Catch up

After Tanna, we went to Aneityum (also called Anatom) where we anchored off a small islet that looks like your classical ‘tropical island’. The water was a beautiful light blue over the sandy bottom and there was really good snorkelling on the reef inshore of us around the island. The weather has now turned beautifully sunny. Our peace was disturbed one day by the arrival of a cruise ship that disgorged thousands of tourists but left again by the evening. After a few days here, we made an overnight passage to Port Vila. We had light winds at first but finished with a lovely sail for the last day heading into Port Vila. We did a quick stock up of food here and finished clearing in with a visit to immigration (when we eventually found the office). The supermarkets here have a larger selection than NZ but everything is about twice as expensive. The local market isn’t too bad and we left with a selection of fresh fruit and veges, including bananas at last, as these had been hit by the last cyclone and are scarce in the outer islands. We looked at the price of diesel and have decided to sail everywhere as it is over twice the price, although petrol is the same price so is only slightly dearer than in NZ.

After our quick stop, we sailed off the anchor and into Havannah Harbour. We anchored near a small inlet so we could find some fresh water to do some washing. We took the dinghy a small way up into the mangroves which had a very jungle-like feel with parrots flying overhead and 2 fruit bats also flew close overhead. The washing accomplished in what was essentially a roadside drain (with fish swimming in it) we sailed halfway back up Havannah Harbour. We went out to Eretoka Island twice for some excellent snorkelling and diving (see my previous entry). Our last anchorage in Havannah was opposite Paul’s Rock at a lovely sandy beach. We found a nice patch of sand to anchor in and spent 2 nights here in what is generally described as a day anchorage, but we found it fine overnight, a slight lift on the second night but much calmer than Port Resolution. We had 3 excellent dives at the rock, which is an old volcano that emerges steeply from 40m deep. They fish feed regularly here, so as soon as you drop into the water you are mobbed by fish, some of which even have a nibble to see if you are edible. On one dive a couple of bannerfish accompanied us most of the way, darting in front of our masks. Lots of small colourful fish and lots of big fish.

I have been trying to swim in the mornings and my record is 5 turtle sightings on one swim and 3 sharks on another. Today we sailed back to Port Vila and we will be here for a couple of days. Mike will leave us here on Sunday. Had some rain this afternoon for the first time since leaving Port Resolution so we have a bit more in our tanks, which is good, as we would prefer not to pay for water.