Left at 8 o’clock in the morning to head for Luganville on the Island of Espiritu Santo. It was a steady sail in overcast weather which was actually quite nice being out of the heat of the sun. Our fishing luck changed and Brian caught another Mahi Mahi even before he had a chance to put the rod into the rod holder !! This happened soon after we had left the island entrance, Poraic filleted the fish and the freezer was topped up with fish once again. A good size fish makes 7-8 meals for 4 people so saves a lot of money on food.

We arrived in Luganville Bay and found the anchorage at around 4 o’clock. Weather was overcast but warm, think we’re staying here for the weekend as we need to check out of Vanuatu with Customs and Immigration so will have to be done on monday.

We had stayed in Port Sandwich another day due to the fact of liking the place so much. There really isn’t much here apart from a couple of simple villages and lots of friendly locals. We took the dingy out in the morning as we were going to try and get up one of the rivers that ran from the harbour inlet. Despite our best efforts we couldn’t see any safe passage into them and some we couldn’t even find, i think the locals were the only ones who knew the safe routes so we left it to them.

Me and Brian thought we would try some fishing as there had to be some fish in this inlet. We trawled behind the boat and after a while got a bite but nothing came of it. A few minutes later and the reel was spinning franticly, i started pulling it in but after a while i had the feeling it was lost. I pulled the lure in and it had been smashed nearly in half with loads of teeth marks all down it. We have no idea what it was and never will but could well have been a Barracuda.

We tried fishing a bit more but no luck. We did find out why the kids never jumped from the jetty or swam by the shore though, the inlet was apparantly a breeding ground for sharks. Might stop the fishing until we get out into the ocean tomorrow. We also found out that we were only the second yacht in this year, the first being a yacht owned by two French couples who came from New Caledonia, they had only arrived a day before us. It was the start of the yacthing season according to ‘Rocky’. He was a nice guy who had a house nearby, yachties would visit him when in the area, he had an English and French book exchange and you could fill up with some water and use his showers if you wanted. He said he was going to start a yacht club there. Him and his wife had a few huts in the grounds of his house and looked like keen gardeners, they had a large variety of plants and flowers along with chickens/hens/cats, the normal stuff that people kept in their gardens. Poraic noticed a photo of a girl and next to it an Irish address – turns out the girl lives next door to a friend of his !! Small world.

We leave for Port Stanly tomorrow morning, a days sail of around 30 miles.