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Logs and Pix from Fiji-on (2008 Season)
Back Aboard in Fiji 05/04/08It was a surprisingly smooth departure from Yachats, and a similarly surprisingly smooth journey all the way back to the boat. One of the biggest challenges was getting all the boat stuff packed into luggage. We’re not talking about small items here- a big barbeque, new anchor roller and two big fenders being the notable challenges- but somehow we got ‘er done. By some wonderful happenstance the plane from LAX to Auckland was only half full, so we actually had room to relax for that 13 hour flight, making it almost a pleasant experience. We had a great, although very short, tour of Auckland via bus and boat (an hour and a half harbor cruise), and then a bumpy 3 hour flight here that landed about 8:30pm local time. Once again we had that strange time-warp effect of leaving Monday afternoon April 28, flying all night, hanging out for a day in Auckland, and arriving in Fiji Wednesday night April 30. That darned dateline deal. The extremely sad part of all this is that we lost a dear friend, Gary Ewing, while in transit, and didn’t find out until yesterday. We had just visited with Gary and Karen before our departure, and though he looked far from well and had been having serious health problems for a couple of years, nothing prepares you for that ultimately sad news. I have been working on a website for him recently to help promote his art and hopefully generate some income to help defray his astronomical hospital bills, and that will be an ongoing project. To see the fledgling site, click here. He was a genuine gentle-man, one of the finest human beings I’ve ever had the good fortune to know, and will be missed greatly. So the work has begun getting our moldy, mildew encrusted vessel cleaned up, put back together, and ready for floatation. Fortunately the worst heat and monsoon rain has abated here, so it has been possible to get several hours in each day before melting down and running for the pool. At night there has been a cool breeze off the water allowing us to sleep comfortably. Things could be worse. We’re hoping to be back in the water in a few days, and ready to set sail in a couple of weeks if all goes well. The marina has emptied out, with many of our fellow cruisers already enroute to Vanuatu. We’re still planning to enjoy Fiji for a month or so before heading out, since there really doesn’t seem to be any reason to hurry. After traveling ~6000 miles last season, the ~1000 miles to Australia doesn’t seem like much at all. That’s about all for now, we’ll get some pics up soon. Fair winds, Mike ‘n Barb Some miscellaneous pics-Preparing to Leave the Vuda Womb 6/15/08Yes, that’s exactly what it’s like here: safe, peaceful, warm and protected from all harm, with a big scary world outside this circular pouch-like enclosure. You exit via a canal through the reef, once you’re ready. And it’s a womb with a view- of the ocean- with everything you need in easy reach: a little grocery store, laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms, a café, a yacht chandlery, a restaurant and bar, free outdoor movies three nights a week, a yacht repair facility onsite, water and electricity right to your boat, and taxis available 24/7 to take you to the nearby towns. It’s altogether way too comfortable, but we must (finally) be going. For our first baby steps we’ll make the 20 some mile voyage to Musket Cove, where we’ll ease back into the cruising lifestyle for a bit before heading out to Vanuatu, a 3 to 4 day trip. We’ll most likely miss the famous tower-diving there (proto bungie-jumping you may have seen on National Geographic) where men (and boys) leap off a tower made off lashed-together sticks with a vine tied to their feet, object of which is to lightly tap their heads on the soft dirt piled below. It turns out they only do it April-June. Anyway, Arabella is almost her old self again, windlass repaired, new mainsail, bilge-pump working, engine and transmission working, etc. so all that’s left is provisioning, fueling up, paying our bills, and heading out. Our planned departure date is the 20th, and hopefully Barb will be over her stubborn cold by then. We’ll do another update when we’ve had some new adventures to report… Fair Winds, Mike and Barb PS We'll post some Vuda pix in a day or so. Musket Cove-Our New Favorite Place 07/14/08It was a beautiful calm day when we finally tore ourselves away from Vuda for the big three and a half hour voyage across to Malololele Island where the Musket Cove Resort is situated. We agreed to ferry a young couple from Russia over with us so they could try to find a boat willing to help them continue their “hitchhiking across the Pacific” adventure. Really nice kids they were- the young man had acquired a good command of English from working on big cruise ships and his photographer wife spoke a little as well. We hope they found a ride. The little shakedown trip went pretty smoothly; engine ran fine, transmission was fine, electronics seemed fine…until we got almost to the tricky entrance part and the cockpit chart-plotter decided it couldn’t keep a fix. This is our “video game” unit that has a 14-inch color screen showing a chart at whatever zoom level we select, with a little icon boat moving along the tracks we program in, consisting of waypoints that are designed to keep us in the deep water and off the hard bits. Of course it’s a (lazy person’s) newfangled gadget and should never be counted on as the sole means of navigation, but in these coral-infested waters it’s a darn cool way to get around with minimum stress. When it suddenly didn’t know where it was, and we were just entering a twisty passage between coral we could barely see, it gave us a moment of consternation. Luckily there is a smaller version down below over the chart table that knew where it was, so it was just a matter of programming in the waypoints down there and relaying instructions up to Barbara, who was at the helm. Of course we had paper charts of the area, plus two more handheld GPS units aboard, plus Constantine, our young Russian friend, had Google Earth and a GPS on his phone- how cool is that- and could have piloted us in with that. I think he was kind of miffed when we wanted to use our own stuff. Anyway, we made it in fine, but that malfunction was one of the reasons we ended up staying happily in Musket cove for a couple of weeks instead of venturing further up the island chain as we had planned. The other things were: a suddenly balky outboard motor on the dinghy, an alignment problem on the alternator that caused belts to be eaten quickly, and the trusty Honda 2000 generator decided it was time to call in sick. Nothing was major, just a bunch of little headaches. It was exactly why we went over there, to test all this stuff out. So it turned out Musket was the coolest place you could ever be stuck trying to fix little headaches. Not only is the setting beautiful, which it really is, but the people who work there immediately make you feel like you are their long-lost best friends, and things are set up perfectly for cruisers. By now you probably know what that means: showers, laundry, a store, restaurants, a pool, bar, etc. but in addition they have set up an area on a tiny island by the marina with a round palapa-style bar surrounded by tables and barbeques (supplied with wood to fire them with) where you can cook your food and buy drinks, and they provide the plates, silverware and condiments! How cool is that not to have to heat up the boat cooking, let alone wash dishes afterwards? Think of the savings in propane! It’s lovely and brilliant, as our new English, Ozzie, and Kiwi friends are fond of saying, and I’m sure it pays off for the resort. While we were there it was somewhat of Rally Central. There seem to be lots of folks who think the way to sail around the world is in an organized group, and there were two such groups stopping in one after the other. The first was the ARC which stands for what I don’t know, but they were a pretty nice bunch of folks who had paid quite a bit of money, both for their fancy big boats, but also for the privilege of being sheparded around the world in a big hurry (14 months). They no sooner took off on their next leg than the next group showed up, the Blue Water Rally. Again a very nice group, mostly British folks it appeared, who also paid large amounts of money-someone said 20,000 pounds sterling each- to be herded around at what we consider a breakneck pace. I guess it’s a “safety in numbers” thing, or maybe the camaraderie factor, who knows. Maybe they just want to make sure they don’t give up or get sidetracked along the way? But wait, isn’t open options what cruising is all about? Oh well, different strokes and all that…anyway, the latest group to mob Musket, just as we were leaving, is the Island Cruising Association rally. It seems to be just a Pacific deal instead of around the world, but we’re not really sure. We joked that it seemed like a "rally jam" there for awhile. So we have returned to Vuda to get the last few little headaches fixed and hope to be back out there within a week. It was really nice being on a breezy mooring with some space around us instead of jammed in like sardines here, but it was also great to see our Fijian and American friends again upon our return yesterday. By the way, we were hanging out with some wonderful new Kiwi friends, Rod and Viv on Innovation at Musket, who were extremely kind to let us use their spare outboard for over a week so we could stay there longer. The wind was blowing 30+ knots for several days and we couldn’t row the inflatable ashore and back in that. We were amazed they were so kind and generous after barely meeting us, and we don’t know how we can ever repay them. They about have us talked into backtracking to New Zealand at the end of the season, BTW. Sorry this is kind of long-winded, but I guess it makes up for the last one being so short... Happy sails to you, Mike 'n Barb
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