It is not a pleasant night for sailing. There are squalls all around us although none actually dump their loads on us, and there are lots of boats from the rally heading for Port Vila. The boat bucks around in the sea making sleeping difficult for both of us. But at least we manage to sail most of the time, although we have to put up with the drone of the engine to charge the batteries in the absence of a working generator.
I wake up at around 7.30 am to find that we are about half an hour away from Port Vila. I drink my tea then get up at a leisurely pace and get ready to help Mike take the boat in.
There is some indecision about which side the fenders should go so Mike tells me to put two on each side. This then gets changed to having them all on the starboard side, then all on the port side, so I am starting to get a little pissed off by the time he is backing into our parking spot.
The marina staff pick up the lines from two bow mooring lines and hand them to me to tie on. I take one look at them and laughingly tell the guy he has to be joking and that they are far too mucky for me to handle. He dutifully climbs onto Jeannius and ties them on himself. Honestly, I was only joking (but they were disgustingly slimy so I am really glad. Once the two stern lines are taken ashore we have a bit of jiggery pokery adjusting them. We are left with quite a distance to the quay that our gang plank just won’t reach so the marina staff go off and come back with an eight inch wide plank. Given that I would be required to walk across about ten feet of this, I am not a happy bunny. They look at my face and ask if everything is OK and I reply that I will have to stay on the boat as I am not risking the plank. Half an hour later, I have plank number two alongside plank number one. Much better. I am off the boat in a jiffy.
I go along to Voyageur and have a cup of tea with Susan and David while Mike sorts out the internet and goes off to buy an Australian adapter plug so that we can connect to the shore power supply.
Mike has some research to do on the internet finding out about generator engineers in Mackay and getting things organised there before Johanne, Steve and Isabella. It means that we will have to leave here early to give us more time for repairs in Mackay and for any parts to arrive, although this shouldn’t be a problem as there is a Northern Lights dealership there.
After lunch, Mike goes for a lie down and I do wet tee-shirt competition again cleaning the boat. It is absolutely covered in salt and ash, a murky combination. It takes me well over two hours and countless gallons of water but does look a lot better at the end. I also fill up the water tank and Irene and Dick from Tucanon come to the rescue again by filling up our water bottles with drinking water. Thanks yet again.
I hear a loud rumbling (no, not our generator this time) and turn to watch a sea plane pass behind the boat. But this is one with a difference. Instead of the usual ‘legs’ with floats on the bottom, this one has no legs but a hull-shaped body with little floats under the wings. As it passes with its doors wide open, it looks like it is about to sink.
Photo: Flying boat
In the evening we go for a meal along the quay with Stephen, Ed, Francois and Mike from Skylark. We have a waiter who speaks the fastest I have ever heard anyone speak. It’s exhausting listening to him. I order coconut crab in curry sauce which is lovely but hard work removing the meat from the shell. These coconut crabs literally feed on coconuts. They are huge things and their meat is really sweet.
Photo: Ed and I, exhausted after fighting our coconut crabs
Back on the boat we have a good internet connection and I try to use Skype but no one is on line for me to talk to. Typical.
Our position is: 17 deg 44 min S, 168 deg 18 min E
Distance so far: 9317 nautical miles
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