17th of August, 2025.
A small team of the staff from Vuda Marina comes to sing our goodbye song. Among them is the lady who manages in the cafe and dislikes me. Irony.
The first few hours are just fine. We have eggs and toast for breakfast. I start feeling my stomach weird soon after we have a banana smoothie. I’m not the only one, as Sergio would also reveal to me later, but he felt sleepy only. We change some sails. I hit my fourth toe too many times downstairs, due to the movement of the boat. I guess it takes some time to get used to it. I suspect that I have a small crack due to the colors and pain of it. How easily breakable it can be? Weeks later, the whole toe would become larger than it was before, and I wonder if that’s due to the crack.
We have a lovely salad and some leftovers pizza for lunch.
Late afternoon I go downstairs to organize my stuff, and ended up staying there longer than I should. I ran back upstairs with nausea, but as I look towards the horizon for some time, I hold the feeling and manage to not throw up. Everybody is very considerate and try to tell me something to help, or offer me to take some motion sickness’s pills. I decide that’s better if I don’t.
The first night is a bit difficult for all of us apart from Thomas. We take watches of two hours each, but in teams of two, so in case we have an emergency someone is there to help you. Irene and I take the shift from 24.00 to 4.00 hours, and I’m awake from 2 to 4. That way, we could go to sleep soon after dinner. Well, actually none of us actually had any of the amazing Tagine which we all helped Irene to prepare.
The shift consists on checking the monitors and radar every 20 minutes, to see if there’s anything showing up. Then you go outside the boat and look out for yourself, just in case a boat it’s out there but doesn’t show on the radar. We also use a strong flashlight to signalize to possible boats out there, so they can see us. You can watch something, listen to music, or read. You can even take small naps in between those 20 minutes. The important thing is to always keep a 20 minutes alarm on, so you don’t mess up.
Before and after my shift, I sleep outside, in the cockpit, because I know that in my cabin I would feel too bad, being in the front of the boat. So I actually don’t have any problems sleeping.
18th of August, 2025.
We all have some fruits and cereal for breakfast. The second day of sailing is much better for all of us. And it’s also a smoother sailing too, as we are now getting wind from behind. I finally start my book “I am Malala”, and spend most of the time reading. Clara also reads a lot. Irene and her do some swimming while holding in a line from the boat, and they also do some sunbathing. I’m too focused on being alright the whole time that I skip that.
Then we catch a fish! I’m down in my cabin, just trying to take a nap, when it happens. At first, Sergio is the one trying to pull the fish out, with the help of Clara and Irene. After some time, Thomas takes over. There’s a commotion in the boat because we need to speed Ananda down, but as the wind is quite strong, the four of us crew struggle with that. When we finally manage to, Thomas already comes to us and tell us he got the fish out already. What? We all missed that moment and the chance to make a video. What happened is that the fish died half way through, which made things easier. It’s a sailfish and it’s longer than one metre, weighting about 20 kg. Yes, it’s massive! They all hurry up to clean it but I cannot help because I have no idea how to do that.
That night we have stir fried fish for dinner and it’s great! It is white meat, and we have simply with salt, pepper and lemon. We also finish the Tagine from last night. We all have a strong appetite today.
In tonight’s shift Irene and I go first, with me taking the 22.00 to 24.00 hours one. We gain too much speed at some point, because the wind speed goes over 20 knots, which Thomas had warned the team it should not happen. I didn’t hear that part of the conversation as I was inside doing the dishes. Luckily, Thomas noticed that we were way to fast, even though he was sleeping in his cabin, and came to the rescue. They had some sails down and everything went back to normal.
I try to sleep in my cabin and after four hours down there, I wake up with a bit of headache, just like Clara in her first night, so I take my things and go upstairs, to the cockpit again.
19th of August, 2025.
We have wraps for lunch, with fresh veggies and fried eggs. Also, I try another type of Kokoda, made by Irene last night. She chopped small cubes of the raw fish, and soaked overnight in coconut milk with lemon, salt and pepper. You can also add cilantro. It’s delicious, and you can barely tell that the fish is raw.
I sent a message on the WhatsApp group, asking if anybody staying in Tanna could give me a lift to Port Vila anytime soon. On our way here, Thomas and the crew decided that they would come here instead of going to Port Vila. They are heading there only about one week from now, but I must get there as soon as possible in order to meet Michael, the captain of the boat I will be boat sitting for one month, and get acquainted with everything before he flies out to the U.S.
Fish for dinner again, this time with salad. Yummy again! Tonight, we were supposed to watch something altogether but Sergio and Clara decide to go to sleep after dinner, so it’s just Irene and I. We watch “Ocean”, a National Geographic documentary by David Att. It’s really wonderful and a must for every human being on the planet. Unfortunately, Irene and I fall asleep during the last five minutes.
20th of August, 2025.
When we arrive is near down but is still dark. We are all up and ready for anything. Irene and Sergio are the ones going in front of the boat and, using flashlights, signaling the other boats so Thomas can drive the boat to a safe spot. It’s all good and we all go to sleep after that.
After breakfast, I realize somebody actually responded to my message, saying I can join them on Friday morning, when they are heading to Port Villa. Yay! Today is Wednesday, so I just need to figure out a plan until then.
People from another catamaran, who become friends with all the crew and the captain while they were in Fiji, come onboard to talk about the going to the volcano. Thomas makes pancakes for everyone and we have it with tea. The volcano is active and the visit it happens at night, so you can see the lava eruptions.
At the same time, Michael and his crew / family members come by in their dinghy and we finally meet / make a plan for our travel together. I will join them in their boat tomorrow, we will spend the night together and leave to Port Vila Friday morning. Perfect!
Our last night together onboard of Ananda it’s the best! We are all in a very good mood. We play Katan (my first time playing), and while we are doing that, Thomas surprises us with a glass of wine, snacks, and middle time he prepares pasta for dinner. We laugh a lot and have lots of fun. Plus, the pasta is great! We also have some Rum from Fiji, white chocolate flavor.
It was an amazing first time sailing for me!
10 Years Around the World 