Passage to Vanuatu

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A lot has been going on.................

well we left Viti Levu (Fji main island) about a week ago and spent a few nights at a chain of islands called the Yasawa's. It was a great way to really bond with the new crewmates cus we were instantly doing a ton of stuff. We sailed into this completely remote bay and anchored there. Then the skipper and the first mate took a gift of Kava root into shore and presented as a gft to the chief of the nearest village called Natawa. The chief then allows us free passage around the island. We were guided up the mountain and summited it, great climbing and views. On the way down we stopped at a waterful where these naive kids were jumping into the pools and joined them. That night we ate on the schooner and invited a bunch of the locals out to tour around and play on this massive rope swing we set up off the bowsprit. In return they nvited us back to the village and performed a fire and knife dance and sat with the chief sharing stories and drnking the Kava. Its like this dirty water drink that tastes like dirty water, it makes your tounge and throat numb. The locals tradtionally sit around dirnking this stuff for hours- they used to use it in their cannbal rituals. Awesome time though. One of the locals did a YWAM DTS in New Zealand and it was great to hang out with him. He had a sound system set up at their small local church which wasn't working right, he showed me the prblem and we were able to set it up dfferently and get it working which was cool.

After the Yasawa's we sailed down through the Mamanuca chain of islands and passed Taverua island where there is another world class surf break called Cloud break, no surfing for us though since its exclusivey owed by a US resort and they'll pull you out of the water if you come close. We sailed out of the Fiji reef and into open water, beautiful evenng and sunset. That night the stars were unreal- the best I've ever seen hands down. Everyone layed out on deck trying to learn the constellations of the southern heishpere- I'm trying to memorize them. The sea got instanly huge when we left the reef and with the sails set we began heading west for Port Vila, Vanuatu on Ifate island. It tooks us about 4 days at sea, all of which were nasty and stormy, unlike the first day. The ocean swells were enormous and the waves many times crashed right across the deck, in these conditons we are alll wearng harnesses and clipped into lines. The boat rocks so violently many times the gunnels in the sides are under water- its so awesoe to experience these conditions. Up in the loft above the riggng the swayng is magnified and it was like the rde of my life. I am happy to say I've had no sea sickness and acclimatized extraordinarily well- even eating and working down below and not feeling sick. My bunk s in the hold- pretty comfy, made and strung up hammocks for all my gear wich sways back in forth above me. Each night we have 4 hours of watch duty, which entails setting sails and steering at like 2am. That boat is very hard to keep moving in a straight line in those big seas, but we're responsible.

We always have fishing lines out and have caught a ton of deep water game fish. Our cooks are unreal and instanlty whip up sashem and sushi snacks for us whenever we catch anything. All the other meals are awesome as well.

We got into Port Vila Vanuatu today, cleared customs and quarantine, then hit the town. This is a banking centre so kinda reminds me of the Caymans though smaller and more jungley and mountanous, yet with all the yachts and resort stuff. A couple of us got jetskis and toured around the bay and did donuts around the tallship which is anchored, and sprayed people on board. Got lots of sweet video and footage. Spent the rest of ths afternoon windsurfing.

Apparently we are in the cyclone danger zone, so we're heading north pretty fast to the Solomon islands. Its a shame though cos this place is totally rad and we have little time to explore. They even have 5 surf spots that I'm not going to get to see. We leave Port Vila tomorrow at first light and head towards 2 other Vanuatuan islands; Ambrym and Espiritu Santo. Both are very remote have live volcanoes and lots of tribal groups. They reported that they were still eating people back in the 1980's. I hope to do some scuba diving as there is a ton of WW2 dive sites. One is off a place called Million Dollar Point where the US gov't drove a buch of tanks, jeeps and wartime equipment off into the ocean when the war was over, apparently yo can go and sit insde them. Lots of Japanese sunken planes and ships too. Once we are into the Solomons we are out of the Coral Sea, whch is where the cyclone danger is.

I'm having a great time. Looks like we are going to be spendng all of November in the Solomon islands and then December in the outer islands of Papua New Guinea . Everyone on board s totally awesome- great comrades in adventure. I'll try to get online in those places

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