Graptolite - Limping Towards Australia

17:43.55S 167:07.48E west of Vanuatu Thursday 24 July AM

Colin had a trip up to Santo to dive on the famous 1942 USS 'President Coolidge' wreck. He said it was good. Heike and I had a bumpy drive around Efate island. We found a nice beach covered in sand-washed bits of Coca-Cola bottles chucked over the side when the fleet was anchored there during WWII. I'm now the proud owner of a Coke bottle made in San Francisco in 1942. I'll hang on to it in case I can get the deposit back.

The replacement rigging wire turned up yesterday and the mast is now less likely to fall off. Some final provisioning and paperwork and we were ready to leave Port Vila for Cairns by the evening.

Victor from South Africa briefly joined the crew but Australian visa delays meant he had to be left behind on the dock. There's probably some international dispute about the correct way to be mean to your indigenous population :)

Naturally we had a few boat problems to overcome after leaving. It wouldn't be fun otherwise! The worst was the autopilot breaking a chain link. A bit of cursing and spanner-work sorted it out though.

I've still got a sore knee and ankle from my abseiling tumble. A rolling deck is not really the place to rest up. Still, only another 1200 miles to
go.

M