October27

[position] 17 52S 171 00E

[weather] ESE wind 7-10 knts, sea 1.5 meter swell, SOG 6.75 knots under
engine, COG 270T, 5% cloud, bar 1014

[status] Beautiful day at sea, with a sunny sky, long period swell, and
gentle breeze, although not enough wind to sail. Looking at the weather
forcaste for tomorrow, we decided to put out 2 flippers to give the
whale an extra 1 knot of speed, to arrive Port Vila hopefully by about 8pm.

So, where are we going?  The country of Vanuatu (pop 250,000) is a chain
of 13 main islands and about 70 smaller islands, located 550 miles west
of Fiji and 1,000 miles east of Australia.  Port Vila, Efate, is the
capital with 45,000 people.  And, why are we going here?  We have to get
Cetacea out of the cyclone belt.  We chose to go to the Solomon Islands
for the cyclone season (Nov - April) and will leave Cetacea there and
fly home for 3 months. So, Vanuatu is on the way to the Solomons, and we
had planned to catch up with our good friends on Eagles Wings who are in
Port Vila now.  Cruising plans often change, and planned rendezvous
often fail, so this will be special!

About 175 miles to go.  AGOB  More Later - G&T

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