Necessity is in Savusavu

Necessity
Eva and Jan Fr. Mack
Sun 13 May 2007 00:46
TO:necessity+diary-275767 {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com
SUBJECT:Necessity is in Savusavu
Our position is 16:46:67S 179:19:95E
So we made it, and it is good to be in. This is a VERY little town, but it looks nice. We are not allowed to go ashore until we have been cleared by customs and immigration. Even from out here in the bay we are definitely back in the South Pacific. The jungle around us is greener than you can imagine and it comes complete with the jungle sounds. The sounds, incidentally, include singing from the local church. It is after all Sunday.
It is also nice to see other boats again. Christina is moored right next to us, and Pomona is coming in a few hours. Since we left Opua we have seen two commercial vessels, of which we were on a collision course with one only one day out of New Zealand. Last night, coming up the Koro Sea, we met a local passenger ferry. It had no radar (as revealed by our transponder) and did not respond on VHF. I am not convinced they know that we passed less than half a mile behind them (even though we have a very good tri-colour). We have not seen a single sailing boat en route expect Pomona, which we deliberately intercepted.
There will be more in Norwegian on our own web pages, www.sailaway.no
Jfm 13.07.07