Category Archives: Vanuatu

Australia to Vanuatu, Blog, Sailing Trips, South Pacific, Vanuatu

Across to Port Vila Efate Vanuatu

Leave a comment

We left Ouvea the north most of the Loyalty Islands early one morning to start our trip north east across to Port Vila in Vanuatu. We picked our day which seemed to be the best of the bunch with winds predicted of 15-20 knots. As soon as we headed out the winds were already blowing 25 knots which remained for most of our trip, frequently blowing up to 30 and more. We struggled to keep on course what with the wind trying to blow us off and also the confused seas which were coming into the side of us. PredictWind this time had got it a little wrong and we had a boisterous journey for the whole 30 hour crossing.

The nights were especially uncomfortable as there was no moonlight, normally you get a little light from it helping you see any hazards along the way. With no light you stare into the darkness occasionally looking around and over you shoulder to see if you can see any other ships lights, staring into blackness not knowing if there is something 100 meters away or a few miles away is not nice.

No photos of the journey I’m afraid, too busy holding onto my hat !!

We were pleased to get into Port Villa harbour early afternoon the next day and everybody was pleased with an early night, nothing crashing, bashing, or falling off waves as we slept !

The next day we went to find the Immigration office and checked in. We had already cleared Customs and Quarantine which was a quick affair the day before. We signed some forms, paid some cash and jobs done !

It was good to be back in Vanuatu, the people were polite and friendly as ever. As you walked down the street every so often you would here somebody say ‘hello’, not just the normal ‘hello’ but the ‘heelllooo’ like they really meant it !

It was about 3 months since the cyclone had hit and there was only a few scares left behind. Some tin roofs were still bent, some old boats were washed up against the island opposite and some debris still lay around. Allthough Port Vila had been hit quite bad they had quickly repaired a lot of the damage and carried on with their lives – what else could they do ?

Monohull smashed against a jetty on Iririki island –

WP_20150701_016

Two more sail boats washed up on the shore –

WP_20150701_003

Power boat nearby –

WP_20150701_009

Port Vila harbour –

WP_20150620_004

20150619_102749

20150619_102734

 

Blog, New Zealand To Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Sailing Trips, South East Asia, South Pacific, Vanuatu

Vanuatu to PNG. 20th June to 1st July.

1 Comment

The forecast for the next few days didn’t look great for sailing and we had to decide whether we could risk going to the Solomon Islands, problem with it was the fact it could take a while to get there and we could get stuck there with little or no winds. We decided that we could not risk it and would be better to head straight for Papua New Guinea.

Even though the weather forecast wasn’t great we returned to the boat thursday lunchtime and found the wind had increased in the bay so normally is slightly better outside the bay. The decision was made to leave there and then so we got the boat ready and headed out around lunchtime for PNG.

The destination was Port Morsby which was around 1250 miles away, this was the port where we would have to check in for Customs, Immigration, etc. Well, 1250 miles later and 12 days at sea we arrived in PNG. It was a mixed crossing with some good winds, sometimes lack of winds, occasional choppy seas or pleasant bright skies. It became slightly tiresome around day 6 when there was very little wind and there was no good news on the weather forecast.

We changed route slightly and headed west to pick up some wind which worked for us, we sailed most of rest of the way and made a great last day sailing averaging 6 knots for about 20 hours solid.

We got into PNG mid afternoon on monday 1st July, it was a tricky entrance as the seas had large swells about 4 meters high and winds blowing 25 knots. There is a reef that runs around the entrance to Port Moresby so you have to be very aware when entering what your exact location is. One of the marker bouys was of course missing which made it more tricky than it should have been. We sheltered inside the marina entrance at the Royal Papua Yacht Club and dropped anchor, the longest sail I’ve done so far was completed.