Our current position is tied up at the wall at Yachting World, Port Vila 17:44.60S 168:18.80E

 

You have to love it when a plan comes together.  The weather forecast was good, the boat was topped full of hydro-carbons, water and food for the passage so we cleared out with customs and immigration on the morning of Thursday 23rd August.  We then had the sad task of saying farewell to our Fiji friends with many of the Vuda staff coming to join in the “Goodbye Song” before we dropped our lines and motored out of the marina for the last time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first evening was spent at Momi Bay which is just near the Navula Passage before heading out into the big blue.

 

It was up early on Friday 24th and on our way.  The passage to Port Vila is approx. 530NM at 260^oM and should take around 3.5 – 4 days.

As we have Bruce the crew on board it means the watches are very easy with 3 hours on and a relaxed 6 hours off.

This is the first time we have had an extra crew on board for a passage since May 2013.

 

 

 

We motored for a few hours in calm conditions until we met the wind at the motor was off before lunch. 

The wind built from the SE and we ended up with a couple of brisk sailing days in 20-25kts of wind on a broad reach.  The wind slowly moved around to the east (as forecast ) so we poled out the headsail and the last day was spent running before the wind and even more comfortable. 

 

 

 

As we approached the island of Efate the wind started to abate so the motor went back on at sunset. 

It is not standard practice for Mustang Sally to enter port in the dark but as all of us have been into Port Vila several times so know the charting is good we were comfortable to enter the harbour at Port Vila in the evening.  After a successful entrance through the pass we then had to find a spot to anchor close to the quarantine ball.  The anchorage was quite busy especially as the 188ft Super Yacht Fidelis took up a fair bit of the anchoring space but we did manage to find a spot and at 10:30pm Vanuatu time we dropped the anchor and hoisted the yellow quarantine flag that we are required to fly until we have been cleared in.

 

 

 

Naturally there were a few cool arrival beverage enjoyed before we hit the sack and all had a very good night sleep.

 

We contacted the authorities early on Tuesday morning and after clearing in the Australian War Ship Armadale, Customs and Bio Security arrived at the back of Mustang Sally at around 11:00am and were tied up at the Yacht World wharf by 12:30.

 

Since arriving we have had to go back to Customs to pay our Bio-Security charges and get our Island Cruising Permit.  We have also had several trips to Immigration to get cleared in and also arrange our visa extension.  Port Vila hasn’t changed too much since we were here 5 years ago so we are finding our way around pretty quickly.  We will do a bit more exploring around Port Vila till early next week, which hopefully also includes a kite board around at Mele Beach tomorrow, and will then slowly start making our way north with the first stop around in Havannah Harbour.