Decision time

We are starting to look at weather windows again and debating our strategy for Vanuatu. However, we are starting more and more to think about circumnavigating New Caledonia as opposed to going to Vanuatu for a number of reasons. Not least of which is that a number of yachties have told us that as more and more tourists go to Vanuatu (particularly on cruise ships with 1100 at a time) the locals are becoming more and more grasping in a financial sense and that in fact costs there are starting to rival New Caledonia - and that's saying something!! Allied with the fact that we were so delayed with leaving NZ due to illness etc we would not have very much time there. The alternative is to circumnavigate NC and visit the Loyalties at leisure which in the end may prove to be a better apprenticeship for us for sailing in tropical waters where coral reefs abound. At least here the French charts are true to reality which is more than can be said of places like Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu.
Then we would sail for Australia and maybe next year visit the Louisiades (PNG), Solomons and Vanuatu before returning to Australia via NC again. This would mean delaying by a year our plans for Indonesia and Malaysia and at our time of life that's also a consideration. However, a number of people have spoken very highly of the Solomons as it's still unspoilt which alas can't be said anymore of Vanuatu. There is an Italian yacht berthed alongside us at the moment and they have come down from the Phillipines via PNG and the Solomons and they can't praise it highly enough, whereas they weren't so complimentary about Vanuatu.
So, we're in an indecisive phase but we really need to make the decision by early next week at the latest.
We have been very fortunate to be berthed on our other side beside "Giselle". David from "Giselle" has spent a great deal of time sorting out our problems with our chart plotting system. And giving us some alternatives which are also now on our computer. We had lost the connectivity between the boat's GPS and the computer so were not able to see our position on the screen. There's been a lot of practice with plotting positions on paper charts in the meantime which is no bad thing but it's also good to see the situation at a glance on screen. We are very grateful to David for troubleshooting our problem which in the end turned out to be a broken wire connection where a soldered joint had come adrift. David had a soldering iron and fixed the problem once it had been diagnosed so we're back in business again.
Today we first went to the market for some more supplies and then McDonalds for the internet as the marina cafe for some reason blocks internet access to Sailmail where we get our weather prognoses. Goodness knows why. Then we went to a local chandlery and bought some nuts and bolts to fix the brackets on our dinghy seat and also indulged ourselves at Chez Toto again for lunch. More delicious snails - as if we needed to tell you that! A bit of food shopping and checking out the local duty free where prices are surprisingly competitive rounded out the day!
So now after a very light supper we are ready for bed. Tomorrow fixing the dinghy seat and organising a method of getting the staysail down without going right to the bow where one tends to do a very good impression of getting drowned when it's rough!!
Watch this space...............
Cheers,
Jim and Jean (Gina)

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