Capt. Jim
30/Oct/2009, Just South of Efate Island

This morning we waited for the tide to be just low enough for Wetnose's 27m mast to duck under the power lines across the exit to the inner harbour at Port Vila, and just high enough for Wetnose's 3 m draft to go over the 2.8 m shoal at the same entrance. 7:15 was the time, a we were there. Our friends on Riona followed right begind, and another several yachts were making preparations to leave later in the morning, so it promises to be a lively time on the daily radio roll-call each evening as we all make our way to Opua, NZ. We have a moderate breeze (15-20 knots) out of the SW, so we are sailing close-hauled into a moderately choppy sea. Altogether not too bad, especially since we have the engine on to charge batteries, make water and bread, and to allow us to sail a bit faster and a bit closer to the wind. We doing 4-hour watches during the day and 3-hours at night, arranged so the 3 of us will rotate through each different watch every 3 days. I took the first watch of the passage, from 9 am to 1pm. Joel follows me, then Steve. Steve is currently in the galley whipping up some grilled pastrami sandwiches for lunch. We told him he didn't have to go to the trouble, but he said he wasn't that busy, so why not. Hard to argue with that! The sun is out, the sea is blue, and all is well aboard the Wetnose. More tomorrow, Jim

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Jim
24/Oct/2009, Port Vila, Vanuatu

On a tip from Sue and Paul of Riona I got up early today to take some photos at the open market, where Saturday mornings feature flowers. It was a beautiful day for picture-taking...a bit overcast so the shadows were not too harsh, and the locals were out early, selecting the best flowers for their homes and churches. Hope you enjoy the selection in the photo gallery.

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Sunny (finally)
14/Oct/2009, Efate Island, Vanuatu

Wetnose is moored right in the busiest part of Port Vila harbor, just outside the overhead power lines that are too low for us to pass under. About every 10 minutes, night and day, a little ferry boat rumbles past as close to us as is nautically possible. But Wetnose is a big girl, and she hardly rocks at all, and I'm getting used to the sound. But this afternoon's passing boat was another story! In order to reach the fuel depot the large oil tanker has to pass right through the small boat harbor, over a 2.5-meter reef, and between Wetnose and the nearby dinghy dock and quay. Big as she was, not a ripple of a wake reached us.
That's all for now. I'm spending my days plugging away on work work in the "office" with no commuting and no interruptions. Tonight I've been invited for dinner aboard the Riona by her masters Paul and Sue, whom Pat and I had for dinner aboard Wetnose when we met them up at Epi Island last week. Cheers!

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Jim
07/Oct/2009, Epi Island, Vanuatu

Wednesday, 7Oct09

Late this morning Pat and I took the dinghy over to Lamen Island, across a mile-wide strait from our anchorage in Lamen Bay on the NW corner of Epi Island. Yesterday would have been a better day, as the winds were light, but the dugong was in our anchorage yesterday and we spent our morning swimming and taking pictures of it. Today was much breezier, blowing 15-20 knots strait from our anchorage to Lamen Island. Getting there was easy, going downwind. We made our way to the boat landing that Tommo (of Te Vaka) had pointed out to us, threaded through a gap in the fringing reef, and anchored the dinghy bow out a few meters from the shore. It wasn't quite a dry landing, but close enough. Once ashore we asked directions to the school, as our main mission was to deliver a few gifts (crayons, coloring books, pencils and a few simple reading books) to the elementary school there. The directions were easy--just walk up to the main road, turn left, and follow it all the way to the school--but we still stopped and asked everyone we came upon where the school was, mostly just to make some contact with people, and also to let them know what we were up to. The main road was a dirt path about 5 meters (16 feet) wide lined on both sides with a low moss-covered wall built of chunks of coral rock.


At the school we met teachers Henry and Benjamin on their lunch break. All the children had gone home for lunch, so they had some time to chat with us about the school. There are usually 4 regular teachers, but one was on maternity leave at the time, so a temporary teacher paid for by the parents was filling in. We also met a couple women working who we took to be teacher's aids. After a few minutes we excused ourselves to let Henry and Benjamin get their lunch and prepare for the afternoon. They invited us to stick around until the children returned, which we did. School is called back into session by ringing a bell consisting of an old SCUBA tank hung from a tree in the center of the schoolyard. The bell is rung twice, the first to let the kids know it's time to start walking back to school, and the second to signify the start of the afternoon session.


After the first bell Henry returned from his lunch and guided us over to two large mango trees just outside his house on the school grounds. He explained that he had to make these trees off limits to the kids, who all had mango trees at their own homes, so that he and Benjamin would have enough for themselves! He picked one of each and gave them to us to try...both were quite different but both delicious.


In due time bell was rung a second time, and the children, ages 5 - 12, assembled in neat rows sitting on the ground in the central square. After some introduction and a few words to the kids from us, teacher Henry had all the students assemble on the raised stand in front of the flag to sing the Vanuatu national anthem for us, in Bislama. After that the students filed off the stand, each one of them passing by Pat and me to shake our hands. Teacher Henry walked us to the edge of the school grounds, inviting us to come see him again next year.

The channel between Lamen Island and Lamen Bay where Wetnose was anchored looked a lot rougher than it had on the way over. For one thing, we were now looking into the wind at the fronts of the small breaking waves. For another, the tide had changed, setting up quite a swift little rip a few hundred yards off the island, which in turned caused the waves, although they were not particularly large, to pile up and break. Nothing dangerous at all, but we had to go slow, and got a little wet!

We hope to post some pictures when we return to Port Vila in a few days.

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Jim
20/Sep/2009, Esemo Bay, Port-Havannah, Efate, Vanuatu

The entrance to Port Vila was very wide and clear, already in the protection of 4-mile wide Mele Bay. The range markers on the hill behind town exactly matched what our GPS was telling us, adding confidence that we were in the right spot...always nice. We had been pushing to go fast for the last day or so, hoping to complete our checking-in formalities complete before the close of the business day. As we approaced the anchorage we called Yachting World on channel 16, and were told that the quarantine officer would be brought out to our boat once we were anchored. A few minutes later we received a call from a yacht named Waterwynch, who said they had a package for us from Dreamweaver in New Caledonia...it was the steak knives we bought from Rick and Judith in New Zealand but had to leave before they arrived! We got the anchor down in the quarantine area about 2:30pm, and the quarantine officer arrived at our boat an hour later. That accomplished, we installed the outboard on the dinghy and were about to head in to Port Vila to look around and have dinner when we were hailed by a man and a girl in a dinghy. It turned out to be Brett and his daughter Aia from Waterwynch, all from Tasmania. Brett and Sandra, Aia and Holly have been out cruising in their 40+ foot steel sloop for 7 years now! We had a nice chat, including Brett's animated and amusing account of their visit to the volcano on Tanna Island. After arranging to transfer the knives to Wetnose in the morning they returned to Waterwynch and we headed for town. We weren't ashore more than 5 minutes when we heard "Hello Wetnose!" . It was Bill and Val from the yacht Ivory Quays whom we had met in Gulf Harbour, NZ, and also in Fiji in 2007. We had a nice chat catching up on their travels, and they suggested a few restaurants for us. We picked on, the Flaming Bull, on the far end of the waterfront. The window shopping for arts and crafts along the main drag was a real surprise--Chuck went back yesterday and bought a nice fish sculpture of painted wood with a ceramic tile mosaic. Vanuatu is known for its beef. My fillet mignon was outstanding, but Pat's rib fillet was a bit tough and dry...but good! A nice meal ashore and a good sleep in a calm anchorage are much appreciated after a rough-ish passage. Our first full day in Vanuatu began with a shopping trip to the open market and the Au Bon Marche supermarket, followed by an early lunch at the Waterfront Grill, right next to the Yachting World dinghy dock. Yachting World is the outfit that runs the fuel dock, rental moorings, etc, and serves as a facilitator for foreign yachts checking in. We had another "Hello, Wetnose", this time from Jerry and Joanie of Lotus, whom we had met in Vuda Point Marina with Scott and Jean of Quest. Lotus is a home-built steel sloop, and when we first met them they were buddy boating with a nearly identical sister ship named Vari. As it happens, this morning we heard a position report from Vari on the "Rag of the Air" radio net: they have 170 miles to go to Brisbane, Australia. As vast as the south Pacific is, the density of anchorages is quite low and so it's a small world. After lunch we decided to leave Port Vila and sail clockwise around the west side of Efate Island up to Port Havannah, a large area on the northwest side of Efate protected by two large islands. This required sailing back out of Mele Bay and around Matao Tiupeniu Point (AKA Devil's Point), known for the very rough water that can develop when current and waves are in opposition. This day we rounded the point at slack low tide in moderate seas, then had a very pleasant--by *all* accounts--10-mile run/reach up to the far end of the bay. We anchored with 3 other yachts, then hopped in the dinghy to explore the shallow river running through the mangroves and palm trees into Esemo bay. This was a real treat, and reminded us of old Florida, without the alligators. At times it was so shallow we had to paddle, but as the tide was rising it was easier coming out than going in. On the way back to Wetnose we stopped and talked with the couple on Retour, who said this was a regular spot for them, and that they've gotten to know many of the villagers. They were preparing to leave Vanuatu for New Caledonia in the morning, and we will not see them again this trip. Now the sun was getting low and time for "sundowners", expertly mixed rum drinks by Sandi, served with sardines, cheese and crackers. Dinner was spaghetti and meat sauce and Fiji Bitter. Verrry calm all night, and all slept very well. More later, Jim & Pat

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Jim
19/Sep/2009, 200 miles to go!

Greetings from Wetnose, now in the deep blue water between Fiji and Vanuatu. Pat and Jim arrived in Fiji to rejoin Wetnose on September 10th. With us were Chuck and Sandi, with whom we've been cruising parts of Fiji's Manauca and Yasawa Islands. Upon arrival the first order of business was a trip to Lautoka for provisioning. This time we were shopping for more than usual because we lost power over the 6 weeks we were back home and all the food in the fridge and freezer was lost. Thanks to Baobab Marine who discovered the problem and did the nasty job of cleaning out the spoiled food. Yuk! The next day at high tide we left the marina bound for Musket Cove, a nice place to anchor and get the boat sorted out for the next 3 weeks of cruising, including a 3+ day passage to Vanuatu. While there we snorkeled on the reef next to the nearby sandy cay, had a couple of nice meals ashore, did some more grocery shopping, and caught up with our Gulf Harbour dock mates on Silver Ruffian and Bama Breeze. The moorings were full of boats left over from the Musket Cove Regatta week just concluded. Despite rainy weather we decided to depart for one of our favorite anchorages, Navandra Island in the Mamanucas. We'd been there in June/July with Peery and Dennis, Jim & Bill, and Jean and Scott of the Quest. We snorkeled and dove along the fringing reef, and while we saw much pretty coral and many pretty fish, Pat and I felt that the reef did not seem as healthy as it had in 2007 when we were here before. The unsettled weather notwithstanding, after just one night at Navandra we pressed on to Likuliku bay on Waya Island (not to be confused with the exclusive resort by the same name). We threaded the dinghy through the tiny break in the little reef outside the resort and "med-moored" the dinghy on the beach, with an anchor holding the bow out toward the water, The resort manager, Chris, helped us get squared away. Dinner was an excellent grilled wahoo with a nice Australian Shiraz. We shared a table with two couples on their honeymoons together: Dougal and Bernice, and Matt and Alice. Dougal is a helicopter pilot who's worked all over the world, including around Alaska and Canada doing hard mineral exploration. All four kept up a lively conversation with us old folks! We had a quiet night out on Wetnose while the resort hosted alcohol-related games ashore, amid much cheering and laughter. In the morning we decided to go back in for breakfast before weighing anchor and heading back to Lautoka to check out of Fiji. Breakfast was a nice custom-made omlet, coffee, etc. By the time we finished, the rain had begun and we got plenty wet during the dinghy ride back to Wetnose. The rain squalls came one after the other as we made our way back around the south end of Waya and southeast toward Lautoka. Wind was in the high 20's, on the nose, and a short choppy sea built so that our forward progress was slowed to about 5 knots. No way we could make it to the customs office before it closed at 5pm, so we resigned ourselves to checking out on Friday morning and leaving that afternoon. This went smoothly, and we motored through Navula Pass and out of Fiji at 5:30pm. On this passage so far we've had trade winds from the S to SE to E, 12-25 knots. Seas have been quite rough and confused, especially last night, but today the seas have finally begun to settle down into a nice long swell aligned with the wind. This, together with the fact that we're getting used to being at sea, is making life much more comfortable. We have just about 24 hours to go. As we speak we are BBQing chicken out on the deck, and lunch is soon to be served! Cheers, Jim & Pat

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