Sailing around the world

Leaving Espiritu Santo after waiting for an acceptable weather window we set off hoping to get as far south as possible without too much windward work. Although we were hard on the wind and a lousy sail we could make our destination on one tack. We made it almost to Port Sandwich when the wind headed and we had it bang on the nose against wind and the current. We needed to keep tacking to make ground to weather. The swells were big with a very step chop. We smashed into these head on, at times taking water over the hulls, along with a massive thump against the bottom of the bridge deck. Thankfully we were close to a sheltered anchorage of Bangon, just north of Port Sandwich.

With over 100 miles to Port Vila we set off early the next morning, still hard going.
We could not make Port Vila in one tack and when we were headed decide to make Lamen bay on the other tack and so we went back and forth all morning until finally ending up, once again in Lamen bay. A much nicer venue with a more interesting cruising area for visitors however this gave us no chance to restock the larder. We were also onto our last bottle of cooking gas and envisaged cooking the next meal over a coconut husk fire on the beach.

We couldn’t wait for Lloyd and Ngaire to arrive. It was lovely to see them again. They flew into Lamen bay, loaded with goodies for the locals, ranging from mirrors to footballs. We enjoyed our time together catching up on all the news and news of additions to their family. After settling onboard Mind the Gap we did the dugong snorkelling thing. Although usually friendly enough to touch he proved to be a bit skittish this time.

Lloyd and Ngaire were in their element chatting to the locals and handing out gifts. It was especially gratifying to see the children’s faces light up with joy when they were given something special.

We set off to the Maskelyns, a group of small islands off the south east corner of Malakula about 20 miles north. After tucking right in between the mainland and Awei Island and sheltered behind the reef we heard the children singing as they paddled their canoe back home. Pure voices, unaccompanied save by the sounds of nature. Absolutely beautiful.

It was here that Lloyd began feeling unwell and was not his usual enthusiastic self. We headed back to Vila with stops at Lamen bay and Revelieu with James doing all the sailing and eating, Lloyd reclined like the Emperor of Rome. There was plenty of wind along the way and we did not run out of gas.

We were very concerned about Lloyd but he started feeling better after some medication from the pharmacy at Vila. Their time with us was over too soon and we were sorry to see them leave.