I sometimes wonder if having a washer on the boat is worth it. Because we have a washer we tend to just toss dirty clothes in the hamper whether or not they pass the smell test or not. Been worn for a couple of hours? Must be dirty. Ali would probably disagree with me, even though she’s the one that does all the laundry, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and enjoy my Fresh Scent t-shirts.

We sat down to eat and this cat immediately stood up, stretched, and walked across the restaurant to come snuggle alongside me. I am, of course, the only one who claims to have a cat allergy. They always come straight for me.

We spent our days in Musket Cove quietly. Maybe a swim or two. Maybe a trip to shore. Maybe a pizza or three. Maybe a beer with friends. Meanwhile, the kids spent their days hanging out with a new friend. Pretty chill time.

Our plans have been largely up in the air lately. We weren’t really in any hurry to move on, but at the same time we were ready to move on. When friends said they were going to head off to Vanuatu on the upcoming weather window, and some other friends coming up from New Zealand said they were also headed that way, we decided to drop the mooring ball and head off ourselves. Right now there is a confluence of kids between 10 and 14, and this is something that we don’t see happen very often in this lifestyle of ours, so we’re willing to do a bit of work to make it happen.

We headed back to Vuda Marina once again, this time in order to stock up groceries for a month, and to clear out of Fiji with Customs and Immigration. The marina does all the legwork, for free, and they even toss in your last night’s stay for free. Pretty nice deal.

The cruisers next to us at the marina were teasing Ali as she washed literally every item of cloth in our boat before heading off, and then scrambled around frantically every time a brief raincloud passed overhead. I don’t think I can overstate just what a clean freak Ali is.

An eclectic group of marina employees comes down to send us off with a song and a bouquet of flowers for a safe passage.

For about thirty miles we’d be cruising in the lee of the main island as well as behind a ring of reefs. Flat seas and fickle winds to start.

Ouest and I were sitting up on the roof when we noticed a large fish jumping out of the water a couple hundred meters off in the distance. That far off I figured it was pretty big, like a Mahi Mahi or a billfish chasing something. But it kept jumping and eventually we realized it was popping straight out of the water and back down again. Straight up and down, not chasing something. A little closer and we thought, “That looks like a baby dolphin.” And then we finally saw the mama jump alongside of it. About that time she decided to come check us out. We excitedly prepared for a baby dolphin encounter, but to our disappointment only two adults came over to us for a very short swim. Baby stayed away.

I thought the ocean looked like a painting this evening.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but as soon as we passed the last of the outer reefs, a swell rolled in on our beam, and seas seemed to just lift up in every direction. Nothing big, but enough to make the boat toss up, down, back and forth in completely unpredictable ways. This coincided perfectly with Ali setting dinner on the table. We went from dead calm, to having to hold everything down on the table—and later on we had to struggle to keep dinner from coming back up again.

Light wind and slightly sloppy seas as the sun goes down on the first night of a four day sail to Vanuatu.