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July 11
It is now 7:15am and we are steaming out of Vila Bay on our way to the
Western side of Efate Island to find a nice, quiet anchorage with good
snorkeling and diving. Havannah Harbor is our goal and there are
several nice anchorages there according to the guide.
We raised anchor at about 6:50am in clear skies with about 35% cloud
cover. Mele Bay, the large bay within which Vila Bay is situated, is
calm with a slight swell from the Southwest which I believe is the
product of the prevailing SE swell but wrapped around the Southern
point of Mele Bay (Pango Pt.). The wind is about 7k from the SE and we
will probably motor the whole way. It is only about 20 miles to
Havannah Harbor so we don't expect this to be a long voyage.
Our first waypoint is the Western tip of Mele Bay, Maoto Tiupeniu
Point which on the chart is surrounded by lots of wavy lines which
means rough water. Other cruisers have also reported to us that this
point is famous for rough water. I suppose it is the confluence of
currents or something, but with the calm weather this morning we are
not expecting much in the way of rough seas there. We have our line in
the water and the point should be a good spot for big fish. We are
hopeful. We haven't had any fish for weeks.
At 8:10am we have just cleared Maoto Tiupeniu Point and are heading
NW. The rough water actually began long before we reached the point
and there was some serious rolling involved. It remains a bit roly
still but we are expecting calmer water as we get into the lee of
Efate soon.
At about 9:45 we anchored at Ai Creek in Havannah Harbor. The wind was
blowing up to 23k after we came around the point and we motor sailed
with the genoa alone at 8.5k over ground and made excellent time. The
anchorage here is flat calm and the water looks very clear. There is
supposed to be good snorkeling here and we plan to be in the water
after noon. First, some rest and breakfast!
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