From Ambae
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2009
1
10
15
Trip End
Oct 25, 2009
Vanuatu, Vanuatu
Sunday, September 13, 2009
I am writing this message from the northwest coast of Ambae. We are anchored off
a village called Loone. This is the second site where we have been able to do a
Reef Check survey. The first site was further down the coast of Ambae at a place
called Devil's Rock. The snorkeling there was pretty nice, and we had our first
girl volunteer to help us with the survey! Her father, Rex, took us for a
snorkel and we were chased by a BIG barracuda. But we also saw a turtle and
garden eels. The people here are so receptive to the work we are doing, it's so
exciting to see. Many people have seen the reefs degrade within their life time
so they want to be able to do what they can to help. And it seems like we will
never go hungry either. Every time we go into a village to give a talk or do a
training we walk away with arms full of fruit: papaya, pomplumos, lemons,
coconut, banana.it's great! Today will be our last day at this site, then we
continue up the coast; we see a reef on the map and we want to go find it. But
this morning before we leave we will be doing an in-the-water training session
with a group of guys from the village. We will show them how we conduct our
surveys so that when we leave they will be able to conduct the surveys for
themselves.
So I should also let you know that not everything is going perfectly. I made a
really big mistake and now I am paying the consequences.It turns out that the
anchorage we are at is the closest spot to get to the top of the volcano on
Ambae, so Natalie and I hiked the volcano. It was horrible! Sea level to 4800ft
in a matter of hours, up uP UP. Never again! The blisters and cuts and bruises I
have should serve as a warning to other tourists. In total the hike took
thirteen hours. But I must admit the view from the top was pretty incredible. In
the crater is a big lake (where we went swimming) with a smoking island in the
middle. Our guides thought we were sooo slow (but they said we did good for
white people), and most of them were barefoot. But it was a memory. Last night
we drank kava with them, in the hopes that it would relax our sore muscles.
Anyways, no time to be tired. We have got a training session to do. I'm
thinking of everyone and hope all is well.
Lindsey
