Another very foggy start to the day, we had left the kayak out on the water overnight as it is so calm. Rowan had a few calls and after a late breakfast we kayaked to the government shelter to start our walk up to the top of the big rocky dome called the Duke’s nose. The crew from Champagne did it yesterday and luckily warned us to take proper shoes as the last section is a real climb up a railing. Marge never made it as she was only wearing her reef shoes, Susanne had made it up in dock shoes which have no grip at all. It really was worth the steep ascent as the views were spectacular. No health and safety at the top, it is just a rock dome with nothing stopping you from tumbling over. Heading back down was actually harder going, at the hut we took the path that leads back into a village. It was a lovely walk along the valley where the creek is that we paddled up. We walked for about 40 minutes, it is apparently one and a half hours to the village. Sadly no shops there, as we are down to our last two eggs and once again out of fruit. There were quite a few people out walking including a bunch of young boys who looked like they were on a school outing, overnighting at the hut.
We got back to the kayak and found that the tide had come way in, luckily the kayak was fine and still secure on the bank. Rowan was a little worried the young kids may mess about with it, if it got popped we would be really stuck!
We had evening drinks on board Champagne, a fine old boat with lots of impressive brass, Gary has had it since the 1990’s. We started with a very nice bottle of champagne, which Gary had to pour a little to the sea and a little on the boat, before we got a look in! Quite interesting his naval stories, he was based in Honolulu, but went all over the Pacific. He was a diver and clearly had a very interesting time. In the 1980’s he was sent out to Mauritius to recover the black box from a South African Airways Flight that blew up near Mauritius on a flight from Taiwan to Johannesburg. He was involved in the recovery of the black box via a remote control machine as the wreck was very deep. Rowan just googled about the crash and it seems there may have been some SA government shenanigans going on. It was a half cargo plane with over 100 passengers. the pilot apparently could smell smoke early on in the flight but the captain (who happened to be in the SA airforce) was ordered by the SA government to continue flying so as not to embarrass the government, hinting that the cargo may have been dodgy! All the passengers and crew were killed. Gary has spent many years sailing in Vanuatu, so had loads of tips for us, it is his favourite sailing ground.
Atmospheric foggy start to the day
The hike up, reaching the rocky section
Can’t quite see why it is called the Duke’s nose, maybe from a different angle it is more obvious, but quite a good climb to the very top of the dome
A serious bit of rock climbing, thank goodness for the rail, hard to get the perspective in the photo – it was a vertical ascent, the photo is the easy bit, then it is a sheer drop, I couldn’t take my hands off for a photo!
The views were stunning
The creek on the left that we paddled up
The creek
Dramatic rocks and cliffs, and dense vegetation, it reminded us of the movie ‘The Piano’
The tiny gap going out to the open sea, we met a hiker who called it the Fiordland of the North
The boat Champagne just visible, PolePole was obscured by the headland in front
Thrilled with our view
The wall of lava rock consists of many smaller rocks, our path was a mangle of roots the whole way, great for gripping onto
Thank goodness for grippy shoes it was a steep climb
The waterfall almost at eye level now
I found an orchid
Such a dramatic setting
I loved this Tree fern forest
Arriving at Champagne for drinks
A super yacht comes in and anchors in the evening, it’s way too big to come up as far as us
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