We’ve been in Vanuatu now for three weeks: here are some impressions of Tanna Island
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2024
20
Jun
2024
07
Jun
2024
05
Jun
Cleared in!
Yesterday morning we left Anatom at 5 o’clock in the morning as we expected light winds for the 50 mile sail up to Tanna and we wanted to arrive with daylight. The winds were stronger than expected and it was a fast, close-hauled sail (5 to 7 knots), so we got to the anchorage just after noon. Port Resolution is a bay located on the… Continue reading »
2024
01
Jun
Still not checked in
We’ve been in Vanuatu now for 5 days, but we still haven’t been ashore, as we haven’t been able to officially clear in yet. The cruise ship for which the officals were meant to fly in was canceled, another one was possibly scheduled for yesterday, but didn’t show either. It’s been blowing 25 knots for the past few days, so we were working indoors, I… Continue reading »
2024
29
May
Arrived in Vanuatu
We arrived yesterday at 2 in the morning after a stormy, splashy last sailing night in the cozy protected bay between Anatom and “Mystery Island”. Anatom’s not a port of entry, but you can check in (with pre-authorisation as we had) whenever the officials come here to clear in a cruise ship. Yesterday morning we got an email saying that today’s cruise ship stop was… Continue reading »
2024
28
May
Islands ahead!
It has been another fast sailing day. After ages we have managed to catch a fish again (a smallish barracuda) and we have already processed it and made preserves in the pressure cooker. It’s generally more lively here with little petrels circling the boat and swishing over the waves. We can see Futuna to the north and Anatom ahead, but we still have 45 nm… Continue reading »
2024
27
May
Racing with a little break in between
Usually it’s a nightmare when the wind dies down after a strong blow, as you’re left with high waves and a madly bucking boat. Yesterday the seas calmed down along with the winds, so we used the welcome break to air the boat and do some domestic chores (baking bread, straining a batch of kefir for banana smoothies and Christian even managed to shave without… Continue reading »
2024
26
May
More than half the distance done
The night was still fast sailing, but now going’s getting a bit slow. According to the grib the wind should pick up soon again. Finally some rays of sunshine this morning! No fish yet… 230 nm to go
2024
25
May
Going fast!
It has been a bouncy night with winds of 25 knots+ from the Southeast and confused waves–one of them managed to swamp the cockpit (a very rare occasion on Pitufa). This morning it’s grey again–some sun would be nice. 360 nm to go
2024
24
May
Underway to Vanuatu
Our blog entries from underway will come to you via old-fashioned SSB and will be automatically sent on to pitufa FB (we haven’t given in to the temptation of Starlink yet, I call it Stinklink because of the air pollution all those rockets taking up satellites cause), so there won’t be any pics while we’re at sea. It looks like a rough, fast passage, should… Continue reading »
2024
23
May
Good-bye Fiji!!
In June 2022 we arrived in Fiji, uncertain how long we’d stay, but soon we knew that we’d need plenty of time to explore this beautiful cruising area. We were enchanted by the crazy mushroom-like lime-stone formations of Fulaga and Vanua Balavu and enjoyed the high volcanic islands of the southern Lau group, Kadavu and Loma-i-viti Group. We spent more time in the water exploring… Continue reading »
2024
22
May
Replacing the windows of a dodger
2 years ago we published how-to articles in several magazines after replacing the plexi windows of our sprayhood. Now it ripped AGAIN–the material we got in Tahiti was just too thin. At least we could look up our own tips and tricks and how to do this without too much swearing (yes, there was still some involved, wrestling 4 metres of resisting sunbrella really isn’t… Continue reading »
2024
19
May
Handy smurf at his make-shifting best!
Our old, feeble deck lights were no longer working and we found a powerful replacement. Unfortunately the new light is square, while the old one was round… Christian make-shifted a solution, literally fitting a square peg in a round hole 2 trips up the mast and now we have a light strong enough to host a football game on deck! Another task ticked off the… Continue reading »
2024
16
May
Still in Suva
During our first week in the capital we tackled our projects full of energy, but then I caught some bug (the air conditioned shops and offices in combination with coughing/sneezing people always get me…) which rendered me basically useless for a week. On top of that the weather turned windy and rainy, which complicates things as well and keeps interrupting projects. We hope to be… Continue reading »
2024
29
Apr
Our last day in paradise
We were planning to return to Suva in May anyway, but now we are forced to sail there slightly earlier, because our fridge has developed a leak… As soon as we’re back in the capital we have to have that fixed, then an overhauled pump will (hopefully) arrive from the US for our watermaker, we have to fix our sprayhood (the material we got for… Continue reading »