Noon Position 04-Oct-2006

Fiji to Vanuatu
South Pacific Ocean

• 04-Oct-2006
• 17°54.5000"S/177°1.0000"E
• 15nm since 8am
• 15nm from Fiji
• 438nm to Vanuatu
• Winds 5 knots E
• Motoring

Back at Sea!

We finally pried ourselves away from Musket Cove this morning at 8am and are heading for Tanna Island in Vanuatu! We spent the last couple of days getting Sandpiper ready for another crossing.

We left Musket Cove for one night to go 15 miles to the town of Nadi. We anchored in the small harbor of Denarau in 10 feet of water. We had tied up to their pier long enough to fill Sandpiper's 200 gallon water tanks. Taking the advice of another cruiser, we called Uma, a local Indian cab driver. Uma took us all over town for the next 3 hours as our personnel driver.

We were are able to get all the food items we needed in Nadi. And were able to return to Musket Cove by 11am the next morning. Since there were 5 boats all leaving at the same time, Fiji Customs came by ferry from Lautoka, which is 20 miles away. This saved us all the 40 mile round trip, and customs was able to clear us out of Fiji.

We are currently planning on spending a few days at Tanna Island, Vanuatu. They have an active volcano there, and you can tour right up to the edge of it. After that, we are going to work our way over to Port Vila to meet up with my brother Ron for our crossing to Australia at the end of October.

More in 24.

Tom and Amy