We just arrived in Anatom, Vanuatu about 3:15 in the afternoon. We had originally intended to arrive in Port Resolution on the island of Tanna, but there is weather coming our way that would make the anchorage at Port resolution uncomfortable. Hence, we have diverted to the southernmost island of Vanuatu, Anatom. The passage was quite nice, especially after the rough passages to and from New Zealand. Our first day out though, was pretty wild and once again, we got to live up to our name of "Your Rock and Roll Argonauts". The ocean just south of Fiji just seems to be a rough and tumble location. We had 30 knots and some huge waves from the beam. One thing that we got to see for the first time ever was water in the cockpit. I mean real water, not just a splash. With the waves hitting us from the side the boat rolls with them and if a new wave comes along while we are still over, it would be possible to get rolled over so far as to put the mast in the water. This is one reason that in storm conditions, we would not allow such an exposure to the seas. But we were not in storm conditions, and there was no danger. Nonetheless, a wave managed to hit us just right and filled the cockpit about a third full with water. I was at the helm, and in less than instant, I was standing in half-knee deep water! What a surprise. I had always been a bit curious about how fast our cockpit drains would do their job, so I just watched, hoping that they would work quickly and impress me. Well, I guess they worked quickly enough, but I do know now that I do not want more water in the cockpit in the future! This wild ride stuff was only local about the south Fiji area, and by midnight, conditions for the rest of the trip were much calmer and nicer.

We had checked out with our friends on board Jenny. The anchorage at Lautoka was also populated with about eight other boats, all destined for Port Resolution. A number of the boats had decided on keeping in touch with one another by a radio net hosted by Sue on board the British s/v Camomile. We asked Norman, on board the Welsh s/v Norsa, if we might join them, as it is good to know the locations of other traffic while all sailing a converging course. Sue did a stellar job, and we enjoyed our little chats with her in the evening. We look forward to getting to know her and the rest of her crew.

If you have read a bit about our boat, you will probably remember that Proximity just doesn't relate to downwind sailing. Well, our course had the wind coming from about 170 degrees off the bow - hard to get more downwind than that. Also, it was very light, so the headsail was blanketed by the main, and we were slow unless brought out the spinnaker. But the spinnaker would present its own problems with the rolling of the boat. It could easily get itself wrapped around the forestay. Hmmm...what do? While pondering how to get the best of all of this, the weather report was showing a northerly for Port Resolution which is open to the north. Not what we wanted. I suggested to Elisabeth that checking in at Anatom would give a better point of sail, and the anchorage there would provide protection from the northerly. She advised that we just couldn't do that to Jenny. It would not be right. Ah, ok. So here we are sailing along, slowly with an unhappy headsail. That evening, when we checked in with the "radio net" Jan reported that he had made the decision to go to Anatom! Additionally, Camomile and Norsa were diverting. We smiled at each other and reported that, we too, were diverting to Anatom. Then all of a sudden, the boat was happy, we were fast again, and we didn't have to worry about a northerly in Port Resolution.

So, here we are now. The authorities have been on board and we are checked in to the country. We blasted the anchorage a little bit with some Vanuatu music that we bought when we were here in 2007. Is it nice? Let me put it this way. We are anchored in 40 feet of water. We looked down at the bottom this morning and could see our anchor chain all the way to our anchor. It is warm and beautiful. The surrounding reef is spectacular. Yeah, it's pretty nice. We know go ashore and find the bank where we can buy some local currency so we can pay the officials who checked us in. With that we sign off, and as always, "Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" wish you the best!