Day 127, Year 2: Snorkeling–Someone Just Has To Do It
Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Weather: Continued Total Cloud Cover; No Rain
Location: Sakao Island, Maskelyne Island Group, Vanuatu

Today is what I would call a low-activity day for us, although we have managed to be quite busy throughout the day starting at 6:20 AM. That is the time that the weather is on the Rag of the Air radio net. We have heard all kinds of horror stories about high winds, so we thought we would tune-in and check the Rag’s information against the information we are getting from our GRIB files. The GRIBS show wind, but not a good sense of sea state. I actually listened to the net from bed this morning.
For the first time in days, maybe weeks, I could lie there with no fan on and actually have the sheet over me without perspiring profusely. The winds from the southeast are bringing cooler weather. Cooler is a relative term out here. It is not really cool, but the difference between 76 and 82 degrees F is huge. By 7:30 AM I was sending emails and by 8:00 AM we were on our own little local net on the radio talking with Maggie Drum back in Port Vila and Scot Free II here in the Maskelyne Islands
but at a different anchorage. Maggie Drum and White Swan are staying in Port Vila because of the increased trade winds, and Scot Free II was moving on today from here in the Maskelyne Islands up the east coast of Malekula. We check in every morning hoping to keep track of where friends are out here. The single-side band/HAM radio is invaluable to us out here for boat to boat communication.

My goals today were not too lofty. I just wanted to name more photos and go snorkeling. Mark’s goal was to continue to try and figure out why our electrical system is not working “quite right.” We are having to run the motor way more than usual to get our batteries fully charged and we are just not quite sure why. Paul on Ranger’s goal today was to install a 12-volt light in Chief Willie’s boat shed. So Mark and Paul headed to the island to install the light Paul and Marie were donating. They
got it stalled but Chief Willie didn’t think the light was bright enough. That was probably true, but it was a little disappointing that he was not more pleased. It was the best that could be done with current supplies. The light they installed was a cabin light, a quite expensive one at that. I know Chief Willie really appreciated the effort, but it would have made everyone feel just a little better had he been more openly grateful. While Paul and Mark were onshore, Marie stayed here on Windbird
and tried to help me name fish photos. I’ll call this the “Name That Fish” game. I thought it would be easier with two of us, but actually it took longer. It is so hard to fit the photos to the exact fish, and even harder when two people have two differing opinions. We could get to the right family most of the time, but there are so many varieties that pinning the name exactly is very hard. I’ll continue this task alone using the wonderful resource book, Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific,
given to us by our good friends, Linda, Mike, and Garrett Stuart back in Concord, New Hampshire. They brought it to us when they came to visit in Rarotonga last year and it has been the envy of other cruisers ever since. Once again, thank you to the Stuarts. We think of you each and every time we open that book.

Once Paul and Mark returned from the island, we all discussed where to from here. We had thought we might go to the next island just south of here, Ulivea, but that is where Scot Free II and Arctic Fox have been and they found it a little worrisome with the high winds. The way we are tucked in here we can’t tell that there are high winds around us until we try to cross the pass to go snorkeling. But Donna on Scot Free II said it is hard to sleep in the Uliveo anchorage for fear of dragging anchor
and hitting the reef. So they left there today, coming past us, and headed back out to the east side of Malekula to Banam Bay. After talking with Ranger, we thought we might leave here and do the same. We will go to Banam tomorrow which is only about a sixteen mile trip. If we leave early, we will get there before noon. Our plan is to then leave there the next day and head further north up the coast of Malekula to the Port Stanley area. That might be as far north as we go before heading back
to Port Vila, but we will just have to see how things go.

The afternoon was filled with snorkeling. To get to the reef, we have to cross the pass between this island and the mainland. We aren’t feeling the high winds in the anchorage here, but once in the pass we know the winds are real. Snorkeling yesterday and again today was a little challenging with the wind waves, but we once again had a wonderful array of sea life in front of us under the water. Paul’s leg infection is still keeping him out of the water, so he manned the dinghy while Mark, Marie,
and I snorkeled. We saw those beautiful orange to pink to red to purple Anthias that we saw yesterday. They are so beautiful. We enjoyed the bright red sea fans and the dark red feather duster sea stars. We could probably snorkel this reef day after day and find more treasures, but we will move on tomorrow morning with the possibility of returning here on our way south.

Our tentative plan is to head north along the coast of Malekula to an area of islands off Port Stanley. We will then make the final decision as to whether we go further north to Espiritu Santo island or to start our trek back to Port Vila on Efate. The latter is more likely, and from there we will wait for the weather window to leave Vanuatu and head further south to New Caledonia. In less than two months from now, we will be leaving Noumea, New Caledonia for Australia. That will be the end of
another wonderful season of Pacific cruising. We could spend years out here, but we both want to keep moving to get back home in the next two to three years. We are not yet half way around the world. There is so much to see that you could spend an entire lifetime in the South Pacific and still not see it all. Our love of the sea and its fantastic offerings is very strong, but our deep love of family calls us home.

PS We haven’t seen a trace of the recent full moon. The trough we are in has completely shielded us from any sighting of stars or moon. But the moon is still bright enough to light up the clouds and give us some viability. We think this is the first time in our voyage that we have not been able to enjoy a full moon. Maybe this is just more of Vanuatu’s black magic.

070829 Day 127 Malekula, Vanuatu–Sakao Reef Underwater, Day 2