We are currently back on a mooring off Ratua Island Resort which is to be the scene for our final departure from Vanuatu and the Islands of the SW Pacific

 

Since our last report on the 27th September we haven’t managed to get very far but we have enjoyed ourselves none the less.  There was some fairly unpleasant weather for a few days and then you kind of end up in this holding pattern waiting to get the right weather to head on your way.

 

We did enjoy the rest of our stay at Aore.  We went into watch the AFL Grand Final at the Espiritu Hotel in Lugnville with a whole lot of other Aussies – most of them from other cruising yachts. 

As the Aore Ferry stops running at 4.30pm we had to catch a long boat home.  The Segond Channel is always a bit rough due to the currents, and as mentioned earlier we have had some ordinary weather and Saturday was no exception, so we were both soaked by the time we got back to the safety of the Aore Wharf

 

 

 

Every day we go into Luganville we have to walk past the buggy hire place so just couldn’t help ourselves so on Monday hired a buggy and headed up the east coast of Santo as far north as Oyster Island in Peterson Bay where we just happened to find Whiskers on anchor.

 

 

 

 

Aore Resort has been closed to day guests or a few days as they had a conference on and were fully booked.  They were very good to us and allowed us to go ashore and get water or leave our dinghy on their wharf during this time.  One of the big advantages was that we got to enjoy the evening entertainment out on Sally as were literally moored just out the front of the resort.  We got to listen to both a string and thong band as well as the water music performed by the ladies from the Banks group of islands – what a treat and certainly brought back many memories of our previous trip to Vanuatu.

 

As much as we have been keen to get going, as the weather is definitely starting to move into wet season patterns, we just haven’t had anything suitable to get going on.  It is either too strong or too forward of the beam and no-one wants to go to weather when cruising.

 

After much waiting the weather has finally started to settle into more settled SE trade winds at least for a few days so it is time.  We are not the only ones with the same thoughts as there seems to be quite an exodus of cruising boats departing over the next few days.  It is Constitution Day in Vanuatu so a public holiday so yesterday there was a rather large queue of yachts lining up at Customs and Immigration clearing out.

 

After all the official stuff was completed we departed from Aore and headed around to Ratua for the night.  Not long after we picked up the mooring we had Whiskers drop their anchor not far behind us.  We all went in for the very famous Island night and got to again enjoy the music from the Ratua Island Al Star String Band and local dishes from Vanuatu plus a few shells of Kava.

 

After checking the weather this morning have decided that tomorrow is definitely the day that Sally starts heading west again. It is looking pretty light but the wind is in a favourable direction so hoping we will be able to sail most of the way although expect to do a bit of motor sailing to start with.  Rod Smallman, who recently did the two handed Melbourne to Osaka Race with his son Tyson, has been of great help with lots of information of the current situation that we can expect on the way home and so far it is all looking positive.

 

We said our last farewells to Barb and Terry from Whiskers this morning as they are heading back into Luganville as their daughter is Amy is flying out early tomorrow morning.

This afternoon we are finishing off a few jobs and getting the boat ship shape to head off first thing in the morning.

 

We are hoping to stop in at both Huon and Chesterfield Reefs on the way home so expect to arrive back in Bundy in about two weeks time all going well.