29 August, 2011

We arrived safely at Noumea, New Caledonia yesterday.

The rest of the voyage was very pleasant with

light winds and clear weather. This place is a

little piece of France, much more so than Tahiti.

Will post a full update in a day or two.

August 28, 2011

0600H local time

We have been underway to New Caledonia

for the past 23hours and have made a

respectable 155 miles. We are going upwind

and it's a little bumpy but clear and dry.

We are going a little too fast, in fact, as

we will have to slow down  overnight tonight

to make Havanah Pass, the entrance to the

fringing reef of New Caledonia at dawn tomorrow.

It probably can be done at night but I'm not

going to chance it and make an unforgivable

error. The wind is predicted to diminish over the

course of the day so we will have no problem

slowing down. Currently we are at 20 10.9S 167

44.6E on a course of 183M at 7.0 kts. The wind

is 14 kts apparent from the ESE. Seas are 2-4 feet

and the weather is clear and  dry. All well on

board and we might do some fishing today.

Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu

Our time in Vanuatu is almost at an end. We did the check out paperwork cha-cha today and it worked out that is little country has the highest fees for entering and leaving that we have encountered so far. We are fueled up and provisioned to leave at dawn tomorrow. This is a short run to Noumea, New Caledonia of 360 miles and we should be in on Monday morning.
Despite all the fees and silliness we did enjoy Vanuatu. The volcano on Tanna was unforgettable and Port Villa was also very pleasant, especially the restaurants. L'Housetelet was a little piece of France and Chill was really good for lunch overlooking the harbor.
Jessica will post position reports over the next couple of days.

Port Vila Photos

The Mele Waterfalls made for an excellent and vigorous day
I don't think these handholds would be approved by CAL-OSHA


The Port Vila Cruising Yacht Club at sunset. A Yachtie watering hole
The Admiral and friend
View of Hideaway island. Allegedly good diving but when we were there it was overcast and rolly
spectacular waterfalls
The resort at havanah harbor

An example of bislama, the pidgin english spoken by the Vanuatans
The National Cultural Museum
Hat Island, off Efate

Port Vila, Efate Island, Vanuatu

We have spent the past week or so on the hook in the outer

harbor exploring the  rest of the island. We walked all

over the town of Port Vila and visited the  national

cultural museum. We also did a tour of the island by car

and had lunch  at a resort in the spectacular Havannah

Harbor in the north west. There were  some beautiful

beaches and rivers in an unspoiled environment. We had a

new  experience early Sunday morning, namely a magnitude

7.1 earthquake which struck  near Efate at about 0530H,

while on the boat. It was immediately obvious what it 

was and the noise and shaking were not too dissimilar to

that on land.  Fortunately, there was no tsunami. Yesterday,

we went to the Mele Waterfalls  which required a 20 minutes

climb on some interesting trails through rushing  water

from the falls. The weather is a little unsettled at the

moment but looks  like it will improve by the weekend and

we should be able to leave for New  Caledonia by then.

Photos

Mele Island, Efate, Vanuatu

We left Port Vila yesterday and we are now anchored up outside a resort called mele Island where they have a marine reserve and a live reef that is reported to have excellent diving.
I also got the opportunity to test out my repair on the propeller shaft brake which stopped working on this last leg to Efate. It would no longer stop the prop shaft from turning while sailing causing wear on the transmission. We got the boat up to six and a half knots in light air and it seems to be holding fine until I can get some new parts in Oz.
This anchorage is quite rolly and weather is again cloudy so we may move on to the north west of the island of Efate today or tomorrow.