Passage from New Zealand to Vanuatu

Leaving NZ was a fast and furious decision and we didn’t get a chance to conect with everyone before we left.  Personally I didn’t feel ready but the weather looked right and we just couldn’t wait.  Our time to travel through Vanuatu was already cut short due to the fact that we need to stop in New Caledonia to apply for our visas at the Indonesian consulate for the Indonesian Rally.  But Vanuatu was on both our lists of places we wanted to see so off we go!

Backstory:  Right before we left Opua, NZ we met Frank (captain) and Ivonne (crew) from SV Another Adventure.  They were headed to Vanuatu the same time we were and we decided to quasi-buddy boat.  Frank had informed me about the Gulf Harbor Radio net on the single sideband (SSB) radio so we were able to connect while underway.  Frank has been to Vanuatu multiple times and he has been a wealth of knowledge for us.  The fit was great and we have been sailing together throughout our time in Vanuatu.

but back to the passage…

Day 1 and 2– We untied the lines around noon on Thursday May 5^th and just made it out of the Bay of Islands as it was getting dark.  We had light winds but sunny and partly cloudy skies.  We set sails and pole to catch the wind from our quarter aft and headed slightly east of our rumb line.  10-15 knots and slow sailing but it felt good to be out.  We even saw 2 huge albatross fly by us….not sure if that is a good sign or not…we have heard both.  We were getting use to our night watch schedules again, which is never really fun, but by the 3^nd day, we decided to turn on our motor.

Day 3 – shit hits the fan…the eve of night 3 was when the problems began.  First we realized one of our battens on our main sail was starting to come out of it’s pocket.

We also had an addition to the crew, named Skittles, who flew into our boat seeking refuge…we assumed.  We were hundreds of miles from land and there is no real good explanation why this little guy was so far out as it could not land in the water (you could tell by its feet or whatever you call them).  He must have been caught in a big wind that blew him away and had been flying ever since.  You could tell he was exhausted and his breathing was fast.  He finally settled down in our cockpit and we set out water and seeds for it (have no idea what this thing eats, seeds vs. insects but either way he was having none of it).  Unfortunately, he literally dropped dead at about 10pm from where he was perched.  We had a small ceremony for him when we changed shifts…I cried a bit, maybe not so much for the bird but just of grief of leaving awesome friends and loved ones back home.  It was defiantly a transition for me, small as it is (small things become big things on a boat).  Trevor memorialized Skittles by saying a few words: “What come from the sea goes to the sea, go be a rainbow of fruit flavors for another creature.”……poetic I know!

Day 4 – Skittles death must have been a sign because the eve of day 4 our engine started to overheat, our fridge stopped working, and my computer crashed all in about the same hour….of course it was about midnight when we realized all of this.

But during the day, we had a nice downwind sail…at least we had that going for us : )

Day 5- fixing the issues – sailing again, the trade winds kicked in and we were traveling pretty fast.  We had about 15-20 knots of wind with gusts up to 25…Flo loves these conditions and she performed well going about 7-8 knots GPS speed.

Day 6-7- we got in touch with SV Another Adventure and they had decided to make landfall at a southern island named Anatom due to the possible weather conditions at Tanna Island, just north of Anatom island.  Originally we both were headed to Tanna Island where the active volcano is but the anchorage there can get rolly and uncomfortable, possibly not safe, if the winds aren’t right.  So we changed direction and reefed (reduced sails) to slow down to arrive at Anatom island by daylight.

We heard from SV Another Adventure (they were ahead of us by about 50 miles) and they decided they would pass Anatom Island and head to our original anchorage at Tanna Island as they were approaching Anatom Island anchorage at night, something we don’t do, especially if it’s a new place for us.  So we raised all the sails and started to point more east to navigate around Anatom island and make landfall in Tanna.  We now needed to make landfall at daylight, an extra 40 miles so we were jamming 7-9 knots!  The rig however, was squeaking and squalling and we could tell we were putting a lot of strain on her.

We finally had Tanna Island in sight…..

Problems not over yet!!!! We were close to the anchorage and we were dropping our sails when Trevor realized the steering wheel (remember back in Opua we completely changed out our steering system?) wouldn’t “budge” and would get stuck at about 15 degrees either port to starboard turns.  Something was wrong!  All we had to steer with was the autohelm to anchor with so that was the plan, hoping we had enough room in the anchorage and space, all was a mystery to us.

However, as soon as we were safe around the point and into the anchorage, the steering was fine…and the engine didn’t overheat at a lower RPM.  But….we realized a few of our main sail mast slides rusted out and were missing; a small tear in the sail, and our handrail on our dodger/bimini had popped off.

Originally, we were so excited to visit this country but when we arrived, we felt pretty deflated as we limped our boat into the bay on Thursday May 10th….but moments after we arrived we were greeted by the kind and friendly local fisherman and our spirits were back on high once again…it’s a roller coaster out here…lots of lows and lots of highs….rarely do we spend time in the middle and if we do it’s really on purpose.

So glad to be anchored…we had a great weather window and sail to Vanuatu…unfortunately we had lots of issues as well which took away from some of the enjoyment of such a great sailing passage. I don’t remember having so many issues in one passage but I guess it’s our time to have them, even after all the work we have done on the rig.  We couldn’t of predicted these problems previously as things just “wear out” or break but all is well and it’s time to explore the this wild and untouched place…Vanuatu!

No internet, remote villages, chiefs and local politics…all up next…oh and did we mention a VOLCANO?!