September 17, 2024
The morning forecast gave us disappointing news, there was no longer a reliable forecast that looked good for us to depart. Major bummer after all of the hard work yesterday. It was a cloudy day, so we had to be on limited power use, a great reason to spend the morning reading. After lunch everyone was ready to get some…
September 15, 2024
Provisions running a bit low I decided to head to Luganville to pick up a few things to hold us over until full provisioning the day before departure. I got very lucky and five minutes after hitting the road had a ride in the back of a pickup. It was a nice ride, waving to everyone as we bumbled along.…
September 12, 2024
There was heavy rain off and on throughout the night and we woke to a very humid, damp space. I got to cleaning the windows and solar panels. Carl dried off the inside of the windows and we settled in to wait for hopefully clearing skies. By ten it was looking pretty good, so I grabbed a paddle board and…
September 11, 2024
We had two other monohulls in the anchorage with us. We wanted to say hi but first, off to explore the sandspit on the island we anchored behind. It was a pretty spot that gave us a good view of the ocean on the other side – all of us glad we were not out today in big rolling seas…
September 10, 2024
We heard this town had a store, not really needing anything we decided to check it out anyway. Landing the paddleboards we realized that we were in someone’s backyard so Carl headed to seek permission. Thankfully they were okay with our intrusion and soon enough we walked across their property to the road. Three cute little girls probably five years…
September 4, 2024
Carl was hit with a possible minor cold so plans where changed, delaying our move to Oyster bay. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon paddleboarding to shore and then walking the beach. A number of groups were hanging out, some fishing, some listening to music, and some just lounging around. I reached a spot where the beach disappeared,…
September 3, 2024
After striking out at the two locations in Luganville for the Millennium cave tour, yesterday afternoon I decided to give it one more go and tried calling. A number of rings later I had a booked tour. Carl and I were on the road a few minutes early and unlike yesterday the 4×4 truck arrived on time and we were…
September 1, 2024
Dugongs spotted! As we enjoyed our morning coffee on the bow, I spotted a dugong twice as it surfaced for a breath. A bit far to swim to it so just a spotting. But they are around. Late morning we piled into the dinghy with our snorkeling gear. Families were enjoying the Sunday day on the beach as we laced…
August 24, 2024
We jumped on the paddleboards and headed into the village to speak with the chief and to explore a bit. With the shallow draft we were able to go straight over the reef making for a shorter paddle. Once on shore I walked up to a villager to ask if we could leave our paddleboards. Bill was very kind and…
August 9, 2024
The coconut grapevine told us about a local villager who offered a hike up to the volcano on Tanna island here in Vanuatu. In our case, SV Beluga had heard from Alex on SV Blue Beryl who heard it from????. The normal experience is to hop in a pick-up truck for a sketchy drive up to watch the sunset at…
July 2, 2024
With not much time before leaving for Alaska and Fiji, I really wanted to get in a backpacking trip. I wish there had been more time but alas only a single night could be squeezed into my schedule. A massive bonus was that I was the first one on the trail for the year. Well maybe not a massive bonus…
May 7, 2024
Typically on Isla Monserrate I enjoy a morning hike up into the hills of the island but we woke to an absolute swarm of bobos. Unbelievably worse that Refugio even. It was quickly decided that we were leaving now. Lowell called on the radio to inform the fleet and the reply was that plans had been updated to head for…