Year Five

Kwajalein, the largest atoll in the world. It's a ring of islands and reefs 135 miles long and 35 miles wide. Most of the islands are controlled by the US army. There are about 3000 civilians and maybe 20 army personnel stationed here. It's basically a giant listening station. They listen and watch satellites and rocket launches and pretty much
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May 7, 2006
The Banks group in Vanuatu is about 1400 nautical miles from Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. On most of our passages Freebird makes between 150 and 200 miles a day. We expected this passage to take between 9 and 12 days. No such luck. We left our friends at Kwajalein and anchored 5 miles away off the island of Bigej for the night.
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May 25, 2006
After a good night's sleep we awoke to find the memories of the last 3 weeks just a blur. We'll be honest. The "Passage through Hell" provoked conversations centered around a little beach house somewhere. But this morning on this beautiful bay with beautiful Vauna Lava as a backdrop put all that on hold.
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A pleasant four hour sail around the island of Vanua Lava brought us to beautiful Waterfall Bay. This is the home of Chief Terely. His three young daughters paddle out to great us. The scene is just what you would imagine it to be. Clear calm water, a coconut lined beach, hand carved outrigger canoes with friendly islanders. …. Please! Don't wake us up!
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June 4 , 2006
This place, Vureas Bay, on this island, has become magical to us. The people here are very special. They are the friendliest people we have met anywhere. We were told by other cruisers not to miss Vanuatu because of the friendly people. It's so true!
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Log 39: Marshall Islands ~ Part 2	An overnight sail brought us to the pass of Maloelap atoll. We caught a lip-smacking Albacore for dinner as we came threw. Maloelap, like most of the Marshalls, was occupied by the Japanese before WW2. There are ruins covering the entire island. As you work your way down jungle paths you find old buildings being slowly taken over by thick vegetation. There are machine gun bunkers everywhere. see more...
Log 40: Bikini	From 1946 to1958, 23 nuclear blasts shook Bikini Atoll. Needless to say the original 166 Bikinians, other "downwind" islanders, and many US military servicemen were abysmally affected with a legacy of contamination resulting in various cancers, thyroid problems, and irreversible genetic damage. Some of these tests involved the placement of see more...
Log 41: Kwajalein	Kwajalein, the largest atoll in the world. It's a ring of islands and reefs 135 miles long and 35 miles wide. Most of the islands are controlled by the US army. There are about 3000 civilians and maybe 20 army personnel stationed here. It's basically a giant listening station. They listen and watch satellites and rocket launches and pretty much see more...
Log 42: Passage Marshalls to Vanuatu	May 7, 2006 The Banks group in Vanuatu is about 1400 nautical miles from Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. On most of our passages Freebird makes between 150 and 200 miles a day. We expected this passage to take between 9 and 12 days. No such luck. We left our friends at Kwajalein and anchored 5 miles away off the island of Bigej for the night. see more...
Log 43: Vanuatu ~ Part 1	May 25, 2006 After a good night's sleep we awoke to find the memories of the last 3 weeks just a blur. We'll be honest. The "Passage through Hell" provoked conversations centered around a little beach house somewhere. But this morning on this beautiful bay with beautiful Vauna Lava as a backdrop put all that on hold. see more...
Log 44: Vanuatu ~ Part 2	A pleasant four hour sail around the island of Vanua Lava brought us to beautiful Waterfall Bay. This is the home of Chief Terely. His three young daughters paddle out to great us. The scene is just what you would imagine it to be. Clear calm water, a coconut lined beach, hand carved outrigger canoes with friendly islanders. …. Please! Don't wake us up! see more...
Log 45: Vanuatu ~ Part 3	June 4 , 2006 This place, Vureas Bay, on this island, has become magical to us. The people here are very special. They are the friendliest people we have met anywhere. We were told by other cruisers not to miss Vanuatu because of the friendly people. It's so true! see more...
Log 46: Vanuatu ~ Part 4	June 14 2006 We are pounding into 30 plus knots of wind. The waves are like box-cars coming at us. Freebird presses on. We left the island of Gaua this morning at 0400 hours in the dark and it's now 1500. We hope to make Hog Harbor before night fall. The motion is so violent that we can't eat or rest. see more...
Log 47: Vanuatu ~ Part 5	July 4, 2006 As Freebird dropped her anchor off the village on Walla Island, five outrigger canoes hung on her stern. The villagers were eager to make contact with the aliens in this strange craft. After a short conversation we agreed to come ashore the next day for a tour with a fellow named George. see more...
Log 48: Vanuatu ~ Part 6	After a couple of interesting months in the wilderness Vila was a breath of fresh air. We tied to one of the mooring balls in the harbor and spent the next couple of weeks in sidewalk cafes, bakeries, and restaurants. Vila is a crossroads for cruising boats so we ran into our old friends John and MJ from the yacht "Island Sonata" and Chris see more...
Log 49: New Caledonia	Tuesday, August 15, 2006 We departed the anchorage at Whitegrass on Tanna Island at 0630. The wind was blowing at 20 knots forward of the port beam. We had hoped for the wind to be a little more in the East. This would have made for a much smoother ride. Never the less we were making good time. Our GPS speed was reading 8 to 9 knots. It was sunny. see more...