A bittersweet arrival

Opua, New Zealand – Port Vila, Vanuatu
Landfall

After seven days at sea with only the wind, the ocean and our sprightly crew for company, coming into Port Vila was a sensory overload. We hit 12 miles out just before dawn so all crew were up on deck as the morning unfolded, softly illuminating rows of palm trees and breakfast fire smoke chimneys. Despite not wanting the journey to be over in anyway, the excitement of arriving in a foreign port after a successful crossing puts a definite feeling of achievement across all of our faces, mostly in the form of silly happy smiles as you will see. I channeled this energy into capturing the wonderful surrealness of it all as our empty horizons filled with wind farms, floating city’s, shipping vessels and construction crews all welcoming us into a harbour full of vibrant activity.

Highlights not photographed because I was too busy living them include rum pancakes for breakfast, man overboard drills whilst waiting for customs clearance, tripping balls under a tree after standing on land for the first time and finally getting to put Jeff’s paddle-boards in the water after staring at them for a week on the bow. If you are interested in an awesomely detailed account of our journey you can head on over to Jeff’s pacific adventure blog. He deals in sail changes, boat speeds, weather conditions and wave surfing accounts resulting in me and the entire galley wearing a full pot of freshly brewed coffee…
…all I have is these whimsical photographs…