SEAson Sickness!

Wow, I think we are definetly feeling SEAson sick! Fall in New Zealand, Summer in Fiji (yeah I know it is their winter, but it's hotter than any Canadian summer I've ever had) and Spring in Calgary (or more correctly Flood season). Being that we are on the bottom side of the earth right now with the boat, we have the benifits of opposing seasons which is actually really great. Fiji is pretty hot, 30 plus degrees during the days and very humid, but the evenings are a glorious 25 degrees with calm winds. We are finally using the outdoor living spaces on the boat again. We haven't done too much yet in Fiji, only what we mentioned in our previous update, as we had to get everything set up so we could leave the boat and come home to Calgary on May 19. Finding the "best dive sites ever" will be our mission when we return to Fiji on June 19. 
 
Our feelings are mixed about being home this time. Seems the snow just melted a week before our return (in our yard anyway) so the leaves were just starting to come out and the weather was cold and rainy and then severely rainy - yes we spent a couple days fending off the over-swollen Fish Creek. That all sucks. But it is good to see our girls again and all of our friends. Yesterday was bright and sunny, so all is not lost.

We're in Fiji

We are here in Fiji. I apologize to anyone who was concerned that we were lost at sea….we arrived in Lautoka Harbor on May 9th as planned. A major portion of our arrival day was spent in Customs and Immigration. The rumors of how the process was to work were all wrong. Number 1) Do not give them an itemized list of all of your alcohol, unless you have a wallet full of Fijian money to cover the exorbitant duty (rumor had it that they would charge a bond of $500.00 and then only charge duty on what was consumed during your stay in Fiji - WRONG!). Better yet, don't go fully stocked. All of the paperwork that you present to them 48 hr in advance of arrival is only a formality, once you arrive in the office, you have to fill out the same information on four different sets of carbon paper forms and you have to make a trip to the bank for more money and even at that, you will still have to make arrangements for external cruising permits after everything else is said and done at another location. The "process" is under reform, but so far, it is a whole bunch of checking in and checking out and everybody has a different story to tell. We finally made it to Port Denarau for about 5:00pm. We all quickly cleaned up and headed up to see what good things we could see in the marina shops and offices. Dinner out was welcome indeed - Me - the cook was needing a break. Fiji Bitter Beer was voted the best choice for drinking off the boat, or wine, as the mixed drinks do not contain any alcohol - too expensive! (Wonder why?) So we all had a good time stretching our legs on land and seeing the near sights.

 

Tuesday was spent washing the boat - of course - and we found out where to get our cruising permits and kava  - dried roots that are crushed and mixed with water to form a slightly narcotic drink that the Fijian Chiefs like to be presented with so that we the cruisers may obtain permission to visit their land and oceans - this is called "sevusevu".

Oso Blanco made it in to port 5:00pm and the whole gang of us went out for some very delicious Indian food.

 

Wednesday we headed out to Waya Island and spent a lovely afternoon anchored in a quiet bay, swimming in the "Oh So Lovely and Warm" water and walking on the white sandy beach. No villages were close, only some deserted resorts (old). The evening was calm and warm (hot) being on the back deck is fun again.

 

Thursday we motored over to Naviti Island and anchored up in Soso Bay. Abbie and John took the dingy and found themselves some snorkeling grounds while Glen and I donned our dive gear and dove under the boat to check out the zincs (maintenance stuff) and scrap tiny oysters and barnacles off of the heat exchanger panels. Pesky little guys. After we all got de-salted, we dressed in our best skirts (boys too) and packed a package of kava, hopped into the dingy and went to shore where there is a village. We have reservations to tour the village and present kava to the Head man (and drink some too) we got to buy souvenirs from the women (kind of felt obligated) then we had a traditional dinner and were treated to singing by the men who had gathered to drink kava while we ate (a feast) and finally the traditional dance group performed for us. We were included in one dance too. There was just the four of us, so we felt rather like royalty.

 

Being in a new country, means that for the next little bit we are going to be doing a lot of exploring, so there will tend to be a bit of day to day "what we did" recording. As well, we are trying to cram as much sight seeing as possible into a few days for John's benefit as he flys back to Canada on the 15th.

 

Friday, we motored back south to Malolo Island and the Musket Cove Resort. It has a bit of a tricky entrance according to the chart, but in real life, the channel is quite wide and has good depth. It is also well marked for day time travel. We met up with a catamaran that we knew from New Zealand - "Carinthia". They had been in the anchorage for a number of weeks so gave us the scoop on the place. We all dingy'd in for a beer at the yacht club and after a few, we had a bit of a wander around before heading back to the boat for a pasta and seafood dinner. This Cove can be quite an action spot once the majority of the cruising boats get into Fiji. We are a little bit early in the season, so it a quiet for now. We will come back here though.

 

Saturday - John, Glen and I suit up to do a dive called the Pinnacle. It is out side of the reef a bit and is a free standing rock, jutting from the ocean floor. There are tons of little fishes swimming around it and masses of soft corals and anemones. Very colorful. At the base of the rock there is a tunnel to swim through. It is a really nice dive. Once back and after a big breakfast, we put all of the gear away, hoist both of the dingys up top and then we pull anchor and head back to Port Denarau. We have a Jazz and Blues Festival to look forward too at the marina tonight and we have a day planned in the town of Nadi (Nandi) tomorrow. John flys out in the evening (Sun). So lots of fun to "do" yet.

 

2.5 days from NZ and 3.5 days to Fiji

The waters have leveled out, we aren't breaking through waves, just gentle up and down movement. A person can actually get a good night's sleep in this. The wind was down to 5 knots for most of the last day, but it is getting up to 19 again now. Find us on google earth 27.34.286 S and 175.34.258 E. The trip is going well. Oh and the temp. is up to 22.8 degrees C at 9:00 pm local time - getting warmer. Pretty soon we will be whining about being too hot!

I have to apologize for going on and on about our broken thruster. It's like when you get older and the biggest news you have to talk about is the new pills that your Dr. gave you or which part of your body aches the most. The thruster story (Epic Event as one of our friends put it) seemed note worthy amongst all of the ooohing and aaaahing I've been doing about New Zealand.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know we are still chugging along.

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Fiji - Here we come!

Currently, we are 8 hours off New Zealand's shore on our way to Fiji and the conditions are not great, but we knew that before departing. We have real 2.5 to 3 meter waves/swell at 6 to 9 second intervals and 17 or so knots of wind, the boat is rocking around a bit. But...there are two systems squeezing up either side of NZ that are going to chase us all the way to Fiji and we don't want to wait around for them, 'cause it Really won't be pretty then. Conditions should ease for us by mid day tomorrow and stay moderate for the balance of the trip. Our buddy boat, Oso Blanco, got delayed in Auckland, so we are out here on our own.

We went for fuel last week on Thursday and our shopping around led us to the Russell pumps as the best deal. We've had to re-mortgage the boat to buy fuel here as it is sooooo expensive. Anyway, the Russell pumps are on a high wharf that is in 9 feet of water, we draw 7' so have to be there for high tide so we don't "ground" the boat. So there we are bouncing up and down in the swell, rubbing against this big wooden wharf on our oversized (washing machine size) rubber balls (fenders), taking on fuel in 562.23 liter increments because that's how the pumps work. We punch in the card and pump the allotted fuel 9 times when the pump decides to go "off line" (they went off line in Pahia across the bay too). Did I mention that it is raining cats and dogs? Well it is! We aren't done fueling (we need 6 more of those transactions), but the pump isn't cooperating any more so we have to leave. Oh! What's this? Here we are with our nose almost on the beach in very shallow water with a passenger ferry tied up behind us and our stern thruster will not work! Why now? How the heck are we going to get out of here? With Captain Glen at the helm we managed and we didn't even take out the ferry. As we cross the bay to the Opua marina we brain storm as to how we are going to get back into our slip between the pilings and the dock with 6 inches to spare on either side of the boat with the wind now storm force and no rear thruster. Short answer, we can't. We anchor the boat in the bay and Glen dives to see if we have rope wrapped around the propeller blades - that would have been the easy fix. By this time it is dark, raining - no - pouring, the wind is gusting 40 knots and there are white caps on the water, we settle in for the night with dinner and a movie. A windy night at anchor can provide it's own entertainment though as you watch sail boats dragging by on their anchors and sometimes you have to fend them off of your own boat as they scramble in the darkness to get their gear hauled in so they can re-position and re-anchor (hopefully well away from you on the other side of the bay). In the morning we put down the dingy and headed to shore, Abbie and I to drive to pick John up from the airport and Glen to pick up mechanics to fix the boat. Even now, the thruster is not fixed but after much trouble shooting we know what the problem is and the part should be waiting for us in Fiji. Later in the day with John on board and a bunch of people on the dock, we played bumper boat and got back into our slip at the marina with no great mishaps. A very good thing too that we got back on the inside as the storm really got going with winds gusting 60 knots - not very nice at all. Welcome to New Zealand John!

Finally we tracked down a Catholic Church having Mass on Sunday, it was in Russell - across the bay from Opua. No we didn't take our boat. We drove the rental car to the car ferry and 10 minutes later we were in Russell. The Church of St. Peter Chanel, the patron Saint of the Pacific. And as timely as we sometimes are, the past week was his celebration and there are commemorative cookies - the Priest gave us some - quite fitting to have St. Peter Chanel with us on the boat. Anyway, it is a cute little church, key word being little. There are seven of us gathered for Mass. Go figure, they always ask the new people if they can do a reading - Glen volunteered me! (how'd they know we were new people anyway?) Yikes! No choir, we have to help sing the hymns (bet the regulars wish the new people didn't come - they(we) can't sing!) All fun aside it was a great experience.

Now, I'd better get back to my "night shift". Only 5 more days to go!

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