Test run to Gideon’s Landing

Overnight Rob came up with the brilliant idea that we do today what we are going to do Friday. So after a most pleasant night behind Hideaway Island we lifted the anchor at about 6am.

The plan was to sail to Havannah Harbour in the north west of the island of Efate and look for Gideons Landing where we are to pick up the Medical Team on Friday. With the wind behind us we set the sails and had a very pleasant sail up the west coast of the island.

When we arrived in the very large harbour it was out with the phone to refer to google maps to see if we could narrow down where to go. That worked. Meanwhile Rob was able to speak with Gideon himself and we were guided onto his mooring and invited ashore.

A very pleasant time sitting in Gideon’s fantastic restaurant while Rob and Gideon discussed their shared best friends. While talking, Gideon sent a photo of himself and Rob to their Vanuatu friend in Melbourne then they had a three way phone conversation. The technology available today in the most remote parts of the world is amazing.

It was quite a heavy beat into the wind to get back to Port Vila, I imagine that was good experience for getting back from the islands in the north in three werks time.

So Rob, it was a good plan, Mark and I are now very comfortable about where to go and what to do Friday.

Fair winds, flat seas and Gideons landed.
 

Robs note … 

 

It was a glorious anchorage in the lee of Hideaway Island, although when the wind died off around midnight the effect of the swell, as slight as it was, beam-on produced an unexpected roll. Not a big roll but enough to cause something in the forward region of the boat, where I now reside, to come loose thereby producing a “clunk” … “clunk” … “clunk” with about a 2 second interval, but then occasionally a “clunk” would be missed, thereby upsetting the half-asleep mind’s anticipation of what was inevitably coming next.  And do you think I could find the source of the disturbance… and it’s amazing how the smallest of sounds gets magnified through a steel hull on a still night.  In the end the need for sleep overcame all and the origins of the noise will have to remain a mystery.

 

It was an early breakfast, and in my case I had it on the way, because we were on our way just after six, around the point to Havannah Harbour about three hours away.

 

This was to be something of a test run, first to find Gideons Landing and then second, to locate a place to stop when Phil and his trusty crew – Mark, Todd and Vic return in earnest on Friday to pick up the medical team.  

 

In the end it was a very successful excursion and having been made aware that Gideon and I had a mutual friend in an Australian woman (about my age), Alison Haysey, it was great to see how modern communications could instantly bring the three of us together as Gideon first emailed a photo and the called Alison who just happened to be available.  Just amazing.  

Gideon allowed us to use his mooring, which was far more satisfactory than dropping an anchor because I knew he was keen to protect his coral and giant clams- situated just metres off the beach.

 

So if you are looking for an “Eco” holiday with a difference- including some serious fishing – check our Gideons Landing if Facebook 

 

The trip back from Havannah, round the aptly named Devils Point, was a bit on the lumpy side at times, but now we are anchored once more in tranquil Port Vila Harbour; just off Iririki Island

 

With just 3 sleeps before I head home my list of “final tasks” should be getting shorter, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.  I’ve got Eddiy working on the deck again tomorrow so it’ll be good to catch up with him again.

 

Rob Latimer