Voyaging in Vanuatu

Sailing from Fiji to Vanuatu was our second biggest sail we have done to date being 6 days and 5 nights (biggest was 8 days). Compared to our biggest sail which was absolutely horrible this one was the polar opposite. We had fantastic weather, the generator worked each and every night ensuring we had autopilot and some sea sick patches I had been given were awesome allowing me to function like a proper person throughout the voyage. We had decided to sail into Port Vila which would then allow us to sail North and explore the islands as we head towards Santos (Luganville) which would be our kicking off place to Australia.

I had read that Port Vila is the (or one of the) best natural harbours in the world and I can see why. It has a wide pass into the harbour and quite a few places you can anchor. We decided to grab a mooring ball for a few days in a little marina which was tucked between the main island and Iririki meaning it was nice and sheltered with little to no movement on the boat = good night sleeps. After being in Suva this place was heading back towards what we have gotten use too. One main street with all the shops on it, though to be fair the shops are proper shops with more than a few of them being used exclusively by tourists. There were more than a few little knick knack shops that we explored, with some items for sale that we haven’t seen anywhere else.

On our first day of exploring the town we were heading back to REAO when I recognised a boat moored up to the shore near the dinghy dock, it was none other than our friends on Skylark. We had said farewell to them back in Bora Bora and it was lovely to see them again, well it was until we went on board to say hello and left a few hours later after consuming a few beers and red wine (nice combination I know). Okay I had no one to blame but myself for the slight sore head the next morning.
That day we caught a ‘bus’ with Stewart and Hannah (Louise was over in Aussie for a few days) and we went to the Cascade Falls. Now when I say bus I actually mean mini van. One of the interesting things we soon discovered was there is no public transport. Instead many of the locals have purchased mini vans and they spend their days driving around looking for passengers.

You stand on the side of the road and within a minute a mini van will have pulled over and will pick you up. Anywhere within the town limits (approx. 10km) will cost $1.50Vutu ($2.00NZD) and most times the driver will be more than happy to sit and wait to drive you back as was the case when we went to the falls which cost $5vutu pp as it was some distance out of town however the driver sat and waited at no cost for the entire time we were there so he could drive us back again. The falls were absolutely gorgeous and we had a fabulous time as the photos show.

The next day had us heading to the national museum where my favourite part was watching the guide create sand drawings, absolutely beautiful as he told stories to go with the pictures.

One thing that tickled Craigs fancy are all the signs which are in a kind of pigeon English. Below is a sign we found at the museum, if you take your time you can figure out what it reads.

After being in port less than a week we decided it was time to head out and start exploring the islands, we were missing being anchored up in a bay and being able to just jump off the back of the boat in the morning and swim. Our first stop was only an hour away and still technically in the same harbour as we had heard there was some great snorkelling by hideaway island.
We found a good spot by some other boats but the weather was slightly too windy for us to go in the water. The decision was made to head in that evening and go watch a fireshow that had been recommended by one of the bus/taxi drivers we had had earlier in the week. Luckily for us we stopped by one of the other boats anchored as we recognised the two people on board who we had briefly had a conversation with at the immigration office. They were going to the show as well and had booked a table for twenty and said there was room for us, would we like to join them.
We did and the place was completely full, it was a fabulous night of cheap yummy pizza, meeting a heap of new people and watching an awesome fireshow. It was definitely way better than either of us expected and we were both glad we had gone in.

The next day we jumped in the water and went exploring. Unfortunately a lot of the coral had been destroyed by a hurricane however they have put down huge bases that they are hoping coral will grow on. We did find the underwater post office and saw our very first (and quite large) cuttlefish which was very cool. We would have liked to have stayed a little longer but unfortunately the anchorage was really rolly so after two nights of not sleeping well we decided to leave. I am in charge of where it is we sail and had managed to create a passage for us that enabled us to do little day hops only, ensuring wherever we were anchoring it would be on sand (a huge thanks to Stewart for allowing me to find the waypoints and anchorages we would use on our hop up north from his sailing Vanuatu app one evening back at Port Vila).

We had great little day hops with some very cool anchorages. One of the anchorages had some knarly coral that you had to steer around which was fine with the sun shining straight down on it but difficult when it wasn’t. We were in at anchor when another boat started coming in. Craig jumped in the dinghy to go help direct them as the sun was behind clouds and off he shot when suddenly the dinghy stopped cold. Luckily another yacht at anchor had been watching and they got in their dinghy and went out to help as well. After the yacht got in the other dinghy towed Craig back to REAO and I was thinking of all sorts of potential engine problems. The problem? Craig had forgotten to reattach the fuel container to the dinghy when we had lowered the dinghy in the water so when he took off the dinghy went as far as there was fuel in the tank which it turns out isn’t far at all, luckily for him I was very understanding and didn’t hassle him for the remainder of the day……….

On another one of our hops due to Craig having a slightly sore back I took full control of the boat (under his supervision) and did all the sails and steering by myself, in the rain I might add, which was very cool and something I definitely want to do more off.

Sitting at anchor off a beautiful beach one evening we celebrated the six month anniversary of us living on the boat. It was kind of strange to think that we have not slept on land for six months now and we both once again found ourselves very thankful that we were able to make this happen!

In Epi we found a sheltered bay where we anchored for 3 nights so I could go dugong hunting as supposedly they were in the area. Unfortunately the darn things must have been hiding from me as I didn’t catch sight of any however did manage to see a huge turtle (its shell would have been over 1 metre long) plus found my first lionfish and spent hours in the water admiring and photographing the many varied corals, some of the best coral we have seen so far.

We hopped across and sailed up Malakula stopping in some very sheltered anchorages and going ashore to explore,however it wasn’t long (due to the fact we had run out of money and were running low on food) that we headed into Luganville which is where we are now.

Our goal is to stay here for a few days making minor repairs, stocking up on food and watching the weather to find the perfect window for us to make our biggest sail to date and that is across the Coral Sea to Australia. Where we have anchored in the harbour is a lovely resort called the Beachside Resort which is very cruiser friendly. As long as we purchase food or drink when we are there we have free use of their facilities including a lovely pool and wifi, very nice.

We both feel we have rushed through the south pacific and are absolutely positive that we will be back to explore it all way more at a leisurely pace however our focus now is to get to Australia which means the next blog will be written in Cairns.

The last six months have been without a doubt the best of my life and its just the beginning!