I went to DHL this morning for an update. As I walked in the door everyone ran for cover and was suddenly busy elsewhere. After about ten minutes an unsuspecting lady came out of the lunch room and with nowhere to go, she had to assist me. She pointed out one parcel has arrived at their office. Either a very small outboard or its the inverter and shower pump. I asked where is the other one. She told me it is still in Fiji and will be on the next available flight. This could be on the weekend or next week. I asked when will the package in front of me be delivered. Both parcels have to be cleared together so it will be two days after the outboard arrives from Fiji.
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I went to the markets this morning and picked up a few things. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Just did a few odd jobs while waiting for the new crew to arrive. Like everything their plane has been delayed. Danielle and Wilson didn’t get here till 8.30pm. It was almost 10pm by the time I had gone through the essential things on the boat and we headed off to bed.
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I went to DHL this morning and got updated. The shipment is on the plane arriving this afternoon (hopefully both parcels). It will reach DHL office tomorrow. Customs will clear it Wednesday and it will be delivered Thursday.
Thank you Sue, Darren and Rose for keeping chasing them.
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Early this morning while having a shower I saw another passenger liner pulled into the main warf. So began another stream of water taxis ferrying passengers into town.
The problem is, it’s Sunday. Almost everything is closed. Everyone is at church.
I rowed ashore this morning and found the supermarket was open, so I could get a loaf of bread.
By 1pm a few places opened for the terrorists. But by then I had seen boat loads head back to the P&O liner. By 3.30pm I could hear music eminating from the centre of town. Like yesterday’s liner, this one will leave before sunset. Arriving on a Sunday was bad timing by P&O.

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I woke this morning to find a cruise liner pulling into the main dock. All day there has been a steady stream of water taxis ferrying everyone too and from shore. I didn’t bother to go ashore today. Too meany tourists, and it was raining. I just caught up on a few jobs on Imagine.
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This morning the sky was grey (gray for our American friends). It was still raining with no wind. A fleet of French boats have arrived must be part of a cruising rally. All big expensive boats. So it may get crowded in the next few days. Emma was packed by 10am, ready to go catch her flight back to the land of OZ. We were going to fill up, but the tide is extra low and we can’t get into the fuel dock. This. Means the new crew arriving on Tuesday will have to maneuver Imagine into the fuel dock. I rowed Emma ashore and we said our farewells. The afternoon was just cleaning up ready for the next arrivals.
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This morning Emma went off to explore more of the town, while I went back to DHL. This time I was told the parcels are on hold. One in Nadi Fiji and one in Sydney. There is a flight from Sydney this afternoon but they couldn’t tell me if my parcel would be on it. So I sit around and wait. This afternoon we are just chilling. We have that annoying light rain. Just enough we can’t open the hatches.
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We got back into Port Vila last night and this morning moved into the marina. This was so we could pick up the parcels easier (outboard and inverter). Emma took Imagine across the harbour and through the narrow gap at the western end of the harbour leading to the marina. Then she did her first mooring ball. I was on the bow guiding her she glided up to the mooring and stopped perfectly in place. The only problem was that mooring rope was so short I couldnt reach it. So we found another one with a longer rope attached. I also called up Yachting World Marina who sent Willy out to help us. Again Emma stopped right on the mooring, while Willy passed the mooring rope to me and we tied off.
After that it was a trip into town. Emma organised a tour for tomorrow, then we got some fruit from the market. The markets are quite bare as there aren’t a lot that have gardens not effected by the cyclones. Back on Imagine we had a lazy afternoon. The parcels still haven’t arrived. I will have to try and chase them up tomorrow.

 

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We set off at dawn and had breakfast on the way. 1.5kts of wind and again the sea like glass. We motored till 10am when the wind got up to 9kts including boat speed. So up went the sails, main, Mizzen, headsail and Staysail. We can only run all the sails at a certain wind angle. This increased or boat speed from 4.8 to 6kts. It was only an hour before the wind angle changed and we had to take down the Staysail. By lunch time we had to pull in the headsail and by 1pm the 4kts of wind was directly on the nose.
By 1.30 the sea had returned to glass. The deep blue ocean was changed to light blue with patches of white fluffy clouds as it reflected the sky.
It looks like it’s pork for dinner tonight, as we have been towing a lure all day and no fish.
Four o’clock before the wind came back and then only 10kts (our minimum sailing wind). It’s dark by the time we have reached Port Vila and anchored
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One knot of breeze. The water is like glass. Tomorrow the wind comes back at 10knt, again south easterly, which is where we want to go.
So I decided to haul anchor, wave goodbye to Melakula and start motoring.
Two hours of shiny blue sea passed with the only ripples were being made by Imagine. We passed the odd log and a few coconut floating by.
Then Fred (the autopilot) took control as it was all hands on deck. They seemed to come out of nowhere. Cutting their way through the still water at high speed, heading straight for us. We barely had time to do anything they were coming at us so fast. Suddenly they were along side us, pod of dolphins had come to say hello. About eight dolphins played around the bow for a while. Laying on their side looking up at the humans looking down at them. Gliding effortlessly through the clear water. These were large dolphins, about two meters long. One jumped out of the water as to say goodbye and they were off.
By lunch time we could see the smoke coming out of the volcano on Lopevi, as we motored passed.
It was five o’clock by the time we got to the bottom of Epi. We found a bay to anchor in for the night and now evjoying a wine as the sun goes down.
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