The four-day sail from Fiji was pleasant, although Deni might disagree due to her seasickness. We had, as usual, a combination of no wind and big wind, and some good fishing. With the new fishing rod holders brought from the US, we were able to troll with three rods, significantly upping our game. We had several hooks each day and brought in a large mahi-mahi and what we were hoping was a wahoo, but turned out to be a barracuda.


We arrived to Port Vila on the evening of August 17th. Our friend Mikey was there awaiting us and we went to get him in the dinghy after anchoring. Mike also came bearing gifts??"new autopilot, books, magazines, movies, games, etc. Another Christmas! Having not checked in yet, we couldn't go ashore, so had mahi-mahi tacos for dinner and fun evening catching up.

The following day was spent checking in and taking care of laundry, garbage, etc, as per usual. The wind was pretty strong and we were not sure about the holding, so we didn't go far from the boat that day. The following day we went through the pass and picked up one of the Yachting World moorings, just in front of the Waterfront Cafe. We did a major provisioning and had some good meals in town. Vila is surprisingly modern, with much British and French influence, but Melanesians are dominant. They are extremely friendly people and more than willing to go out of their way to help. While provisioning at Au Bon Pain, Mike and I stopped for a little wine tasting in the market. We got to talking to a local man who asked us if we needed a ride home with our tons of groceries. He took us all about town, showing us what was what, and offered to take us to a kava bar that evening.