The Passage From Fiji To Vanuatu

 After checking out with customs in Lautoka, Fiji, Twister sailed off the anchor around noon on Wednesday the 23rd of May and headed south towards the 4 navigable passes on the southern end of the Mamanuca Islands barriers reefs. With 15 knots on the beam, she was galloping along at 5.5 to 6 knots (and since we were still inside the barrier reefs, there was little swell).  I elected to go through Wilkes Passage and have a last look at the break we had surfed a few days before. Outside the reefs, the open ocean swells began and the wind increased to about 25 knots. I turned westward and dropped the main as we were now going almost straight downwind. I did not use the main again on this passage except for one ill-conceived and short-lived attempt at going wing-and-wing (sail combination for going downwind where the jib and mainsail are on opposite sides) in confused, lumpy seas a few days later.

It was an uneventful passage. With only the jib up, going downwind with swells from several directions, Twister was rolling (rocking left and right) and yawing (going on a zigzag course) quite a bit. One day three, a very determined Boobie tried to land on the mast and then on Horny (the wind-vane autopilot). Like others before, he (or she?) failed due to Twister’s rolling and yawing. Earlier the same day, I sailed within 20 meters of a drifting buoy (perhaps one of the drifting buoys deployed by oceanographic research vessels to study ocean currents).

            On the afternoon of day 4, I spotted Efate Island. I could’ve sailed into Port Vila that night, but decided to heave to (ie park the boat by backing the jib to make the boat drift slowly downwind) until the morning when we tacked though the pass into the harbor and dropped the anchor in the quarantine anchorage. 

Now I've been in Port Vila for 4 days. It's a nice town. Seems relatively affluent by South Pacific Standards. There are a lot of expats. Most seem to be from Australia. There are numerous kava bars (called Nakamals). Well, they don't actually look like bars. They are usually simple structures with a thatched roof. A 50 mL portion is 50 vatu (ca 50 US cents) and 100 mL is 100 vatu. I have found that about 400 mL is about the point when my legs begin to have trouble responding to commands from my brain. The nakamals open around 1530 in the afternoon and many locals and expats attend religiously.

I had originally planned to sail to Tanna Island, and many people have told me it's not to be missed. Alas, I don't have it in me to sail back upwind to get there this time. My goal for this year, is to sail to South Africa, and I won't fret about passing some islands by (this time). 

I expect to be here another week and then set sail for Alotau in Papua New Guinea (PNG). I have been toying with the idea of bypassing PNG and heading directly for the Torres Strait, but that would be a long passage at over 1500 nautical miles.