[password] forester11
[position] 17 41.566S 168 15.813E
[status]  LUGANVILLE TO PORT VILA
After a side trip with Pixie to Ambae, they headed south to Port Vila while we returned to Surunda Bay (Luganville) where we picked Maria up. With predicted SE winds of 25+ knots looming, we reluctantly headed south over three looong days. While we had lovely anchorages at Crab Bay, Revolieu Bay and Mele Bay, the sailing to Port Vila was mostly motorsailing into the wind ...not what we'd planned for Maria's trip! Nor was being anchored in Port Vila for 5 days! However, with her usual positive attitude we've made the most of the time - introducing her to the joys of form filling in the Pacific; boat maintenance; Port Vila shopping; taking a tour around Efate and having fun with other Rally participants! Last night we headed to Mele Bay for our last evening in Vanuatu. After watching an amazing fire dance show we sadly said goodbye to Maria. Today as she returns to New Zealand, we begin the short passage to New Caledonia. New Caledonia does not allow us to bring any fruit or vegetables into the country ... and only commercially labelled meat from New Zealand and Vanuatu, so there has been a big clean out in the freezer. I had my hair trimmed in Port Vila, and the local hairdresser's family was the grateful recipient of all our surplus!!
For those of you who are following our track via Predict wind, you will notice that it is updating less frequently ... In installing the exterior aerial to improve our satellite phone transmission, Ben had a small DIY mishap with our Iridium which resulted in some black smoke ...and the battery no longer charges! Fortunately we have been able to charge it on other people's Units when we are with them ...but rather than having it on 24/7, we now turn it on once a day to both update our position and check our messages!

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