We’ve been continuing our passages northwards through the islands, sailing from Port Vila to Mele Bay and then Havannah Harbour on Efate island, then onwards to Emae, Epi, the Maskelynes and Malekula, with a little side trip to Ambrym. We’re now in Luganville, Espiritu Santo, grabbing a rare moment of connectivity.
The trade winds have been kind to us and we’ve been having huge success getting to grips with our new weather planning system, pairing Predict Wind’s weather information with the Iridium Go. More on this in later posts but for now I’ll simply say that it’s revolutionised the way that we cruise and means it’s no problem that we might have a good 30 days or more between internet access spots as we now have weather at our fingertips!
Everyone on board is adjusting back to life in the tropics. Our days are full of swimming, snorkelling and gorging on fresh papayas. We’ve spotted dolphins, turtles and dugongs, made small talk with village chiefs, traded for provisions with folks on visiting canoes and even anchored at the foot of a volcano. We’re also back into a rhythm of day-sailing, doing a passage and then stopping for a day or two, and allowing for people and places to derail our plans whenever it feels right.
Rocket and Indigo cause a flurry amongst the ni-Vanuatu whenever we go ashore, with gangs of children small and large clamouring to touch their hair, faces and hands or kiss them and pick them up. For the most part our small fry cope with all the attention really well, taking it in their stride, even when really they just want to race hermit crabs on the beach.
Here are some more images of the islands to give you a better idea of our days.
