Passage from Fiji to Vanuatu

Our first ever open ocean sailing began on Monday afternoon about 4pm as we left “Tom Hanks Island” and our glorious Castaway re-enactment filming behind. It would be a 500 mile journey to reach Vanuatu, a distance the captains estimated would take about 4 days to complete. The watches were set with the crew split into four teams, each to be on duty for 2 hours at a time. As we were seven on the boat, Adey was teamed up with his trusty MP3 player, "Colby", and the mighty time filler – Windows Solitaire.  Ben with Jen, Alex with Shannon, and Patricia with Dan rounded out the pairs.

  

Leaving the island and making our way towards the open ocean left the new crew with a feeling of nervous excitement. As if sensing the mood onboard, a pod of dolphins surfaced to splash in the waves alongside Ruby Soho putting a huge smile on our faces and giving us a memorable send off. We had a good sail that day under a mix of sun and cloud harnessing the power of 20 knot winds from the south. The inexperienced sailors spent this day working through the instability of their new environment with the help of seasickness pills and bouts on deck for fresh air. All stomachs stayed strong.

On Tuesday the weather turned a bit dark and the skies opened up on occasion, drenching those on shift with delicious drinkable water. This also provided the added benefit of keeping the sailor smell down to a minimum on the boat. The wind was similar to the previous day, but the swell began to increase, a bit of foreshadowing for the days to come. Alex pulled in a nice chubby Skipjack tuna after a good half hour battle with the strong fish. Fortunately given the effort, the crew pronounced the fish delicious and chef Horbal’s breaded creation was quickly decimated. The watches continued overnight on schedule and the crew sailed into another day on the open ocean.

On day three, the wind came around to the north and then onto the nose and we beat into it with sunny skies and large swell sometimes building up to the height of a good-sized bungalow. During his morning shift, Ben pulled in a 20lb Mahi Mahi on the hand line, reeling it in under arm power pull after pull. Mahis are a very unique looking fish with colourful bodies, a large dorsal fin and a rounded bull head.

Under Alex’s instruction, Ben killed and cleaned the mighty fish, a process that took more than an hour of concentrated work in heavy rolling seas. Chef Horbal then met his own high standards, slowly and delicately assembling a platter of sushi for the crew. More than being a fun fish to catch, Mahi’s are also very delicious!

The conditions continued to be very heavy, and when not on shift most of the crew spent time lounging in their bunks. On this day all felt rough with the seas tossing Ruby from side to side and banging hard underneath the main cabin, causing dishes and meals to go flying and crashing roughly into the hulls causing resting crew to bounce into the air out of their bunks. A great tuna pot pie was whipped up by the chef, which was promptly consumed and kept down with the help of medications and a quick return to resting.  This might be the time to give another big shout-out to our favourite sea cook, Dan Horbal!  Throughout the trip he kept whipping up delicacies from the on-board kitchen, even in the most turbulent waters. Here is a picture of him with his own baked bread which he made while we crashed along the stormy ocean. Amazing! This was truly a luxury cruise ;)

On the fourth day the wind mercifully started to shift back to the south and we sailed on a reach towards our destination. This more comfortable sailing angle combined with the glorious sunshine gave us a chance to enjoy the ride. Ben and Dan picked up the boat instruments and worked through some of Dan’s party songbook, culminating in an almost bearable version of “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes”.

The clear skies also allowed us to enjoy the starry nights on our overnight shifts. The views were sparkly above and sparkly below, with the phosphorescence twinkling in the wake of the boat as it cut silently through the water under the power of the wind. With no light pollution in sight and no boats for miles around making the stars too numerous to count in the sky, it was easy to feel at once insignificant, and yet connected to some energy flowing through our vast universe.

 In between the sailing action, little projects are always taking place on the boat, some more productive than others. Alex was always tinkering with something mechanical, finding a way to get down and greasy at every opportunity (thank goodness we had an on-board mechanic!). Ben felt a bit left out in the project category and so took on the challenge of mending the strap on his water bottle that had finally given out after a year of use. The crew enjoyed watching this project evolve over the several hours of careful planning and execution, losing count along the way of the number of tools involved.  

At midnight that night, after relieving Ben and Jen, Alex decided to “Hove To” about 15 miles off of Vanuatu since it was certain that we would make landfall in the middle of the night. This manoeuvre essentially stalls the boat by opposing the two sails and pointing it up into the wind. Four hours of rolling and banging ensued as the waves beat relentlessly against the boat with the crew resting uneasily. After taking over at 4am from Dan and Patricia, Adey and Dan set the boat sailing once more, attempting an easy pace to time our arrival for first light, something the strong winds made difficult.

At 7am on Friday morning we pulled into a large bay leading to the mouth of Port Vila harbour and a very welcome shelter for some weary sailors. The crossing was completed and what a beautiful sight! We celebrated our arrival with a well-deserved breakfast mimosa and enthusiasm for the adventures to come. Ahoy Vanuatu!

Fiji

Landing at Nadi airport in Fiji, we completed our customs paperwork and burst through the exit doors to find our good friend Dan Horbal waiting for us in the arrival lounge. Happy reunion! We loaded our gear into a taxi, including two surfboards carried since Australia, and made our way to Port Denarau where the sailing vessel Ruby Soho and her crew awaited us.

We knew this fine ship well, from the early days when it was just a crazy dream shared by three good friends (Adey, Jen and Alex), until today, more than a decade later, when we would finally step aboard. Ruby was beautiful! A 48 foot Catamaran with 3 berths and two bathrooms in each pontoon, a beautiful big galley and dining area with hardwood and white leather seats and ample room to lounge outside in the seating under the cover of the bimini. We could see that we were really going to be roughing it!

Adey, Jen and Alex had been on the boat since beginning their trip around the world in the Caribbean in the fall of 2011. Since that time they sailed successfully through the Caribbean sea to the Panama canal where they crossed through to the Pacific, spending time in incredible locations like the Galapagos and various remote islands of the South Pacific. Dan joined the crew about 6 months later in the winter of 2012, taking a leave of absence from work to become the master chef and reliable sailor that he is today. Shannon, Alex’s girlfriend, hopped aboard in Tahiti a few months before we arrived and so we had an ideal group to show us the ropes and share good times!

An acquaintance of Shannon’s from Vancouver was also onboard for a few more days of a two week visit, the wily Japanese Canadian named Noriko. That night we stayed in port sharing stories and beverages with the backdrop of a very distracting sunset…

The following morning we motored over to Musket Cove on Malolo island and latched on to a mooring buoy amongst a fleet of other boats. The ladies promptly jumped in for a snorkel while Alex and Ben plotted a surfing mission to some of the spectacular reef breaks nearby.  The ladies had a blast in the water and followed this up with a walk about on land, exploring the island resort, swimming in the pool and hanging out with fellow “yachties” on the patio with a beverage in hand.

Meanwhile, Ben and Alex set anchor from the dinghy and jumped in to challenge the reef break known as “Namuto Lefts”. It was a strong current to paddle through, but Ben managed to get in position and catch a few of the most gorgeous waves of the trip. Slow moving and breaking evenly, the walls of water seemed to pick him gently up onto his board and carry him along in a steady leftwards direction. The only unsettling factor was the clarity of the water which allowed the surfer to see clearly to the coral reef below giving the impression of being mere feet above the razor sharp edges underfoot.

Afterwards everyone returned to the boat to pick up supplies for another island mission. Our amazing onboard chef, Dan Horbal (aka Chefball), dreamed up an amazing spread, with marinated chicken to be barbecued over the wood fired grilles on shore. The grilles were at the far end of an outdoor beach bar, where a DJ played music under the stars at night. We shared food, drinks and stories with the crew of boats Ruby Soho had met along the way.

We returned to the boat once the bar shut down, where Ben and Dan provided a stringed concert, followed by a dance competition held by the ladies. Patricia narrowly won the dance competition and Jen stunned the on-looking crowd and dance participants alike with unbelievable choreographed moves remembered from her childhood training. 

The following day the captains decided to relocate Ruby much closer to the surf break, anchoring for protection in the lee of tiny and beautiful Namuto Island. This small patch of land houses an exclusive surf resort where tourists pay to stay and be provided with boat service over to the nearby surf breaks on request. Not a bad destination!

While most of the crew snorkelled on the protected side of the island, Alex, Ben and Patricia headed off in the dinghy to go catch some waves. The current was much easier to deal with on this trip, but the waves were a bit more inconsistent with greatly varying size and power. Given patience though, everyone was catching some fun rides. Our team encountered a bit of a scary moment when Patricia opted to try to ride out a particularly big wave. Ben paddled over the same wave and witnessed the beginning of the unpleasant experience. Patricia got tossed from her perch with the heavy wall of water crashing overhead, causing her leash to break free of her board and stranding her on her own in the surf crashing over the reefs.  Very scary!

Luckily another surfer had just finished a ride and was alert to the situation. Paddling in he offered Patricia his board and signalled to the surf boat for a pickup. With the last of her reserves, Patricia paddled over to the boat and was hauled in by a friendly local man named Abo and transferred to the dinghy with Alex waiting aboard. The two zoomed off to chase after the runaway board while Ben was able to confirm with a series of waves that everyone was ok. Thanking her rescuer profusely moments later while the two waited for another set, Ben observed “That was a pretty big wave, eh?!”. Our surf hero calmly replied: “I’ll give her one thing, she’s got some pretty big balls.”

The dinghy returned with only Alex aboard as Patricia had been dropped off for a well deserved rest. Ben caught one last amazing wave, a very memorable one, and looked back longingly at the crystal blue water as the two surfer compadres powered back to join the rest of the crew onboard Ruby. This artistically blurry photo was captured from Alex's video of Ben's final Fiji ride.

On arrival, Chefball once again delighted with a surprise platter of gourmet nachos – Ben’s favourite!

Noriko had to leave the boat after having spent the past two weeks exploring the beautiful group of islands known as Fiji and so we made our way back to Port Denarau. We set out to have one last dinner together and ended up finding a great hole-in-the-wall curry restaurant back in the city of Nadi. Fiji is known for its great curry and this place did not disappoint. It was authentic right down to the amount of sweating we did sitting in the stifling restaurant while the family owners ran between the kitchen and dining area with bowls of all manner of curry and fresh rotis. Delicious!

The next day involved chores and official duties as we were preparing to make a long voyage to the islands known collectively as the country of Vanuatu. We arrived early morning in the port of Lautoka where the customs office was located and Alex, Shannon, Ben and Patricia took advantage to get in a run before their time at sea would begin. 

Our experience in Fiji was a dream. A big “Bula” (Hello) and “Vinaka” (Thank you) to the wonderful people we met there. We hope one day we’ll return!