Fiji - Vanuatu Passage Summary and Pictures
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 14 Aug 2009 00:18
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15:22.205S 167:11.433E
All is well as we take part in the usual rally
activities (happy hours and dinners) here at Oyster Island. The Pack
Mules arrived Wednesday evening as planned with large luggage containing
miscellaneous boat parts. I'll let Billy or Tracy describe their arrival
in a separate entry. To give you a hint, it involved rain, pitch black
darkness and a dinghy ride with four people and large luggage balanced
precariously. Don has already installed the new capacitors in the washing
machine and the true test of his abilities will happen tomorrow when we run a
load of wash and watch while it does or doesn't spin.
We plan to leave here on Saturday (August 15th) and
head north to the 'real' Vanuatu - where tourists are non-existent and boaters
rare. In the meantime, here are a summary and pictures of our four day
motor from Fiji to Vanuatu:
Total nautical miles traveled - 600
Total time - 3 days, 23 hours
Total time sailing - 13
hours (15%)
Total time motoring or motorsailing - 3
days, 10 hours (85%)
Average speed - 6.3 knots (7.3
mph)
Degrees of latitude traveled - 2 to the north
(toward the equator)
Degrees of longitude traveled - 10 to the
west
Lowest wind - 0 knots
Highest wind - 21 knots (24 mph) during
rain squalls throughout the night of ugliness
Lowest cabin temperature - 78F at 2am on the night
of ugliness
Highest cabin temperature - 89F 4pm on day
3
Number of calamities - 2 Autopilot
stopped working during the night of ugliness (has since been fixed by wonder
man), lost our favorite fish towel over the side when the mahi-mahi that
was supposedly dead flopped excessively and knocked it overboard.
Number of dinners consisting of microwaved frozen
casseroles - 2
Number of dinners consisting of noodle soup - 1
during the night of ugliness
Number of dinners consisting of perfectly cooked
fresh mahi-mahi - 1
Number of triple back-flip, double twisting
Pacific mahi-mahi caught - 1 (didn't really put up much of a
fight)
Number of tuna caught - 1 (and it put up an
impressive fight)
Number of trips to the rail during the
night of ugliness - Don - 0, Anne - 3
Number of seasickness pills taken - Don - 0, Anne -
1 (slightly belated, but better late than never)
Picture 1 - Rally start. A beautiful morning
in Fiji made it easy to navigate through the various reefs surrounding
Fiji. All 21 boats made it out safely.
Picture 2 - Sunset on day 1. The only sunset
we saw during the entire trip due to exceedingly cloudy skies and generally
unsettled weather.
Picture 3 - Mostly listless triple back-flip,
double twisting Pacific mahi-mahi.
Picture 4 - Spunky skipjack tuna.
More later from one of our guest
bloggers.
Anne |
