We had an uneventful but bouncy night, even though we had two reefs in our main sail. We are all looking forward to a calm night’s sleep. We shook out one of the reefs in the morning to give us a little more speed so that we could arrive at our destination before midnight.
The winds were consistent all day, our speed dropped off a little and we still had the odd major crashing wave which would cover the entire boat. We left the kitchen ceiling hatch open and we got a few splashes through it. The temperature has shot up, we are definitely back in the tropics, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn during the day. Water temp is 27.5 degrees last time I looked.
Late afternoon we spotted the first little Vanuatuan island. We cant’t go in there until we have checked in at the next island up. It was still a very happy moment, it definitely made us feel we were nearly there. We went around the lee side of the little island and had to get the engines on as we became totally sheltered from the Trade winds.
Another 40miles and we were at the entrance to Ireupuow on the island Tanna, a lovely deep bay with calm waters. We were grateful for the moonlight although it typically decided to hide behind a big cloud at the crucial timing of finding our spot. Alia Vita had helpfully given us good instructions and the location of the other two boats already in the bay. It all went incredibly smoothly, anchor hooked, we were ready for bed. We were too tired even to have the celebratory tot of whisky we had talked about earlier! What a relief to be here. Customs don’t work on a Sunday so we will have an enforced day of rest tomorrow.
Our bay Ireupuow on Tanna Island
Land ahoy!
Misty afternoon light
Rowan read that the Americans built a runway on the little island on the right
Our moonlight guiding us in
Our bay with the active volcano nearby we plan to visit
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