We cleared out with customs in Lautoka in pouring rain late Wednesday afternoon (13th Oct). The following morning the decks were covered in ash from the sugar refinery. At 0830 we set off for the 535nm passage to Port Vila still in pouring rain and with light wind. We cleared the Molo Passage into open water about 1300hrs and then the wind picked up to 15-20kn form the SE. We enjoyed some good fast sailing and made 142nm in the next 24hrs.
The skies gradually cleared and the rain storms became less frequent. By the end of the following day (Sat) the winds were dying and moving more to the east (from dead astern). We rolled along and eventually had to put on the iron topsail (engine). The winds dropped to about 5kn and we motored the last two days in calm seas to Port Vila arriving Monday 0945hrs. We cleared in.
We are very impressed by Port Vila. It is very pretty and the locals are very friendly. It does remind us how close we are to Oz with many Aussie tourist in the city. The supermarkets carry a much bigger range of products than Fiji and even VB (Victoria Bitter) is on sale.
We hope to continue home to Oz on Sunday or Monday after some bad weather clears through. It has been flat calm since we arrived.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment