Nov 26, 2014, week 7
Thanksgiving and more
I keep thinking we are going to leave today and everyday there is some reason why we cannot go, usually the weather looks too rough. Alan is really worried about the cyclone season and is f studying the weather reports, grib files, null school map, etc diligently. Unfortunately Fiji weather service almost always concludes their reports with the warning of strong winds and rough seas in the passes. Sort of like the traditional “late night and early morning low clouds and fog along the coast” that we grew up with in LA. The problem is we don’t know what that really looks like. Rhapsody sails quite happily in 20 knot winds.
Finally, finally we left Vuda Marina on Thursday.. There were the usual waves from the staff and “see you soon” The wind outside the marine was strong with lots of whitecaps but not horrible. Just enough to get Rhapsody going good. We hoisted our new sail to see how it works Smaller than our main jib but bigger than the staysail, it seems to be just fine. It was given to us by another sailor who heard that we needed a new jib. It will be a good sail when the wind is strong but not so strong that we want the little staysail. Since it is not big enough to replace the main jib we now have 9 sails to find room for. As usual, it is good to be back out on the water again with the sails up and a good wind. We pull into Musket Cove about 4:00 and grab a mooring. Almost before we are tied up a man comes by in his dingy to make sure we know about the potluck. We had decided on popcorn as our contribution, so as soon as that is done we head ashore.
We love this place. The staff at the bar greets us by name and remembers what we like to drink. There is a fabulous array of food laid out. Pickles and olives and cheese and crackers and all the traditional sides, mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry and several chickens and a turkey and lots of desserts. The turkey was smoked on one of the boats in a smoker made from a discarded beer barrel. And so, in traditional fashion, we spend the rest of the day and most of the evening eating and drinking and talking and singing, barefoot in the sand with a stunning sunset, warm wind and warm water lapping at our toes. No football. Friday was spent being lazy. We finally went ashore in the afternoon to buy bread and have a swim in the resort pool followed by a long hot shower. then we decided that there was no point going back to the boat for dinner so we picked up a chicken some potatoes and onions at the store and once again took advantage of their coin operated barbecue.
Saturday morning, recovered from the excesses of Thanksgiving, we are ready to go. Moondancer comes by with a flash drive with routes and waypoints for us and Alan spends an hour getting it all loaded onto the computer and then onto the iPad. You can never have too much navigation info. We drop the mooring line and are off to explore the islands. The weather is supposed to be good until the end of the week so we will see how far we get.
Generally speaking, we get in about 3 hours of sailing in a day at about 5 knots. That means we stop will be stopping every 15-20 miles. Luckily there are hundreds of islands here within a few miles of each other. Not all of them have anchorages but most of them do so we can just wander along and stop where we want.
Beautiful, beautiful. I think what I like about Fiji are the bare brown hills, so much like the Southern California hills. I was never very happy with all those green trees that cover everything in the Pacific Northwest.
Sailing is tricky, with narrow passes amongst the sandbars and coral reefs. Alan steers and I keep a lookout and hold the iPad so that he can see it. The water is so clear that we can see the bottom 30 feet down when we get to the shallow spots. We pass several small islands. One of them i think is Castaways where the TV show was filmed.
Just after noon we pass Mana Island. We had not intended to stop here but it is at least 3 hours to the island where Alan had planned to stop which means it will be too late to go snorkeling by the time we get there and get anchored. So I talk him into making a left turn here.
The entrance is narrow and twisty but well marked with buoys. We get in and drop anchor next to throne other sailboat in the bay. No sooner is the anchor down and set than the ferry comes zooming in the channel right towards us blowing it’s horn for us to get out of the way. Obviously we can’t move but as he passes almost within touching distance we yell promises to move out of the way. So instead of lunch we have to hoist the anchor which has gotten caught on a piece of coral. We are barely free when the ferry comes back again on his way out. Now comes the search for another spot to anchor. It is a wide bay but full of coral. Every place we try goes from sandy bottom to shallow coral too quickly to get an anchor down. Add to that the fact that we are still having very high tides so we need a spot that is at least 5 fathoms at high time (now) to be sure we will not be left high and dry when the tide goes out. We finally find a spot just off of the channel and after several tries get the anchor to hold. This is the first time we have had so much trouble anchoring and I was almost ready to call it quits and move on to the next island. Luckily we stay because it turns out to be an enchanted evening.
The water is crystal clear. As we head ashore in the dingy I can see brilliantly colored fish among the grasses just a few feet down. The restaurant on the beach has a wide porch and very cold beer in large bottles. As we sit an relax and sip our beer, the restaurant starts to fillip with young people from Europe. It turns out that we have landed in a backpackers hostel. There are dormitories just behind the restaurant and beyond that is the Fijian village. Alan opts for another beer but I wander off to see the village. It seems much like the villages in Tonga. paths winding through large trees. Open houses of cement block and corrugated tin. Kids running around, the occasional dog although no pigs that I see. I come to a church and sit down on the grass beside a young man with a guitar and we have a lovely conversation. His name is Harold, he is 13 and he wants to go to the mainland to go to school to become a doctor, or maybe a pastor. It is interesting how many of the kids out here say they want to be a pastor. They must see it as a prestigious profession with not a lot of work involved. Religion does not seem to enter into the equation since none of them tell me about how much they love God and want to serve him. Anyway, Harold and I stand talk quietly until it is time for church to start and I wander back to the beach and the restaurant where a couple of the locals are singing and playing the guitar. The kids are being served beef curry but we order from the menu. Alan has prawns in coconut juice and I have prawn salad. Both are wonderful. For desert Alan has banana fritters with ice cream and real coffee, quite a treat.
Just as we are finishing it is announced that there will be a dance performance followed by a fire dance on the beach. There are just 3 performers but it is quite good, especially the young man who is tall and muscular and beautiful. His fire dance is the best we have seen so far. And just as the evening is winding down a skiff pulls up onto the beach and about 20 people pile out with their luggage. It is a Chinese fill crew here to make a movie.
And so finally we push off into the dark and back to the boat. It is calm, warm, peaceful, with a half moon. Just another perfect night. I think I might want to just stay in Fiji forever, or at least for another year or two,
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Week 5, Fiji
November 9-25, Vuda Point, Fiji week 5,6
Muscat Cove to Vuda
Finally sailing! Musket Cove to Vuda with a nice wind and clear skies It has been a long time since we just sailed. We are always trying to get somewhere before dark or worried about coral reefs or the wind is blowing the wrong direction. This was just a lovely sail. We left around noon and it is only 10 miles back so there was no pressure.
Back in the marina, we are settling in and becoming part of the community. My garden survived my absence fine. The staff is becoming very interested in what I am doing, although the kitchen staff does not seem to be using any of the herbs. My main problem is the constant search for a hose. For some reason in Fiji, hoses do not fit onto the spigots. They require a two part adaptor. I can understand why our US hose might not fit, much like the different electric outlets that every country has. But you would think that a hose bought in Fiji would fit onto a spigot in Fiji, wouldn’t you? Anyway, there is a dirth of hoses here in the marina and whenever I want to water I need to search high and low for a hose. Half the time when I do find it, there is no adaptor or the adaptor does not fit the spigot. And even if I get it all hooked up and working it is guaranteed to be gone the next day. If I ask the staff for help they promise to get me one, disappear and never return. Much of the time I just use a bucket to water.
Alan’s plan was to come back, change the oil and buy food and then take off again. We have a limited time to sail before the cyclone season makes it too dangerous to go very far and we want to explore the Yasawa group of islands. They lie in a long line curving north and east from here. It looks like it would only take a day to get to them but the water is full of reefs and the route wanders and winds around so that it is actually a trip of several days with overnight stops to get to the top. Anyway, what with one thing and another, we did not take off again immediately. First of all there was a period of bad weather. Then there was 1/2 price pizza night. A few small jobs got done, interspersed with visits to the pool at the hotel next door. The weather is really hot and it is hard to be very energetic
Alan never did change the out but instead he got involved designing a instrument box for the cockpit. During our passage from Bora Bora to Tonga we took several waves over the stern. They washed over the side and drained out through the cockpit with little problem, except that several gages, the starter switch and the exhaust fan for the engine room are below the waterline in the cockpit. It became clear that this was a poor design and he want to move them to a console mounted higher on the deck. Of course the box must fit with the classic look of our Herrishoff and not destroy either the classic lines of the boat or the sight lines of the skipper and should include a place to put a coffee cup. Days and days passed while he cut up pieces of cardboard and taped them together in various configurations to find a design that pleased both of us. He has learned by not not to ask my opinion unless he is willing to hear all of the problems. On the other hand, if he does not ask, he will have to deal with those problems after the fact.
Meanwhile, I went shopping, cooked meals, cleaned up and cleaned out the boat, did laundry, scraped laundry and generally became frustrated with the fact that we were not sailing. One whole day was spent running around in a taxi trying to find the lumber that he needs. Eventually I convinced hime that is we are going to do any sailing this season we need to do it now. Thanksgiving Day we finally headed back to Musket Cove to join their Thanksgiving potluck and then head to at least the first of the Yasawas.
Muscat Cove to Vuda
Finally sailing! Musket Cove to Vuda with a nice wind and clear skies It has been a long time since we just sailed. We are always trying to get somewhere before dark or worried about coral reefs or the wind is blowing the wrong direction. This was just a lovely sail. We left around noon and it is only 10 miles back so there was no pressure.
Back in the marina, we are settling in and becoming part of the community. My garden survived my absence fine. The staff is becoming very interested in what I am doing, although the kitchen staff does not seem to be using any of the herbs. My main problem is the constant search for a hose. For some reason in Fiji, hoses do not fit onto the spigots. They require a two part adaptor. I can understand why our US hose might not fit, much like the different electric outlets that every country has. But you would think that a hose bought in Fiji would fit onto a spigot in Fiji, wouldn’t you? Anyway, there is a dirth of hoses here in the marina and whenever I want to water I need to search high and low for a hose. Half the time when I do find it, there is no adaptor or the adaptor does not fit the spigot. And even if I get it all hooked up and working it is guaranteed to be gone the next day. If I ask the staff for help they promise to get me one, disappear and never return. Much of the time I just use a bucket to water.
Alan’s plan was to come back, change the oil and buy food and then take off again. We have a limited time to sail before the cyclone season makes it too dangerous to go very far and we want to explore the Yasawa group of islands. They lie in a long line curving north and east from here. It looks like it would only take a day to get to them but the water is full of reefs and the route wanders and winds around so that it is actually a trip of several days with overnight stops to get to the top. Anyway, what with one thing and another, we did not take off again immediately. First of all there was a period of bad weather. Then there was 1/2 price pizza night. A few small jobs got done, interspersed with visits to the pool at the hotel next door. The weather is really hot and it is hard to be very energetic
Alan never did change the out but instead he got involved designing a instrument box for the cockpit. During our passage from Bora Bora to Tonga we took several waves over the stern. They washed over the side and drained out through the cockpit with little problem, except that several gages, the starter switch and the exhaust fan for the engine room are below the waterline in the cockpit. It became clear that this was a poor design and he want to move them to a console mounted higher on the deck. Of course the box must fit with the classic look of our Herrishoff and not destroy either the classic lines of the boat or the sight lines of the skipper and should include a place to put a coffee cup. Days and days passed while he cut up pieces of cardboard and taped them together in various configurations to find a design that pleased both of us. He has learned by not not to ask my opinion unless he is willing to hear all of the problems. On the other hand, if he does not ask, he will have to deal with those problems after the fact.
Meanwhile, I went shopping, cooked meals, cleaned up and cleaned out the boat, did laundry, scraped laundry and generally became frustrated with the fact that we were not sailing. One whole day was spent running around in a taxi trying to find the lumber that he needs. Eventually I convinced hime that is we are going to do any sailing this season we need to do it now. Thanksgiving Day we finally headed back to Musket Cove to join their Thanksgiving potluck and then head to at least the first of the Yasawas.
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