Pam: Yesterday we yet again set sail out of Port Vila heading round Devil’s Point and back up the west coast of Efate. The charts show rough water off Devil’s Point and for a couple of hours there was a fair swell. At least there was a bit too much for the new crew who started to look a strange colour and lose all interest in tuna sandwiches for lunch. However they recovered fast once we turned into the calm waters of Havannah Harbour and polished off their lunch by mid afternoon.
While we were off Devil’s Point we bowled along with full sail, the mainsail, staysail and jib plus the engine just to charge the batteries. Suddenly the engine overheated and Jim reckoned that the water pump had gone again so we had to continue under sail alone. This turned out to be a real test of Jim’s sailing skills as the wind dropped in the late afternoon and we had to beat up the harbour. Jim passed with flying colours and managed to get us to his planned destination at Ai Creek (Lelepa Landing) just on dusk in a virtual dead calm.
Today Jim set to work on the engine thinking it would take him several hours to replace the water pump. Fortunately it turned out to just be a blockage which he was able to fix reasonably easily so instead he spent hours doing a major overhaul of the engine’s electrical systems – looked pretty complicated to me but it is now early evening and Jim is relaxing with a beer and seems pretty pleased with himself. He says that various engine instruments are now working again.
While Jim had the engine in bits and the cabin strewn with tools he suggested that the crew could make itself scarce for a few hours. We had a great snorkel over stunning hard corals and a great variety of tropical fish – we wrote about this coral in an earlier blog.
This afternoon Nicky decided that her sunglasses needed repair and asked Jim if he had any superglue. Ever obliging he produced superglue but as the tube was nearly empty it needed cutting to enable Nicky to squeeze out the last drop, so Jim produced the Ship’s Scissors (her only pair). Nicky read the instructions carefully and took great care not to glue her fingers together while fixing her glasses but never gave a second thought to the glue left on the scissors. Yes, you guessed it, the scissors are now successfully superglued – shut.
Nicky:Later in the evening whilst Lee and Nicky cooked up a tasty concoction of stir fried vegies with a lime curry sauce Pam was busy at the ship’s computer keyboard writing the day’s journal entry. A sharp cry was heard from Pam as she wondered at Jim’s reaction to the latest mishap from his Byron crew. In her hand Pam held the ‘B’ key from the computer keyboard! How it had loosened itself was a mystery but it had definitely been attached for ‘a bit too much’ but had come away by ‘Havannah Harbour’! The crew were to see another example of the patient nature of their Skipper. When he shared his personal supply of dark chocolate and dried blueberries we knew we were not to be sent home!
Pam: Unfortunately the SE trade winds have been replaced by northerlies – which are no good for the next leg of our journey. So we will stay in this beautiful anchorage until the SE trade winds reestablish themselves.
Bye from all, Jim, Pam, Nicky, Lee.