Passage planning advice - Santo, Vanuatu to Southport, Australia

[SailingNaivasha]

Planning a passage from Espirito Santo in Vanuatu, departing Luganville, to Southport, Australia. Can anyone offer any advice on routing, is a direct route navigating through the reefs and seamounts the way to go? Through the Grand Passage north of New Caledonia then a straight line to Southport with a wiggle through the mounts, reefs and shallows on the navioics? 1050nm as far as I can tell, and looks like that's the way the racers go.

Am I missing anything obvious?

[Jim Cate]

We have made that passage several times and by various routes. The one through Grand Passage is the shortest and was dead easy using French charts via CM93. Not at all tricky, but we planned it for daylight hours... and saw nothing of interest! No experience with Navionics charts, so can't comment on their accuracy.

With the current unrest in NC there may be more governmental attention to such passages, and this could add concern... I dunno. The route around the south end is quite ok too, and you need not enter French territory.

Good luck whichever way you go!

Jim