M.

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We made such good time during the past 3 days, that we have reduced sail in an effort to slow down so that we do not get to the entrance of Moreton Bay before sunrise on Thursday. We have some current pushing us along so it is hard to slow the boat down. We have no main up, and reefs in the small jib and mizzen and we are still doing 7 knots.

Our current position is

South 25 degrees 24.85 minutes
East 157 degrees 20.62 minutes

at 0300 UTC, 20 October.

Laura moderates an SSB net with six other boats (Priscilla, Harmonie, Memphis, Wombat of Sydney, Morning Light, and Marnie). All of these boats left Noumea within a few hours of Sabbatical III and all, save Wombat, are headed to Brisbane. An hour ago Harmonie appeared in the distance off of our starboard quarter. She is an Amel Super Maramu identical to Sabbatical III.

We should be at the Rivergate Marina in Brisbane by noon Thursday, local time.

M.

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We filled up with duty-free diesel, baquettes, and "passage food." We got out long underwear out of storage and checked out all boat systems. We will send updates en route,

M.

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The water was so clear, that even from the top Laura spotted a big group of large fish swimming in the shallow water right next to our dinghy. As we descended part way down the hill, she declared the fish to be sharks, an idea that I immediately dismissed. The water was too shallow and the group of fish was too numerous to be sharks. Laura vision is keener that mine -- they were sharks. At least a dozen blacktipped sharks cruising just behind the dinghy, which was parked in the only bit of beach on Ilot Mato. They were not too big - ranging from 3 - 5 feet - but big enough that walking into the water to launch the dinghy seemed unwise. Blacktipped sharks do not go after humans, but we still not wish to venture into a shark convention uninvited. The presence of the sharks may explain the absence of sea snakes, and the dead one on the beach. I would rather swim with a blacktipped shark than a creepy seasnake, so bon appetit sharks!

After a few minutes, we realized that the sharks were not leaving anytime soon. We threw some rocks into the water but that did not seem to scare the sharks away. Finally, we decided it would be best to push the dinghy into the water from the edge of the beach and then leap in. Laura did a perfect dive from the beach into the dinghy and seeing the dinghy float away, I dove as well, grabbing onto to a tube. When we started the outboard motor, the sharks moved back a few feet but did not leave the area. They are persistent.

After Intiaq left us three days ago, we had two days of storms followed by a day of high winds and sunshine. There were a number of wind shifts, typically from NE to SW and then back, which set off the anchor alarm (GPS-based proximity alarm) and kept us a little bit on the alert. Sabbatical III is anchored in a relatively narrow pass between two long coral reefs situated to the east of the small, uninhabited Ilot Mato. If we drag anchor here, we will be hard up on a reef very quickly. The photograph shows it well.

There was also another tsunami alert which we missed altogether. An earthquake in Vanuatu prompted the alert that led officials here in New Caledonia to sound horns and send text messages to cell phones. We have a New Caledonia cell phone but we did not get a text message, and we are too far from civilization to hear a horn. Schools were evacuated along the east coast of Grande Terre and on the nearby Loyalty Islands. We were blissfully unaware and there is little that we could have done had we heard the alert. It would have taken us too long to get our anchor up and move into open water given the shortness of the warning. Our friends on Intiaq heard the warning at Ilot Amadee and were able to head out into open water. (As it turned out, the tsunami wave was only 1 foot tall, and was not felt.) We first heard about the tsunami in an email from my sister Fran. So, if you hear of some danger coming our way, please let us know.

M.

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We sailed down to Ile Mata (S 22 33.2, E 166 47.7) yesterday to meet up with our friends on Intiaq. They have guests on board - Karin's brother Gert and sister-in-law Lulu from France - and they have been sailing around to various anchorages since we last saw them a few weeks ago. At first glance, the tiny little island of Mata, with beautiful turquoise and green water inside a nice protected anchorage surrounded by reefs, seemed absolutely perfect. It turns out to have one very unattractive quality however .. an overabundance of sea snakes both on land and in the water.

After a wonderful lunch onboard Intiaq yesterday afternoon, we dinghied over to shore to check out the little beach when we noticed one big fat snake wriggling its way up from the water across the beach. It was about 6 feet long and a good three inches in circumference Then five minutes later we saw two more snakes sunning themselves in the rocks by the beach, and then another smaller snake joining his big friend on the beach. After seeing yet another in the water, we decided it was time to hop quickly back into the dinghy and get back to the boat where there are, at least to our knowledge, no snakes at all. It would not be too bad if the snakes were not venomous, but they are. At least they are not aggressive. We have seen quite a few snakes here this year, but nothing like on little Ile Mata.

Before coming here we spent a night on Ile Amadee. Amadee is well known here for its magnificent 56 meter high lighthouse built in Paris in 1862, taken apart and shipped here to be reassembled on the island. Amadee is also a huge tourist destination because of the beautiful water and great snorkeling. We normally don't like to go to places with lots of tourists, but decided to sail over to have a look. We were really lucky to have gone on a Monday, because it turns out that none of the tour boats run on Monday and we had the whole place to ourselves. The only other person there was a young man who acts as a watchman for the place. He opened the door to the magnificent lighthouse and let us climb up to the top. From there we had an incredible view of the island, the surrounding reefs, and the hills and mountains of Grande Terre.

The snorkeling at Ilot Amadee was unlike anything we have seen to date. The whole lagoon is teeming with fish, who are apparently very smart and have learned that this is the place to be if you want to be fed. There is a glass bottom boat that runs several times a day every day of the week (except Mondays luckily) and they feed the fish from it. So when we were snorkeling all the fish came over to see if we had any hand-outs. There was just an amazing number of beautiful fish of all shapes and sizes and fantastic colors. It felt a little artificial, and we don't really like the idea of fish being trained to receive food from humans, but I have to admit it was a pretty overwhelming visual experience. I couldn't help but keep humming the tune "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid the whole time I was in the water. It looked like a scene that could only be choreographed by Disney.

Last week-end was spent back in the dock at Noumea, cleaning the boat, re-provisioning the boat (yes, more food for us!) and visiting with other cruisers on the dock. We met the most interesting Japanese single-handed sailor. He has a tiny boat that goes very slowly and he is just wandering around the world while his wife and daughter continue living in Japan. His last trip was 50 days at sea! That is 2.5 times longer than our longest sail to date. I really can not imagine it. His English was very minimal, but we managed to have a 2 hour conversation with him over beers on our boat. I am not sure we totally understood each other, but we did enjoy it very much.

Just to fill in the gaps in our blog (for our own record) we also stopped in a few places after leaving Ilot Puen. Puen is the island where we met Donny, the island caretaker who gave us sea-shells and venison. We had stayed in Puen all week-end enjoying the calm anchorage and the beautiful hiking. On Monday, the 28th of September we returned to Tenia for a few nights . Tenia is not a good place to be on a week-end as it draws many power-boats from the nearby mainland. By Monday it is empty again. The weather was fine, but there was a big swell in the anchorage which made it a little rocky on the boat and somewhat difficult to snorkel.

One day we went out but found it was too rough to get in the water near the reef drop-off (where the bigger, more interesting fish hang out) so we swam in the shallower parts of the reef. It was not bad, but there were a few large snakes there so we did not stay long. The next day conditions were better for snorkeling so we returned to the deeper water drop-off and found the same wonderful spot to snorkel that we had been in a few days earlier with huge grouper and other fish all around. We always drop the dinghy anchor in shallow water in a clear, sandy spot and then hop off it to snorkel. I always let Mark get off first to be sure the coast is clear. This time he hopped off and announced that there was a large shark lying on the sand just under the boat. I kind of thought he was kidding but found it was true. It was a large zebra shark (not dangerous) and he seemed to be sleeping as he did not move when we got into the water and he was still there when we returned from our swim 45 minutes later.

On September 20th we left Tenia and sailed to Ile Ronhua, a tiny little uninhabited island on the way back to Noumea. It was on the way to Ronhua that we heard the warning about the tsunami. There was just a single announcement on the VHF radio, and in very poor English. It was enough, however, to get our attention. Fortunately nothing and no one in New Caledonia was affected by the tsunami.

Ile Ronhua is really tiny - it takes about 8 minutes to walk around it, but it has a fairly extensive reef around it which makes it a decent anchorage for prevailing southeast winds. Just across from Ronhua is the western side of the much larger island of Hugon. We dinghied over there (about ½ mile) and right away found a beautiful (although slightly cracked) Nautilus shell. We ended up finding a few more there as well, but somehow managed to totally zone out and leave the best one on the beach. Maybe it will be there next year if we return?

We had just one more stop on the way back to Noumea -- the very lovely and protected anchorage of Maa.

Today is the first day in weeks that we have not had sunshine and clear skies. It is grey, cool and stormy, but the anchorage is very comfortable. Intiaq left and once again it is just Sabbatical III alone at anchor. We look forward to catching up with friends next week when boats start congregating in Noumea for their trips to Australia and New Zealand. Over the next few weeks most cruisers will leave New Caledonia for one of those two destinations and we will be among them.

L.

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At about 10 am, Radio Noumea annulled the warning. On our side of the island, we never saw anything untoward. We called "Intiaq" on the cell phone. They are about 100 miles away in Ile de Pines, which is much more exposed to ocean waves coming from the northeast. They were underway as well and said that saw nothing that looked like a tsunami. We have not heard if there was any damage on the northeast coast of Grande Terre on in the Loyalties, or, for that matter, anywhere else, as we have no access to general news.

Anyway we are safely anchored off of Ile Ronhua in moderate tradewind conditions and about to have our lunch.

M.

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We are about to spend our third night anchored on the north side of Ile Puen. Before talking about this place, let me get up to date with our other stops.

On Tuesday, September 22 we left Ilot Kouen for Ilot Tenia, about 25 miles further up the west coast of New Caledonia. Ilot Tenia differs from other small islands in the lagoon in that it is right up against the fringing reef that encircles New Caledonia. Like Ilot Kouen, it is uninhabited but busy on weekends when French-Calendonians take to their boats.

On arrival, there was only one other sailboat at anchor -- "Robyn's Nest" with our friends John and Chris plus Chris' visiting friend Karen from Calgary. They had us over for drinks and chicken curry that evening and told us where to snorkel the next day. John likes Ilot Tenia because he can surf in the adjacent Passe de Saint Vincent in the morning, and kiteboard in the lee of Ilot Tenia in the afternoon when the wind rises.

On Wednesday, we headed out in our dinghy through a small gap in the reef to snorkel (in full wet suits) near where the ocean meets the fringing reef. It was quite spectacular, with many large fish including big groupers, a school of humpheads, a Spanish mackerel, and a black-tipped shark. We sat on the beach of the island for a few minutes to enjoy the sunset but were attached by a swarm of mosquitoes, the effects of which we still feel.

We planned on staying a few days at Tenia, but weird weather Thursday induced us to leave. Every day since we left Noumea, we have had nothing but blue skies, low humidity and sunshine, until Thursday morning. It was sunny and cool (68 degrees F) early in the morning, but there was a line of gray clouds, and what looked like fog or rain, in the distance. Within the hour, a cold front pushed through turning the boat around 180 degrees in a wind shift, a freshening breeze, choppy seas, but just a trace of rain. Ilot Tenia is a very unprotected anchorage, so after waiting a bit hoping that the dark clouds and "fog" would dissipate, we decided to head to Ile Puen, where there is a protected place to anchor. As we prepared the boat for the short sail to Ile Puen, we noticed that the decks were covered in red dirt. As it turns out, the "fog" was a huge dust storm that came off of the Australian outback, passed over Sydney (delaying flights), and made its way 1000 miles to Ne
w Caledonia. It was all over the news here and seems to be unprecedented.

Ile Puen is a privately owned island, and we needed to ask permission to come ashore. On landing the dinghy, we were greeted by a large extended family of French-Caledoniens ("Caldoche") with a ramshackle weekend home. There were a dozen children, ranging in age from 1 to 18 years, running around a having a good time. We were also introduced to the "proprietor" of the island, Donnie, who lives a 100 meters away. They were all so friendly and excited to meet "les Americains." The Caldoche, who settled in New Caledonia in the 1800's, are quite fond of Americans. As we settled into tea and cake with them, they said how the Caldoche appreciate what the Americans did in saving them from Japanese occupation during the war, and also saving France from the Germans. Not something we expected to hear, even though we have seen the small park honoring the US just next to the Port Moselle marina in Noumea.

Donnie gave us a large rump of freshly shot deer and, after seeing the imperfect shells Laura was collecting on the beach, he have her a perfect nautilus shell -- quite a rarity.

Yesterday and today we hiked around the island in brilliant sunshine. As we ate breakfast in the cockpit, dolphins frolicked nearby.

Tomorrow, we expect to sail back to Ilot Tenia and snorkel some more. Now that Robyn's Nest has headed back to Noumea, Sabbatical III seems to be the only cruising boat around.

M.

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   We have not been keeping up with our blog as well as we hoped. So let me get things caught up briefly.

 We spend three pleasant nights in Baie Ire on Ile Ouen after our passage from Vanuatu. There was no sense in heading to Noumea quickly since it was the weekend and it seemed possible that we would be confined to the boat waiting for immigration, customs, and quarantine. Sometimes officials do not work on weekends.

 On Monday morning (14 Sep) we sailed the 25 miles to Noumea in great conditions and took the last slip available at the visitors dock at Port Moselle, the public marina of Noumea. Clearing in was quick and efficient (but all our pamplemousse and other fresh products were taken, except for ginger).

 Noumea is a modern, bustling French city of 100,000 with cars and buses whizzing along on wide boulevards, patisseries, chocolatiers, boulangeries, and branches of the largest French supermarkets. There is an amazing assortment of cheese, bread, and other treats which we sampled and added to the boat's stores.

 We stayed at Port Moselle for four days, provisioning the boat and doing boat maintenance, plus reading internet email and catching up with academic work. We made use of the free Wifi at McDonald's just two blocks from the marina.

 Friday morning (18 Sep) we sailed off to Ilot Kouen, about 13 miles up the west coast of Grande Terre. The "ilot" is only 100 meters long and 20 meters wide at high tide, perhaps twice that at low. The anchorage is well protected from waves by an extensive coral reef. Unfortunately, the wind has been very strong -- 25 knots and more -- between noon and midnight both days we have been here. We only got off the boat this morning for a swim. In the afternoons, we hide out from the wind in the cockpit and eat a leisurely lunch and read our books. It is Saturday, and six local (French-Caledonian)sailboats have anchored nearby to kite surf and spend the weekend. I imagine they will mostly be gone tomorrow -- heading back to Noumea in a strong wind right on the nose.

 We intend to explore others small ilots along the west coast of Grande Terre over the next few weeks. The water is crystal clear and the coral is healthy and there are lots of fish, plus dolphins and turtles. We only hope that the wind calms a bit.

 M.

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 We arrived safely in New Caledonia yesterday, September 11th, after a 40 hour sail from Vanuatu. As with practically all of our long distance sailing, we paid careful attention to weather forecasts in advance, in order to have as easy a trip as possible... and as often occurs, the weather forecasts just were not right. It is very difficult to forecast weather around here , and all of the islands seem to have their own little weather systems that just can't be predicted. Our sail from Vanuatu to New Caledonia was approximately 300 miles and pretty much in a direction due south. The weather forecast was for two full days of strong, but steady winds from the east and swells of 2 meters, diminishing as we went. A little swing of wind direction from the northeast was even predicted for the second day. This is about the best weather forecast you could ask for to sail south.

 We left Vanuatu at 4:00 p.m on Friday, heading out of Port Vila harbor with our friends Intiaq just behind us. It was absolutely gorgeous out and our first night was moon-lit with moderate seas and good winds from the east. By Saturday morning the skies had completely clouded up and the seas got rougher. By noon the winds started coming more out of the south than the east, which made our progress south more difficult. A large squall blew up and for a couple of hours we had torrential rain and rough seas and winds blowing at more than 30 knots. Not a pretty picture at all. Our friends on Intiaq were about 8 miles ahead of us by this time.

 The winds and swells continued to be much higher than predicted for the rest of the day. By about 9:00 p.m. we sailed past Lifou , one of the Loyalty Islands (part of New Caledonia). We would have liked to stop at Lifou, but since it was already dark, and all of the anchorages were on the opposite side of the island from where we were, we continued on through the 2nd night. Fortunately the seas calmed down a lot from then on, and it became more pleasant. The moon came out of the clouds and lit up the ocean like a spotlight. We had to motorsail most of the night in order to make headway, but it was not choppy or too difficult. By early morning the wind had come up from the north and we had an easy sail the rest of the way,

 By 9 am we were at Passe de Havannah, the channel that leads into the large lagoon of Grand Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. (The lagoon is enormous, with numerous large and small islands scattered throughout it. It is 350 miles at its longest and 35 miles across!) At Passe de Havannah you can have current,wind and waves going against you if you time it wrong- and it can be almost unpassable, with a huge steep chop. We had worked hard, however, to keep up our speed on the passage in order to time our arrival so that we would have the current flowing with us - and with the wind now at our back, our pass through the canal could not have been smoother. We arrived at the same time as Intiaq, who with their 47 foot catamaran, sail faster than us, but who had slowed down to time their arrival for maximum ease of entry. Together we headed to Baie du Prony to drop anchor and rest up for a few days before proceeding to Noumea to check in.

 There are several different spots in Baie du Prony where you can anchor, and it turns out that none of them were suitable for us. The first one we stopped at had good protection from the wind, but the bottom was so full of broken coral that you could not dig your anchor in. When we first tried anchoring there we found that we were not holding well - the anchor just slipping along the bottom of the bay rather than digging in firmly. When we pulled up the anchor we found a HUGE piece of coral just stuck into the anchor and we could not get it off. It had gotten impaled by the anchor. Our friends helped us by hopping into their dinghy and then coming over to us with a rope and some strong hands to help pry the thing off. We retried anchoring twice more - but it was futile. We attempted another anchorage spot in the bay and found that it had good holding (sand, not coral), but it put us too close to shore to be safe.

 We all decided to move a few miles away to another anchorage where there was supposed to be lots of space, no coral, and nice, thick, clay-like bottom to dig your anchor into. Thank goodness we moved, for the anchorage we are currently in is very good. We are at Baie Ire, on the northwest corner of Ile Ouen, just off of Canal (channel) Wooden. The wind picked up and switched around to the south-southwest, and it is blowing like the dickens out there. If we had stayed in the other anchorages, with poor holding, we would most likely have dragged to shore during the night.

 We went to bed very early last night and woke up with the wind howling and the boat bouncing around a lot. One more anchorage change to the other side of the bay at 6:30 a.m., and we are finally feeling comfortable. It is nice to be here - the wind is blowing hard, but the sun is shining, and we are looking forward to eating lunch onboard Intiaq in a few hours. Phew!

 L.

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 The village of Asanvari is well known among yachties because of its extroverted chief, Chief Nelson, and his very charmismatic son, Nixon. The whole village was in mourning, however, because of a terrible tragedy that had just occurred two weeks before we arrived - the death of one of Chief Nelson's sons. It was apparently the third of his sons to have died. They say it is all due to "black magic". It was so sad, and somewhat awkward, to be there as a tourist at such a time. Somehow, however, the village still wanted to continue with many of the planned festivities between the yachts and themselves. I think they count on this annual visit for a fair portion of their income and perhaps they could not afford to forgo it.

  It sounds a bit corny, but the ICA arranged with Chief Nelson to have a little ceremony on Wednesday where each boat was officially adopted by a village family. The families came dressed in their best outfits and presented us all with gifts of fruit and weavings, and even dresses for some of the women - a consistenly unflattering dress called the "mother hubbard" that was introduced to the islands by the missionaries a hundred and fifty years ago. The yachties all brought gifts to their adopted families over the next few days and got to know each other. Our "family" consisted of a husband and wife (Maurice and Katherine) and their children - we were never sure exactly how many children they had, but we did get to know their 12 year old girl Meery, and their 25 year old son, Paul a bit. Meery and her friend Violet accompanied us on a hike up to the top of the hill overlooking their village, and over the top of the beautiful waterfall that flows down to the sea. Meery an
d Violet were barefoot while Mark and I trudged along, slipping on the rocks, even in our hiking boots. We sang songs to each other and had a wonderful time.

  The next day there was supposed to be a dance put on by the locals - a kustom dance - with traditional costumes and very primitive instruments. The young men who usually dance were mourning the death of their friend and did not dance. Only 2 adults and 3 young boys danced - and only for a few minutes. Then they made us a feast - consisting primarily of a very large, and very well cooked pig that they had killed that day. The pig was roasted in the ground for the entire day. Mark and I had actually heard the poor guy squealing his head off just before they disposed of him earlier in the day. I am not too keen on pig - particularly large boars with their heads intact - so I just filled up mainly on rice and some vegetables that were also served. Everyone else was pretty happy about the pig meal. The village arranged for a local "string band" to play and the yachties and the village kids spent a very enjoyable evening dancing together. They offered kava to everyone as w
ellm but after trying a cup of the very potent brew the first night, most of us declined altogether on night two.

 Besides the village activities, Mark and I spent a lot of time snorkeling there. The water was about the clearest we have seen in Vanuatu and had some beautiful crevasses carved out in the rock by underground springs. The boat was sitting in about 60 feet of water and you could see to the bottom as if it were just a few feet deep.

 We decided to leave on Thursday evening as we have to start heading back to Port Villa - which is about 150 miles to the south - and we saw that the winds were right to make at least the first leg of the trip - as far as Epi - an island about halfway between Asanvari and Port Villa. We left at 5:00 p.m. - on an amazingly beautiful evening - and as we sailed away from the island of Maewo, where Asanvari is located, we could understand why some people consider it one of the most beautiful places in Vanuatu. We had a great sail, going past the island of Pentecost and then past Ambrym whose active volcano was clearly visible belching up lava during the night. Mark was on watch and said it was beautiful (I was down below trying to get some sleep). In the morning we sailed into our current bay - on the southern part of Epi. It is a black sand bay, but the water is crystal clear. We thought we would just stay one night, but now we are ending our second day here and will probabl
y stay a third. It is quite lovely. Three guys from the village nearby paddled over today and asked to see our boat. We had them on-board and had an interesting time talking with them. Once again, we received fruit in exchange for clothing and other goods. We had a little train set on board which we gave them for their kids and they were thrilled.

 Our big activity today was changing our sails - we had to take down the large genoa and put up our much smaller blade jib. It is not a bad job, except once you take the sail down, you have to fold it up on the deck and put it away. It is so big and so bulky that it seems impossible to do. Leon and Ricky once helped us do this when we were together in the Caribbean, so they can understand how hard it is. Somehow we managed to do it however, having a good schvitz in the mid-day sun, and now have the correct sail for heading south.

 L.

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 We will depart in less than one hour (at about 5 pm local time, Aug 28) and head south along the west coast of Pentecost and Ambrym Islands. We are expecting east winds of about 15 knots.

 M.

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 We ended up spending 4 nights in Surunda Bay. It is a pretty little bay whose main attraction for us was that it had free internet. We took great advantage of that, catching up on some work related stuff for Mark as well as enjoying seeing the NY Times and finding out what was happening in the world( after reading the news we decided it is better not to look).

 Our friends Mike and Lynn from "Wombat of Sydney" were at the same anchorage and we spent a couple of nice evenings with them. Mark and I met a pleasant 14 year old local boy named Gaston who was selling soft drinks from his family's tiny store by the village of Surunda. (The sign outside advertised ice-cream, but we were not lucky enough to find any in stock). He took us on a little walking tour of the town, including a trip to his family's garden, where he climbed trees to pick us vegies growing from tall vines as well as an assortment of fruits. At the edge of the garden were the remains of a plane from WWII. Surunda was a U.S. airbase during the war.

  On Sunday, the 23rd, we decided it was time to go and with a pretty good weather forecast we headed out to our next destination - the island of Maewo - about 60 miles to the east. We had been waiting for the winds to switch around from the prevailing SE to the south so we could get a good angle for our sail. Friends had headed out on Saturday, and instead of finding south to southeasterly winds at 10-15 knots, they found winds coming much more from the southeast and blowing at up to 32 knots. That makes for a very nasty sail. We ended up being quite lucky as we still had an upwind sail, but the winds were much lighter (about 10-12 knots) and we had a good enough angle to sail almost all the way.

 The tricky part about leaving Surunda was that the anchorage was inside a protective coral reef opening up to the east. The reef had an opening that was easily wide enough for a boat to pass through safely, but without good light you could not see exactly where the reef ended and the clear water started. There were also many coral bombies sticking their nasty little heads up here and there even in the opening. To leave Surunda and get to the next island before dark you had to leave very early , but the problem was that to leave the reef you had to sail east, directly into the rising sun which blinds you from seeing the reef. In addition, at high tide the reef is totally covered with water so you can not even see breakers on it, and there was a morning high tide for the few days around when we wanted to leave.

 We are very cautious with reefs (for apparent reasons), but could see no way to leave Surunda in the conditions we would optimally wait for in that situation: i.e. mid-tide, sun overhead or at our back, so the day before we planned to leave we went out in our dinghy with a portable GPS and mapped out exact locations through the pass that would be safe. We double-checked these marks against our RayMarine Chart Plotter and felt pretty secure about leaving through the pass. At 6:30 a.m. when there was enough light to see, but not too much glare in our eyes, we proceeded slowly out of the anchorage, and safely through the pass (bet you thought we were going to hit it). It was a bit hair-raising.

 We ended up having a terrific sail, and Mark even landed a small, but much desired yellow-fin tuna late in the afternoon. He also caught a mahi-mahi, but it ended up snapping itself right off the hook when Mark tried to pull him into the boat. Those guys are hard to catch. We decided to spend the night at the island of Ambae which we had to pass to get to Maewo. Ambae is a huge volcanic island that you can see from Surunda Bay, and is apparently the island that was the model for James Michener's Bali Hai. Michener was based in Surunda Bay during the war.

 There were 13 boats in the anchorage just around the corner from us in Ambae- all part of a rally put on by the Island Cruising Association (ICA) that comes up from New Zealand every year - and they were all headed to the same anchorage we were going to on Maewo. We are actually members of that association, having joined a year ago so we could join them for a sail between Vanuatu and New Caledonia. We decided to get up really early so that we could get to the anchorage early and secure a good anchoring spot. It is the first time this year that we have been with so many boats. We left the anchorage at first light (about 5:45) and had a bouncy ride the 12 miles into the anchorage at Asanvari - strong wind on the nose, big seas. We were delighted to find three boats here already that we know and like very well - Intiaq (Swiss), Cardea (American) and Mondavi(Italian).

 There are 3 mooring balls in the anchorage here in Asanvari, put up last year by the ICA and because we got here so early we were able to secure one . Normally we like to anchor rather than tie up to a mooring ball, but the anchorage here is very deep and filled with coral on the bottom, so we were happy to get a mooring ball. There are now about 12 boats in the anchorage. Many people consider it the most beautiful in Vanuatu. We can't say that, but it is, indeed, beautiful, with very blue, clear water and a waterfall running down the steep cliffs and into a deep pool just behind us.

 Both Cardea and Mondavi were planning on leaving first thing in the morning, so we had a small party on our boat with them last night which ended up being a lot of fun. Lorenzo (Italian) and Candia (German), the couple on Mondavi, are extremely outgoing and talkative and very funny and between them and Jim on Cardea we had a wonderful time. I made pizzas and everyone drank wine and told hysterical sailing stories. All of the bad and strange things that happen when sailing end up being terrific stories, especially when told by other sailers, whom, we have learned, all have a tendency to exaggerate!

 L.

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 After spending two weeks here in total over the past month, Port Orly has become one of our favorite spots in Vanuatu. Here are some notes to remember for future visits:

 Snorkeling is excellent by the small island as well as in the middle of the bay behind the reef with the wreck on it. Some turtles and rays as well as beautiful coral and the normal Vanuatu tropical fish. (one shark)

 You can anchor safely in a large sandy area between Bucephale Island and Thion Island. There are numerous coral bombies, but most are low and it is easy to find a spot to anchor.

 The water is aquamarine, warm and fantastic for swimming.

 If you take the dinghy all the way across the bay to the west you will find that it leads into a river which is easily navigable by dinghy. You can also kayak once you get inside the river. Up the river about 1/2 a mile is an adorable restaurant, just being completed while we were here. If the two toothless Vanuatu grandfathers who are building it are able to pull it off, it will be a really fun destination for any future visits.

 The anchorage faces Thion Island which has a beautiful little beach that is walkable at all tides - some great shells wash up there.

 The locals sometimes fish nearby, but do not venture close to the boat.

 The village of Port Orly has one restaurant in operation, owned and run by Rosina - worth a stop, even if it does cost about $9 a person (a fortune here). No menu, they just serve you what they have that day.

 The villagers seemed unfriendly at first, but after walking through town a few times we discovered that they are actually very sweet and friendly, especially the kids. A small amount of conversation in French earns many smiles.

 Behind the school is a little cantine where you can buy local fruit and vegetables during school hours. They will even try to get you things you ask for if you order it the day before.

 There are a few tiny stores - they just have some old tinned food and fly covered bread snacks.

 There is a local health clinic which was very greatful to take all of our old medications - their supplies are almost nil and one woman does everything by herself.

 The sandbar near town is great for anchoring the dinghy, but only at high tide. At low tide it is totally inaccessible, being filled with broken hunks of coral.

 The alternative to the sandbar is a nice sandy beach about 1/2 a mile away by dinghy - towards the west - right next to a broken down jetty. The fishermen who hang out there will be happy to share their fresh sardines with you.

 Getting back to the boat from the jetty can be a bear - a chop tend to form in the open water between town and the anchorage. You have time your visits to town carefully.

 Very nice place....... pretty close to paradise in fact.

 Tomorrow, however, we have to move on.... heading a little south.
L.

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 We had a better than expected sail south and arrived in Port Orly early in the morning. The hot and rainy weather that we have been experiencing for the past two weeks has been replaced with strong southeasterly tradewinds and lots of sunshine. It has cooled off and the humidity has plummeted. I am wearing a light sweatshirt as I write this, and we have light blankets at night. The chop in the bay from the winds makes the snorkelling less good. Instead, we have explored the town of Port Orly, hiked a bit, and canoed up the river at the far end of the bay. The Australian catamaran Ka Pai that we met in Tanna last year came in for a day and we had a pleasant BBQ on their boat.

 We will likely remain here only a day or two more before making our way further south. Waterfall Bay in Vanua Lava Island turns out to be the furthest that we will get this season. The remaining passages of the year all get us closer Australia.

 M.

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 We met up with some friends here (from the boat Priscilla) that we have been trying to rendezvous with since leaving Australia 3 months ago. We left the marina in Scarborough, Australia in May, just a week or 10 days before them, with plans to find each other in Vanuatu but it took until yesterday to actually overlap at the same destination. Unfortunately they were only here for two days and they are already sailing north as they want to sail up to the Solomon Islands before heading west to Australia and we are heading back south through Vanuatu and then New Caledonia before heading back to Australia (or maybe New Zealand)

 Waterfall Bay is beautiful and we have been lucky enough to have a few days of brilliant sunshine (not too common up here). We have also befriended Chief Nixon - one of several chiefs in this very low density place. It is actually hard to meet a grown man here who is not a chief or at least a chief's brother. Chief Nixon is quite an engaging personality and has a lovely family of three small children. Their home (a large and clean thatched hut) is on an otherwise deserted stretch of beach that is backed by a steep, richly foliated cliff wall. We have enjoyed exchanging gifts for fruit with him and his family. They have brought us large loads of bananas, papayas, yams and drinking coconuts and we have given them childrens books, crayons and large bags of clothing (mostly for the children). They are extremely appreciative of the gifts we have given (which is not always the case). It is fun for us as we still have a lot of stuff on board to give away and it is nice to have a fa

  
mily that we want to give it to. It is often dificult to really have a conversation with the locals as our worlds are so very different - with no newspapers, magazines, stores, electricity, running water or other modern conveniences - they are extremely isolated. Chief Nixon, however, is a very intelligent guy and we have really enjoyed getting to know him a little.

 Many of the other islands of Vanuatu have a supply ship that comes once a month with rice, sugar, oil and other supplies, but they only get a ship once or maybe twice a year. Fortunately the sea is full of fish and lobster here and people do not go hungry with all the fruit and yams that they grow. They even have beautiful fresh spring water flowing out of the rocks near the seashore.

 One of the boats that was here the last few days with us is also a friend from previous sailing years and they are the only boat we have met that is not a sailboat. Their powerboat is called Special Blend (he sells fertilizer!) and Jim, the owner, and his wife Martha are avid fishermen. Jim caught a couple of huge fish as he sailed in here and presented them to Chief Kerely - who is now his friend for life. Rivalry between the chiefs is a bit of a problem here. When yet another chief (Chief Jimmy) heard about the big fish that Chief Kerely got, he rowed over to Special Blend and asked for a fish too. Jim is a really good guy and actually pulled up his anchor and went out of the bay and started trolling the reef outside for a few hours until he could bring in a suitable fish for chief #2.

 Several boats have come and come since we arrived here 4 days ago, but right now the bay is empty except for us.

 Very cool. Chief Nixon just paddled over to our boat with his old guitar and sang us two songs that he just composed for us. There was a welcome song and a farewell song for Mark and "Flora". It was so cool - we have it on video and want to post it to the blog when we eventually get somewhere with internet.

 L.

 PS That is Mark and his wahoo in the photo,assuming the photos makes it to the blog.

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 Waterfall Bay has two large waterfalls cascading down to the sea, and a small village perched below steep cliffs. Our arrival here brought together the same set of boats we were with in Port Orly waiting for a weather window to head north - Flame (Australia), Kaiterete (New Zealand), Miami (Switzerland), and Sapho (Germany).

 We have not been to shore yet but have already made an arrangement to get lobsters tomorrow morning. We will likely spend a few days here before heading to Reef Island to the northwest.

 M.

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 My experience fishing this season has been mediocre -- a few smallish fish. I had not been able to land a big fish capable of feeding us for several meals until yesterday. Just as we were clearing out of Port Orly, passing to the south of Lathi Island, something big struck my lure before we had even set the sails. It was a big, toothy wahoo about 4 1/2 feet long.

 Wahoo are voracious predators that swim at up to 50 knots and have a mouth full of sharp teeth. Fortunately, I had 2 meters of stainless steel wire leader connecting the fishing line (210 pound test) to the lure or it would have bit right through. There is very little waste in this fish -- its pretty much all edible white meat. He yielded about 24 steaks of 3/4 to one pound in weight each.

 Today we toured two village in the bay and traded for fruit. While on the boat, people are always paddling up to Sabbatical III asking for something or offering to trade. We gave away a lot of stuff but it got tiring after a while. The women of this bay have a unique form of musical expression called "watermusic". Eight or ten of them wade out into the river and make music by vigorously slapping the water in different ways to achieve a surprising range of tones. Laura and I are the only visitors in the bay, so we were the only "paying" customers, although all the village children came out to watch.

 Tomorrow we are heading north to Waterfall Bay in Vanua Lava Island, about 35 miles away.

 M.

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 Tomorrow seems to be the day. There is not much wind forecast, only 10 knots, but that beats the forecast of 2-5 knots for the rest of the week. We will leave before 6:30 am and head for Pwetevut Bay on the southeast corner of Gaua (Santa Maria) Island. It is about 50nm from here and should take us 8 or 9 hours in light winds.

 There is no cell phone service in the Banks Islands -- indeed, very little communication at all. Supply ships come come and only a handful of yachts visit each year. We will,of course, still have satellite email. We are looking forward to some adventures.

 M.

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 We plan to sail north to the "Banks" - a set of islands in the far north of Vanuatu (about 50-60 miles from where we are now) - and then start working our way back south again. We may have to stop back in Luganville to extend our visa, or we may go all the way south to Port Vila to do it. Anyways, it was an interesting day in town. We drove there with Joseph, a chief in the little village near the Oyster Bay Resort. He has a nice pick-up truck that accomodated the 7 fuel cans we brought with us as well as all the fruits, vegetables and food that we bought while we were in town. It was an all day affair to do our shopping, but well worth it, as we have re-stocked on all the important things we need for the next few weeks. We even found apples which was a big treat - there are just so many bananas a person can eat! On Monday, after 10 days in Oyster Bay, we left - heading out of the shallow pass at hight tide with just a foot of water under the keel again - and sailed up to Port Orly. This is a very beautiful spot - and we were very excited to find our good friends from Intiaq here. They have already been up to the Banks and were headed south again - and we were fortunate enough to rendezvous here for a few days.

 It is always a gourmet affair with Karin and Jean Francois as she is an amazing cook and always invites us for terrific meals onboard their boat. They are a lot of fun. There are 3 other boats in the bay as well - 1 Australian (Flame), 1 New Zealand (Kaitorete), and one Swiss (Miami). We know them all from meeting them in other anchorages over the past few weeks. The two kids onboard Kaitorete know Hannah and talk about her all the time.

 We had some lovely weather the past few days, but today it is grey and rainy and it is expected to stay that way for a while.

 L.

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