Yesterday we were all set to head South to Malekula and we picked this morning to depart. However, also yesterday, on Kate's report of a problem with the anchor winch, I took a look from inside the anchor locker while Kate hit the switches topsides and I found that sparks were arcing from the motor body somewhere producing a burnt smelling smoke. The winch also would sort of pause at that point, but would still work. The sparks seem to only come at the start of using the winch on the first or second push of the Up button, but not after that. Very strange, and dangerous. Additionally, we had the nagging feeling that it could stop working altogether at any time and leave us stuck holding the bag as it were with potentially 300ft of chain over the side. Having to haul up that much chain by hand is a prospect I don't like to consider. So instead of heading South we came back to the Aore Resort on the North side of Aore island (just opposite Luganville) and took the only available mooring (lucky us).

The plan is, tomorrow - today was a day of rest, it being Sunday conveniently - is to disconnect and clean all the wiring and connectors, then re-connect one wire at a time testing after each. It is possible the lugs on the ends of the (monster) cables are too large. They look almost like they are touching and perhaps they are soooo close that the current is arcing from one to the other. Another possibility is a bonding wire I reconnected after last year's work on the bow (which included removing the anchor winch completely) which may have been connected to the wrong place (it might have been on one of the mounting bolts, I attached it to the negative power terminal on the motor) and we will remove it for a test.

Additionally, and by total coincidence, we ran into Jeff from "High Drama", who we know from last year, seems to have a spare motor for the same winch I have (Maxwell VWC3500). He has offered to sell it to me (at cost of course) and I am going to take it just in case. Most likely it is wiring, I hope. Replacing the motor will be a huge job. It involves first removing the (above deck) capstan, clutches and other parts then dropping the motor and gear assembly (under the deck). Then separating the motor from the gear assembly (this is the easy part) and attaching the new motor. Then re-mount the gear/motor assy. from below, etc., etc., etc. A pro would do it in 4 or 5 hours. I will take 2 days at least. Its an option.

Another option is to head straight for Numea (New Caledonia) where there are competent repair people who will be able to do it for us. Right now we are contemplating clearing out from Vanuatu in Santo instead of working our way South to Port Vila first. The advantage is that we avoid the long beat to windward to get to Efate (Vila). Since we plan to return to Vanuatu next year, we are not worried about missing some of the places we wanted to visit. In fact, we are so thrilled with Vanuatu we are seriously thinking of skipping Tonga next year and heading right for Vanuatu and splitting the season between Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Anyway, we like it here at the resort. It's a lovely anchorage and the resort has a nice (little) pool, which Jonah and dad both love. The diving is great with the SS President Coolidge which we dove on last week and also the USS Tucker, a battleship which went down just 3 weeks before the Coolidge also due to a collision with an allied mine. I know the captain will be doing more diving on the Coolidge this week, though Kate will not. She has had some kind of ear infection the last 3 days which has really flared up today. She has started a course of antibiotics and we are hopeful she will recover soon.