As usual, we planned to leave bright and early and did not get away until noon. It was market day so we treated ourselves to their wonderful bacon and egg sandwiches and bought a few vegetables. Back to the boat and all battened down ready to go, Alan discovered that the fuel dock was sold out of fuel. A monster power catamaran had just taken every last dock. We are only about 10 gallons low, but it would be nice to be full, just in case. When we get to Savusavu we will need to use jerry cans to fill up. Luckily, the man on the boat next to us heard us talking and offered us the 10 gallons that he had in a jerry can. They are not leaving yet and can refill tomorrow. Transferring it took most of an hour.
Once we were under way we realized that it was way to far to get to the first nights anchorage at Vatia Lailai so we headed into Saweni for the night
Next day, early start, nice day, jib up, motor sailed through reef, calm and sunny
Came to the top of the island and turned the corner to discover the wind was howling We had heard that the wind always blows in the Bligh Water (yes, named for Capt Bligh) and it proved to be true on this occasion Luckily we had just taken down the jib. Several people have said the the best place for the first nights stay was in a fairly deep bay just around the point so we headed in. The wind dropped a little as we got closer in but it is coming from the east so we are on a lea shore. And also it gets shallow fast here. Alan picked a spot and we dropped the anchor and backed down to set it. With all the wind it was hard to tell if it was set and unfortunately i had forgotten that I had the fishing line out. There was a sudden jerk that I assumed was the anchor setting but we later found out was the fishing line wrapping around the propeller. Once the anchor was secure, (as we thought) Alan went over the side to survey the damage. The wind was blowing and the boat was bouncing, making it really hard to see or do anything. 100 feet of twisted line was wrapped around the propeller, really tight, so tight that despite repeated attempts with a variety of knives and even a hacksaw, he could not get it off. Luckily it was wrapped around the shaft is such a way that the propeller could turn Luckily, because while he was diving I started to worry that we were drifting to shore. We had set an anchor watch app on the iPad but we had not used it before so when it kept going off we assumed it was set wrong. Finally I got out the hand held depth gage to check. We were in 7 feet! The funny bouncing and jerking that I was feeling was not from the force of wind and waves, we were hitting bottom! Next time Alan came up for air, I told him what was going on and we immediately decided to get out of here.
The wind is blowing so hard, I have to morotr into the wind while Alan raises 150 feet of chain Finally we were clear and headed out of the bay. We are not staying here. Back around the corner we went and as soon as we were on the other side the wind dropped to almost nothing. We went a few miles down the coast and dropped anchor in 25 feet of water up against the mangroves. We could hear the wind howling but the water was smooth and we were no longer on a lea shore.
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