Passage to Vanuatu from Fiji |
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We had one week in Suva to provision food stores, take on water and fuel and make repairs to the steering gear. It was a busy week.
Brittany, Seamus, Adam, Jim, Dan and Nik did comparison pricing for food. I took apart the steering gear and took the damaged ram into Seamech for repairs. We put the big blue barrel in the shore boat to fill it with water each time we went to the yacht club. Same routine with 20 litre jerry jugs, 4 at a time, filled with diesel at the yacht club dock. People came and went at 9, 12, 3 and 5 in the afternoon.
Returning crew, Jesper from Sweden, had been waiting for us for nearly 3 weeks. During that time he had met several people and told them about Alvei. By the end of the week we had 9 new crew for the passage to Port Vila.
I called Daisy in New Zealand and asked her to send some bearings for the damaged steering gear. They arrived on a Saturday morning. We had orientation and the muster stations drill, put the steering back together and departed Suva Harbour by early afternoon.
By midnight we were able to sail clear of Mbenga Island and surrounding reefs; then set a course for Port Vila.
Mark and his son Matt brought a selection of fishing lures. The second night at sea we caught 4 cuttle fish. The next afternoon we hooked a Mahi Mahi that measured just under 1.4 metres. The wind backed to the east. We set the fore course and furled the headsails. For the next week Alvei rolled along before light to moderate trade winds. Another Dorado and a tuna joined us for dinner.
The 8th day at sea was a Saturday with morning meeting on the afterdeck and a Field Day to scrub the ship. The wind freshened that afternoon, by midnight we were hove to 30 miles sou’east of Efate Is. to wait for the sunrise to sail into Port Vila.
On a misty Sunday morning, 9 days out of Suva, we had logged 603 miles as we motored into Port Vila harbour and anchored in 5 fathoms of water.
After rigging the sun sail, bottles of rum and beer appeared on deck to be passed around. The rope swing on the lower yardarm was the main attraction. Young Mathew jumped off the fore T’gallent yard and everyone had a pleasant Sunday afternoon.
We’ve had meetings with Henk and Nelleke of Project MARC and Terry from YCI. Today we are loading a couple of tons of construction materials and 11 new crew.
We will be underway tomorrow. Won’t be able to get on the net again till we get to Luganville about the first of August.
We have been flat out since last March. really looking forward to some quiet time in Malekula.
Evan |
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