Vaka Taumako Project
  Project Newsletter, August 17, 2005      

Aloha to all our friends and supporters:

Mimi and Meph returned from Solomon Islands on 12 August. As always, they came back with plenty of photos, stories, and other cargo.

Mimi sailed out of Nawiliwili harbor aboard Gryphon on 3I May. Thanks to good winds and seas, she arrived in Lata, Temotu Province, on 27 June, a record (for Gryphon) 27 days' crossing (going westward, she crossed the International Date line, thereby losing a day). In Lata, yacht and crew completed immigration and customs formalities, and changed personnel. Able seawoman Laurie flew home from Lata, and Mark, the new skipper came aboard.

Rik, Mark, and Mimi then sailed to Taumako, where Mimi left the boat. Mark and Rik are now en route to Gryphon's new home port in Australia.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Guyer-Stevens and Carlos Tejada, the radio crew from Outer Voices, new via Nadi to Vanuatu. During their stopover in Nadi, Meph, who had flown in earlier from Honolulu, joined them. All three then new first to Port Vila and then to Espiritu Santo island, where they bearded the yacht Gershon II, which would convey them to Solomon Islands.

The choice of Gershon was more than fortuitous. Her skipper and crew have spent many years sailing in the Pacific, and have worked with the Polynesian Voyaging Society as escorts for Hokule`a. The yacht's sturdy steel hull affords good protection against the reefs and shoals that lurk beneath western Pacific waters. More than a mere conveyance, Gershon was a comfortable and friendly temporary home.

After a few soggy days in Santo, awaiting the arrival of good sailing weather, yacht and crew set out for Lata, about 300 n.m. to the north. They arrived on the morning of 27 July, anchoring at Luesalo on the east side of Graciosa Bay. There they awaited arrival of Willie Vaiyu, the immigration officer.

To return to our heroes —
After clearing immigration on 30 July, they picked up chief Kaveia's aide, Geoffrey Kuper of Nifiloli, and sailed to Taumako to meet Mimi. Anchoring Gershon at Panali on the island's northwest corner, most of her passengers and crew went by canoe to Kahula, Chief Kaveia's home, about 5km. away on the east coast.

After enjoying a traditional welcome featuring songs, feasting, and dancing, they rested for the night. The next day, Stephanie and Carlos interviewed Chief Kaveia and his wife Cecilia about their roles and responsibilities as ariki (chiefs). They also interviewed Dixon Wia's mother, Janet, about her voyage on Vaka Taumako in 1998.

On the night of August I, Gershon, with Kaveia, and Cecilia aboard, sailed to Nifiloli in the Reef Islands. Like many of Temotu's islands, Nifiloli has no anchorage suitable for vessels that draw more than about 1/2 m. Gershon therefore had to stand off in deep water at the reef's edge. Reef islanders carried her anchor by canoe onto the coral and planted it in a secure spot. Because the Great Reef ends in a wall that drops a hundred or more meters straight down, the yacht could safely remain in this position overnight while easterly winds obligingly kept from running aground. Readers who are sailors will surely appreciate how unusual this situation is!

On 2 August, Stephanie and Carlos went ashore to interview Jocelyn Soli about her experiences sailing aboard tepuke. Jocelyn is a remarkable storyteller, and told remarkable tales of her exploits. Her account of sailing to Taumako during the 1918 influenza epidemic was chilling.

Two days later, Gershon returned Kaveia and Cecilia to Taumako and set sail for Honiara.

Arriving Honiara on August 8, Stephanie and Carlos went into overdrive, interviewing Jocelyn's daughter Joanne, Geoffrey and his children, Aseri Yalangono of the Ministry of Education, Mimi, and Patricia from the National Museum. Mimi and Meph, meanwhile, occupied themselves with renewing residence permits and preparing mats, models, and paddles for dispatch to Hawai'i.

Stephanie, Carlos, Terry, Mimi, and Meph flew from Honiara to Nadi on 11 August. Steve and Cheryl, who had thoroughly enjoyed their sojourn in Solomons, decided to linger a while before sailing on to Australia.

As always, we have many people to thank for their help with this visit. We are especially grateful to Steve, Cheryl, and Terry for making our voyage aboard Gershon II so pleasant and productive. Without the Outer Voices project, including the Ford Foundation, which funded Stephanie and Carlos, we would not have gone anywhere, so we owe them many mahalos. Larry Williamson, Jane Goldsmith, Geoffrey Kuper, Chief Kaviea, Cecilia, the many helpful people in Lata, Taumako, Nifiloli, Honiara and Hawai`i (too numerous to list here!) also deserve our thanks. Finally, we congratulate Sale of the Mendana Hotel on his retirement, and wish him well.

Stephanie hopes to have the Outer Voices program edited sometime early in 2006. If you are interested in finding out more about her project, we recommend visiting her website: www.outervoices.org

Taumako may be off the beaten twenty-first century track, but this does not mean that time stands still there. Long-time readers of our newsletters may enjoy learning of recent developments on the island.

No, we are not talking about subdivisions and 5-star hotels. Something far more positive is happening. Fulfilling long cherished vision, in 2004 Chief Kaveia moved from the artificial island of Tahua to his ancestral home at Kahula on Taumako's east coast. Not only is this the site of the hale vaka, where Vaka Taumako and two other voyaging canoes reside, it is the place where Lata was born. A dozen young families have followed him, and Kahula is now a vibrant community.