Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Savusavu Fiji
Fiji---lots of conflicting contrasts, harder to understand than first impressions appear.
We had a week in Savusavu where we unwound from our voyage. Ken took the wind generator down as it had decided to stop spinning—he greased some of the bearings and it appears to be fixed??
We got back into the cruising life style with the yachties had come up with us; all of us are tired and more than happy to hang out and socialize.
Dinners and drinks at the yacht club. A large group of cruisers went to the local Chinese restaurant and at F$18 (C$10) had a 3 course meal. We shared the rest of our mahi mahi with a dozen cruisers on our boat.
Savusavu has a great market with lots of fresh vegs, they had a cyclone come through here a month ago which took a lot of the bananas but there are still oranges, mandarins, pineapples, limes and papayas—back to fresh squeezed limonada—reminiscent of Mexico. We are back in the land of cheap food—5 eggplants or 8 limes for F$1.
The stores are well stocked and the supermarket is full with NZ and Australian products at reasonable prices. People appear to have enough of everything but eat very little meat—it is expensive for them.
We took a trip across the island in the local bus to the bigger town of Labasa, a 2 ½ hour trip. The bus was air-conditioned due to the lack of windows and the hills very steep so the poor bus struggled in first and second gears. The island Vanua Levu is the second biggest island of Fiji and is scarcely populated. It is very rugged and lush due to the heavy rainfall. It is the dry season now but is still very humid and subject to rain. It was a Sunday the day we visited Labasa and so most places were closed. It consists of a main street—mostly Indian population—with lots of stores which all seem to sell most things. There appear to be an abundance of hardware stores and DVD’s at F$3 appear to be in great supply and we will be able to add to our many pirated discs.
We had gone with another cruiser and when we discovered an air-conditioned chicken restaurant happily went in and had chicken for lunch. It appeared to be the only air-conditioned place and as our return bus wasn’t till 4pm we returned for ice cream and cold drinks for afternoon tea. I think if we spent a few days there we would have had chicken and ice cream regularly—hmm not too good for post heart treatment!!!
The return bus trip was long as we needed to pick up and drop off many families who had gone visiting their relations for the weekend so we were happy to finally get back after 3 ½ hours.
Indians appear to run most of the businesses and have the reputation amongst native Fijians as being rich and workaholics. Actually I think they are poor and manage to eke out a decent living by working hard. They own little land and lease from the Fijians who collectively own most of the land. They do coexist together well each holding to their own beliefs. Both Indians and Fijians appear very friendly and happy. You are constantly saying Bula (hello) as you walk down the road—locals will even yell it across the street to you. We are very impressed with the apparent level of education here. As well as their local languages they all speak impeccable English.
Ken got a haircut (see accompanying photos!!!—truly ready for the tropics) and the Indian family invited him to go to their house. He had a great visit where the male friends of the family all arrive at 5pm to share kava—it is a male bonding thing!!!—the kava in Fiji is very mild and we have been warned that the kava in Vanuatu is MUCH stronger.
They gave him Indian food to bring home when he insisted he had to leave—he had no idea what was involved in the original invitation and we had arranged to go out to dinner.
They all appear to be very welcoming and generous..
We had arrived with very little information about cruising Fiji—other than the Lonely Planet and a very small cruising guide which had a few anchorages in it we felt very unprepared to cruise the area.
We got a lot of information for our computer from our friends Dennis and Janet on Shilling (first met in Mexico and we meet again constantly)—they had overlays for our charts showing routes and weigh points from previous yachts’ passages. Fiji is full of uncharted reefs and you need to travel in sunshine and read the sea with a lookout on the bow. Having passages from people who have successfully navigated the reefs is a great comfort. We also got a copy of an out of print cruising guide and one of the fellow sailors who is here for his 5th season gave us a lot of information so we now feel we are ready for Fiji.
After a week in Savusavu we went back to customs and had our cruising permit stamped allowing us to go and cruise for a while. We need to come back as we have a package from Opua to collect but will go up to one of the northern bays for a week
We travelled 50 miles up the coast to Viani Bay for our first visit.
One of the local customs which dates back to earlier times is when you arrive anywhere the land and sea is owned by the local tribe. You need to find the chief and present him with sevusevu (gift). This is traditionally a fresh kava root (we had purchased several from the market before leaving), he will accept this (they were previously cannibalistic so not sure if it was always accepted!!!!!) and then they take responsibility for you and you are welcome to use the sea and land.
We went ashore and were met by a local who after we enquired took us to the school where the head teacher accepted the sevusevu—apparently the chief for this area lives on a nearby island so not sure if we needed to give it or not?? I am sure the teacher will enjoy it anyway!!
We then went to look for Jack who is renowned by cruisers as a local guide. He appeared to be “somewhere else” but his lovely 12 year old grand daughter Tiara took us to their house where Sophie, his wife invited us into their small house and served us lemon grass tea. She introduced us to a number of children all of whom seem to belong to someone else but are looked after by Sophie and Jack. The children brought out a pile of pretty shells they had collected and insisted that we took some.
We were assured that Jack would paddle out to our boat in the morning to take us snorkelling.
Sure enough at 9am Jack arrived and offered to take us out to the reef in Cop Out and we would then snorkel from the dingy with him following us. He would charge F$10 for each of us for each snorkel. He took us through the reef at a point which we never would have had the courage to negotiate but he appears to know every coral head on the reef. We then jumped into the water and snorkelled the famous Rainbow Reef. It is full of beautiful colourful corals, including fan corals which have disappeared in many places. There were lots of colourful fish so I had my first attempt at photographing with our new underwater camera.
The next day he was back early to take us for a dive—it is his major means of supporting his extended family and as we were one of the first boats of the season we were not about to escape him!!! The children came out to visit and the girls loved the sparkly hair things and the boy a squishy spider.
Jack then took us for a dive to the Great White Wall—one of our highlights was a huge moray eel—the photo of him was marred by a fish that got in the way!!—the camera has a delay and I am still trying to see through the viewfinder to see what I am photographing—oh well it can only improve.
Next day Jack was back and we took Cop Out over to Taveuni, a nearby island with a dive shop to refill the tanks. On the way back we dove the purple wall which was very colourful.
By the following day we were both feeling the effects of a cold so opted out but did invite the family over for pizza, popcorn and a movie. They all arrived and happily ate and drank all that was offered and we watched both Finding Nemo and Madagascar. They enjoyed it greatly and departed with some of our fresh vegs and a few cans of food.
Jack and Sophie arrived with 5 children although two were picked up later, it seems that people just leave their children if they want to go somewhere else---seems very strange to us and we were glad that Jack and Sophie are willing to give the children a secure and safe home. We will definitely recommend that our cruising friends come here and support his efforts to raise these lovely children.
We got up early the next morning and motor sailed back to Savusavu, our wind generator has decided not to spin and the NZ Company which had fixed it while we were there emailed us and suggested we send it back and they will repair it at no cost to us.
We will spend a few days in Savusavu—Ken’s hairdresser has offered to teach me how to cook Indian food –and will resupply and move on to our next area of Fiji.
I apologise about the number of underwater photos but am having so much fun doing it that I could not resist putting them in—understand that there are many which did not make the cut!!!!
Till next time-----
We had a week in Savusavu where we unwound from our voyage. Ken took the wind generator down as it had decided to stop spinning—he greased some of the bearings and it appears to be fixed??
We got back into the cruising life style with the yachties had come up with us; all of us are tired and more than happy to hang out and socialize.
Dinners and drinks at the yacht club. A large group of cruisers went to the local Chinese restaurant and at F$18 (C$10) had a 3 course meal. We shared the rest of our mahi mahi with a dozen cruisers on our boat.
Savusavu has a great market with lots of fresh vegs, they had a cyclone come through here a month ago which took a lot of the bananas but there are still oranges, mandarins, pineapples, limes and papayas—back to fresh squeezed limonada—reminiscent of Mexico. We are back in the land of cheap food—5 eggplants or 8 limes for F$1.
The stores are well stocked and the supermarket is full with NZ and Australian products at reasonable prices. People appear to have enough of everything but eat very little meat—it is expensive for them.
We took a trip across the island in the local bus to the bigger town of Labasa, a 2 ½ hour trip. The bus was air-conditioned due to the lack of windows and the hills very steep so the poor bus struggled in first and second gears. The island Vanua Levu is the second biggest island of Fiji and is scarcely populated. It is very rugged and lush due to the heavy rainfall. It is the dry season now but is still very humid and subject to rain. It was a Sunday the day we visited Labasa and so most places were closed. It consists of a main street—mostly Indian population—with lots of stores which all seem to sell most things. There appear to be an abundance of hardware stores and DVD’s at F$3 appear to be in great supply and we will be able to add to our many pirated discs.
We had gone with another cruiser and when we discovered an air-conditioned chicken restaurant happily went in and had chicken for lunch. It appeared to be the only air-conditioned place and as our return bus wasn’t till 4pm we returned for ice cream and cold drinks for afternoon tea. I think if we spent a few days there we would have had chicken and ice cream regularly—hmm not too good for post heart treatment!!!
The return bus trip was long as we needed to pick up and drop off many families who had gone visiting their relations for the weekend so we were happy to finally get back after 3 ½ hours.
Indians appear to run most of the businesses and have the reputation amongst native Fijians as being rich and workaholics. Actually I think they are poor and manage to eke out a decent living by working hard. They own little land and lease from the Fijians who collectively own most of the land. They do coexist together well each holding to their own beliefs. Both Indians and Fijians appear very friendly and happy. You are constantly saying Bula (hello) as you walk down the road—locals will even yell it across the street to you. We are very impressed with the apparent level of education here. As well as their local languages they all speak impeccable English.
Ken got a haircut (see accompanying photos!!!—truly ready for the tropics) and the Indian family invited him to go to their house. He had a great visit where the male friends of the family all arrive at 5pm to share kava—it is a male bonding thing!!!—the kava in Fiji is very mild and we have been warned that the kava in Vanuatu is MUCH stronger.
They gave him Indian food to bring home when he insisted he had to leave—he had no idea what was involved in the original invitation and we had arranged to go out to dinner.
They all appear to be very welcoming and generous..
We had arrived with very little information about cruising Fiji—other than the Lonely Planet and a very small cruising guide which had a few anchorages in it we felt very unprepared to cruise the area.
We got a lot of information for our computer from our friends Dennis and Janet on Shilling (first met in Mexico and we meet again constantly)—they had overlays for our charts showing routes and weigh points from previous yachts’ passages. Fiji is full of uncharted reefs and you need to travel in sunshine and read the sea with a lookout on the bow. Having passages from people who have successfully navigated the reefs is a great comfort. We also got a copy of an out of print cruising guide and one of the fellow sailors who is here for his 5th season gave us a lot of information so we now feel we are ready for Fiji.
After a week in Savusavu we went back to customs and had our cruising permit stamped allowing us to go and cruise for a while. We need to come back as we have a package from Opua to collect but will go up to one of the northern bays for a week
We travelled 50 miles up the coast to Viani Bay for our first visit.
One of the local customs which dates back to earlier times is when you arrive anywhere the land and sea is owned by the local tribe. You need to find the chief and present him with sevusevu (gift). This is traditionally a fresh kava root (we had purchased several from the market before leaving), he will accept this (they were previously cannibalistic so not sure if it was always accepted!!!!!) and then they take responsibility for you and you are welcome to use the sea and land.
We went ashore and were met by a local who after we enquired took us to the school where the head teacher accepted the sevusevu—apparently the chief for this area lives on a nearby island so not sure if we needed to give it or not?? I am sure the teacher will enjoy it anyway!!
We then went to look for Jack who is renowned by cruisers as a local guide. He appeared to be “somewhere else” but his lovely 12 year old grand daughter Tiara took us to their house where Sophie, his wife invited us into their small house and served us lemon grass tea. She introduced us to a number of children all of whom seem to belong to someone else but are looked after by Sophie and Jack. The children brought out a pile of pretty shells they had collected and insisted that we took some.
We were assured that Jack would paddle out to our boat in the morning to take us snorkelling.
Sure enough at 9am Jack arrived and offered to take us out to the reef in Cop Out and we would then snorkel from the dingy with him following us. He would charge F$10 for each of us for each snorkel. He took us through the reef at a point which we never would have had the courage to negotiate but he appears to know every coral head on the reef. We then jumped into the water and snorkelled the famous Rainbow Reef. It is full of beautiful colourful corals, including fan corals which have disappeared in many places. There were lots of colourful fish so I had my first attempt at photographing with our new underwater camera.
The next day he was back early to take us for a dive—it is his major means of supporting his extended family and as we were one of the first boats of the season we were not about to escape him!!! The children came out to visit and the girls loved the sparkly hair things and the boy a squishy spider.
Jack then took us for a dive to the Great White Wall—one of our highlights was a huge moray eel—the photo of him was marred by a fish that got in the way!!—the camera has a delay and I am still trying to see through the viewfinder to see what I am photographing—oh well it can only improve.
Next day Jack was back and we took Cop Out over to Taveuni, a nearby island with a dive shop to refill the tanks. On the way back we dove the purple wall which was very colourful.
By the following day we were both feeling the effects of a cold so opted out but did invite the family over for pizza, popcorn and a movie. They all arrived and happily ate and drank all that was offered and we watched both Finding Nemo and Madagascar. They enjoyed it greatly and departed with some of our fresh vegs and a few cans of food.
Jack and Sophie arrived with 5 children although two were picked up later, it seems that people just leave their children if they want to go somewhere else---seems very strange to us and we were glad that Jack and Sophie are willing to give the children a secure and safe home. We will definitely recommend that our cruising friends come here and support his efforts to raise these lovely children.
We got up early the next morning and motor sailed back to Savusavu, our wind generator has decided not to spin and the NZ Company which had fixed it while we were there emailed us and suggested we send it back and they will repair it at no cost to us.
We will spend a few days in Savusavu—Ken’s hairdresser has offered to teach me how to cook Indian food –and will resupply and move on to our next area of Fiji.
I apologise about the number of underwater photos but am having so much fun doing it that I could not resist putting them in—understand that there are many which did not make the cut!!!!
Till next time-----
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Farewell New Zealand hello Fiji
We arrived in Opua which is our departure port to tidy up loose ends and get the last of the boat projects done.
We needed to change the position of the radar from the mast to the spreader as we were unable to tack the sail through---this of course adds another few years we will have to sail the boat to recoup the money “saved” by adding the solar panel!!!
We needed a new tuner for our single side band radio which we find invaluable on our long passages to let other cruisers know where we are as we travel and find the weather conditions for the boats ahead of us.
It was also a time to catch up with old friends as everyone is gathering to be ready to leave with the first weather window in May.
We took several more shopping trips adding even more weight to our already overloaded boat. It is hard to resist the treats offered in NZ as we know that for the next 6 months we will be limited with what we can get, Mind you I have learned not to buy canned goods that I do not like and therefore will still have on the boat several years from now—i.e. canned peas still on board since Panama!! I intend giving them away in Vanuatu. For some reason canned spinach is not available here—I do like throwing that in a pasta sauce but I may have to used canned peas!!!
Out new crew member Travis arrived. He is a young mechanic who had worked on our boat in Wellington who had jumped at the chance to sail north with us. He will fly home after a week in Fiji. He is a great young man and we only hope he does not get sea sick and we hope that we have time to have any new engine problems before he leaves again!!!
It seems that Saturday the 1st of May is the date to depart. There is a rally of 31 boats going to Tonga and another 10 who are going to Fiji which we will keep in radio contact throughout the trip. The first week we all head in the same direction as most of us are planning a rest stop at Minerva Reef. This is 780 nautical miles north and is very sheltered from seas in big winds.
We checked out of customs and by 1pm the sea was alive with sails---we had hoped to get off a little earlier than most as we will be in the fastest 1/3 of the boats and wanted to avoid passing dozens after dark. It was not to be and we actually left after the bulk but everyone spread widely and it did not become an issue.
Our first couple of days we got back into the rhythm of a long passage with Travis taking the early morning shift it meant Ken and I got a longer and a very welcome sleep. We had favourable winds and made good time
By the the 5th day we were getting squalls with big winds and rough seas which made for an uncomfortable ride. We were taking large waves off the side of the boat so although we were sailing well it was like being on a bucking bronco and it was very tiring. Fortunately the winds were favourable and we were doing 8-9 knots and on the 6th day got to Minerva and were very thankful to join the 8 other boats already taking sanctuary there. Two others managed to get in before dark and we all had a great sleep as we were all exhausted. It was the longest most uncomfortable sail we have had. In the morning we got up to fix the problems that had occurred in the last 30 hours.
The trampoline which we knew was due to be replaced and we had decided to do in Fiji did not last till and we put new grommets into whatever fabric was left with any integrity. No bouncing on the trampolines for a while!! Our salon table which had ripped out some screws and was no longer attached to the floor was reinforced. An escape hatch on our floor had blown out a handle; a stair rail had pulled out when Travis got thrown down the stairs. The hatch cover over my pantry had taken so much water over it that it had leaked all over my canisters and recipes, luckily I only lost some coffee as everything was in sealed containers and I was able to dry out the recipes.
We took the day and repaired everything so we would be ready to leave the next day. Travis being such a practical young man was a great help and was able to help Ken while I dried out the pantry.
As our friend on Mr John commented—I am only 6 days from NZ and already have 2 pages of new boat projects!!! Mind you he had hit a whale on his first day out. Luckily for them it did little damage..
Minerva still reminds me of what I imagine to be a moonscape—we are in the caldera of a volcano and the reef is the width of an airport runway. This time the sea on the outside was rougher than our last visit here and we were still getting 29 knots of wind inside without the rough seas -- no one even put their dinghy’s in the water.
Travis who had never been in tropical water before took the opportunity to snorkel and was very excited—reminded us when Aaron was on the boat with his enthusiasm--they would have both been in the water forever if they had been here together
By the end of the second day there were now 30 boats all taking refuge and getting some hard earned rest.
We left Minerva along with a number of boats going to both Fiji and Tonga as it appeared to be the last weather window for a few days. We have a 420 mile passage to Savusavu in Fiji.
We had favourable winds and with the seas having calmed had a great couple of sailing days doing 8knots. Can we make it before dark on the 3rd day? ---we were counting the miles down needing the wind to stay strong.
At 4am the wind died which meant we had to turn on the motor and we would not get in until dawn the following day---it never seems to matter during a passage only when you are so near and yet so far.
How do you know when you are nearing Fiji?---you check to see when Travis can get an internal flight to connect with his return to NZ and they say the last plane for a month will be going on the 12th as they are going to do maintenance on the plane!! They apparently do not have an extra plane. Luckily we will be in on the 11th so we secured him a seat on the last available plane—he is a little wary of the fact it is the last trip before maintenance—hopefully unlike Tonga they schedule it before it falls apart??
The alternative offered was a ferry ride involving an overnight passage as opposed to a 40 minute flight!! After this 1200 NM trip one more overnight trip did not appeal. Besides after having had so much guilt after we put Marcie and Don on the ferry in Tonga we will never do that again. Actually Tonga buys Fiji’s used ferries so perhaps they are still good in Fiji.
We had already had to sail around the first of the Fiji islands in the night although they do not appear to have any lights on them—generator till dark probably.
The air temperature has suddenly got hotter—about C30 along with humidity.
Dawn came with our first view of an island—lush but not the towering hills of the Marqueses. It is odd to think that we still are in 9000 feet of water and until you are less than 1 mile from land it stays this deep. I guess that means most of the mountains are underwater.
The water temperature is close to the air temperature and Travis did a swim off the back of the boat—attached by a rope—we are always a little concerned a wind will come up and us sail off without whoever is in the water.
The lack of wind meant we could fish—it has been too rough so far on this trip. The first one “got away” without seeing him. Travis next caught a HUGE tuna which he took about 45 minutes to get to the boat and just a he was landing it with Ken on the gaff we realised it was hooked by the gills and as soon as the pressure went off the line it got away!!! It had been a 50lb or more yellowfin which we all clearly saw—what heartbreak for Travis—he had never caught anything near this big before.
Later that day the wind came up and we set sail again finally getting to our weigh point for Savusavu early the next morning.
We called Dolly—the young lady who has the marina organised. It bought back memories of Barillas, El Salvador as we were guided to a mooring buoy where we tied up and waited and shortly after health, customs and quarantine officials came to our boat and with no hassles we were checked in and able to go to shore.
Many cruising friends are here already and others coming in as the season starts.
IT IS HOT here!!! We had forgotten the heat of the tropics and this part of Fiji is particularly humid with the wet season just over is very hot and sticky.
First impressions are more reminiscent of Ecuador or the Caribbean Islands than the Pacific Islands with a distinct East Indian flavour--- they seem to run all of the businesses. This is a small town and the locals are particularly friendly —one reason we had chosen to come here rather than one of the bigger cities to start our Fiji experience.
I will post this later today and we will slowly adjust to the cruising life style again.
We needed to change the position of the radar from the mast to the spreader as we were unable to tack the sail through---this of course adds another few years we will have to sail the boat to recoup the money “saved” by adding the solar panel!!!
We needed a new tuner for our single side band radio which we find invaluable on our long passages to let other cruisers know where we are as we travel and find the weather conditions for the boats ahead of us.
It was also a time to catch up with old friends as everyone is gathering to be ready to leave with the first weather window in May.
We took several more shopping trips adding even more weight to our already overloaded boat. It is hard to resist the treats offered in NZ as we know that for the next 6 months we will be limited with what we can get, Mind you I have learned not to buy canned goods that I do not like and therefore will still have on the boat several years from now—i.e. canned peas still on board since Panama!! I intend giving them away in Vanuatu. For some reason canned spinach is not available here—I do like throwing that in a pasta sauce but I may have to used canned peas!!!
Out new crew member Travis arrived. He is a young mechanic who had worked on our boat in Wellington who had jumped at the chance to sail north with us. He will fly home after a week in Fiji. He is a great young man and we only hope he does not get sea sick and we hope that we have time to have any new engine problems before he leaves again!!!
It seems that Saturday the 1st of May is the date to depart. There is a rally of 31 boats going to Tonga and another 10 who are going to Fiji which we will keep in radio contact throughout the trip. The first week we all head in the same direction as most of us are planning a rest stop at Minerva Reef. This is 780 nautical miles north and is very sheltered from seas in big winds.
We checked out of customs and by 1pm the sea was alive with sails---we had hoped to get off a little earlier than most as we will be in the fastest 1/3 of the boats and wanted to avoid passing dozens after dark. It was not to be and we actually left after the bulk but everyone spread widely and it did not become an issue.
Our first couple of days we got back into the rhythm of a long passage with Travis taking the early morning shift it meant Ken and I got a longer and a very welcome sleep. We had favourable winds and made good time
By the the 5th day we were getting squalls with big winds and rough seas which made for an uncomfortable ride. We were taking large waves off the side of the boat so although we were sailing well it was like being on a bucking bronco and it was very tiring. Fortunately the winds were favourable and we were doing 8-9 knots and on the 6th day got to Minerva and were very thankful to join the 8 other boats already taking sanctuary there. Two others managed to get in before dark and we all had a great sleep as we were all exhausted. It was the longest most uncomfortable sail we have had. In the morning we got up to fix the problems that had occurred in the last 30 hours.
The trampoline which we knew was due to be replaced and we had decided to do in Fiji did not last till and we put new grommets into whatever fabric was left with any integrity. No bouncing on the trampolines for a while!! Our salon table which had ripped out some screws and was no longer attached to the floor was reinforced. An escape hatch on our floor had blown out a handle; a stair rail had pulled out when Travis got thrown down the stairs. The hatch cover over my pantry had taken so much water over it that it had leaked all over my canisters and recipes, luckily I only lost some coffee as everything was in sealed containers and I was able to dry out the recipes.
We took the day and repaired everything so we would be ready to leave the next day. Travis being such a practical young man was a great help and was able to help Ken while I dried out the pantry.
As our friend on Mr John commented—I am only 6 days from NZ and already have 2 pages of new boat projects!!! Mind you he had hit a whale on his first day out. Luckily for them it did little damage..
Minerva still reminds me of what I imagine to be a moonscape—we are in the caldera of a volcano and the reef is the width of an airport runway. This time the sea on the outside was rougher than our last visit here and we were still getting 29 knots of wind inside without the rough seas -- no one even put their dinghy’s in the water.
Travis who had never been in tropical water before took the opportunity to snorkel and was very excited—reminded us when Aaron was on the boat with his enthusiasm--they would have both been in the water forever if they had been here together
By the end of the second day there were now 30 boats all taking refuge and getting some hard earned rest.
We left Minerva along with a number of boats going to both Fiji and Tonga as it appeared to be the last weather window for a few days. We have a 420 mile passage to Savusavu in Fiji.
We had favourable winds and with the seas having calmed had a great couple of sailing days doing 8knots. Can we make it before dark on the 3rd day? ---we were counting the miles down needing the wind to stay strong.
At 4am the wind died which meant we had to turn on the motor and we would not get in until dawn the following day---it never seems to matter during a passage only when you are so near and yet so far.
How do you know when you are nearing Fiji?---you check to see when Travis can get an internal flight to connect with his return to NZ and they say the last plane for a month will be going on the 12th as they are going to do maintenance on the plane!! They apparently do not have an extra plane. Luckily we will be in on the 11th so we secured him a seat on the last available plane—he is a little wary of the fact it is the last trip before maintenance—hopefully unlike Tonga they schedule it before it falls apart??
The alternative offered was a ferry ride involving an overnight passage as opposed to a 40 minute flight!! After this 1200 NM trip one more overnight trip did not appeal. Besides after having had so much guilt after we put Marcie and Don on the ferry in Tonga we will never do that again. Actually Tonga buys Fiji’s used ferries so perhaps they are still good in Fiji.
We had already had to sail around the first of the Fiji islands in the night although they do not appear to have any lights on them—generator till dark probably.
The air temperature has suddenly got hotter—about C30 along with humidity.
Dawn came with our first view of an island—lush but not the towering hills of the Marqueses. It is odd to think that we still are in 9000 feet of water and until you are less than 1 mile from land it stays this deep. I guess that means most of the mountains are underwater.
The water temperature is close to the air temperature and Travis did a swim off the back of the boat—attached by a rope—we are always a little concerned a wind will come up and us sail off without whoever is in the water.
The lack of wind meant we could fish—it has been too rough so far on this trip. The first one “got away” without seeing him. Travis next caught a HUGE tuna which he took about 45 minutes to get to the boat and just a he was landing it with Ken on the gaff we realised it was hooked by the gills and as soon as the pressure went off the line it got away!!! It had been a 50lb or more yellowfin which we all clearly saw—what heartbreak for Travis—he had never caught anything near this big before.
Later that day the wind came up and we set sail again finally getting to our weigh point for Savusavu early the next morning.
We called Dolly—the young lady who has the marina organised. It bought back memories of Barillas, El Salvador as we were guided to a mooring buoy where we tied up and waited and shortly after health, customs and quarantine officials came to our boat and with no hassles we were checked in and able to go to shore.
Many cruising friends are here already and others coming in as the season starts.
IT IS HOT here!!! We had forgotten the heat of the tropics and this part of Fiji is particularly humid with the wet season just over is very hot and sticky.
First impressions are more reminiscent of Ecuador or the Caribbean Islands than the Pacific Islands with a distinct East Indian flavour--- they seem to run all of the businesses. This is a small town and the locals are particularly friendly —one reason we had chosen to come here rather than one of the bigger cities to start our Fiji experience.
I will post this later today and we will slowly adjust to the cruising life style again.
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