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…
August 29, 2024
We had read that a “Spirit Cave” was at the next stop. Wanting to squeeze it in today we made an early start for the 30sih mile passage. Soon enough the anchor was set and an outrigger was headed our way. A short conversation led us to realize; this was the chief’s son, he gifted us two pamplemousse, and there…
August 26, 2024
The start to the passage would be exposed to the tradewinds and seas. In an attempt to be as comfortable as possible we got underway just after 5am, which was before before sunrise. It worked as planned and it was a comfortable start with the full main and jib coming out after sunrise and off when the engine. While the…
August 25, 2024
On the hunt, sort of, for the dugongs. Yesterday the villagers pointed to an area where we might find them, but our real reason for the change of anchorage was to have a good launching spot for the following day’s passage. The new spot was just three miles away but involved navigating all of the reefs again. With our track…
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 23, 2024
For some reason the morning hours seemed to slip away and just before eight o’clock Carl was ready to lift the anchor. Heck, I had not even had breakfast yet! SV Seeka had anchored close to our anchor and we found out just how close as we raised it up, coming within 5 meters of them and needing to motor…
August 20, 2024
Arriving yesterday, it was time to check in with the chief and ask permission to stay in his anchorage and visit his village. But first I baked some bread, one of loaf went to the nice couple who gave us the fish yesterday and one yummy fresh loaf for us. Then it was time to get to shore into the…
August 18, 2024
It was a short hop across the bay to our next anchorage. We attempted to anchor at the location in the RocketGuide but it was quite deep (15 meters versus 6 meters in the guide) and there did not appear to be any sand, just coral. SV Beluga, SV Blue Beryl, and SV Cleo were nearby and we went over…
August 17, 2024
Most important thing for the day was visiting the chief and asking permission to anchor and visit their village. Unlike in Fiji there is not need to make an offering. The villagers were friendly and when asking to meet the chief we learned he was not feeling well. We asked for the head man, were told they would find someone.…
August 13, 2024
Yesterday I had chatted with a Kiwi, Greg, who owns the E-Scooter rental shop. I thought it would be fun to tour the island by motorbike and while Carl and Roxy picked a few things up from the store I made a reservation. He had a number of KTM motorcycles which led to a fun conversation talking about our shared…
August 12, 2024
Port Vila was a great stopover/provisioning spot. Plus due to the wind we had extra time for some fun. After cleaning up the boat with fresh water we relaxed a bit. Alex from SV Blue Beryl swung by as he headed to Customs. Our plan had been to skip Customs here as we had a cruising permit from Port Resolution,…
August 10, 2024
The plan was to move up to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, today because there was a blow coming that we wanted to stay ahead of. I had a work meeting at 10:00am, so once that was done we got moving. Some coffee, some breakfast, and a dinghy ride to explore the shoreline was in order. Carl and I…