This can often be a problem. However, it can be overcome by increased education, strong community leadership and enforcing penalties for breaking the tabu. We hope that OceansWatch can return next year to help further increase education and awareness of the function and importance of protected areas. We unfortunately experienced some technical difficulties with our projector, so were unable to show movies or do presentations. Disappointment all round! This would be very welcome for future visits.
All the visitors were treated to a ‘smol kakae’ (small feast) in Dolab, where everyone brought a little food to share. This was a true pleasure, and we were even treated to a string band performance and gift giving ceremony. Dancing with the local girls in a 100 person conga line around the village was possibly one of the funniest experiences I have ever had.

We sailed off for Losolava Bay on the morning of the 6th September.
Alma van Niekerk

Sakao Island Shark

On the 29th August we made the quick two hour trip to the north-east side of neighbouring Sakao Island. The island is a gem, and so different from nearby Port Olry; hectares of forested hills, and almost completely uninhabited. It is occasionally visited by small tourist fishing charters, or by locals from Hog Harbour (who own the island) to collect fish and invertebrates for consumption. We were asked by the Department of Fisheries to collect some survey data to support making the surrounding waters an MPA. There are plans to begin mining on Sakao, which could have a devastating impact on the reefs due to pollution run off and sedimentation. Declaring the area an MPA would offer protection from this.
After a bit of trouble finding a good anchorage, Grace jumped in with her snorkelling gear to scope out a sandy spot amongst the coral. My heart skipped a beat when she suddenly yelled out “there’s a shark!”, but luckily once I had rowed out to her, I found out it was just a young white tipped reef shark.

Sakao Island coral

Early the next morning, after a night of big rolling swells, we set off on an exploratory snorkel. Quite frankly, we were gobsmacked. The rocky reef dropped off sharply on all sides of the bay, to about 20 – 30 metres, leaving a wide, deep basin. The bay is quite exposed to the open ocean, and even on a calm day, you could feel the powerful swells curving into the bay. The water was unbelievably clear, with visibility to at least 25 metres. Enormous limestone cliffs, ridges and boulders made for a very dramatic underwater landscape.
Coral cover was healthy and incredibly diverse. All of the common families of fish and invertebrates were present. Butterfly, surgeon and damselfish flitted among the shallow brightly lit coral, while batfish, Moorish Idols and triggerfish weaved around a few metres further down. Schools of large snapper, wrasse, grouper and parrotfish patrolled the bottom of the cliffs,

Crayfish

and we saw our friend the white tipped reef shark, green turtles, crayfish and one lone, enormous barracuda.

We completed some Coral Watch surveys to measure the health of the coral, and returned that afternoon to do a Reef Check dive. In between, while resting up on the boat, we spotted a pod of dolphins. Naturally, being too impatient to wait for them to come to us, Grace and I rowed out in their direction, hoping for a close encounter. After a lot of rowing to and fro, they finally swam past us down below, and we jumped in the water and got some photos. It was a pod of 9 pan tropical spinner dolphins. A magical day all round.

Spinner dolphins

The next day we unenthusiastically set sail for the south side of the island. The winds and swell had picked up again, and it was a testament to Ian’s solo sailing skills that he managed to safely drop us off and pick us up close to the reef, so we could do a quick snorkelling survey of the south reef. The weather precluded anything more extensive. There was no protective bay this time, just the straight coast and the wide channel between Sakao and Santo Islands. For being so exposed, the steep drop off of reef was again very diverse and healthy.

We hope our data helps in establishing Sakao Island as an MPA, and will be monitoring the progress of the application. An area of such rich diversity, protected in perpetuity, would be a huge asset to the future health of Vanuatu’s marine environment. In my opinion, limited, small scale subsistence fishing by local people could even be incorporated into the agreement, without causing any significant damage. With the addition of some reliable moorings, this island could also become a significant source of tourism income for the local people as a world class dive and snorkel site.
Under quite stormy conditions, we set sail for the island of Gaua, an 11 hour trip towards the north-east.
Alma van Niekerk

Port Olry beach

We sailed into Port Olry on the 24th August, after a few days of unexpected delay in Oyster Bay while we waited out the weather. We navigated the five hour passage under strong winds and big swells, so it was quite a relief when we finally arrived. Port Olry is on the north-eastern side of Espiritu Santo, and is the second largest village in Vanuatu, with a population of around 3000. It sprawls along the flat land between two bays and the surrounding forested hills. The houses are an odd mixture between dilapidated concrete and corrugated iron, and natural wood and palm. The newly built paved road from Luganville arrives and then quickly tapers out to bumpy dirt roads which wind through the village. The main beach is painfully beautiful, albeit marred by the odd piece of rubbish, with light blue turquoise water and very fine white sand.

There is a primary and secondary school of 700 and 300 pupils, respectively, a health centre, bank, telecommunications tower, vegetable market and a handful of small shops and restaurants. The village received power each night from 6pm to 11pm, from a generator that runs on coconut oil. There are an abundance of chickens which roam amongst the gardens, along with dogs, and the occasional cow or horse. The villagers make a living through raising cattle, growing coconuts for the copra industry, tourism, growing vegetables and fishing. The mostly French speaking locals (although they speak Bislama and a native language as well) are friendly and curious, and while we get a few strange looks, there is always someone to help us pull our dinghy ashore or give us directions.

Port Olry Village

Grace and I set off to find our contact Tarcisius, owner of the beachfront tourist bungalows and a very helpful and knowledgeable local who worked with OceansWatch last year. With his help, we motor out to one of the protected surrounding islands and do some snorkelling to survey the state of the reef. For quite a sandy area, we find a reasonable cover and diversity of corals, fish and invertebrates. The coral show no signs of bleaching or disease. There is, however, a significant amount of turtle weed and other nutrient indicator algae, which we know to have been a problem in previous years. Turtle weed overgrows coral, and also secretes a toxin which is poisonous to it.
In consultation with Tarcisius, we mapped out the three protected ‘tabu’ areas which surround the two offshore islands and the small reef in the middle of the main beach. These were put in place four years ago, after the collapse of one of their key fish stocks; a species of scad, and will be in place until at least 2020.
The next day, we took some water samples from the adjacent river mouth, and two other sites around the coast, to test for faecal colliform (bacteria which feed on human and animal waste), to determine if leaking sewerage or upstream farming activity could be causing the overgrowth of algae. The samples all tested positive for colliform, and this information was passed on to the Department of Fisheries for further investigation.

Port Olry mangroves

We also went for a very enjoyable kayaking trip up the river to use GPS to map out the extent of the mangroves. Mangroves provide many crucial environmental services such as water filtration, production and export of nutrients, providing nursery habitat for juvenile reef and pelagic fish as well as habitat for many other local crustaceans, molluscs, insects and birds. It was great to see such a vast expanse of intact and relatively undisturbed mangrove habitat.

The following day was the ever-popular movie night. We set up outdoors, our white sheet clipped on to the wall of the beachfront nakamal (meeting house), as the sun went down and the wind picked up, bringing a few threatening droplets of rain. News had spread, and we had a boisterous group of around 40 children clambering for sitting space and helping us arrange benches and tables and extensions cords for the projector. The adults found space on surrounding walls, roofs and chairs. To keep the kids happy, there was Finding Nemo up first, which got a lot of laughs and rapt attention. Next we showed nature documentaries on coral reefs around the South Pacific. There were a lot of ooo’s and aaah’s and even a few questions at the end. Hopefully they left with some great images and more understanding of the incredible wealth of marine biodiversity in their part of the world.

Sunset at Port Olry

With the bulk of our work completed, the next couple of days were spent writing reports, making plans, gathering supplies, LPG, fresh water and food. Ian industriously undertook many and (to me) baffling boat repairs, and Grace and I had a chance to enjoy the sun, and even sample a couple of Tuskers and some local kava. We said goodbye and set off for Sakao Island on the morning of the 29th August.

Alma van Niekerk

Grace Philips paddling an outrigger

“Are ya here for the canoe race?” shouted a fellow yachtie across the water to us on arrival into Lamen Bay. Well, no, we weren’t, but it sounded like fun anyway! Our actual purpose for visiting Lamen Bay was to look at the dugong-seagrass-yachtie relationship. We had been told that several dugongs live in the bay and their food, the seagrass bed, was being torn up by anchor chains and covered in litter thrown overboard. On first inspection, however, we could not find any seagrass what so ever, certainly not around the yachts. A good sign and a bad sign! Atleast the anchor chains weren’t damaging anything… but then where had all this seagrass gone? Did that mean that the dugongs had also gone?
“Dugong!” I shouted, pointing towards a big brown blob that had surfaced some 20m from our yacht. To this Ian and Rachel replied “huh?” and looked towards me rather than the dugong. But they did manage to locate it just in time to see its fluked dolphin-like tail surface and dive down. Our first dugong sighting! The dugongs were definitely still in the bay.
Unfortunately, in terms of OceansWatch work, we were unable to do much in the first 2 days due to our timely arrival coinciding with the 2-day annual canoe race festival. However, we made the most of the situation and tried to subtly get across our marine message to the other yachties through conversation, and socialised with the locals – Chief Willy and a man called Sandy tuned my ukulele for me and gave us a few twangs on it (the ukulele also went down well with the local kids… they particularly enjoyed my (in my opinion, rather bad) song about the dugong). And of course we took part in the canoe race! Ian took out our kayak, and Chief Willy lent Rachel and I his 2-man kayak. The other contestants were a few of the other yachties on a paddle-board and a kayak, and 2 local guys in the traditional out-rigger canoes. The course? Out to the marker buoy, around all the yachts, and back to the beach. Chief Willy started off the race with his mega-phone, and we were off! Rachel and I got off to a flying start, racing ahead of the pack. Fighting against the wind to get to the buoy, I spotted a dugong not too far off, cheering us on. It was touch and go for gold with the paddle-boarder but we never gave up hope and Rach and I finished first place! However, after having a go in one of the out-rigger canoes afterwards, I think those guys were the real winners – they are so hard to paddle in a straight line! And the wooden paddles alone are probably as heavy as our kayak was (or atleast it felt like it after paddling our little arms off to win the race). The rest of the 2-days continued with festivities, music, local food and a set-off-your-old-flares session one evening (great practice for if you ever need to use the flares for real in an emergency, and a good way of disposing of the out of date ones!). Despite the village being busy with the festivities, we did manage to get some marine awareness in, starting with an evening out-door showing of some films. The villagers loved it, and the yachties too, so we showed some more documentaries the following night! The man in charge of tourism bungalows was keen to get a copy for showing in the school and to the community again in the future, which is great!
On the final day of our visit to Lamen Bay, Chief Willy drew me a map of the bay and marked out all the tabu areas (areas of reef/sea

Grace_plays_the_ukelale

which are closed to fishing and harvesting with varying degrees of protection). OceansWatch has been asked by VANGO, a body that organises all the NGOs in Vanuatu, to map out any tabu areas that we come across. Funding bodies looking to give money to Vanuatu always want to know how many marine conservation areas there are, yet no one knows! And with travel around Vanuatu expensive and difficult (there are many remote islands and villages!), it is hard for such organisations to gain this information. So with my little sketch map and GPS in hand, I set off to collect the co-ordinates of the tabu areas, along the village beach around the airstrip point and to the northern tip of Epi – such a beautiful walk on a lovely sunny day. Such a tough life in paradise!
But as for these dugongs… going on a dugong search in order to snorkel with them is never going to work! We surface spot them when we’re not looking, but when we go searching… Needless to say, we didn’t find any. I think they knew we were coming to look for them and hid. Those sneaky little dugongs! We did, however, find the infamous seagrass bed! It was rather sparse, and the grass rather short. But I’m glad we eventually found it (and free of litter!), we were starting to wonder what the dugongs were coming here for!

From Lamen Bay, Epi we sailed to South West Bay on the island of Malakula. South West Bay has several villages located there and is home to around 1500 people. We have been based at Labo village in South West Bay for a yearly custom and yacht festival that takes place here to celebrate the start of the yam season – a root vegetable widely grown in Vanuatu.

OceansWatch has been invited here by Yegor, a US Peace Corp volunteer who has been working with the community of Labo village for the past 2 years. The community, with Yegor’s help, are developing an eco-lodge and with the yearly yacht festival attracting the cruising yachties and tourists, they asked for our help with designing some mooring buoys here so that the yachts do not anchor on their beautiful protected (tabu) reef.

Once the festival had started, there were up to 8 yachts attending and the festival was a great success. The first day consisted of custom dancing which was incredible to watch. Only the males of the families are allowed to know exactly what the dancing means and the men spend several days in the forest beforehand making their intricate costumes which are entirely made from natural forest materials.

Traditional costumes

Later on in the day we were shown around the village of Labo, which has around 150 villagers. We were shown many of the local ways of life from copra harvesting, traditional cooking, bag and mat weaving, pottery demonstrations, several locally used plants including cocoa and being shown some amazing viewpoints that looked over the entire bay.

Looking over SW Bay, Malakula from Labo Village

In the evening, we were shown how they make Kava – a local drink that is made from a root crop that is very popular in Vanuatu. Afterwards Grace gave a presentation on garbage awareness to the community as litter and disposal of litter is a big problem in SW Bay – all litter is generally being thrown into the rivers, which will ends up on their protected reefs.

Day 2 of the festival consisted of several different custom dances after which we were then invited to join in. It was great fun and the locals were highly entertained by the tourists attempt at dancing! It was amazing how tiring it was as they made it look so easy!

Custom dancing

We were all sad to say goodbye to Labo Village but it was time to head onto Luganville, Espiritu Santo to pick up our new crew member, Alma.

Rachel