Askari Sailing: Maskalyne Islands, Malekula and onto Santo

Tuesday morning (27th June 2023) we popped ashore to say our goodbyes to William and his family and then upped anchor for a beautiful sail on light southerly winds back over to the Maskalyne Islands, we were able to sail right in through the pass of the southern channel and dropped anchor off the island of Awai. This is a super protected anchorage with Malekula on one side and Awai on the other with a reef out to the ocean. We spotted movement ashore so popped the kayak in and paddled over and met the chief, he was super friendly and then he commandeered Andrew and our dinghy for the school run - later..... We didn't really have an idea of his timing and as it was getting late in the day thought maybe he meant tomorrow.

Sailing into the Maskalyne Islands

Our calm Anchorage at Awai Island

Ready for the sunset school run

Just approaching beer o'clock he and his wife paddle over, she's taking the dug out canoe back and the school run is on! Andrew grabbed his phone and off he went over yonder. Hmmm we didn't really think this through, half an hour later its starting to get dark and I am on the boat thinking - I have no idea where Andrew's gone, didn't they eat people in Vanuatu not that long ago, what if they hit the reef in the dark, how long do I wait before I call someone, who do I call and what would I say, etc, etc Phew he finally appears whizzing across the lagoon laughing with the chief and his daughter all neat in her school uniform. It turns out it wasn't that far, however when they got there the kids weren't there, so Andrew was taken across to the other side of the island and through the school grounds barefoot, met the head master, whilst also thinking weird there's no kids and didn't they eat people in Vanuatu not so long ago..... Then they found the kids playing football.... crazy to think the kids usually go from one island to another for school in a dugout canoe - so it was great we could help, next time maybe we should both go on the adventure.

Andrew returning - phew!

Whilst chilling out the next afternoon, after some fun drift snorkelling, we had started making plans for some diving and it turns out to dive the Coolidge (the most famous dive in Vanuatu - more on that) you need a guide and you need to book in advance. We were actually pretty lucky we made enquiries as many other people we know skipped it or waited a long time. We had a booking for 6 & 7 July and a mooring for a week arranged opposite Luganville, as the anchorage is not very nice, so for the second time this season, we had a plan!!

Pretty Hermit Crab at Awai island snorkelling

Clear water and some critters at Awai

Nemo at Awai

Sailing back out through the Maskalyne Islands we saw this cool sand island

So next morning we sadly left the lovely Maskalyne islands and sailed up to Malekula. There's heaps of great anchorages on Malekula but one deserted spot took our fancy. It was called crab bay and with the shape of the reef it actually looked like a crab, although I think it's named for the fiddler crabs there. We had read the reef was pretty healthy, so finding the place deserted we went out to explore.

Old copra shed at Crab Bay

Exploring Crab Bay

Oh my - wow - beautiful gully, sooo many turtles, 3 different kinds of shark and just so many fish. We were super excited and spent the next two days diving on the reef. Our first dives since we were in Raja Ampat for Christmas - probably the longest we've gone without diving for years. Some underwater snaps:

Huge ray

Lion fish at Crab Bay

First outing of our new projector screen for the cockpit - perfect post diving relaxation

The crab at Crab Bay

Then it was time to set sail to Luganville, the second city of Vanuatu. As we lifted the anchor in Crab Bay there was a cute crab on our anchor snubber - how perfect. Then we set off for a perfect downwind sail to Luganville, poled out until we reached the Segond Chanel and then we sailed all the way down to Aore Island, which would be our base for the next week. We were very excited to find that the resort there was so lovely, super friendly and served fabulous food; we made ourselves very at home!