2016 recap, Fiji

Fiji. 2016

Fiji is lovely, wonderful people, nice weather, warm water.  The problem is, it is so nice it is hard to get anything done. We get up late, check the weather and surf the net for several hours.  Maybe work on projects for an hour or 2 before lunch   After lunch it is time for a book and a nap. Maybe another hour on a project, unless we have started a book.   5:30 is happy hour, time to head to the Boatshed for a drink or 2 or 3 and another wonderful sunset.  Dinner on the boat and a movie or more internet.  It is all in all, the perfect retired life.  Except that we are supposed to be getting the boat together to move on.  We never expected to stay in Fiji this long.

2016,  I went home in Jan to to clean out the house and get it rented. A horrible job, but eventually it was done.  Everything stored, given away or sent off to relatives and a lovely family to take over our house for us while we continue our adventures.   I got back to Fiji in March, expecting to head out as soon as cyclone season was over the end of April.  We are thinking seriously about going to Australia and on to Indonesia and around the world.  Except that vey little had gotten done while I was gone.  April came and went and also May and June and Rhapsody still was not ready for a long voyage.   When Chris announced that he was finally getting married in November it made sense to stay here another year.  Of course, this really took the urgency out of any work and the rest of the year was as laid back as the first part had been.

 Since we did not leave Fiji we had to go to Futuna and back again.  This time we went with 3 other boats and it was not a bad trip, except that Alan got sick and I ended up hand steering the last 6 hours or so by myself
 
Since there was nothing going on here I decided to take some extra time on try trip home for the wedding.  First stop Hawaii where I checked up on our condo in Makaha  It is rented but needs serious work.  The  current plan is to sail back to Hawaii next year, fix up the condo, sell it and give the money to Chris and Molly to buy a house.  From Hawaii I flew to Sacramento and joined the Unhitched Ranch team at the Grass Valley Draft Horse Show.  Wonderful to be with Audrey and her family and see them put their horses through their paces.  Both Jack and Sebastian have really grown up and improved.  From there we drove straight to another horse show at the lavender farm in Nevada and then home to Southern California where I joined Holly Scott for a week sailing to Catalina with the women sailors

Finally home again, I moved into our cabin on Mt Baldy.  The weather was cool but not too cold and it was wonderful to have so much room to move around.  The boat is so small that two people cannot pass each other without squeezing and the galley is just a corner with a sink and stove.  Here I have a whole bed to myself, a huge main room and a large kitchen.  There are a few problem.  No one has been here for months and it is over run with mice who have made nests everywhere.  There is only a fireplace for heat so a lot of time is devoted to collecting, chopping and carrying firewood.  It has also been a dumping ground for extra stuff that no one wanted; furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff.  It is also in the mountains, up a dirt road and then a hike over a stream and up a hill.  Since it is back in a steep canyon there is no wifi or cell service, just a land line.  Nice.

 After several trips up and down the mountain, I finally got things cleaned up and looking good.  Audrey gave me a cat to chase the mice.  I stocked the kitchen with fresh vegetables and good bread and cheeses and all of the wonderful foods that I cannot get in Fiji.  Alan arrived about a week before the wedding Nov 12 and stayed until after Thanksgiving. 

 I got back to Fiji a few weeks later, just in time for the first cyclone warning. Christmas and our 50th wedding anniversary were spent in Vuda.