Up at 0500 for a cuppa before getting under way. A fine, beautiful morning dawned pinking the eastern sky and at first light, we were anchor up and heading to the island of Tanna. From Mystery Island the other day, we could see Tanna some 50 miles away, but this morning, thick clouds clung to the horizon occluding any view.

The day remained bright and sunny with cotton-ball cumulus clouds low in the sky. The brilliant sun played on the water reflecting in dazzling sparkles on the big easterly swells. 10-15 knot winds diminished to 5-10 knots as we motor-sailed up the west coast of Anatom. Once out of the lee of the island, winds increased and we sailed along at a good clip leaving Anatom as a hazy shadow in its own cloud. We strained our eyes and checked frequently and finally at 25 miles away, the faint outline of Tanna came into view.

Our electronic charts provided absolutely no detail for Port Resolution. We had to rely on paper charts (rev. 1928), the current Tusker's Guide to Vanuatu (with a wrong waypoint for the approach!) plus good notes and anchorage coordinates from Sunstone and the Active Transport guys (right on!).

The entrance to this bay is daunting. Huge rollers crashed on the beach and reef just south of the entrance and from our vantage point, there didn't appear to be any entrance into the bay. It's all a matter of perspective, of course, because as we made our way further north and closed in on the bay, the opening appeared wide, but certainly not calm. Big rollers and an incoming tide reminded us of entering atolls in French Polynesia. A rough ride for 1/2 mile then the calm of the bay. One other boat lay at anchor, rolling with the incoming swell.

An outrigger paddled by as we anchored and tidied up Cups. We had already heard about Stanley from several other yachties. He coordinates trips to the volcano, Mt Yasur, for the village. We made our introductions and arranged a volcano trip for tomorrow afternoon.