2018 October Samoa to Wallis

Now that we are heading east towards Wallis we are finally making some speed although with the wind directly behind us it is hard to hold the course.  Despite 6 years on the voyage, I have not actually had a lot of experience sailing a course, so this is good practice.  We have a new wind gage, right at eye level in the cockpit which not only gives wind speed but shows where it is coming from in relation to the boat.  All I have to do is hold it in position and we are good.  There is of course a small problem, the wind vane is not working  Apparently at some time during our last season in Vuda we smashed against the concrete wall while stern in and bent the wind vane.  It had not been a problem while we were going into the wind but now that we were going downwind, It would not work right so it was back to hand steering with the help of tiller ropes

A day and a half  later we are off the coast of Wallis.  The entrance is through a narrow passage which needs to be run on the slack tide in the day time so we heave to to sleep until daylight and wait for the tide.  The passage through the reef went smoothly and once we were inside the reef the seas calmed down.  In typical French fashion, the channels are marked with well maintained, highly visible markers which we followed around to Gahi Bay where we dropped anchor at last, 10 days after leaving Fiji.

It is Sunday here.  Even though we are on the other side of the 180 line the International Date Line wanders all over the place out here.  Monday morning we gather our paperwork, launch the dingy and head to shore to clear customs.  We are not actually anchored off the town, but in a more sheltered bay about 10 miles west.  According to our trusty guide book we just walk up the hill and catch a ride with the friendly locals.   We are met as we get ashore by a lovely woman and her two children.  She asks if we have any “pourbelle” and once I figure out what the word means takes our bag of trash from us and gives us a large bag with bananas and papaya.  It is so different from Fiji.  Instead of small houses clustered into villages there are lovely homes set on wide lawns  with beautiful landscaping.  As promised, shortly after we come to the main road we get a ride to the main town.  

The rest of the day was a series of irritating misadventures.  First, we arrived at the Gendarmerie at noon so of course it was closed for the traditional two hour French lunch.  We decided to see if we could find an ATM while we were waiting so we walked down the hill to the post office to ask for directions.  Unfortunately, we misinterpreted  the directions (remember, our French is minimal) and walked half and hour in the wrong direction.  Once we got turned around we caught a ride to the one and only “shopping center” on the island.  It consists of an large hardware store, several boutique clothing and fabric stores, a grocery store under construction, a small cafe  and the bank with an ATM.  The only ATM on the island and it will not recognize any of our 3 debit cards.  Of course the bank itself is closed until 2:00 and it is raining.  I had brought along some US dollars, just in case, so when the bank reopened I went in to see what I could do.  First the clerk went back with me to the ATM to be sure it was not just out of cash.  It was not.  When I produced my American dollars she said that yes, they could change them but only in the morning tomorrow.  Not today.  So here we are, low on food.  No wind or beer on board and no way to get any money.   

Now the it was after 2:00 we headed back to the gendarmerie.  Luckily the pelting rain had stopped because there was no ride forthcoming this time.  Back at the gendarmerie the officers were friendly and helpful.  They confirmed that the only way to get around the island was by hitchhiking.  There are no cases or taxis here.  Apparently the French subsidies their cars somehow so everyone has a fairly new car.  We also learned that the government officials  are sent from France for a 3 year tour of duty.  We were quickly stamped in and told the we now needed to go to customs on the dock to complete the paperwork there.  Turned out they closed at 1:00 for the day.  Next stop, the post office to see about wifi.  Turned out they had closed at 4:00. It is now getting late and we are tired.  We had passed a grocery store just the other side of the gendarmerie so we tracked back up the hill once more.  Luckily they would take our credit card so I got some bread and pate and shrimp and beer and a few other odds and ends.  I did not find any wind.  This time we did get a ride back to Gahi and made our way back to Rhapsody.  After a lovely dinner of garlic shrimp on pasta we turned in early for a long night’s sleep.  

Next day we ended up just staying on the boat.  The weather was lousy, the outboard won’t start and we are tired.  In the late afternoon the local outrigger racing team showed up to practice.  So lovely.  Too bad Fiji does not have outriggers any more.  The older we get the longer it takes to recover from one of these adventures.  Wednesday we headed back to town again to try our luck at the bank where we were finally able to exchange dollars for Polynesian francs.  With coins in our pockets we hit the cafe for French pastries and cafe au lait.  Our next ride took us to La Cave au Wallis (the liquor store), waited while we shopped and then drove us down to the wharf so that we could finally clear customs.  Unfortunately the customs office was out so while we waited we walked back to the Post Office to see if we could finally get onto the internet.  After a few false starts we purchased 2 passwords, one each, good for 24 hours each for $10.  We finally sorted out the log on process and then discovered that it would only work in the immediate vicinity of the Post Office.  Not in the shopping center and definitely not in Gahi.  Alan went back to customs to finish clearing in while I went back to the market and bought baguette, pate, cheese and cornichons to make a picnic lunch.  We sat on the lawn outside the post office and had lunch and checked email and updated Facebook so people will know we are safe.  

The next several days we just stayed on the boat, reading, doing odd jobs and watching the weather .  The weather here is lousy.  Wind and rain every night, clearing slightly around 10am and then clouding up again in the afternoon.  Sunday and Monday it poured but Tuesday it cleared up a bit and we decided that it was time to leave.  Once more into town to check out with the gendarmerie and customs.  After asking several different people and walking a good way down the street we finally found what seems to be the only restaurant in town.  Alan is determined to have a good French meal before we leave here.  The palace was packed.  The portions large and the food good.  Also expensive, especially compared to Fiji.  We made one last stop at the market to stock up on pate and pickles. Unfortunately they were out of bread.  I never did find a produce market.  Hitchhiked back t the boat one last time rowed out,  hauled up the dingy, folded it and tied it down on deck.  Next morning we left Wallis on the tide. 

2018 October Fiji to Samoa

By noon of day two we had gone 100 miles and still had the engine on.  There was still one more area of reefs to pass but the seas have changed to deep ocean swells.  At 3:00 we finally turned the engine off and put up the rest of the sails.  Then we called Chris.  He had not gotten any of our emails and was totally unprepared to be our security contact and was on Vacation at Bryce Canyon but eventually we got things sorted out and set up a schedule to call. 

 With the engine off, our speed has dropped to 2 knots and we are headed too far north and not enough east.  It is stormier tonight and at one point Alan tacked south to avoid a large storm cloud full of lightning.  By the time I came back for the midnight watch we were headed north east again and the sky had mostly cleared.  I could use Orion to steer again.  Just at dawn the crescent moon rose. Huge and beautiful with the shape of the dark moon clearly visible in the arms of the crescent.  We won’t see the moon again for several days and then it will be setting at dusk.  

With the sky so clear during the day we were in serious danger of sunburn and heatstroke so I dug out a piece of shade cloth that I had picked up in Mexico and rigged an awning over the cockpit.  Not elegant but it does the job, at least on this tack.  We discovered later that on a downwind run it blocks the view of the sail.   When the wind got down to 7 knots we took the sails down and turned the engine on and headed east for several hours.  With the engine on we use the Raymarine auto pilot. We usually don’t use it under sail because it uses so much battery power.  With the sails up we use the Monitor wind vane which has it own problems.  

Finally, on day 5, the wind shifted and we were able to head mostly east and a good speed.  At one point we actually got up to 7 knots.  Unfortunately it did not last and by midnight we were once again battling NE winds with gusts to 20k and short choppy seas.  So on we slogged, getting closer but still way too far north and not enough east. Our preferred course takes us along the southern edge of the island and through a fairly narrow pass which looks to have a lot of shallow spots. Then it is a run down the north side to the harbor at Apia.  The weather forecast shows a fairly strong blow coming in 2-3 days we needed to be in the harbor at Apia by then.  We are within 100 miles so we decide to turn on the engine and make a run for it.    

Unfortunately at this point everything started to go wrong.  The wind had build to 15-20 knots directly on the nose with accompanying swells.  Shortly after I came on watch at midnight, the autopilot went completely off course and when I put it on standby so that I could hand steer I still could not hold the course.  It was like something was wrapped around the rudder or under the keel pulling us north.  Alan had just gotten to sleep but he came back up to see what was going on.  We disconnected the autopilot completely and checked everything we could think of to see if something was caught or dragging.  I even took the boat hook and prodded along the rudder to see if I could feel anything.  As far as we could tell, everything was fine.  Eventually whatever it was seemed to let go and I could once more hand steer.  Poor Alan had once more just settled down to sleep when I realized that the jib sail had come loose from where it was tied down to the bowsprit and was dragging in the water.  Alan took the tiller while I went forward to drag it back on board.  Luckily it was the light weight Genoa and not the heavy mizzen and also very luckily the sheets were still secured to the winches so they helped to hold the sail down and also did not themselves flip into the water and wrap around the prop.  No sooner was the sail secured than I realized that the anchor was starting to come loose.  Once more Alan got up and staggered forward to secure it.  

Shortly after dawn, we gave up and hove to.  We are too tired.  We still have 100 miles to go and are only making 1-2 knots headway against the wind, even with the engine on.  The weather forecast still shows a strong front coming through just about the time we will hit the narrow pass and we are likely to run out of fuel at this rate.  On top of everything else I seem to have caught a cold just as we left Savusavu which is making me more tired than usual.  We got several hours sleep, ate breakfast, discussed the situation and decided to give it up and head for Wallis, directly west.  We are so close but we are not going to make it.  We called Chris and turned around.

  

2018, October Leaving Fiji

Leaving Savusavu, October 6, 2018.

We finally set out from Savusavu just at noon on Friday, Oct 6 after days of bad weather.  The sea was still choppy but not too bad. At 3:00 I took over the tiller while Alan went below to check in with the Pacific Seafarers Net.  About half way through the transmission of our position, the radio suddenly stopped, dead.  Nothing he did could get it to work again.  He finally figured out that we had blown a fuse but not what had caused the fuse to blow.  So now what?  Even if we turn back there is no one in Fiji who can fix it.  We already spent weeks trying that  We will be passing close to Taveuni and several of our friends should be at Paradise Resort.  If we stop there, maybe they can help us figure out the problem.   By now  the sun had set, there was no moon and it was very dark  Taveuni has about 6 mooring balls very close to a steep rocky shore.  We knew several them would be in use either by our friends or by the resort dive boats.  We altered our course to take us closer to the island but the closer we got the more we did not want to try to get a mooring ball in the dark.   We  tried to get them on the radio but we were still too far out.  Then we tried to see it there was an internet signal but again we were too far out.  

Another possibility was to use the sat phone to call Chris once a day and give him our position which he could then post to my Facebook page.  Eventually that was what we decided to do.  If we stopped we would loose at least one, maybe two days. So we altered course again and headed on to Samoa. The sea was calm and there was alight wind.  We had sails up but kept the motor on and were making 6 knots.  Just as were passing Taveuni the iPad quit working.  It was the dreaded 180 again.  For about an hour we were without a chart plotter.  Luckily we were in open waters and had a good compass course.  Eventually it came back on again and we were perfectly on course.  It was a beautiful clear night with lots of stars to star by.  One by one they rose ahead of us and a new one took the place to the previous one.  Eventually I realized that I was steering by Orion.  At 3:30 a lovely huge present moon rose directly ahead of us and by 4:30 the sky was starting to lighten.

We have never actually settled on a watch schedule but it goes something like this:  “You look really tired, I’ll take over.  You go sleep as long as you need to”  Typically I go to sleep early, shortly after dinner and sleep for 4 or five hours.  Alan is ready for bed about midnight and needs 7-8 hours of sleep to feel rested.  As long as conditions are benign this works well for us.  Sometimes he will spell me for an hour or so about 4am and then go back to bed until 7 or 8.  He makes breakfast and then I get to go to bed.  If conditions are rough, watches can be as short as 1 or 2 hours each but then neither one of us is rested and we start to make mistakes.  If we get too tired we heave to and both sleep.  

While we are underway we can use the sat phone to get weather reports.  I is a complicated and time consuming process but usually works.  I requires having the phone outside with a direct line of sight to the satellite, challenging if the weather is bad.  Once a signal is established we use the iPad to download the grid files into Predict Wind.  This can take as long as 15-20 minutes.  Once the file is downloaded everything is disconnected and put away and we have the weather report to study at our leisure.  

2018 Feb Smoking engine

In the last minute scramble to prepare for cyclone Kimi, Alan started the engine to run the windlass to tighten the anchor chain  Suddenly clouds of white smoke came pouring out of the exhaust.  It looked like we were on fire. To make matters worse, Alan could not get the engine to turn off.  We were instantly surrounded by people wanting to help.  Adam, the marina manager, actually jumped into the water, swam over and climbed up over the side.  Several other staff jumped on board.from shore.  Someone brought  a fire extinguisher. All of the other yachties came running from their boats.  Alan dashed down below to try to cut off the fuel supply to the engine.  Finally, after what seemed forever but was actually only a few minutes, the engine  quit and the smoke cleared.  The water was full of thick black oil but there did not seem to be any damage.  No fire, no smoking engine, no leaks.  The marina crew squirted deterrent into the water and the oil broke up and drifted away with the outgoing tide.  Everyone went back to finishing cyclone preparations before it got dark.

What the heck had happened?  The only thing Alan could discover was that there seemed to be way too much oil in the crankcase.  Had he somehow put in too much last time he changed the oil?  Had the excess oil over pressurized the engine and blown a head gasket? Nothing to do until after the cyclone passed.  Then he brought in a good mechanic who diagnosed the problem as a bad lift pump.  Somehow it was pumping fuel into the oil where it naturally caught on fire.  That is probably also why we were unable to kill the engine..

So now we need to fix the problem.  Of course the lift pump is in an almost inaccessible place.  After 3 days of greasy struggle Alan finally got it off.  Now we need to fix or replace it.  The Perkins parts supply shop in town assured me that if they just had the number they could get it from Suva in a week.  Of course none of the numbers we gave them matched anything in their computer system.  When Alan finally took the part in to show them, they actually could not get a replacement.    There is a possibility that a shop at the other end of town can rebuild it but now it is the weekend and we are scheduled to be hauled out on Monday, so it will be Tuesday  or Wednesday before we find out if they can do the work

Hoses

Boats need hoses, to wash the deck and fill the water tanks.  At home, when I needed a new hose I simply went to a hardware store, bought one, came home and screwed it on.   Not so in Fiji.  First of all, not all hardware stores carry hoses and the ones that do may or may not have them at any given time.  I was actually looking for an expandable hose since they are much easier to store onboard.  One month they were every where.  The next month there were none to be found and the sales clerks could not even remember what they were. 

But most disconcerting, none of the hoses have fittings on them.  They are just bare pieces of hose.  Adaptors are sold separately and come in several pieces and various sizes.  Apparently the faucets in Fiji  are not standard so you need a number of adaptors to fit the various sized  faucets and I suspect that hoses also come in a variety of sizes further compounding the problem.   Putting the pieces together in the right order to fit your particular faucet and hose is a major production.  And then if you move to a different dock or different marina chances are good that you need a different set.  Of course, none of the boats coming in from other countries carry the right sized hose so there is a constant scramble to find adapters.

Hose adaptor theft in the cruisers garden at Vuda is a ongoing problem.  If a hose is left screwed on to the faucet overnight, chances are good that at least one piece of the fitting will be gone in the morning.  Getting a new adaptor involves a bus trip to town a, a hunt through all of the hardware stores again and most of the day.   The security staff actually has a stash of various sizes but they seem to disappear on a regular basis too.  I finally just got into the habit of taking the hose from the boat every time  I need Ito water the garden  Unfortunately,  the garden faucet is a different size from the one on the dock so every time I take the hose to the garden I have to change the adaptor and then change it back when I need to fill the water tanks

It is always the little things that make travel and life in another country challenging and interesting.

Hot Bread

One of the things I miss most in Fiji is decent bread; sourdough, baguette, olive and rosemary, multi grain, all the wonderful breads that are so common at home.  Crisp, chewy flavorful.  Wonderful bread, toasted with fresh butter and home made jam for breakfast or grilled with garlic butter with dinner.

In Fiji the Hot Bread Kitchen dominates with outlets in every town and village.  Occasionally there are other bakeries but they all seem to use the same recipe.  There is really just one kind of bread, a soft loaf of white bread that only lasts a day or two before it sprouts  yellow, orange and black mold.  You can get it sliced or unsliced.  There is a whole wheat version that is a darker color but pretty much the same flavor.  Sometimes there is a “french stick” that is really just the same dough in a different shape, long and narrow like a baguette but without the crisp crust. .  Sometimes there is multigrain, at triple the price.  Basically the same bread rolled in a variety of seeds so that the “multi grain” looks good on the outside while the inside is the same soft dough.  There is also a cheese bread.  Again the same dough, flattened and sprinkled with cheese.
To make a sandwich, the locals cut an entire life lengthwise and fill it with canned tuna flakes.  Every once in a while I stumble on some real bread in one of the markets or hotels catering to the super yacht crowd and we eat bread 3 times a day until it is gone.

There is definitely a business opportunity for a good European baker here.  Meanwhile I am trying to master sourdough bread making.  Definitely a challenge with no oven and no refrigerator.

Indian wedding. Engagement Party

 Way back last June I was invited by my hairdresser to attend the engagement party of her nephew. There have been a number of engagement parties at the marina but none where we were actually invited guests so we were looking forward to it.

The party was held in  a community hall in the hills above Lautoka.  We had the name of the area (the Rifle Club) and a phone number but no actual address.  They just do not use addresses here and are lousy at giving directions.  Our taxi driver  set out as if he knew exactly where to go and then admitted he really had no idea where we were going.  Lucky we had that phone number.  After repeated phone calls and several dirt roads he  managed to get us to the right place.  We had been invited for 7:00 and it was now 7:45 but this is Fiji so nothing had really happened yet.  Luckily I had decided to wear the lovely Indian dress that I bought for Chris’ wedding.  The women were all dressed in the most magnificent saris in brilliant colors, covered in jewels, dramatic make up, high healed shoes.  The men were a different story.  Except for the grooms family, they were mostly wearing t-shirts and sandals.  Women were seated in rows of chairs set up theater style while the men gathered at the back of the room to drink kava. 
The happy couple finally arrived to the music of horns and drums and were escorted to the front of the room by dancing women and seated under an elaborate canopy.  The Indian music actually reminds me of Scottish bagpipes. There followed a long and to us incomprehensible ceremony with chanting from the priest and speeches from dozens of men.  At one point a woman read the familiar English wedding vows and rings were exchanged but this was still just the engagement and the wedding would not be for 6 more months. 

Eventually young men passed down the rows of seats handing out Indian sweets  Even though the speeches were still going on, the women began moving to the side of the room where food was being served.  The dining set up was interesting.  There were long planks set up along the wall, one about knee level and another a few feet higher, two sets of planks with a three foot space between them.   We seated ourselves on the lower plank and used the upper plank as a table.  Servers, all men, passed up and down between the rows of plank tables, handing out plates and serving food; curry, rice pilau, cabbage salad, dahl, chutney, roti.  There were no utensils, everyone ate with their fingers using bits of roti to pick up the food.  This worked OK with the larger bits but not so well with the dahl and I ran out of roti long before the food was gone.  The other women managed to look elegant as they scooped up the food with manicured nails and bangles on their wrists.  I soon had food all over my hands and had used up the one small napkin provided.  Luckily the servers returned offering extra roti.  As each person finished, servers passed by to collect the plates and offer a bowl of water to wash sticky fingers.  As the first group finished eating and went back to their seats, more people took their place and the serving began again.  Eventually some of the men joined in but not all of them. 
 
Meanwhile the speeches continued, eventually segueing into a DJ who ramped up the volume on the sound system and introduced the dancers, pure Bollywood.  Alan and I decided that it was time to go.  The music was way too loud and not really our style and it looked like the party was going to continue until the wee hours. 









Indian Wedding Day 2 of 3

We had not expected to be here for the wedding in December, but here we are so when the invitation was extended again I accepted gladly.  The first event was head at the groom’s father’s house and the invitation was to come for a family dinner.  When we arrived it was obvious it was not just a family dinner but a full out event, complete with canopies, rows of chairs, a dining area, etc .  Once again it was up in the hills  The directions given were to turn at the new grocery store that is not open yet and then go just a little father and it is right there.  “Ask anyone for the house of Vijay’s hair salon.”  Numerous dirt roads, wrong turns and phone calls later we arrived at a lovely home on top of the hills.  And once again we were early, very early,  No one was there except two older men sitting on the porch talking in Hindi.  After some confusion about who we were and how we had been invited, they were delighted to share family stories with us.  They turned out to be the grandfather and uncle of the groom.  Their family had come here, actually been brought here, in the 1870s to work on the sugar cane fields.  They were not slaves but very close to it.  Little by little they managed to save some money and start businesses but Indians were not allowed to own land until very recently.  The fact that they now have a big beautiful house in the hills and enough money to throw an extravagant wedding was a point of pride.   Indians and Fijians by and large live in separate communities and have separate rituals and life styles.  There is bad mouthing between the two groups:  “Fijians are all ……”. “Indians are …” but no outright hostility   Mostly it is live and let live.

Little by little I have been piecing together the details of Indian weddings.  The first night the bride and groom’s family each hold a family dinner.  Night 2, the one we were invited to is a. night of preparation and dedication.  Again the two families are separate.  Night 3 is the actual wedding.  So here we were at night 2.  As before, the women are dressed to the hilt and sit in the front rows.  The men are much more casual and sit in the back and doing kava.  Alan joined the men in the back and they went through several basins of kava before the nigh was over.  The groom came forward, escorted by several family members, one of whom carried a shrine of Vishnu. They processed around the canopy several times, stopping at each corner.  Then the groom was seated and the various family members approached and rubbed his face and arms with a white paste, touched his head with oil and gave him a belt leaf.  When this ceremony was over they all processed back into the house. 

People relaxed and chit chatted.  And then a   little while later the horns wailed and the drums pounded and the whole ritual was repeated with different participants and with the groom wearing a different shirt.  I lost track of how many times this happened but I am sure it was over a dozen.  I found out later that he was trying on and displaying all of the new clothes that had been given to him.  Apparently the same thing was happening at the bride’s house at the same time with saris rather than shirts.  One of the frustrating things was that whenever I asked the people around me what was happening and what it all meant I was met with blank stares and told it was tradition.  Alan fared better.  He was seated next to a teacher who was delighted to fill him in on all the ritual.  Apparently the groom is considered to be the embodiment of Vishnu from tonight until after the wedding.  Unfortunately Alan is not as interested in this stuff as I am so there are still a lot of gaps that tI need to sort out.

Eventually it was announced that food was ready and the women began moving towards the long plank serving area.  Speeches continued and the DJ was setting up.   We decided it was time to go.  We had told our taxi driver that we would call him about 10:00 so he should have been waiting for our call to come get us but the phone rang and rang with no answer.  I finally tracked down our hostess and told her our plight.  She got her husband who found a buddy with a car and they took us back to the marina, drinking beer all the way.





Indian Wedding Day 3.  Wedding

Finally the actual wedding day.  This event was held back at the community hall at the Rifle Club where the engagement party was held.  After our abandonment by last night’s taxi driver we decided to track down Ali, our driver from the engagement party, on the theory that he knew where the place was.  Turns out he was on vacation but when I called him he said he would be happy to take us.  Actually he sent his son to pick up up and take us to his house where we transferred to his car.  Turned out he was also going to a wedding tonight but he could easily drop us and pick us up again.  It is a very small community in Fiji. 

All the elements were the same; women in the front, men in the back, planks for serving food along the side, an elaborate canopy on the stage.  This ceremony was much more religious and even more incomprehensible.  It seemed to go on forever with much chanting and singing by two priests in elaborate costumes.  Lots of processing and bowing and offerings to the gods.  Several time coconuts were split in half with a single stroke of a machete.  The bride and the groom each gave their seven vows.  And of course speeches and music and dancing.  Our taxi driver arrived when summoned and deposited us back at the marina before returning to his family wedding.

We spent a little over a week in Denerau and it rained every day.  Some days it was a light drizzle and some days it was a downpour.  Sometimes we just stayed on the boat and sometimes we waited it out ashore.  We had two little awnings up over the hatches but even so, everything was damp.  Capt Jack’s litter box flooded and had to be dumped overboard.  Luckily I had a spare bag of litter.  Several times the dingy filled up almost to the top and had to be bailed.  And then came the ultimate gully washer.

I had decided to take advantage of a break in the rain to get the laundry done.  I rounded up the dirty clothes, soap and a book and had Alan row me ashore  The washing machines here are better and cheaper than the ones at Vuda.  You actually get hot water without paying extra for it.   A couple of hours later everything was sparkling clean, dry and folded.  I called Alan to pick me up.  We put the clean laundry in the dingy and then Alan said that he needed to go talk to the electrician.  Just as we headed back to the dock the sky opened and the rain came pouring down in buckets.  We ducked into the closest restaurant as the staff struggled to roll down the storm screens.  All I could think of was my nice clean, dry laundry and the book that I had been reading which was in the laundry basket. The minute there was a break we ran for the dock, grabbed the laundry, and my book, and made another dash for the closest restaurant.  A glance at the sky had made it clear that we did not have time to row back to the boat.      

The wind and rain continued for over an hour while we sat at Cardo’s Restaurant and drank draft Fiji Bitter and ate taro chips with the bag of damp laundry by our feet.  By the time it was over the marina office was closed and I did not have any more laundry tokens so we rowed back to the boat.  Once again, the inside of Rhapsody was festooned with damp clothes hanging from every hook.  When I went to put them away the next day I discovered that the closet had a leak so all of those clothes were damp.  Guess I will just wait until we get back to Vuda and hang them all out on the line, if the rain ever stops.

Dec 2017, End of the year

December 2017

Vuda Marina

Little by little everyone is leaving Vuda.  Some put their boats in a cyclone pit and fly off to visit friends and family for the cyclone season.  Some grab a last weather window and set sail for New Zealand.  Some have gone to Denerau, Lautoka Musket Cove or Savusavu where the docking/mooring fees are less and anchoring is free.  By the middle of the month there are only a few of us left here.  The weather is actually lovely.  Clouds , wind and frequent showers keep it cool enough that we actually need a sheet at night.  One fan keeps us cool during the day.

I started last May provisioning Rhapsody for what I thought was going to be our trip to Hawaii.  Since we never left we have all of those provisions, so I have decided no shopping until everything is used up.  Little by little the cupboards are emptying but it is still going to take some time to finish it all.  We have had some interesting and unexpected meals but by and large it looks like I did a good job with the provisioning.  Towards the end of the month I started adding a few fresh vegetables and meat.  Now that we are back in the marina we can freeze our jugs of water and keep the ice box cool if not cold. By the beginning of Jan we still had food left and our monthly expenses for food the last 2 months are about $150 US. 

None of our main projects have gotten very far and now are completely stalled for the holidays.  The water maker, generator problem remains unresolved.  It seems like we need to buy a new American generator.  I think we should wait until we get to American Samoa.  We know we can make it that far on what we can carry.  Alan wants to take care of it now to be sure that there is not something else wrong. 

The SSB radio receives but does not transmit.  We finally made email contact with the Pacific Seafarers Net and between us decided that we need to replace the wide copper strip antenna that had been damaged.  Alan installed a new KISS antenna last year and we give up on the copper strip and allowed it to fall apart but the radio no longer works so we think we need put  the old antenna back.  Rhapsody came with a long strip of copper that has been kicking around all this time so we will use it to replace the workout one.  Unfortunately, it is about 10 feet too short.  Where on earth are we going to find a strip of copper about 3” wide and 10” long in Fiji?

The third must do job is the solar panels.  We have 2 small panels that work well but just sit on the deck.  We really need to install them more permanently. Alan talked to Yacht Help about replacing the cable life lines with rigid stainless steal ones.  We should hear back in a few weeks, after the holidays. 

Our Christmas this year was very quiet. The weather continue cloudy and windy as a low trough move past.  I made a roast beef dinner for Christmas Eve and we went to the restaurant for brunch on Christmas Day.   They do not have mimosas on the menu but they do offer champagne and orange juice so I ordered a glass of each and we made our own.  The highlight of the day was a long FaceTime call home to watch the family open presents.  So glad the technology exists to allow us to see each other halfway around the world.  Seeing everyone together, so happy makes it easier to continue this far flung adventure of ours. 

Dec 1, 2017 Back in Vuda

Dec 1, 2017. Back in Vuda Marina.

So we are back after two months and created like long lost friends by the staff.  I had emailed several days earlier and we were expected.  Our old slip was waiting but we actually decided to move a little bit further along, next to High Aspect.  High Aspect is a beautiful 70’ charter sailboat and they pay for an extra slip so that they will not have anyone banging into them.  This means we also will not have and one banging into us.  Lots of room between us to launch the dingy and no way for Jack Sparrow to jump onto the boat next door.  The other side of us is an equally large but not nearly so beautiful boat from Russia.  It has been tied up in the same spot for 2 years with no one aboard so we do not have to worry about noisy neighbors on that side either.

Almost all of our friends from last year have left, either taken their boats away for cyclone or put the boat in a pit and flown off to visit friends.  It is very quiet here.  Also very hot and buggy.  First order of business is to put away the blankets what we had gotten out for cruising and put up the big sun awning.  Second is a trop to town to buy a fan, a  new hose and some fresh vegetables and meat.  Now that we are back I the marina we can start putting our water jugs in their freezer and once again have a cool ice box.

One of my first projects now that we are back and plugged into shore power is to replace the plastic cover on our mattress. It has several tears and the sticking is coming apart on one side.    Obviously it is a project that should be done all in one day so we can sleep on it at night.  I tracked down some shower curtain material in town, planned carefully, cut and pinned everything.  When I was all ready to stitch I hauled the mattress out onto the roof of the cabin where I can get to it and proceeded to remove the old cover.  I hauled my sewing machine out and set it up, ready to get to work and it would not run.  It is a nice new Mexican Singer machine given to me by our friends on Mary Madeline when they sold their boat.  Unlike every other sewing machine I have ever had it is not set up for personal maintenance.  It does not come apart easily.  Some areas are impossible to get to and the manual is not much good.  So the mattress went back onto the bed, naked, while I tried to figure to what was wrong.    Thank heavens it is not raining these days since the roof over the bed leaks.  After several days of fiddling and searching the internet I finally found the problem.  The bobbin case had rusted and was not turning.  Once I got it off and cleaned and oiled,  I was back in business.  Most of a week was devoted to rebuilding the captains chair in the cockpit and fixing up the sun awnings.

Nov 20, 2017 Musket Cove

Musket Cove  Nov 20-25

Denerau feels very much like San Diego or Newport Beach or any other pricy waterfront development; fancy house on the water, each with it’s own dock, lots of restaurants and tourist shops.  It is close to the airport and the departure point for all of the ferries, tour boats and island cruise ships.  Alan counted 18 boats coming and going one afternoon.  It is also home port to a number of super yachts giant boats some of them bigger than the cruise ships with their own helicopters.  We spent about a week at the dock here, mostly sleeping and dealing with some of the issues that had come up on our trip.  The two biggest issues are. The SSB radio, which receives but does not broadcast, and the ongoing watermaker/generator problem.    I did some much needed shopping and stocked up on beer and wine, meat and vegetables. 

Thanksgiving found us at Musket Cove Resourt, a short sail across the bay and a favorite of all the yachties.  There were only a few other boats there when we arrived but one by one, others showed and there was a good sized crowed for the traditional barbecue potluck on the beach.  We spent several days here, swimming, snorkeling, being still more lazy.  We took a dive trip out to the reef and rented a Hobie cat for an afternoon.   We had not realized before that Malolo is like the other islands in that no alcohol is for sale in the markets.  You can only get it a few hours a day from a back room at the hotel. 

The highlight of this visit was my new kitten.  I so enjoyed having a cat on board last year that I had decided that I was going to have one this year too.  I had planned on contacting the local Humane Society when we got back to see if they had a kitten I could foster.  Whenever they found a home for it I would give it beck and take another one.  Our last night at the bar I was explaining my idea to the waitress when she said that they had just found two abandoned kittens and one of them was black.  I have always had a soft spot for black cats.  After she promised to take it back when we left Fiji, I said I would I would take it.  She called her son who showed up with a cardboard box containing a tiny, fierce, hissing bundle of fir.  It was so young it’s eyes had not finished changing color yet.  We loaded the box into the dingy and set off across the bay to Rhapsody.  Surprisingly, he did not seem to be frightened of the outboard.  I guess it sounded like purring.  I had accidentally kept one bag of kitty litter when I gave away Raijeli last year so that problem was taken care of.  One tin of tuna later and the little waif was snuggled down for a long nap.  Next morning we headed back to Vuda.  To our surprise, he was not bothered by the engine noise at all.  He was named Capt Jack Sparrow.  Then name seemed to suit.  Even when we found out that she was a girl rather than a boy we kept the name.  The Fiji language does not really distinguish between the sexes anyway and we were used to it.  After all there were a number of women pirates back in the old days.

Nov 12, 2017 Moala to Momi Bay

Nov 12, Moala to Momi bay

Flat calm, overcast.  We motored our way out through the reefs again and turned south towards SuvaWe were expecting light winds and that is what we got. A couple of times we put the sails up but it just was not worth it.  For whatever reason our autopilot was not working.  Possibly because we are too close to the date line?  I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.  Need to check it out.  So that was our day, taking turns on the helm with the engine on, no wind, overcast sky but warm.  Towards evening it started to get squally and we got a few rain showers.  Since the mizzen sail was not up I was able to rig the little awning over the cockpit and provide at least some protection from the rain for whoever was driving.  As the sky got dark in the evening, we started to see a glow off in the distance which we finally figured out was the city lights of Suva.  Suva is not really a very big city and it was amazing how far out to sea the lights could be seen.  It actually made a nice target to steer by.

All day, all night, taking turns.  Our plan was to sail past Suva since it is not a very nice harbor and stop just up the way.  Serua Harbor looked good on the charts, a narrow entrance which opened up into a wide, protected bay.  It was even labeled public anchorage.  But as we got closer we could see no sign of the opening.  Instead there was spray flying everywhere as we sailed along the outside of the reef.  The wind had come up by now and it was also high tide.  We were ready for a break but this was not going to work.  Once again caution won out over adventure.  If we had a decent cruising guide to Fiji we might have chanced it but since we did not we decided to move on.  As we headed back out away from the reef we were approached by a large tug boat which gave us a call on the radio.  They were just checking to be sure we were OK.   Nice.

There was possibly another harbor a little way up the coast but we decided to just keep going until we were off the the main entrance in the reef and then heave to for the rest of the night.  Meanwhile the weather had gotten worse.  Wind had picked up and there were thunderstorms over the land.  Once again, all of the electronics went into the oven for safe keeping.  Luckily the lightening stayed over the land and we stayed well off of the coast.  Just about dark we decided that we had gone far enough.  We hove to off Sigatoka for dinner and a good night’s sleep. 

Next morning we woke to find Rhapsody tossing all over the place on very rough seas with 2 meter swells.  We had drifted three miles the wrong direction overnight, not towards land ,thank heavens, but away from our destination.  Apparently there is a very strong current here.  When you heave to the tiller and the sail are in opposition so that the boat does not sail away with the wind but it is still at the mercy of the current.  Sails and motor on we spent the next few hours regaining the ground we had lost overnight, tacking and jibing to avoid the many reefs.  About noon we finally made it  to the entrance to the mail reef which surrounds the western side of Vitu Levy..  Usually any time we get into close quarters or tricky situations Alan takes the tiller but I decided that this time I was going to do it.  The channel was reasonably wide and very well marked and the iPad was working fine.  Thirty minutes later I brought us into Momi Bay and Alan dropped anchor.  The only glitch was that we had both forgotten that the reefed mizzen sail was up and when the anchor struck we immediately started swinging wildly.  Luckily there was very little wind in the bay and it only took a minute to get the sail down.  I did it.  Ok, not really such a big deal, not really a very tricky passage but still I was feeling pretty proud.  Hopefully we will have more chances this season to get out of the marina so that I can practice more.

Mom Bay is a lovely anchorage just inside the reef.  It s about 25 feet deep with a good bottom, the bank is thick with mangrove trees and seems very deserted.  No wide sandy beaches here.  There are a few small houses on shore and what looks like it might be a resort over on the point but really very quiet.  We had a swim, dinner a good night’s sleep and the next day we were in Denerau.  We tied up to the wharf just as about a dozen of our sailor friends were gathering for a party on another boat.  Cold beer at last.  The perfect end to the trip.

Nov 10, 2017 Moala

Moala.  Nov 10, 2017


Out of the channel and away from the island the clouds lift a little.  The course is due south for 24 hours.  Wind is light but from the east so finally we can hoist the sails.  It gradually picks up during the day until we are doing a steady 5 knots on a beam reach.  Alan gets the wind vane to work so we do not have to hold onto the tiller all the time, we can just sit back and keep an eye on the compass.  It is still overcast and choppy but actually a lovely sail.  Late in the afternoon we caught another fish.  No drama this time.  Threw the line over.  Pulled it in an hour later with an already weakened fish on it.  Tossed it into the cockpit where it died a few minutes later.  No whacking, no bloody mess.  About 12” long, just right for dinner for 2.

About midnight a half moon came up, dodging in and out of the clouds.  There were a few stars and lots of sheet lightening.  At one point there was something that looked like a green and orange rocket, streaking down the sky and disappearing into the ocean.  A meteor?  A bit of space junk?  The wind stayed true and Louise the wind vane held the course. 

Just about dawn we once again lost the GPS signal.  Moala is right on the dateline so we were expecting this.  Perfect timing.  We dropped the jib made a sharp right turn and motored west for about an hour until the GPS came back on and we were just off the entrance to the reef.  Then we hove to for a nap and breakfast.  After breakfast we headed for the village.  For the first time our charts let us down.  There was just no detail.  It looked OK until you zoomed in and then it vanished and we were left with amorphous blobs.  We had promised to go to this village because a friend of ours is from there so we decided to see if we could do it.  If we run into trouble we can always turn around and head back out.  Slowly, slowly, with me on the  bow to keep an eye out, we crept through what should be the passage in the reef.   Slowly, slowly.  And then, just as we were coming up on what looked like a good anchorage the depth went from 60’ to 25’ and I could suddenly see very clearly through the water to coral reefs everywhere.  I yelled, Alan stopped and reversed   We quickly decided that this was a bad idea.  Just as we were turning to leave a boat came racing out from shore and pulled along side.  Police!  Now what?  They gestured us to follow them and escorted us around the corner to a spot just off the beach where we could anchor in 25’ of sand.  Once we had the anchor set they came on board to welcome us and see our paperwork.  Turned out the police chief was also the village chief and was delighted to accept our gift of kava right then and there so that was taken care of and we were “free to move about the island”

The reason we were at Moala was because a friend who works in the marina heard we were going to the Lau  and suggested we visit here since that is where her family is from.  She neglected to make it clear that she had left there when she was five and had never gone back We also did not have her family name and learned later she actually lived with an aunt and uncle during that time. No wonder no one knew who we were asking for.  I actually had her last name on my phone but of course my phone was not working.  One of the policemen offered me his phone and I send both voice mail and text telling her we had arrived in her village and would she please call back and give the nice policeman her family name.

Naroi turned out to be a charming village, one of the nicest we have visited.  Like Lomolomo, there is a strong Tongan influence.  Most of the places we have been in Fiji the houses are in a state of disrepair with rusting roofs, broken boards, pealing paint in a mishmash of colors.  Here everything looked freshly painted and well maintained.  There were wide lawns between the houses with lovely flowering trees and shrubs.   Horses grazed here and there.  A cement path lead along the waterfront and another one meandered along the back of the village and up the hill to the church.  We wandered down to the end of the village and back along the waterfront occasionally asking if anyone knew of the family of our friend.  Back at the village I tracked down the market which was actually nothing more that a room in someone’s house.  As usual in the smaller villages, you need to stand at the door and ask for that you want.  No browsing.  When I asked if they had either chicken or beer I was told no.  But they had span, canned tuna, paper goods. fruit cocktail, breakfast crackers.  By and large Fijians have a pretty limited diet.  They grow cassava and taro, some vegetables. There are lots of chickens around and they catch fish.  I had seen children with what looked like popsicles so I backtracked to where they were lined up at one of the houses.  I was assured this was the place.  The family had a freezer and made popcicles out of fruit juice poured into a paper cup.  Perfect for a hot day.  I was soon a sticky mess as they melted and ran all down my arms but it was worth it.

The post office across from the police station sold internet top ups so we can once again check in.  Unfortunately, service is limited.  We finally found a spot along the shore half way back to the boat where there was a good signal and we sat on a large rock to once again check the weather.  Still looks good.

Just as we were ready to head back tot he boat, our police friend caught up with us and told us he had identified the family we were looking for.  He escorted us back to their house and then also took us the the house of the peace corps workers who were from San Diego.  We had a lovely afternoon visiting and come away loaded with fresh mangos

When we finally got back to the boat in the late afternoon the tide was out and we realized that we were anchored way too close to the reef.  It was only about 50 feet off the stern.  If we dragged at all we would be on it and there was a fairly brisk wind blowing.  So we started the engine and then Alan raised the anchor just off the bottom while I headed us away from shore, into deeper water where Alan dropped anchor again.  We are still close but this should be fine.

When we were in the village Alan was told that he should remove his had as it was disrespectful to wear one.  We had heard that hats and shoes should be removed inside homes and especially in the presence of a chief but never in a whole village.  Nonetheless he complied.  Don’t forget the village chief is also a police officer.  Better not to offend.  Thank heavens I had worn a sulu and a blouse with sleeves.  Unfortunately as a result of walking around in the sun all day without a hat, Alan was miserable that night with what I guess was heat stroke so he spent the next day in bed.  We never did get back to spend more time with our new friends as we had promised.  The following day we left Moala headed for Suva.

Bay of Islands 2

Nov 7, Vanua Bilavu

Another cloudy day.  Time to leave.  Anchor up, heading across the bay.   Me down below once again still trying to get an internet signal with no luck. This is not the way we entered but the chart shows a passage out of the reef just across from the village here.    Then Alan calls for me to come on deck and help spot reefs.  It is soon obvious that something is wrong.  There are reefs everywhere.  The passage shown on the chart just does not exist, or at least we cannot find it.  With overcast skies and the morning sun behind us, visibility is lousy, making it even more dangerous to continue.  It is not long before we give it up.  We will motor back to the other pass.  We know that one is OK.  Except that It is almost noon, the weather is lousy and we have no schedule. What the heck, one more day in the Bay of Islands.

We ended up spending several more days in the Bay of Islands.  Clear water of the most exquisite shades of blue that we have seen yet, surrounded by steep green cliffs.  Small islands and secluded coves everywhere.  Complete privacy, not a soul around, just the sound of birds with an occasional dog barking way off in the distance.  There is the most incredible sense of peace and healing energy.  The weather was perfect for these few days, brilliant sun, never cold but not too hot.  We read, we slept we swam, we played games and worked on odd jobs.  We took the dingy exploring all of the little nooks and crannies along the shoreline, admiring the magnificent trees that managed to find a footing in the sheer rock.  We spent hours watching the birds in the trees at the very top of the cliffs.  Alan announced that his dream is finally complete.  This is the perfect life. 

We woke up on our last day to find an enormous motor yacht anchoring on the other side of our secluded cove.  Time to leave.

We raise the anchor and reluctantly head back out through the passage in the reef that we came in.  I manage to get about 2 minutes of internet on the way,.  Just enough to confirm that the weather is calm and settled for another week.  When I planned this trip I had identified several islands that I wanted to visit but time is getting short and we do not really know which ones have good anchorages.  After our problems with Navionix in Vanus Balavu we are reluctant to try unknown islands.  So we decide to head straight for Moala.  Maybe we will find someone back in Vuda who can give us waypoints for some of the other islands and we can try again after cyclone season.

Nov 5, 2017 Daliconi and Lomolomo

Daliconi, Nov 5, 2017

After several days in the Bay of Islands we decide that we should go over to the local village, check in and check the internet ant the weather.  Off we go across the bay.  About half way across to the village we pick up the wifi.  I do a quick check to be sure there are no cyclones forming and then leave it, expecting to come back to it later.  Except when we are anchored off the village we have once again lost the signal.  We go ashore to present sevusevu and ask about internet.  The village has radio and TV but no wifi.  People take the bus to town to check their email and we are assured that there is good wifi in Lomolomo.  Today is Saturday.  We will go to town on Monday.  I intended to go to church in the village but Sunday morning it was raining so we just spent the day on the boat.

The village of Daliconi is small, maybe 30 houses and a church, no shops of any kind, tucked between the bay and the base of a cliff.  Everything is very green.  It was hit badly by Cyclone Winston and the rebuilding is just getting started.   A deeply rutted track runs through the houses and up the side of the cliffs.  At the top it turns and heads down into a valley and on into Lomalona, the main town.  Most of the Lau islands were occupied by the Tongans in the 1850s and Lomolomo was the home of Ma’afu, their chief.  Their influence is obvious in the layout of the villages and the architecture of the buildings.  By most accounts, Ma’afu was a good chief and a good administrator and Vanua Bilavu escaped much of the bloodshed that devastated the eastern side of Fiji during the tribal wars before the secession.

In the morning Alan rows me ashore and I  walk over the hill to the school to wait for the truck to town.  It is a one room school with about 25 children from little ones to a young man sporting a mustache. Across the road the new school is under construction.  It is enormous compared to this one.  There will be separate classrooms for the different grades but these few children will be lost in such a big school.  Today is the first day of daylight savings and they  are a little delayed getting started but shortly everyone stands and sings the national anthem and several other songs.  Then the teacher gives a short talk on the virtue of the week, Be Prepared.  And just then the bus/truck comes.  People are seated on 2 long benches down the sides and standing in the middle.  Off we go, bouncing and rattling through the jungle.  At the top of the hill is the airport, a cleared field of grass heading straight down hill to the water below.  We have been told that there are no flights when the grass is wet because there is no traction and the planes can slide straight down into the water.

 Lomolomo, on the other side of the island, is the main town and port for the island but it is in fact a small scattering of houses. Almost everyone got off when we came to the post office.  This is the place doing the most business, people collecting their money or sending money or toping up their cell phones. When the bus driver found out that I had no specific plans he suggested that I stay on the bus until we got to the hotel at the end of the village and walk back. The hotel turned out to be just a collection of huts with a central building that was the office, dining area and home of the owner.  After a look around I wandered along the muddy road through the trees and beside wide green lawns to the main part of town. Past several churches and large meeting halls.  Despite the fairly small size of the town there were several distinct areas presumable inhabited by different clans.  There is a barge tied up to a rusting pier and supplies are being offloaded.  Once again I am struck by the fact that the harbor lies open to the westerly trade winds and is full of reefs and looks to be fairly shallow.  Obviously the traditional war canoes and the modern runabouts have very different requirements for a port than deep keel sail boats.


 The markets are not at all what I am used to.  The supplies are all behind a counter and the selection is extremely limited.  You tell the clerk what you want and someone gets it for you.  No wandering the aisles to see what looks good today.  I was hoping for a chicken or some kind of meat and also beer, since ours is long gone.  Neither was available.  The coolers were not working so no meat of any sort and no alcohol anywhere on the island.   I figured out eventually that alcohol is not available anywhere in Fiji outside of the resorts and the larger towns.  Plenty of kava but no beer. 

A lean-to at the side of one of the stores sold fuel; gas, diesel, kerosine, premix but you had to bring your own container.  A couple of ladies were sitting on the ground outside selling chop suey, which is actually ramen noodles with added carrots and cabbage in a brown gravy.  They were delighted to serve me but I had to wait while one of them finished eating her portion and took the plate home to wash it.  I guess I was supposed to have my own container for this, too.  There were no utensils, of course.  Everyone eats with their fingers
One of my main reasons for coming to town was to use the wifi but again I could not get a signal.  Part of the problem is that there are two carriers in Fiji, Digicel and Vodaphone.  I have Vodaphone but the predominate carrier in the Law Group is Digicel.  Apparently the Vodaphone tower was down.

Finally the truck arrived and everyone climbed in for the trip back to the village.  Of course, when I arrived I had no way to contact Alan since My phone was not working.  After walking around the village and knocking on doors and windows, I finally found someone with a phone only to discover that Alan’s phone was not working either.  Eventually I got his attention by jumping up and down on the beach and yelling. We definitely get too dependent on technology

Nov 1 2017 Fish

Fish!
After numerous encounters between the fishing line and the propeller, it is time to redo it. I bought new 80 lb line in Nadi and still have one more cider plug. I have been using a much lighter line and smaller fur on the theory that I do not want to catch a big fist. Just one big enough for 2 people with maybe enough left for a sandwich the next day. Immediately when I unwrapped the fishing line it sprang out of the package and completely entangled itself. I spent almost 2 hours carefully untangling it, inch by inch like the little inchworm. I only had to cut it once. Finally it was all straightened out with the new lure on and I tossed it over. We usually do not catch anything but you never know. 
I had just said to Alan that if I caught anything I would chop it up and put it into the coconut that they had given up at Paradise and make kokoda when suddenly there was a sharp tug on the line and I looked back to see an enormous fish jump out of the water. Wow! It is too big! Alan immediately slowed the engine down and ran for the net. Thank heavens the sea is flat calm. After my first excitement, I decided to just let it tire itself out so we kicked the engine back up until we were going 5 kts again. It jumped several more times and each time I pulled the line in a little bit. Eventually I could see it swimming along side the boat. It was actually going as fast as we were. Time to bring it aboard. Engine in neutral, Alan is standing by with the net. I decided that if we lose it that is OK. It is really too big for us. I was using a plastic drop line and was not wearing gloves. That fish was heavy and at one point I thought the line was going to cut into my hands. We got it into the net once and it flipped out, but we got it in again and Alan hoisted it on board. I was beautiful, all green and gold with a sail fin on it’s back.
Now the messy part. I grabbed our last bottle of rum and tried to pour it into the gills. This is supposed to sedate it so you can cut off the head. Alan grabbed the winch handle and began banging it on the head. I got the knife that I keep in the fishing gear bag and began sawing away just behind the gills. Between the two of us we managed to subdue it. Time out, I had forgotten to take a picture and now it is all bloody. Actually there is blood all over everything. A thrashing fish can really make a mess. I hoisted up buckets of water and washed things as best as I could with a giant fish taking up most of the cockpit. When I finally hoisted it up for the photo I came up to my waist, which makes it almost 4’ long. Sadly, we forgot to weigh it.
Alan put Rhapsody back in gear and I began the messy job of cutting it into meal sized pieces. Our main consideration is the fact that we have no refrigeration. We have an ice box but the ice has long since melted and it is warm inside rather than cool. First I cut it in half so it would fit on the cutting board. Then I tried my best to cut off filets. Any extra chunks went into the coconut shell with the coconut meat. I dumped in lemon juice and more coconut cream and some green onion and cucumber and set t aside. For the back half of the fish, I decided on steaks but I could not manage to cut the spine. I finally had to take over the helm while Alan hit our biggest knife with rubber mallet and finally managed to break the spine. By the time this was all over the almost full moon had risen and we ate dinner on deck, fish steaks, green beans and boiled potatoes. It was wonderful and we were stuffed. After cleaning up the mess, I lay down for a nap before my watch. The kokoda will keep as well the rest of the fish. I had fried it all.

Nov 1 2017 Savusavu to Bay of Islands

Savusavu to Taneuni

The weather has cleared and predictions are for several days of very light winds.  Time to leave Savusavu and head for Taveuni and the Law group.  Friends of ours have been raving about Paradise resort and we have never gotten there so it is time.  The light wind is a god send because our route is due east and typically the trade winds blow east to west so this is a great chance to avoid sailing directly into the wind.  It is an uneventful motor sail and we arrive at Paradise Resort on Taveuni in the afternoon.  Sure enough there are several mooring balls in front of the resort and we are greated by hotel staff with “Welcome to Paradise” and told where to tie up.  The waterfront is volcanic rocks  drooping off into deep, clear water.  Good thing there are moorings because I do not think we would want to anchor here.    Paradise was directly in the path of Cyclone Winston a couple of years ago and almost completely destroyed but the owners have rebuild better than before.  Often resorts are somewhat hostile to yachts but This one bends over backwards to welcome us.  They have an organic farm where you cam stalk up on fresh herbs and vegetables.  We could have happily spent a week or two here but we want to take advantage of the light winds to go to Vanua Balava, further east so after a couple of days, we take off.
Taveuni to Vanua Balava

Our trip to Vanua Balava was one of the most pleasant in a long time, a lovely change from the dreaded Futuna Run. Unfortunately, you could not really call it a sail. As is usually with Fiji, the wind was on the nose. We wanted to go east and the wind was coming from the east. Luckily, it was a very light wind, about10 kn. We rounded the bottom of Taveuni about noon and hoisted the sails. If all goes well we should active at the island at dawn. It is about 80 miles and we are expecting to tack quite a bit. With the light wind we will not go very fast but that is OK.
The sea is flat calm with long, low, lazy swells coming from the south east. The air is warm but not hot. There is a breeze. The sails are up, the engine is off. The sea is scattered with islands looking black in the late afternoon sun against the blue sea. There is a gibbous moon already up. It is just lovely. Off in the distance we can see clouds and rain over the island. Once again, we crossed the 180 line. We have decided that there is not reason to keep the iPad on all the time on this trip since we are having battery issues. It is actually starting to look like it is the cables and plugs and not the house battery. We will set a compass course and just check our position once an hour.
Alan had the first watch while I just read and lounged in the sun. Then it was his turn to go below for a nap. It always takes me a while to get settled into my watch and remember which way to turn the tiller to correct the compass course. Everything is backwards, especially if the iPad is on too. We are tacking south, just 30 degrees off of the rhum line, a very hard course to hold in such light winds even with the engine on but I was actually managing until the wind got even lighter and started shifting all over the place. After just under an hour of sails flapping and and back winding, I called it quits. If we are going to have the motor on anyway, we might as well take the sails down so we can go in a straight line.
About sundown we caught a fish and I spent the next several hours dealing with that, gutting it, cutting it, cooking it, eating it and cleaning up the mess. That adventure is in a separate story. Eventually I turned in for a short sleep.
When I came back up on deck it was midnight, still flat calm and we were almost there. It would have been smarted to go more slowly. We had planned to heave to but all the reefs and islands around made us nervous so we slowed way down andI took the helm to drive around in circles while Alan had a nap. Several hours later we decided that we were reasonably clear of obstacles, tied the tiller and turned off the engine. Alan went back to bed. I stayed in the cockpit for a couple of hours but we were not moving so eventually I went to bed to.
Next morning we were up early to get inside the reef before low tide. It was another beautiful day. Our Navionix showed the entrance to be a little over 6’ deep but well marked so I went up onto the bow to watch while Alan steered us ever so carefully. As it turned out the depth was never less that 50’. Inside the lagoon, we turned left and headed for Tony’s Place which is supposed to be a wonderfully protected anchorage. The entrance was well marked and led us into a stunningly beautiful fjord cut deep into the island, cliffs going straight up, festooned with greenery. There was not a soul around. Unfortunately, when we tried to anchor we discovered that the bottom was lave rock, not sand and we could not get the anchor to catch. Eventually we gave up and motored back out and around to the other side of the island where we found an anchorage in sand. It was not quite as dramatic but equally beautiful, sheet cliffs going down into crystal clear turquoise water. The rest of the day was spent swimming, sleeping and eating the rest of the fish.

Oct 2017, Futuna Run part 3

Futuna and back, 2017, part 5
This is the last and the worst. 
We left Futuna at 5am under grey skies. Winds were predicted to be very light and we were expecting to motor much of the way, which just fine. Of course right now it is blowing 20k out of the south east, not what we want but we hoist sails and carry on. Except that the wind does not die. We are making good speed but not quite in the right direction and we are getting a lot of rain. Same thing all day and all night long, stars and squalls and heavy seas Winds up to 25kn and heavy swells. Jib and reefed main up. I take a longer watch over night so Alan can get more than a couple of hours of sleep. By morning we are back in Fiji waters and passing the first reefs. The clouds are starting to break ups little and there is some sun. it is amazing how much nicer a brisk breeze is when the sun is out. Wind is still from the south but at some point we should start to get some protection from the land. Meanwhile the deep ocean swells are breaking up into a confusion of smaller ones, thanks to the reefs.
We are definitely too far west but we had expected that and we are making good time. Early afternoon we turn the engine on, take the sails down and turn south to cut down behind Rabi Island and intercept the correct course through Somosomo strait. And this is where all of our plans come crashing down. In addition to the strong south wind we are now suddenly fighting a very strong current or tide. Speed drops from 6kn to 2kn. We spend all afternoon fighting our way along. Naturally this has completely messed up our plan to get through the pass in the daylight. Inch by inch we creep along. Alan goes up to the bow several times to try to tie down the jib better and also the spare anchor which is rattling around. About 4:00 our speed begins to pick up a little. The tide has turned
Alan is up front and I am on the tiller when suddenly there is a loud clunk and the whole boat shudders as if we have hit something. I suddenly flashed back to another boat which was making this same trip last year, hit something that broke their propeller. I slowed way down and took the engine out of gear and waited a few minutes. Alan can back from the bow with a hank of rope in his hands. The engine seemed to be OK so gradually we speed up and then there was a horrible grinding, shuddering noise from the engine. So we stopped, just stopped in the middle of the channel. Apparently Alan had dropped the end of the rope he was holding earlier and it had swepted back and gotten caught by the propeller. That was the source of the terrible thunk I had heard. There was not much choice about what to do now. Alan needed to go over the side and clear the rope off of the prop and see what damage had been done. Swimsuit, mask, snorkel, fins and a strong rope tied under his arms and secured to the boat. Over he went. And after a blessedly brief time, back up he came with a short piece of rope in his hand, the end all blackened where it had gotten caught in the prop and cut off. Another inspection to be sure and he announced that it looked fine. Gently gently we started the engine up again. Seemed to be fine. After about half an hour when everything seemed to be running fine I sent him below for a hot cup of tea and a nap..We now have to navigate Somosomo strait in the pitch black. No moon tonight.
The tide was in our favor and the winds were dropping and we were finally making good time when Alan’s head appeared in the opening of the hatch and he said quietly, “We have a problem”. When he got up from his nap he discovered the the floor of the cabin was awash with water. So, first thing is to run the bilge pump. Thank God that worked and within 20 minutes the water was gone. Next to find where it was coming from. Eventually we discovered that the leak, in the form of a strong trickle but not a rushing river, was coming from the packing gland on the drive shaft. Some experimenting showed that it actually came in slower when we went faster and came in faster when we slowed down. Running the bilge pump every 15-20 min seems to be enough to keep up with the leak.
Meanwhile we are coming up onto the Somosomo strait. I am all for stopping somewhere and waiting for daylight but It is pitch black and we know nothing about the shoreline around here, whether or not there is any place to stop and wait out the night. Alan decides that the best thing to do is to go ahead and get through and back to Savusavu.
Like a bad dream, here we go again. About 5 miles before the narrowest part we lose the navigation on the iPads. We are expecting this and have carefully noted the compass course but it is still nerve racking. It is pitch black. I go up to the bow but there is really nothing I can see. We creep along slowly Finally we are across the 180 and the iPads spring back to life and we see that we are right on course And then we realize that the tide has turned again and our speed has dropped down to 2kn. Almost there and it takes 2 hours to go the last little bit until we are finally back out into the Koro sea and can turn west towards Savusavu. Alan goes below to get try to get some sleep between pumping the bilge while I motor along.
By dawn the wind had dropped to 10kn and the sky is clearing. We get into Savusavu bay around 9:30. Surprisingly we cannot get an answer to our radio calls for mooring information. It is Thursday. Where is everybody? Finally, when we are just about into the mooring field we get a response. It is a public holiday, Diwali! Of course this means that we once more have to pay not only overtime fees for customs, immigration, bio-security and medical, but also their taxis and meals. Had we known, we would have anchored somewhere and waited to come in the next day. Actually, given the leak, we probably would not have. Anyway, eventually we are cleared to go ashore.
That night I slept on the couch and got up every 1 1/2 hour to pump the bilge. Next day Alan found a mechanic who could fix the leak. After quite a bit of research he has determined that the packing gland needs to be taken off, cleaned and reseated Neither of us is quite up to the thought of doing that ourselves. I had visions of taking it off and having water flooding in so hard we could not stop it, ending with Rhapsody sitting on the bottom at the dock. Our mechanic was a 7th day Adventist so he could not come tomorrow, Saturday, but would be there bright and early on Sunday. Another day and night spent running the bilge pump every 2 hours. At least it is not getting any worse. Sunday morning our mechanic showed up with his friend and the 3 of them went into the engine room to assess the situation. I left. When I cam back 3 hours later the leak was fixed and the bilge was dry.
The leak is fixed, or at least down to a very slow drip instead of a small river. We will give it a few days to see how often we need to bail it out before we decide if we are going on to Taveuni or back to Vuda. The weather is bad right now anyway. Since we cleared everything out of the back of the engine room to fix the drip I decide to scrub it all down before we put everything back, and while the water bladders are empty I can clean under them too before we refill them


 Of course nothing in this sailing life is simple. The leak filled the bilge which runs under our water tanks, 3 rubber bladders under the sole. After being wet for so long the wood was swollen so we could not get the hatches open. Once we finally pried them open the space needed to be cleaned of all the oil and debris that had washed into it from the engine room and then emptied with the hand pump. Finally done and tanks refilled but we cannot put the floor boards back until they dry. Once everything is clean we fill the water tanks and eventually the floorboards are dry enough to put back.  We won’t be able to get them off again until they really dry but we can’t run the water maker anyway so it really does not matter.  The weather has changed for the better and we decide to go to the Lab group.  We have been talking about it ever since we got to Fiji and if we do not go now we probably never will.  We have a least a month worth of water and cyclone season does not really start until November. 

October 2017, Futuna Run part 2

Vuda to Futuna and back, Oct 2017 Part 2
Midday Wed, Oct 11 we finally cleared customs and sailed out of Fiji. Boats can only be in Fiji 18 months without paying an enormous import duty so every year we all check out, sail up to Futuna, check in there, check out and then sail back to Fiji, usually a round trip of about a week. This year we decided to take a different route since we were leaving from Lavuka instead of Savusavu. Traditionally people go through Somosomo strait, a very narrow, reef strewn pass between Vanua Levi and Taveuni. We decided to skip the reefs and go up the eastern side of Taveuni. Looks to be about the same wind angle but open ocean all the way
Of course, we started off dead into the wind but made good time of about 4 knots with the engine on. About an hour out I spotted a marker way off in the distance that seemed to correspond with our course. An hour and a half later when we finally reached it, it proved to be a huge red and white light house on the corner of the reef, miles from the nearest land
Now we could turn the engine off and put up the sails finally. This is actually our first serious sail in almost a year. It is going to take a little time to settle into it. Remember to use the salt water not the fresh whenever possible. Use the pot holders to secure the pots on the stove. Hold on inside and clip on outside. We have decided on 2 hour watches. No one gets much sleep but everyone gets a little. It is only a couple of days. Jib and mizzen sails up. Wind from the east at 15 knots. Easy deep sea swells. Auto pilot on. Overcast but not raining.
Things went well until early Thurs morning, then the navigation program on all of the iPads stopped working. After some period of panic we realized that once again we were in the 180 dead zone, only this time it lasted for almost 2 hours. A very scary time which raised the question, what would we do if they stopped working for real. We have a wind gage and a depth gage but no other GPS at this point and we have never quite mastered the sextant. We have the maps from the Fiji Land Commission that do give lat/long but no real nautical charts. (The maps are F$8 each, the charts are F$200 each.) About the time that I was having these pessimistic thoughts, Alan realized that we were really low on battery power. Our 2 new solar panel are not quite strong enough to run the auto pilot. It is fine while the engine is on but not when we are under sail. So it is back to hand steering helped along by a rope tied to a cleat. The power is also a problem for the iPads. We usually keep one plugged in in the cockpit when we are underway. Since it is wide open ocean out here we will turn it off, check our position once an hour and steer by the compass. We have our course. The winds fair although we are really pinching to hold the course. We are going along at 5-6 knots. And from time to time, we will run the engine to get everything charged up again
By Friday morning the winds have strengthened and shifted to the north east. The swells are all confused and there is a constant series of rain squalls. We reefed down the mizzen and got out our foul weather gear. All the portholes and hatches are closed. The swells are up to 2 -3 meters now. Luckily everything seems to be fairly secure inside but everything is damp and neither one of us feels like eating much. I opened a can of beans for dinner and it took both uf us 2 days to finish it. During our time in Vuda this year I made wind dodgers out of good water resistant canvas which hook onto the lifelines with industrial strength velcro all around the cockpit. This is the first time we have used them and they really made a difference in keeping most of the waves from crashing on board. Of course some made it through and it is raining off and on so we still got soaked. There was a magical moment when the rain came down so hard that it smoothed out all the whitecaps There was a mist over the ocean that looked like something out of a Japanese brush painting. The water was black and shiny like obsidian and the rain mist floated in the troughs of the waves. Absolutely beautiful. Luckily it is warm and our waterproof frog jackets did the job.
Finally, about 9pm we decided to call it quits for the day. Wind gusts are hitting 30+ knots, it is raining and the swells are all over the place. We are only about 3 hours from our goal. If we keep going we will have to heave to until dawn anyway so might as well do it now and get a good nights sleep. Jib down, tiller tied to the side way and reefed mizzen pulled in tight and we just wander in a small circle. We are miles from land and out of shipping lanes so nothing to worry about.
In the morning the wind was back down to 15 knots although still from the NW. Engine on. Within an hour we spotted land and by noon we were anchored in Futuna harbor.
Futuna part 4
Safe in Futuna harbor and the town is dead quiet except for a bunch of boys jumping off of the wharf. We think it is Saturday and we think that the Gendarme and Customs offices and closed but first, time for a nap. Later in the afternoon we launch the dingy and go ashore to check.. In fact the official offices are closed but the grocery store is open so we pick up some baguette and croissant for breakfast. I have about $30 Polynesian francs left from Tahiti. There isn o ATM here, actually not much of a town, just 2 grocery stores, customs office on the wharf, the hotel Fiafia and a string of houses between the steep cliffs and the ocean. The people here look very Polynesian as opposed to the Fijians who are definitely African but they have that same easy going joy of life. Futuna is a French Protectorate and, according to the guide book, the people happily take the high paying French government jobs and then go about their traditional way of life.
Having stretched our legs and done a small amount of shopping we headed back to the boat since we are technically not supposed to be ashore until we have cleared in. In addition to this being the weekend, it must be some sort of holliday because we could hear music late into the night and again most of the day Sunday. Very frustrating to to be able to leave the boat. Monday morning we head ashore again to check in. The customs office is on the wharf but the Gendarmerie is a long walk up the road. We decide to go there first, since we seem to remember from last time that when we went to customs they sent us off to the gendarme. Wrong. When we got to the gendarmerie they were very polite and spoke English but told us that we needed the paperwork from customs. So back we went down the road. It is lovely here, somehow more beautiful than Fiji. The road snakes along the edge of the ocean next to tall cliffs covered with vines and flowers. The houses are neat and well kept There is a notable absence of cows and goats and dogs wandering the streets.
Back at customs we get into a complicated discussion with the customs officers who speak much less English that the gendarme. I have decided that it would be fun to rent a car and drive around the island, instead of just leaving immediately. This means we would not leave until Wed morning. But if we are going to do this then we need to come back tomorrow to check out, instead of doing everything today. It all depends o whether we can find a car to rend. Apparently Patrick at the Hotel Fiafia has the only rental cars. The hotel is at the other end of town so off we go. When we get to the hotel, Patrick is out and the rest of the staff speak only French. With lots of gestures and the use of our “French for Cruisers” book we discover that there are no more cars this week and Patrick will be back in an hour or so. Since we are here, we opt for a petit dejuiner and use of their wifi. Good coffee au lait, good bread, OK wifi. How we miss good bread in Fiji. That is a whole other story. Eventually Patrick comes back and we confirm that there are no rental cars all week. It is indeed a holiday. In fact, it is a whole week of holiday and both cars are booked up. So we make a reservation for dinner and head back to customs to tell them that we will be leaving tomorrow after all at 5am. And then back to the gendarmerie again to have our passports stamped.
Finally we are done, checked in and checked out. Now for some serious shopping. There are no ATM and I am low on francs after our breakfast in the hotel but they will take our credit card if we spend $50 At $10 for a bottle of French wine, the will be easy. So we stock up on wine, cheese, pickles, pate and canned cassoulet. In the evening we head back to the hotel for a wonderful dinner, all the more appreciated since we have not eaten much for most of our trip. A simple, fresh green salad, good wine, sourdough bread, fish for Alan and a thick steak for me. Ice cream and coffee for dessert. The French do know how to do food right. The whole meal including wine was less than $100
Back to the boat, hoist the dingy, fold it up and tie it down ready for a 5am departure. Unless something goes wrong this is the last time we will be in Futuna