Vanuatu Passage Day 5 and 6

Hello Everyone,

Well as you read this we are anchored in Anatom, Vanuatu. Right now we are about 45 miles from land and should be arriving tonight Friday 5/20 around 8 or 9pm. The last 2 days were a bit bumpy and confused and we through a double reef in the main and a triple reef in the jib just to make it more comfortable during the night. We hit a squash zone and a few squalls last night that sucked all the air out of our sails almost instantly. It was one of those weird moments were you are sailing along at 7 - 8 knots and then all of a sudden the wind stopped and changed direction to straight ahead of us... the seas went completely flat and all was still. You could see on the radar the squall that was causing all the weird weather. It was about 6 miles wide and it just felt strange so we decided to motor around it. Then after that the winds never really came back so we have been motoring ever since. The seas are quieter today and it is a little more comfortable. I am looking forward to anchoring in the bay, hopefully it has a beach.

I think I may have had the flu the last 4 days... At first I thought it was sea sick but now that I feel better it just didn't feel the same and when i have motion sickness... I think I slept for almost all of the last 4 days except for my shift and a little bit during the day... Ugh.. Tristan may be coming down with it now... we will see. I was able to eat today for the first time in 3 days except for the occasional cracker... so that is nice...

Anyway for the most part the kids are great and just hanging out. Alina is still making spas, tattoo parlors, drawing maps of the ocean and the islands and distances apart... new cal, fiji, nz and vanuatu... I am going to credit that for geography and math... Hee Hee.

We should be here until Monday and then we will be heading up to Tanna to go see the volcano... and then up to offically check in to Port Villa. There we will get some gas, food and then probably look for a window to head up towards Santo and the northern island chain. It is going to be a whirlwind and we will see what the weather and swell conditions let us do ...

Hope all is well.

Hugs and love,

heather
20.58.366S
169.53.574E

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