On the 26th September we did the quick hop around to Palikula Bay.  It is a lovely quiet little bay although there were a bunch of churchy type people having a day at the beach.  We had a nice day and went for a couple of snorkels in the morning.  The afternoon we went ashore at the disused slip way to have an explore.  There is an old wharf and fish processing plant which had the remnants of old diesel motors and compressors and other unidentified pieces of equipment.  There is also an old ship, Anson from Hobart, which has been beached on the shore.

 

We heard of the greatest sporting come back in history with Team Oracle coming back from what looked like total defeat to winning the America’s Cup which was being steered by an Australian – will take the victory one way or another.  May have to revisit our travels plans in 2017 to San Fran!

 

Thursday morning and we are heading back to Aore Resort in Luganville as Rick is on the early plane out on Friday back to Port Vila where he is going to spend a few days before heading back to the big smoke of Melbourne.  Rick made the most of his last day in Santo and managed to fit in the last snorkel before packing up his gear.  We had a lovely farewell dinner ashore including a couple of yummy cocktails.

 

We said farewell to Rick early on Friday morning and are now back to 2 again!  We are now getting prepared for the big trip back to Australia so make the most of the day by heading into Luganville to buy some provisions and in the afternoon took the dinghy across the channel to pick up 50 litres of diesel to make sure our tanks are full.

 

Saturday (28th September) and it is Grand Final Day.  We have not seen too many games this year but have been kept up to date on all the results with regular messages from Leapy Lynda and Miss Amanda as well as listening to Radio Australia on the HF.  We took the late ferry into Luganville and head around the Aqua Bar which has a big screen and full Foxtel coverage to watch the game but unfortunately due to TV rights it is on a delayed telecast so we have to be satisfied with watching the scores and also seeing a few game highlights during the breaks.  Despite it not going quite to plan we had a really great evening and got to share a few beers and some good conversation with a few Aussie ex pats and the owners of the bar.  The trip back to the boat / resort was an adventure in itself - we had arranged a ride back with Mata in his long boat and luckily it all went as scheduled and we were back at the resort in time for a pizza.

 

Monday morning and we are in to town early to visit customs and immigration to officially vote ourselves off the islands of Vanuatu as we are heading on our way on Tuesday.  I am feeling quite melancholy and will be very sad to leave this amazing place and these wonderful people but we are also looking forward to getting back home so looks like we have got the timing right.

 

Tuesday (1st October) and we are on our way at 5.30am.   We are heading to Huon Island / Huon Reef which is approximately 300NM at a course of 230M.  There is not a whole lot to report on the passage as it all pretty much went to plan.  The first night out was a bit windy and bumpy but we scooted along under head sail only.  Our progress was so good that we had to slow down a little on the second night to make sure we didn’t arrive at Huon Reef too early.  As planned we get to the entry waypoint just after first light.  We do have some good news to report in that the wind generator has now re-joined the crew – on our first day out it generated 60 amps which is around half of our daily usage – looks like the replacement regulator that Rick fitted has done the trick.  The atoll is pretty huge, 20NM long and 10NM wide located 150NM NW of New Caledonia.  We really can’t see too much of it on the way in but the Grand Passage to the north west is very wide and clear of obstacles.  Once inside the lagoon there are a few bits to negotiate but all in all it is a nice easy place to get into.   As we are heading into the anchorage we are greeted by heaps of sea birds and if we didn’t know better you would swear that they are welcoming us in.  We also passed a number of huge sea turtles on our way in and from what we saw it looks like it is turtle breeding season. 

 

Arriving at Huon Island is quite a surreal experience and words really cannot do it justice.  It is a very remote, small white coral sand island with low grassy vegetation surrounded by aqua blue water (wish we could add photos).  The coral reef breaks up the ocean swell and then the island takes care of the chop making it a great anchorage in easterly weather even though it definitely feels like you are in the middle of the ocean.  From the boat we can sea masses of sea birds all over the place as well as turtles that appear to be sunning themselves in the shallows – naturally we are busting to get ashore to explore some more so not long after lunch it is dinghy down for a shore party.  As you can imagine we have to be a little more safety conscience out here as we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere and a long way from rescue.

 

As we reached the beach it feels like we are part of a David Attenborough doco.  There are sea birds everywhere and turtles floating around in the shore line.  We were told that it is turtle season in October and looks like we have arrived at a great time.  The beach is covered in tracks from the turtles dragging their huge bodies up the beach to lay their eggs and we think that the turtles we are seeing are lining up and waiting their turn until the time is right to start this journey.   It also looks like it is a good time for the sea birds as many of them have young chicks or are sitting on eggs.  We are not great at bird ID but we do have a small bird book on board and have been able to identify Blue Footed Boobies and Brown Noddies.  Mark is having an awesome time taking photos as the birds come right up to you and are completely indifferent to our presence (thank goodness for digital cameras) - we can’t wait to check them out once we are back aboard.  The bird life is so friendly that we often have them doing a fly-by of the boat and hovering in the breeze almost within arms reach.  We have even had them trying to land on the decks but find it awkward with their big webbed feet.

 

It is now Friday morning (4th October) and we are both feeling great after a good nights sleep.  I have spent the morning working out how to use our back up navigation system on the computer while Mark has the generator in bits replacing the impellor which was looking a little worse for wear. 

We are planning to go for a snorkel shortly and then another shore party late this afternoon in the hope of seeing some of the turtles make the journey out of the water and up the beach. 

 

The latest weather check is showing that we will probably stay hear until Sunday morning before heading off on leg 2 of our journey back.  If all goes to plan we hope to drop into Chesterfield Reef for a few days.

 

Mustang Sally’s current position at Huon Island “18:02.443S 162:57.255E”