Passage to Vanuatu

[Kyle]We cleared out of Denarau (Fiji) as soon as we could after Customs and Immigration arrived for work at 8am. Then we left the marina and headed for the pass through the reef. Farewell Fiji, we had a fantastic time.

Farewell Fiji! Customs and immigration were especially happy with us after we gifted them our remaining Kava roots

The wind was light and against us, so we spent the rest of the daylight slowly tacking our way toward the exit. As we did, several boats that left after us motored by and disappeared over the horizon. Begonia is a pretty good boat under sail, particularly in light winds and it was a pleasure to tack back and forth in the flat seas inside the reef. Still, it’s hard not to feel left behind when people who slept in way later than we did leave us behind.

We get the time back later in small increments. A lot of cruisers spend a pretty big chunk of their time ashore sourcing, buying and shuttling fuel back to their boats and then subsequently complaining about the price of the stuff. We generally only have to worry about fuel three or four times per year. We don’t like paying a lot either, but we try our best to keep some perspective. Spread out, the cost of fuel is a smaller part of our monthly budget than other things like cellular data and taxi rides from the market. Even if we pay double in some places for a jerry can, the extra might end up costing us about the same as an ice cream.

To be honest, even though it seems to run about $6-8US/gallon most places we go, I wish it were even more expensive. That way, people wouldn’t be so cavalier about burning it willy-nilly. After we cleared the pass, one guy told a friend on the radio that he wasn’t going quite fast enough, so he was “keepin’ the motor runnin’ for a little extra speed”. Oh, honestly! He explained that he was only going 4.6 knots, but figured he needed an average of 4.8 to get to Port Vila when he wanted to. The thing is, we all had the same forecast that said the current calm would be ending tonight and then we would all be reefing and able to go as fast as we wanted, which for the dimensions of his boat was going to be way faster than 4.8 knots. What’s wrong with a little patience?

We enjoyed our first evening of sailing below motoring speed. The ride was smooth and gentle and none of the equipment was being pushed towards its limits. We could just sit back and enjoy the pleasure of sailing under a clear night sky.

We had mixed weather, but passage monotony was relieved with sunsets, whales (close encounter), and a few sail changes before we finally made it to Vanuatu

The wind picked up as promised and then went astern as promised. We furled the white sails and put up the spinnaker for another day and a half of pleasant sailing. The party ended with the arrival of a cold front coming in from the south. We got plenty of rain and more wind than we wanted, which allowed us to make it the rest of the way into Port Resolution, Vanuatu with only one more watch each. We were a full day earlier than our pre-departure prediction. Time for a full night’s sleep!