On Saturday, May 17, at 7:30 a.m., we left the Denarau Marina in western Fiji, bound for Vanuatu. We motored out of the Navula Pass with the main up. We motored for a couple more hours after exiting the pass. Once we left the wind shadow of Viti Levu, we turned off the motor and sailed on a broad reach on the rhumbline, with one reef in the main at first and a second reef put in before dark. The waves were 2-3 meters. The wind in the high teens and twenties. During the night, we got pushed more to the south to avoid having to jibe. Also during the night, a booby bird crash landed into the cockpit, right next to where I was sitting at the helm. I shrieked before I realized what it was. It used its wings to slowly climb out of the hole between two rails, then stood stunned on the BBQ. I nudged it to fly before I realized that it was injured. The next morning I found blood all over the BBQ cover and parts of the cockpit. I just hoped it wasn’t too badly injured.
On Sunday, conditions were improved but the waves were still big. We continued to be forced more south. Because we were on such a broad reach and the waves were so big, the jib kept collapsing. So we put the spinnaker pole up and ran the jib sheet through it, which helped the jib keep its shape. The wind was in the high teens and low twenties.
On Monday, May 19, the wind and the seas moderated. We pulled down the main and put up a second jib, with the sheet running through the back of the boom, which allowed us to run downwind. That meant that we no longer needed to worry about the main accidentally jibing and we could point more toward our destination. However, by that evening, we didn’t have enough wind. We had to take the second jib down and motor sail with the regular jib on the pole. When we turned on the motor, we also changed navigation lights, only to discover that the running lights weren’t working. We would troubleshoot them later, but for the night, we used our masthead tricolor, as if we were powered by sails alone.
On Tuesday, after motoring all night, we arrived in Port Resolution on Tanna Island in Vanuatu. It was mid-morning. Rhapsody, who left Denarau right after we did, was already in the anchorage. And RaLa, who left Vuda Marina a couple of hours behind us, entered the anchorage about an hour ahead of us. There were more than ten boats in the anchorage that had already checked in, many of whom had come up from New Zealand.
We had prior approval to check into Port Resolution, and the officials were there. They radioed us to come ashore, so we put the dinghy in the water and headed to the beach. All three boats checked in rather quickly. The officials were very friendly, giving the impression that they liked their jobs and that they liked having the yachts visit.
One doesn’t get much sleep on a passage, so after tidying up the boat and having beers on RaLa, we turned in early for a good night’s sleep.
