After leaving Tanna, which so far has been one of the highlights of the trip, we made for Port Villa on Efate. We had a very fast passage with a good beam wind. This gave us time to stop for a few hours in Dillons Bay on Erromango Island to have a roast chicken meal.
We arrived at Port Villa at 0930 to be shown to our mooring by Moses in a small yellow boat. We had to cross two bars where the depth went down to 1.6m below keel.
By 1100 we had cleared all the formalities and were on the way to the races. These are held once a year in aid of charity. It was great fun I actually won on the first race but the winnings were hardly worth collecting as it was the favourite and I had stood in the wrong queue, placing an each way bet instead of to win. We soon found the chamagne tent and were able to buy these glasses you can hang around your neck giving more freedom to lose more money! We had lunch there and returned back to town after the last race which was 1600.
We had our fair share of rain again in Port Villa. On the 14th July it was Petra's (Viva) birthday and as it had been mine a few days earlier we set up a party at the Iririki Resort Hotel on the small island we were moored behind. They set up a marque, music and Tikki Lights. Rum punch flowed as the fleet gradually gathered by dinghy to the sandy beach. Champagne and birthday cake followed with a toast to Petra on her special birthday!
We stayed on at the resort to have an evening meal in their fine restaurant. They served a buffet meal which was very good value. The evening finished in the waterfront restaurant and bar where there was a good band playing.
We finally decided our livers couldn't take much more and set off for Australia. We had decided not to follow the fleet up to Espirito Santo and Cairns but to go early and check into Mackay. This will give us a few days sailing up the Whitsunday Islands to Cairns. We should rendevous with the rest of the fleet at about the same time.
The first day out was rough with a force 8 again. The seas were particularly bad near the Island as we skirted the overfalls. This has now settled to a pleasant force 4 for the last 3 days and we have been goosewinged doing between 6&7 kts for days now. The wind has recently veered and so we took down the pole and are on course for an arrival at Mackay late on the 23rd or early on the 24th July. All the news for now it is lunch time. Bob and the crew from Andante.