On Saturday, June 7, we pulled up the anchor at 10:00 a.m. for an overnight sail north to Pentecost Island. Pole Pole had arranged for a few boats to see land diving. The seas were big at first but gradually moderated. The wind was in the high teens and low twenties. We traveled at between 5 and 6.5 knots, mostly on a broad reach until we turned right at Ambryn Island to head into Wali Bay on Pentecost. At that point we could reach all the way to the bay. Approaching before daybreak, we slowed ourselves down to arrive in the daylight. Ral\La came in right behind us. Several catamarans from Australia were there, traveling in a flotilla. It made it a bit harder for the other boats in our group, Pole Pole, Alia Vita and Jiyu to find spots. But they did, and then the Australian catamarans left.
It was Jeff’s and Rowan’s birthday that day, so I baked a carrot cake before taking a nap. At the end of the day, all five boat crews gathered on Pole Pole for a wonderful dinner to celebrate the two birthdays.
On Monday morning, we all went to shore to see the land diving. We were greeting by Eileen, who has taken over for her father as the host for land diving in Wali Bay. She offered us fruit and told us the history of land diving, which is only performed on Pentecost (and was the inspiration for bungee jumping). Her story was similar to what the museum guide in Port Vila told us. In a nutshell, a woman and her husband were arguing. She ran away from him and climbed a tree, then tied vines around her ankles. He followed her but did not tie any vines around his ankles. She jumped and so did he. She survived. In the pre-missionary days, it was women who re-enacted his, jumping from a tower. But after the missionaries arrived, they limited the ritual to only boys and young men, mostly as a rite of passage into manhood but also for the benefit of visitors. We were there at the very end of the season. Soon the vines would not be moist enough to provide elasticity.
After the introduction, we walked up a hill to a seating area below the tower, which had been built using the support of a tree. A group of adults and children were dancing and singing in support of the divers. All the male participants were wearing their traditional “kustom” clothing, which consists mostly of a penis sheath. We sat and watched the diving in astonishment, because the landings are not soft.
Getting ready for the dive
Land diving video courtesy of Rowan Gormley
The land divers
After the divers finished, we climbed into the back of a truck and were driven to a waterfall, where we could all frolic in the pools at the base of the falls.
The waterfall
We capped off the day with a bonfire on the beach, courtesy of Eileen, our host, and her husband.
