How do I book my bunk?

Passage to Vanuatu from Fiji
June 2007

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