I know this is somewhat of a shock to those of you who follow this column but it has only been about 2 months since my last report. If I remember correctly we were on our way to Vanuatu from Fiji. So here we go. This report will take a different twist because I will spend some time telling you about my golfing adventures in Vanuatu.
In my world there are people who play golf or people who sail boats. It is very rare that you find someone who has the time or even cares about doing both. I for one like to do both but finding someone to play golf have been a big challenge. A couple of things stand in your way out here. For one there are not many of the villagers who play. Let me rephrase that: there are no villagers that play golf. I think the last person out here that played golf in the islands was V J Syngh. He got to learn how because his dad was the groundskeeper of golf course in Fiji. So if no one plays what is the use in building courses? Exactly, no reason, so there are very few if any golf courses. The next obstacle is for me to find someone in the sailing community that wants to play if we do happen upon a course. I hate going out and playing by myself (why play if there is no one to bet with?). So in the 2 years we have been doing this I haven't played, until we got to Vanuatu.
We had anchored in a bay outside of the town of Luganville on the Island of Santo and we had hitched a ride into town to pick up some groceries. As we went down the road we went right by a golf course. I couldn't believe it, a real golf course, out in the middle of nowhere. It also looked like it was fairly well taken care of. So when I got back to the boat that afternoon I was on a mission to find another golfer. As luck would have it I found a Kiwi who loved golf and had a 3 handicap. I told him I was a 20 and he could give me a stroke on every hole but one. Let the games begin. A time and date was set. I am probably the only sailor that has carried his clubs with him sailing. So I told him we could share my bag and he would carry the bag for both of us. I was trying to find a way to tire out this 3 handicapper.
To get to the course we took the dinghy. How many people can say they are taking their dinghy to the golf course? Tide was going out so we anchored off shore and waded in to the beach carrying the clubs and our beach sandals. As we approached the pro shop we could tell no one was there. Not sure what to do we teed off. We were the only ones playing that Friday. It was just us and a guy cutting the grass. My first shot was right down the middle about 250 yds. The 3 handicapper needed a mulligan but who cares we were playing golf. My next 3 shots were not very memorable and I ended up with a 7 on a par 4. I am only telling you this because I won the hole. When we got to the 7th hole the guy mowing the grass came over to collect the green fees. The price for golf, this fine day, was $15 US dollars for as many holes as you wanted to play. All in all it was a marvelous day and it was great to be on a golf course again. I ended up losing the bet but a rematch was scheduled for when we arrived in Vila the capital of Vanuatu. There are only 2 courses in the whole country and I get to play both.
When we played at The Port Vila Country Club we were guest of one of the members. We arrived at the club in a taxi no dinghy this time and John, my partner, was able to rent his own clubs. To play this course you have to use one of their caddies. The caddies are all ladies from the local village. They all wear a traditional Mother Hubbard dress that is about 2 sizes too big. Picture, if you will, 4 golfers and
4 caddies, and as we walked down the fairway the caddies dresses blowing in the breeze reminded me of a parade. The ladies were very nice and didn't understand a word of English they were there to carry the clubs and find our errant shots. So for 9 holes of golf and a caddy the price was $15 US. I have died and gone to golf heaven. So I got my golf fix and we will live through another year with some great memories. I have also found someone that likes to play as much as I do and whenever we are in a port that has a golf course we are there. He is also Kiwi so when we get back to New Zealand this year I now have a playing partner and someone that likes to bet on almost every shot just like Scott, Rick, Lee, Top, Larry, Jim, etc., the list is a mile long.
It has been a fun year for us. We have spent most of it on a beach or sitting on the boat looking at a beach. In about 3 weeks we will head back to New Zealand and get ready for next season. For those of you who don't know, we have to leave this area during the cyclone season. We go south and wait for the cyclone season to end and then come back up here next year. There is so much to see and do in these islands that one year is just not enough. Until next time this is Destiny back to 1-6.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment