June 7

This morning I woke at 5:30am to go to Vao, the next village over, to try to get vegetables at the weekly produce market which is held Saturday mornings between 6am and 10am. As I have been to other similar markets I knew that anything decent would be gone by 8am. We dinghied to the beach and Kate and Jonah went one way to get bread (the bakery opens at 6am and closes at 10:15 daily, except Sunday, and is usually out of bread before 9am) and I went the other way to Vao.

I walked the first 2 miles before a car came by (there are not many on this island) and got a ride the rest of the way. I was actually early and only 2 vendors had set up so far. By 7:15 things were swinging and I had gotten hold of eggplants (one of our favorites), string beans, radishes (Kate loves them). I also got some teeny tiny green peppers and some nice hot, red peppers.

The last two days we have been tracking the movements of not one but two tropical cyclones, known as Hurricanes in the US. The cyclone season normally ends in April so any storm in June is rare and unusual. Our concern, of course, is that it does not make its way towards where we are. Right now, it is looking like it certainly could come our way.

As of last report, tropical cyclone GINA was at 15.8S 164.2E - it is forecast to be at 18S 159.4E by this time tomorrow, well to the Northwest of us. However, at various times in the last two days predictions have been made that the storm will curve South then Southeast which would have it heading our way. These things can go in almost any direction out here, not like in the Atlantic where there is (seems to be) more predictability. Our backup plan is to head for the Northernmost anchorage in Baie du Prony called Baie de Careenage which is in a winding, river-type estuary that provides protection in all directions. We can be there within 7 hours of leaving here, assuming we still have the prevailing Easterlies when we leave here. The only problem I forsee is that I have no idea how many other boats will go there and if there will even be room for us. Going tomorrow morning is an option we are considering. This would give us the jump on other boats and hopefully ensure we have a good spot to anchor. If it ends up coming nowhere near us all the better, we can pick up and go on our way.