Monday 10  June, Vanuatu  17:15.7S  168 10.7E 

Today’s Blog by David (Time zone BST +10.00; UTC +11.00)

Having been chastised for failing to keep the blog up to date,  herewith a compendium update covering the last few days. The trouble with cruising is that when you get somewhere there is so much to do!

Arriving in Vanuatu on Wednesday afternoon – ahead of expectation – did not speed up the process of clearing in given that Customs closed at 16.00. So we anchored in the quarantine anchorage until the Biosecurity officer arrived on board around 8.30 the following day.  Having relived us of a circa £25 fee he allowed us to keep all of our food provided it stays on board (thus revealing a curious ignorance of bodily processes) and then announced that the Customs Officers would not be visiting the boat because their launch’s engine had broken. Therefore Mohammed had to go to the mountain.

To be fair, the whole inward clearance process was  quite efficient and was completed by about 11.00am but then we had to wait for the tide to get us over the bar into our mooring.  We were tied up on our berth by 15.00.

The team had a brief tour of the town, securing communications (local SIM card for data and voice) and checking on supply sources for provisions.  Friday saw us complete  the Lonely Planet walking tour of Port Vila complete with museum tour.

The museum was interesting because it confirmed that cannibalism was still common at the turn of the 20^th Century – so…. not quite in living memory. The museum had a National Geographic film presented by David Attenborough – we guess about 35 years ago – where he is exploring the spiritual/voodoo culture of tribes on the island of  Malakula which was quite an eye opener particularly in contrast with down town Port Vila (which resembles Neiafu, Tonga).

The museum curator entertained us with some traditional sand drawings, each of which took about 3-5 minutes to prepare. For example:

The walk round town was otherwise uneventful. That afternoon was spent provisioning and doing routine maintenance.  Here are a couple pictures of the flower stall in the market.

When the locals got fed up with eating each other, or the occasional tourist, they clearly developed a taste for beef because Vanuatu is supposed to be THE place in the pacific to eat it.  We had two steak dinners in Port Vila – the second, we each had an eye fillet, was really very good.

Saturday was a free day; David went scuba diving and the team visited the beach at Pango point. The diving was OK, but not special although the wreck dive included the opportunity of a tea break:

Ted returned from the beach with  a souvenir he plans to take home for Jane. To the uninitiated, it looks like a bit of old drift wood that he picked up somewhere but to the cognoscenti it is a work of art formed from the bow of a wrecked native canoe.  I could try and sneak a photo of it but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for Jane.

We left Port Vila on Sunday Morning and sailed for about three hours to stop for lunch near  Pauls Rock which is a pinnacle surrounded by 30 metres of water  Here the snorkelling was every bit as good as – in fact better than - the diving the day before:

After lunch, we went on to the Hillyard Channel on the north of the island of Efate. Here we had a peaceful night and anchor, the idyll broken only by with a remote controlled model helicopter which a couple of loud Americans on the boat next door sent careering around the anchorage.

Up very early this morning for a 60 mile passage on to the island of Epi where we hope to swim with Dugongs. I have not heard of these before so I await the opportunity with bated breath ….. and a charged battery on my camera.

So – that is about it. We have been going about three and a half hours – we are reaching at 8.5 knots the crew are dozing on deck in the sunshine (for at last it has appeared these last two days) and so all is well with the world………….

Except that this morning I found that the alternator on the main engine is not charging the domestic battery bank. Not exactly a crisis because we have a generator – but not ideal either. More of that later, I expect.

David Caukill

Yacht Serendipity

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