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American Spirit II - Day 192; Last Day in Vanuatu, Broken Rappelling Rope is Delivered, Skipper's Briefing & Great Chicken Dinner on Boat; Wednesday, July 16, 2014



Today is our last full day in Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu. Tomorrow at 11:00 AM local time we shove off for the 1,150 nautical mile journey to MacKay, Australia. Since a nautical mile is 15% longer than a statute mile, the distance we will be covering is 1,322.5 statute miles.

Up early at 6:30 AM to call a vendor in St. Petersburg, Florida and another one in New Hampshire. We were successful with the former and unsuccessful with the latter.

At 8:30 AM I went to the marina office to get in line to clear out of the country. Six or seven other boat captain's were already in line. An immigration and customs officer showed up in a government boat at 9:00 AM to start the processing. They each took a seat on a set of long tables set up outside but under a roof covering. The first official we met with was the immigration officer. He took our paperwork, checked and collected some papers we'd filled out and thken stamped the 3 passports I'd given him. Unlike leaving on an airplane, when clearing out of a country on a boat the captain carries all crew passports and gets them all stamped for exiting the country. By 9:45 AM I was done.

Back on the boat, I contacted the electrician that I was going to have order and install the new AIS 650 unit. The identification device cost about 20% more in Australia than in the USA. In the US when you order a new AIS, the warehouse it comes from has to program the boat's information in it, including a special boat identification number called an MMSI. In Austrialia, apparently a local installer can program the unit.


When I got back on the boat I noticed that The Edge, the company that I rappelled with down the practice cliff and the water falls, had dropped off at the boat 1/2 of the broken rope. That item will make it into my Man Cave when I get home; along with a picture of the cliff.

At 10:45 AM I dropped off some shorts that had a one inch tear in them due to being grabbed by a fitting on the boat. The marina manager said that I'd be able to get them back tomorrow morning.

For lunch at noon we had freeze dried on the boat; Teriyaki with Rice. Just enough to get us by until dinner.

After lunch I called home, talking with Janet and Elizabeth, who just celebrated her 29th Birthday. Happy 29 Liz! And granddaughter Kayden. Next I was off to a nearby grocery store on foot with new crew member Jeanine. We bought most of the provisions we needed; mainly bread, canned fruits and vegetables, sauces, etc. This particular store didn't have any soda pop in cases so after dropping off 4 grocery bags at the boat, I called our driver, Wesley, who drove us to the grocery store we should have gone to in the first place. My Rally handbook had recommended the latter, and they were right. After picking up our soda pop and a few other miscellaneous items, we headed back to the boat. I was sorry bidding good-bye to our driver, Wesley. I've come to realize that by using the same taxi driver for an extended period, they make a lot more money that week or weeks; give you a better rate; and are only a phone call away. Often times when Wesley would drive us somewhere, I'd ask him what I owed him and he'd say, whatever I want to give him. Our driver, Nadi in Fiji,was the same way. At any rate, I usually give him more than he's looking for, so he's always smiling. I think he was afraid of scaring me away by asking for too much.

I also picked up a bunch of post cards for mailing before leaving tomorrow. So those of you on my post list, pictures of Vanuatu are coming.

The Skipper's Briefing began at 4:30 at the Waterfront Restaurant and Bar. Each boat was allowed to have 2 persons from each boat in attendance. The three Rally officials in attendance: Paul, Suzana and Hugh; conducted the briefing, which included the start of the leg, weather to expect on route, coordinates or waypoints to head to to get thru the islands and reefs of New Caladonia, the waypoint to enter the Great Barrier Reef, and finally details about the marina we'll be staying in in MacKay. Weather wise, there is a large low pressure system bracketed by two highs south of Australia. This system will not give us high winds, but it will affect the wind directions we get during the crossing. An interesting bit of information we received about the marina in MacKay is that there are crocodiles in the waters of the marina. I hadn't expected that. Unlike in America where an alligator attack is 50% fatal, in Australia crocodile attacks are 100% fatal. When we get into the marina we have to proceed to a quarantine dock and are not allowed to leave the dock until being inspected by the Australian authorities. One of the interesting things about Australia is that they're are very aggressive in keeping out organisms attached to your boat and even shoes; and you are not allowed to bring in eggs, fruit or vegetables; and non-packaged meats. These items must be eaten before arriving or must be thrown overboard before arriving in Australia. The Skipper's Briefing included a power point presentation and as usual was professionally done. Another reason benefit of joining a Rally. As I've said before, 'concierge sailing.' The race segment of this leg ends at the entrance to the Great Barrier Reef, but we still have over a hundred miles to sail once we enter the reef. That means a lot of the sailing with be via waypoint sailing (sailing waypoint to waypoint), and probably a fair amount will be done at night. The channel or passage we'll be in is a busy commercial waterway, and as such, commercial vessels have right of way in such waterways. The briefing ended at 5:22 PM.

Each boat is asked to submit on paper an answer to a Trivia Question on the start of each leg. The trivia question this time is: How many crew on starting yachts will finish Leg 7 between 12:00 - 18:00 on any day ________________. I said 8 on July 24. Probably way wrong. Now that I see the question asked 'how many crew', not boats.

Cocktail hour on our boat at 5;30 PM, followed by dinner at 6:00 PM. I had bought some chicken vacuum wrapped in some sort of spice concoction, which Joel cooked on our grill on the transom. Along with a squeeze bottle of honey baked BBQ sauce, this chicken was the best I've had since leaving the US. It was that good. With the chicken we had baked beans and a new roll of French bread. For dessert we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant and Bar and had vanilla ice cream (Joel and me) and chocolate ice cream (Jeanine). Plus coffee and tea.

We watched the movie Silver Linings Playbook borrowed from Folie a Deux from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM. I'd seen the movie before but Joel and Jeanine had not. A very good movie. However, Joel called the movie a 'chic flick.' Maybe I shouldn't put that comment in the log. However, I liked the movie a lot, so in the log it stays. I guess I like chick flicks sometimes.

Joel and Jeanine went to bed at 10:45 PM; and I followed at 11:45 PM after filling out a dozen or so post cards. And licking and applying the stamps. Nothing like the taste of stamp on your tongue before going to bed.

Brian Fox


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