Vuda Point (Fiji) to Tanna (Vanuatu) – Day One
The seas are very uncomfortable, but, what’s new!? As we motored away from the marina yesterday morning, I prepared pasta, homemade tomato sauce, and even cooked up some chicken (a real treat for us, courtesy of Murar’s Dream). By dinner time, we were sailing well, but too sick to eat anything. Hopefully it’ll be okay for tonight’s dinner, if we’re feeling up for it. Will and I are both quite green, but the cool dark comfort of our aft cabin is doing wonders.
We were both dozing down below this morning. Will pulled himself up to have a look around. He called to me with panic in his voice: “Sarah, I see something up ahead. Get up here quick!”
I poked my head up through the companionway and could also make out a large object ahead of us to starboard. “I can’t see properly – I don’t have my glasses!” I ducked back below to find them, and in my panic, couldn’t. I rushed into the head to put in some contacts.
Will shouted at me from above: “Oh my god, I think it’s a liferaft!”
We neared the object, which was a bright green color. Luckily (or, unlikely, I’m not sure) it was not a liferaft. It was a large container type object floating along in the waves.
Although we would’ve missed it by about three boat lengths, it was very scary to see something like that out here. Major hazard to navigation!!!!!
Okay, time to send this and lie down again…
18 10′ S
174 12′ E
Heading 240M
Speed Avg 6 knots
Winds 20 – 23 SSE
svkaiquest.com 
Sounds like a scene from a movie! As a fellow glasses/contacts wearer I can just imagine the panic to get your eyes in. Glad you cleared the object and are smooth sailing again. I’ll be happy when all your crossings are complete and you’re safely moored in an Australian marina. Big hugs!
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Hey guys, Its Christian Finley. Tanna is the island I worked on 8 years ago. It is a great place. When you are there obviously go to mount yasur, which you can climb right up to the lip. Just go upwind of the lava. But at its base there is a great river that runs across the ash plains that has a crazy fun waterfall and pool. The land isnt stable so it may have moved. It flows into black sands south I think which is a great village where I got rained out and had to sleep. They have a hot springs that flows into the river and makes for a great spot to bath. The john Frum cult is also interesting. Enjoy some coconut crab for me. Very jealous.
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