So long Fiji. Enroute to Vanuatu

Well, we just left Fiji this morning and are now making our way to Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Its a roughly 475 mile trip and so we hope to be there sometime (on our) Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Tanna is home to Mt Yasur, an active volcano, the crater of which is accessible by 4WD vehicles. From other cruisers who have been to the crater, they say it is amazing. We are looking forward to that outing. After spending a couple of days on Tanna we will head up to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu where we will spend a few days before making our final passage to Australia!

We had an awesome time in Fiji. Barb's mom and step-dad joined us for a week where we toured by land and sea the northern Fijian island of Vanua Levu and where we were invited to the home of an Indian family for a traditional dinner (including Kava drinking), we flew to New Zealand for two weeks (I know that is not Fiji, but is was while our boat was in Fiji) where we toured the north Island and had a great time in the Yasawas with our friends on Imagine. Our time in the Yasawas was a last minute change of plans, because, while we wanted to get going to Vanuatu, we also wanted to spend a few more days with Imagine. We had also heard such amazing things about the Yasawa group of islands. and we were not disappointed! The coral reef there was amazing -- on par with any we have seen in the Tuamotus.

In the Yasawas Barb and I even managed to spend an afternoon kayaking around one of the islands. That was an adventure in itself because the leak that we thought had been repaired on the kayak did not hold. While we were two thirds around the island (and fortunately close to shore) we toppled out due to all the water that had gotten into the hull. We swam the kayak to shore, drained all the water and continued on. It made for an exciting and memorable trip! Now, I just have to try to repair the hole one more time!

Fiji was definitely an island group that has risen to one of the top our our list of favorite places. Now, 25 knots of wind coming from aft of our beam, we are cruising along at roughly 9 knots. Though a little too rolly, its some awesome sailing.

More later,

Michael, enroute to Vanuatu
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At 10/22/2011 00:36 (utc) our position was 18°00.52'S 176°48.61'E

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