Saturday 8 October Magical trade

Today's catch was a 4' wahoo and an eagle eyed villager at Ranon, Ambryn spotted us coming in with our fish tied on the side of the boat.


Ambryn is known as the magical island with the magic coming from two volcanoes and as the island of the best wood carving. In the inland villages there are magic men like witch doctors with the ability to cast spells. The traditional dances and costumes are still used for their ceremonies and for displays for paying tourists. Seeing the dancing wasn't high on our list of must do's but I was interested in swapping our fish for a wood carving...

The man in the dugout canoe who enthusiastically rowed out to see us was Barry, the self appointed tourist guide for the village. I don't know if he was happier to see us or the wahoo and even happier when we gave him the fish in exchange for a promise to find me a wood carving. I omitted to mention that I'm fussy and any old thing wouldn't do.

Barry paddled away with his bootie and we followed his ashore in the dinghy. It's a black sand bottom (from the volcano) and super clear water. We could see our anchor on the bottom in 8m of water. Barry took us first to his tourist office, a hut with laminated sheets showing the different tours he offered (for a reasonable fee) to visitors and some stone and wood carvings. He offered us a small, simple stone head carving which was a copy of the traditional good luck charms. I could see the rough stone scratching our polished wood and declined. Not just right for us so we continued through the village to see the work of other carvers, most of the people were out working in their gardens in the hills behind so their wives showed us their work. We saw Reuben's which Delos had recommended and didn't find anything for us. It wasn't until we came to Albert's hut and his elderly mother showed us his works that we found the right one. A simple interpretation of the mask worn in the dance ceremony carved from hard wood, polished and standing a slim 12 inches tall. So we successfully traded a fish for a wood carving,. His name is Albert and he's our new good luck charm.