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Misto - Days 189-193 July 15-20: Dillon's Bay, Erromango and Port Villa, Efate



We departed Port Resolution at 3 am for the 55nm sail to Dillon's Bay. Setting 2 reefs in the main we made fast progress in 25 knots of wind and with quite a large swell from behind. Dillon's Bay is a large open bay with good anchoring in about 20' of water. Access to the village is via the river across a shallow bar - which is only really an issue at low tide. A Pot-Luck lunch with the local village had been arranged which turned into a feast of gigantic proportions with a laden table of local dishes plus those provided by the WARC fleet. We were made incredibly welcome by chief Jason and the villagers, who we enjoyed talking with, as well as hearing the children sing. Those boats that had arrived the day before also experienced a walk to caves and a tour of the village.

Here we also met David who is trying to establish a yacht club in Dillon's Bay. He has a building and is now trying to better equip it and he asked for nails and hinges, should any of the boats be returning. We all agreed that this was a wonderful stop and should be included in future itineraries.

Another night sail took us up to Port Vila on Efate. This was even more windy and the swells had grown larger making it a roller coaster ride once we cleared the lee of Erromango. Yachting World in Port Vila accommodated the majority of the yachts on the sea wall - it did take 3 attempts to find somewhere suitable for Misto, but eventually we were settled. Here Howard had to complete some repairs to the generator that had emerged a few days earlier. It had appeared the the fuel pump was not working, however after a lot of diagnostics, and advice from Fischer Panda, we found a faulty connection. As part of solving this issue we also relocated the fuel pump to a more accessible position.


Port Vila is a bustling hub of commerce for the islands, The fresh vegetable market is huge - the largest we have seen anywhere - with an amazing array of vegetables and fruit. We had hurried away from Dillon's Bay so that we could go on the tour of Efate on July 17. Split into three mini busses the group embarked on a circumnavigation of the island . First stop was a traditional village where we learned about traditional fishing techniques, that include spider's webs to catch bait fish and making fishing line from bark, customs and a display of fire walking. The latter is actually walking on red hot lava rocks and is truly an interesting phenomenon. The feet are coated with a masticated plant compound but I cannot explain how it is possible not to be burned. We visited the Blue Lagoon, a pretty fresh and salt water rocky pool and the sulfur springs and mud pools. Although there was not time to languish in the hot springs several of the ladies experienced the mud being applied to their legs and washed off with the hot spring water. We enjoyed lunch at the Orovy Beach restaurant and a stop at Havana harbor.

At the Prizegiving for the leg we not only received a plaque for completing the WARC so far but also a prize for communication. We were very touched to receive this. We have enjoyed being part of the daily SSB nets and interaction with the fleet has often been the highlight of days spent at sea. We will miss the fleet as we leave them here to tour Vanuatu, go to New Caledonia and on to New Zealand. With that in mind this will be our last WCC blog until we re-join next year - but we will continue to post on our blog: misto-log.tumblr.com. We wish the fleet safe sailing and wonderful experiences as they continue.


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