On Tuesday, July 27th, we departed Fiji bound for the island of Tanna, our first stop in Vanuatu. Its a 500 mile trip that would take us three days. We left Musket Cove by going through nearby Wilke's Pass, a narrow opening in the reef that is a virtual surfer's paradise. It was early morning and the sea was flat calm just before we got to the pass. In fact, it was like a mirror. Suzy took the incredible photograph above of three porpoise playing at our bow. You can see the reflection of the bowsprit and Suzy standing on the bow taking the picture. There's not a ripple on the surface. Just a splash off the hull.
As we approached Wilkes Pass, we sailed just north of the small island of Namotu. There's an exclusive surfer's resort here and nothing else. In Fiji, the island owns the rights to the surrounding water as well. So, to surf the pass, you have to stay at the resort. The big island behind Namotu is the southwest shore of Viti Levu.
It was a pretty calm morning. But, the surf still looked pretty decent as we went through the pass. Several surfers were already out waiting for a good set. Five hundred miles away and just to the left of this picture lies Vanuatu. So, we said goodbye to Fiji and set our sights to the west.
After we left Fiji, the wind began to pick up and soon we found ourselves in 15-25 knots out of the south. We had a beautiful day of sailing a beam to broad reach and made excellent time. In fact, we were well ahead of schedule. That night the wind veered more to the east and the seas were in the six to ten foot range. Our friends, Dave and Carolyn on Tara left Musket Cove at the same time we did. Tara is a 58 foot Chuck Nelson designed sloop and she is gorgeous down below with traditional polished mahogany furniture and paneling. We seemed to be traveling very close to the same speed and were in sight of each other for all three days of the passage. The photo above gives a good idea of the sea state that first afternoon.
We arrived at Tanna early on July 29th in fog and drizzle. The night before was marked by a front that passed over us with numerous storm cells complete with lightening. We had our radar on and could watch the cells as they quickly grew. One, in particular, formed just to the north of us and the center came right down on top of where we were sailing. There was no way to avoid it. It started raining very hard and then, all of a sudden, we were hit by a violent wind shift right on to our bow. The wind gauge read just over 30 knots. We had to quickly fall off to keep the sails from ripping. It was midnight, so except for the lightening flashes, it was pitch black. It was raining so hard, we couldn't see beyond the bow anyway. We stayed in touch with Tara on VHF radio so we knew where we were relative to each other. The whole thing lasted about 25 minutes, but, it seemed like hours. The rain turned to fog over night. So, as we approached Tanna, we were unable to see the red glow of the volcano at Mount Yasser, something we had hoped to do. But, we did hear the loud booms it made as it erupted. And, we did get a good view of it when we went by a few days later as seen in the photo above.
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