Epi Island to Malakula Island

May 18, 2010--On May May 13 we left Lamen Bay on Epi to head over to Malakula Island. The tide was ebbing, and we were surprised to have tide eddies that caught our full keel and moved the bow from port to starboard and back again. We finally got far enough from the island that they stopped; however, about half way across the channel, the ebbing tide came up against the ocean current, and we found ourselves in some nice rip tides, which we haven't seen since the Pacific northwest. At one point a wave made its way into our cockpit and doused us nicely.

We entered the east channel into the Maskelyne Islands, which are a small set of islands at the southeast tip of Malakula. Our timing was a bit off, so we entered the narrow channel while the tide was still ebbing. At one point we were down to a crawl because of the current going against us, but the good news was that entering at low tide allowed us to see the shoaling reefs on both sides of the channel. Once we were through the entrance, the water calmed down, and we continued through the channel until we arrived at a lovely little bay at Awei Island. Scarlett O'Hara was there to welcome us, as were several locals in their outrigger canoes.

We spent that afternoon meeting most of the locals who were out fishing in the small bay. A woman named Mata asked for fish hooks, which Steve gave her. Later in the afternoon, a family with two young boys in a sailing outrigger came by. Their sail was torn so Steve handed them some needles and sail twine so that they could sew up the tear. The man asked us to come to the island to visit his village on Awei Island the next afternoon, and we said that we would.

The next morning Steve left with John in the dinghy to go to Avokh Island to help fix a generator. It turned out that there were three generators, of which they got two running. While they were gone, a man came over to the boat in a fiberglass outrigger and introduced himself as a chief. He asked me if I had matches so that he and his men could cook their lunch on shore. I gave him a pack of matches, and he offered me fruit in exchange; however, I thanked him and said that we had plenty of fruit.

When Steve and John returned from the village, Steve was carrying about six more pomplemousse--the village had give them to the guys for fixing the generators. The next time you see us, we will both have turned into pomplemousses, and we are certainly getting 1000 percent of our daily Vitamin C requirements. Steve told me that the people in the village were extremely poor. The generators were not to provide lighting or anything else, they were to power the DVD player. We wondered where they came up with a DVD player.

The next day the clouds set in and it rained, which it has been doing most of the time since we left Port Vila. Because of the rain, we were not able to go to the village on Awei to visit the family so we stayed on board, and I did some laundry and hung it inside to dry.

We left the next morning with Scarlett to move north and anchored for the night in Gaspard Bay, which was not as protected but turned out to be a good anchorage anyway. We did see a dugong in the water so it was worth the location just for that. Just after our boats were anchored, the rain set in again for the whole afternoon and evening. At least the boat is nice and clean, and we were able to put some rainwater in the water tank.

On May 16 we left Gaspard Bay and headed out the northeast channel only this time we were riding the ebb tide out and making very good time. The wind was blowing enough to fill the sails, but we still motored so that we could charge our batteries. There has been very little sun, and these protected anchorages reduce the wind for the wind generator, so our batteries had gotten low.

We enjoyed a nice trip up the southeast side of Matakula Island and then turned into Port Sandwich. Captain Cook landed there when he was in Vanuatu. It is a very deep bay that is well protected. We spent two nights anchored there and went into the village at Lamap one day to find some bread. We got a ride into the village in the back of a pickup and then walked back to the anchorage, which was about a 40-minute walk. Lamap was a nice and clean village, and the people were all very friendly. They would walk up and introduce themselves--and give us pomplemousse!

Today we left around 10 o'clock and went only 10 miles north to Bangon Bay. We anchored over nice sand, fixed some lunch, and then relaxed. Around 2 o'clock a call came over the radio from sv September. Gabriele and Hans had caught up with us and are now anchored next to us. It is always nice to meet up with cruisers again along the way--sometimes it is soon and sometimes it takes months or even years, but it is always a treat.

Tomorrow we cross over to Ambrym Island. All is well aboard sv Linda.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Moving North in Vanuatu

May 12, 2010-We left Port Vila on Saturday, May 8, and motor sailed to the northwestern side of the island. We decided to anchor in Eseme Bay in Havannah Harbor. This harbor is where the U.S. Navy fleet, including the carriers Lexington and Yorktown, anchored before leaving to fight the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which the Lexington was lost. Scarlett O'Hara and Po'onio Roa followed about an hour behind us.

Very shortly after anchoring a local named Talo rowed his outrigger canoe up to our boat and asked if we would like some bananas and pomplemousse (I don't know the correct spelling), which are very large grapefruits and very delicious. We, of course, said yes, so he paddled off. We did not expect him until the next day; however, about an hour later, he returned, along with three small children, to deliver our fruit. He brought us a very large stock of bananas and two grapefruit. We agreed on a price of $250 VAT, which amounts to $2.50 U.S. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

On Sunday Po'onio Road left; however, we decided to stay for two more days in order to allow the weather to improve. In the morning a young man named Kenneth rowed up to the boat and offered us more grapefruit. Now, we already had five grapefruits; however, we like to help out the locals by buying goods from them so we agreed to buy two grapefruit. Ken gave us two and threw in two more. He asked for fishing line in payment, and, luckily, Steve had some that he had purchased for just such a purpose. Ken seemed very happy with the trade when he left, but Steve and I sat and looked at our nine grapefruits. We immediately ate two of them in order to reduce the number that we had to store on board. We were certainly not lacking in our daily allowance of Vitamin C. All the locals that went by in their boats whistled at us and waved, and we are always amazed at how many people they put on one boat.

On Monday John and Renee from Scarlett joined us on a trip to shore to see the remnants of a U.S. base that was on shore. We took our dinghies to the beach and tied them to a stick in the water since the tide was still coming up. We spoke with some kids who were on shore, but they did not know the spot we were asking about. We decided to walk north, and within one kilometer, we saw a sign that said, "American Pool." This is where the U.S. dammed up a small river to create a pool of fresh water for the ships. There were about eight young men swimming in the pool, and they looked as though they were enjoying the cool water.

A little further down the road, we did see a military half track that was rusting away on the side of the road, and across the street was a village that had been built using the remnants of the military base. We did not go into the village, but Steve was able to take a few pictures. After taking some more pictures, we returned to our dinghies and went back to the boats. Steve needed to work on navigation, and I needed to wash out some clothes.

At dawn on Tuesday morning, our two boats left the anchorage and headed north to Epi Island. We had to go through a pass, which was not a problem at all. The seas were pretty confused, and even though I had taken my medicine, I still got a bit seasick. The winds were light so we had to motor sail, but we needed to recharge the batteries after several days of overcast skies and very light wind so we didn't mind. After about two hours, the wind picked up, and we were able to sail for the next six hours. The last two hours we were back to motor sailing, and we used that time to make water. We pulled into Révolieu Bay, which was not much of a bay, and dropped our anchor. The waves were rolling into the anchorage, so we spent an uncomfortable night on the settees instead of the berth.

In the morning, John and Renee left to cross over to Malakula Island; however, we decided to move 12 miles north to Lamen Bay. The wind was again very light, so we turned on the engine and headed out. It was a quick run and provided us with another opportunity to make water. We arrived two hours later and slowly moved up into the bay and dropped our anchor in 18 feet of water.

On shore, the inter-island ferry had just pulled up to the shore and a large group of people were gathered around. After putting the boat in order, we launched the dinghy and went ashore. As we walked up to the ferry, we saw that the men were unloading wood planks onto a skiff, which was then brought to shore and unloaded onto the sand. There were people waiting to get on the ferry, and their belongings were packed in a woven palm frond basket. It was wonderful to watch.
We walked along the beach and then up to the village. One older woman named Winnie spoke to us for several minutes. We took her picture and promised to send her a print. Another man stopped us to talk for a few minutes and gave us two oranges before we left. Everyone was friendly. Most of the villagers were at the community market, where they were serving rice and fish as a fund raiser for the primary school. We spoke to Tasso, the man who runs the resort on shore, and he was very friendly and helpful, and before we left, we made a donation to the school.

We returned to the boat and sat in the cockpit watching spinner dolphins that were swimming and performing acrobatics in the bay, and we also saw numerous turtles swimming around the boat. We had hoped to see the "dugong" swimming by, but she never did appear. A dugong is very much like a manatee, and this one is friendly enough to let you swim with her. Probably all the boat props in the bay today scared her away--and with good reason.

Tomorrow we will move over to Malakula Island for several days, where we hope to enjoy some snorkeling. Sharks are more prevalent here in Vanuatu, and one is supposed to ask the locals if swimming is safe. Malakula is safe and has some good reefs for snorkeling.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Trip to Tanna Island

May 6, 2010—On Tuesday we spent the day finding items in town. We stopped at the central market to look around, and as we were walking around we passed a box with a live rooster that was all trussed up. I jumped because it surprised me, and the local ladies at the table starting giggling. A little while later, I looked down at a table and saw a bat whose wings were tied, but this time I stayed cool. It was a very interesting shopping trip.

We finally found a wonderful French bread shop called La Parisierie. We bought delicious baguettes and a round loaf of white bread that was exceptional as well. Steve was happy because across the street was Wilco Hardware, which is like Lowe’s or Home Depot. We spent the next hour looking at all the isles in the store. On the way back to the boat we found some great ice cream that Steve had been wanting since the middle of our passage.

On Tuesday night five cruising couples went out to eat at the Raging Bull Restaurant. Steve and I both ordered the eye fillet with mashed potatoes and salad. It was exceptional! We had heard that Vanuatu had the best beef in the Pacific, and so far, we would have to agree. Unfortunately, we also ordered Crème Brule, which turned out to be tapioca with ice cream. Oh well, it was a very fun evening.

On Wednesday we left to fly to Tanna to see the volcano. We had checked with three tour agencies in town and decided to use Island Holiday Tours. We discussed the package with John on two different occasions in order to be clear about what the price included. We had heard that in Vanuatu you will receive a price, but you will be asked for additional money. John assured us that everything was included except the airport tax.

We flew out of Port Vila at 3 o’clock and arrived in Tanna at 3:45. Philip was there to meet us as well as a young man from Canada and one from Australia. The drive from the airport to the volcano took about an hour and a half in a 4-wheel drive truck over dirt roads that were eroded from the recent rains. We stopped for petrol and bread along the way, dropped Daniel, the Australian, at his bungalow accommodations, and then arrived at the Jungle Oasis Bungalows. It was now dark, and we had scheduled a tour of the volcano for the late afternoon and into the evening, but that plan was now out the window. We put our things in our bungalow and changed into warmer clothes and then climbed into the truck with Cullen, the Canadian.

The drive to the volcano was a very short distance; however, the road was pretty steep and even more rutted. As we were driving up, we saw the red glow from an eruption. We reached the parking lot and began hiking up the side of the hill to the viewing area. Of all the things that Steve and I packed, a flashlight was not among them. We could not believe that we missed that, but Philip was kind enough to help us out with his “torch.” Before walking up to the top, we mailed several postcards in this mail box. This picture was taken the next day.

When we got to the top, it was absolutely spectacular. The volcano danger level has recently been elevated from level 1 to level 2 so the viewing area had been moved back from the rim, but we still got a spectacular show of lava spewing into the air. The volcano would rumble, belch out smoke, and then spew red lava and rocks into the air. It was a bit unsettling to be standing there. I could not tell which way the rocks were flying so when it blew, so I would unconsciously step back just a bit each time. It was a cloudy night, but, luckily, it did not rain.
We returned to the bungalow and then went to the restaurant for dinner. There was a local band with eight guys who were there to play for us. They had a couple of guitars, a ukulele, a tambourine, and a home-made bass that consisted of a broom handle with a wire that was connected to a large plywood box. Their sound was different, but they were very entertaining. They asked for a donation, which we were happy to make.

We returned to our bungalow with the help of Philip’s flashlight. We soon climbed into our double bed, pulled down the mosquito net, and called it a night. Unfortunately, Steve woke me up around one in the morning because he heard something trying to chew through a baggie to get to some bread that we had brought along. He took the bag and tied it to a piece of line, but he told me in the morning that he heard the “critter” come down the line and continue to try to get at the bread. Otherwise, it was a restful evening—if you didn’t mind hearing the rumble of the volcano during the night. A couple of the eruptions even shook our bungalow.

The next morning we got up and went to the restaurant for breakfast of coffee, toast, and bananas. We were supposed to go to see the Custom Village, but we decided to skip it. We really wanted to see the volcano during the day, but now Philip told us that it would cost us an additional amount of money so we decided to use the money for the village trip instead. Philip and the driver picked us up around 11 o’clock, and we returned to the volcano.

The view during the daytime is not as exciting as the evening; however, it was still quite a show. Now we could actually see the large amount of smoke rising up with each rumble as well as the large rocks that would come flying out of the crater. We spent about 30 minutes watching and taking a lot of pictures just as we had the night before. We are very happy that we decided to return during the day—it was well worth it.

Now it was time for us to make the long drive back to the other side of the island and the airport. We were able to get some additional shots of the volcano from a distance and seeing the ash field during the day was quite interesting. We saw where the lake used to be, but it drained a few years ago. We also had to drive through a small river that runs down where the lake used to be. We arrived at the airport a bit early so they dropped us off at the Evergreen Resort so that we could have some lunch before our flight. We enjoyed a burger and fries and then went to the airport.

Our flight left on time, and we arrived back in Port Vila at 4:30 in the afternoon. We were tired and were happy to be back at the boat and in our own bed. The trip was not perfect. The accommodations were minimal, but they were neat and clean. We are, however, very glad that we went to see Mount Yasur.

Tomorrow we will have to get everything in order so that we can leave on Saturday. We have just two more weeks in Vanuatu before we leave for Papau New Guinea so we will be on a fast track and can only hope that the weather will cooperate.

Arrival in Vanuatu

May 3, 2010—The last two days of our crossing to Vanuatu gave us frequent rain squalls but no big winds, which was a good thing. Our plan to go to Tanna Island changed on Saturday morning when the winds changed direction on us making a run to Tanna very difficult. In addition, the day after we were to arrive, the winds were forecast to come from the northeast, which would have made that anchorage very uncomfortable if not unsafe. Therefore, we decided to change course and go directly to Port Vila on the island of Efate.

Unfortunately, we lost our wind on Saturday and had to motor sail for the next 48 hours. During this period of time, what little wind we did have would swing from south to southeast to east and even to northeast and then back again. We were continually changing our main sail, which meant gibing the main and the preventer (used to prevent an accidental gibe) from one side to the other. On one occasion we had just gone through all the gyrations to switch, and then five minutes later the wind switched back to the other side. Steve never sleeps well when we are on passage, so with all the deck work plus the loss of sleep, he was getting a bit punchy by late Saturday.

Sunday was our anniversary, and we had planned to be in Tanna relaxing, but now we would be at sea for an additional 15 hours. As we were approaching Efate late Sunday afternoon, the winds piped up to over 20 knots, and we had rain squalls all around us. The good news is that our new radar unit works beautifully so it is easier for us to see how big the squall is and in which direction it is moving. The bad news is that going into a new port at night is bad enough, but the higher winds and unsettled weather raises the level of stress even more.

As night fell, the winds continued to blow, and we had some nasty looking squalls coming up behind us. We decided to drop the already reefed main sail so that we did not have to gibe it when we made our turn around Pango Point, but we did leave the jib up. Pango Point has some rip tides, and we wanted to be able to concentrate on the waves and not the sails.

Now in addition to everything else going on, the charts and cruising guides state that there is a light on Pango Point—maybe. Well, it is not there. They also talked about the leading lights that you line up in order to come into the harbor. In this case, two of the three lights were not working. Thank goodness for chart plotters and radar! Without these instruments, we would have had to heave to and wait for daylight, which we did not want to do.

As we made the turn around the point, there were some pretty big rolling waves coming up beside the boat. A few broke close to the side, but we were able to avoid getting soaked by any. It also began to rain slightly, which added another element to the mix. Anyway, we made it around the point, found our way into the harbor and through the port and starboard beacons. The quarantine anchorage was right at the end of the harbor so it was easy to find. We had our quarantine flag flying and would wait until morning to get cleared in. Scarlet O’Hara had arrived earlier in the day, so we pulled next to them and dropped our anchor in a lucky spot. It was 40 feet deep but got deeper as we were backing down on the anchor.

It was now 10:15 in the evening (but only 9:15 on Vanuatu time). We got the boat secured and picked up the cockpit a bit. Since it was our anniversary, we enjoyed a celebratory cocktail and then went immediately to bed. Steve, of course, slept heavily that night, and I didn’t have any trouble myself.

Monday morning we called Port control to let them know that several boats had arrived and would need to clear in. They told us that they would notify Customs, which they did. The Immigration official arrived at the boat, came aboard, and gave Steve the usual papers to fill out. She was very friendly and pretty reasonable about letting us keep most of our food items on the boat. Sometimes, they will take any fresh meat, dairy, fruits, or vegetables. That would have been a costly thing for us as we had provisioned heavily in Fiji where the items were cheaper.

After clearing Immigrations, we started the engine and moved to the Yachting World mooring field just a bit east of our anchorage. They have fuel, water, and laundry. Since we plan to be here just four or five days, we decided to stay on a mooring. We checked in and then headed to town, which was much more cosmopolitan than we expected. Unfortunately, the cruise ship arrived this morning, so people were everywhere. We made it a short trip.

We did find a tour to Tanna Island to see the volcano that included an overnight stay so we booked the trip for Wednesday and Thursday. We really wanted to see Mount Yasur Volcano on Tanna, so this will be how we accomplish that. Also, by taking this tour, we can go up to the volcano at night, which we would not have been able to do with the boat.

The last thing we needed to do today was to check in with Customs. The office is located at the pier where the cruise ship is docked, so we decided to take our dinghy the short distance around the bay. We arrived at the dock, puttered beneath the bow of the cruise ship, and found a very helpful security guard who told us that we could tie up our dinghy on the seawall. We then climbed up the concrete steps and walked into the Customs office. The officer there was also very helpful and friendly. The process went smoothly, and we were done in about 15 minutes. We were worried that with the ship in town, Customs would be swamped; however, it was no problem.

We took it easy for the rest of the day and then enjoyed some of our Mahi Mahi for dinner. Steve fell asleep around 7 o’clock so I decided to finish the blog tonight in order to post it tomorrow. So far, Vanuatu is a very nice surprise.

I have included some pictures from the passage. Steve with his latest Dorado, under sail with the moon setting, and Momi Bay--our last anchorage in Fiji.

Underway for Vanuatu

April 30, 2010-We spent our time waiting for a good weather window at Musket Cove, where we continued to take care of small projects. I had a lot of varnishing to do, and Steve had boat projects as usual.

The low that kept us from leaving Fiji was heading our way, and it arrived on Saturday night around midnight. We heard the wind pick up and the rain begin so we went on deck to make sure that everything was secure. The dinghy was tied to the side of the boat, but the waves were really putting a strain on her tether so we decided to bring her up on deck in 25 knots of wind and stinging rain. We got her tied down but were now thoroughly soaked and a little cold, which we could not believe because it had been hot again lately. We actually had to pull out a couple of light blankets that night.

Around 3:30 in the morning the worst of the storm hit. We were both sleeping on the settees in the main salon because it was more comfortable. The lightening was flashing, and there was a thunder that shook the whole boat. The winds were now over 40 knots of wind with gusts just over 50 knots. It sounded like a freight train coming through the anchorage. We had put an extra line on the mooring ball, so we felt pretty comfortable, but we always hear stories about moorings that fail. Needless-to-say, it was a long night, and we were short on sleep, but we survived the evening without any problems.

The next day was beautiful and sunny. We were talking to the other boats at Musket and found out that a boat with three guys aboard had left the previous afternoon only about eight or ten hours before the low hit us. We were surprised that a boat would leave with the forecast low approaching and just hoped that they were doing okay.

On Sunday we received a good weather report, so we checked out of Fiji on Wednesday morning. As we were leaving Customs, we saw the sailboat that had left come into the anchorage with everything on the lines to dry out and a shredded main sail. The skipper said that they had been hit very hard, and the boat had been knocked down with her mast under water, which took off the wind instruments. The stove came out of the gimbals, the engine was flooded when water came down below, and his dodger and bimini were ripped off. He also said that the waves were six feet above his head in the cockpit. This has to be one of the worst stories we have heard, and these three guys are pretty lucky. They limped back into Fiji to figure out what to do next. We are just glad that all three are all right.

We motored about 25 miles south to Momi Bay to anchor for the night. John and Renee on sv Scarlet O'Hara, and sv September, with the Austrian couple Hans and Gabriele aboard, were also there. Renee had us pick up two batches of brownies. One was for us, and the other we delivered to Hans and Gabriele. What a perfect way to end the day--with brownies!

The next morning was spectacular with the moon setting in the west as the sun came up in the east. There were beautiful pink clouds against a vivid blue sky-a beautiful day to begin a passage. Also, it was Thursday, which was good because all sailors know that you don't begin a passage on Friday-bad luck. September left just before us headed for Robinson Crusoe Bay for a few days, and Scarlet left just after we did. We left through Navula Pass and headed to the southern Vanuatu island of Tanna, but Scarlet is headed for Port Villa in the middle group. The winds were light so we motored for the first two hours, after which we were able to turn off the engine and sail.

The winds were between 11 and 15 knots all day, but we were still able to make good time. A few hours out, we saw the sea surface just boiling with fish. Steve put out his hand line, but we caught nothing. About a half hour later, we got a strike and pulled in a huge 55-inch Dorado. He was big enough that at one point his pull on the line was affecting our point of sail. We wrestled him on board and threw a towel over his head to calm him down. When we looked down, we saw the hook from the lure lying on the deck because it had broken off. What a loss that would have been. Now we have enough Mahi Mahi for many meals.

The seas were a bit rough yesterday, which finally got to me just as I was about to write the blog so I had to wait until today to work on the computer. There was a full moon last night, and the seas calmed down a bit so everything went well for our first night out. We should arrive in Tanna on Sunday if all goes well and the winds don't die down. I will post another blog in two or three days. Remember that you can click on the Yotreps link at the right to see our position, which we report every day.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Preparing to Leave Fiji

April 19, 2010—Our drive to Suva last Wednesday in “Abdul’s Rental Car” was interesting, to say the least. The road is a two-lane, paved road with pot holes all along the way, mostly on my side, and driving is on the left, so we had to stay vigilant about being on the correct side.

The drive took about three hours, and the only mishap we had was that Steve was stopped by a big Fijian police officer standing in the road. Nevin showed Steve the radar gun that read 74 kilometers per hour in a 60 kilometer zone. Now we were both watching carefully, but neither of us saw the speed limit change from the national limit of 80 kph down to 60 kph. Nevin asked Steve to get out of the car, and they went to a booth so that Nevin could write out the ticket. We would have to pay the $120F fine in Suva while we were there. Steve started talking to Nevin and explained that he really was trying to be very careful but never saw the sign. Nevin found out that we were here on vacation, and after Steve said again that he was trying to be careful, Nevin said, “I don’t want to ruin your holiday.” He let it go, he let us go, and we were very, very careful to watch for speed signs for the rest of the drive.

Suva is a large commercial town located on a very large bay. It is a major fishing port, and there are many large fishing vessels lined up at the dock and anchored out in the bay. It is also the commercial port for Fiji so many container ships unload goods in Suva.

The main reason for our visit to Suva was to apply for a visa for Papau New Guinea. We want to stop at the Louisade Islands on the way to Darwin, but we won’t be in a regular port of entry. Therefore, we have to have the visas when we arrive. It was difficult tracking down the Papau New Guinea consulate, but we finally found it. They were very helpful and said that we could pay our $600F ($300 U.S.) application fee and return the next day to pick up the visas.

We returned to the hotel to drop some things off, went back down to the car, and found a dead battery. We returned to the room and called Abdul’s Car Rental to report the problem. They said that they would send someone over with a new battery. We figured that it would take a few hours because of “Fiji time,” so we grabbed a taxi and went out to Cost U Less to look around. As it turned out, the man showed up just after we left and replaced the battery. We were amazed.

We spent Thursday running around looking for parts. We were about to give up when we finally found a store called Protech that had all the electrical connectors that Steve needed. The two guys there were very friendly and helpful. We also went shopping at Cost U Less in order to get our Peter Pan peanut butter and other important items, and then we went to the central market. By then it was time to pick up our visas. We were pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel; however, we had a dinner reservation at Tiko’s Seafood and Barbeque, so we got dressed and headed out.

Tiko’s is an old boat that has been remodeled and is anchored in the bay in downtown Suva. I had the tuna dinner (a huge piece of tuna), and Steve had a seafood medley of sorts. It was excellent food in a lovely atmosphere.

Friday morning, we made a quick run out to Cost U Less to pick up some cheese, salami, and pepperoni, and then we headed home. Getting through downtown Suva on a Friday was challenging because the traffic was heavy, and there are so many one-way streets. We stopped in Nadi to pick up some meat and bread and got back to Vuda around four o’clock. We were very tired, but we still had to unload the car, load it all on the boat, and then put everything away. We must have had 50 cans to store, plus paper products. The boat has not been this full in a long time. The good news was that our arch was completely finished and polished so we are ready to go.

We received an email from our weather router saying that April 22 through 27 looked to be a good time to sail to Vanuatu so we spent the weekend finishing up our major projects. Saturday was very hard, but Steve got the worst of the work done. Sunday was a little easier.
We will leave Vuda Point Marina tomorrow and go to Musket Cove to anchor for a few days. We had planned to check out of the country on Wednesday morning; however, our weather window for the sail to Vanuatu closed on us so now we will have to wait for the next one. Hopefully, it will be soon.

Projects complete--almost

April 13, 2010—The past two weeks have been very busy. Steve has worked with Devin on designing our arch and supervising the building of it. He spent two days up in the shop, and I think that his presence kept the guys on task instead of being pulled off for something else. The arch was supposed to go in last Friday; however, since Steve did not go to the shop on Thursday, our arch was not done, and we were put off until Monday.

In the meantime, Brian from Baobab Marine, who was handling our stainless work, got into a dispute with the marina owner over a tax being levied on all work done by Baobab. Brian’s position is that the tax is not being levied on all contractors equally. The marina told Baobab that they could not work in the marina after 5 p.m. on Monday, so on Sunday night Steve was totally stressed out that our arch would not be delivered and mounted. There are several boats here that are in the middle of projects, and the owners are not happy at all as they are caught in the middle.

Monday morning it was raining, but Steve did get our arch delivered, and we got it installed. Devin said that he would be back this morning to finish some spot welding and polishing, which he was. We are pleased with the work and glad to be done with it. Now if these two men can just work out a solution to a situation that will hurt both businesses and cruisers if it is left unresolved.

\
On Saturday the marina put on a small fair for locals and cruisers to display crafts and other nice things to buy. There was a band and food, and it went quite well. At five o’clock Mo, who is the lift operator at the marina, came with his family to deliver Lovo Lovo to us. His village did this to help raise funds for a road to their church. The meal included a whole chicken, a large piece of pork, a fish, a whole dalo and kumala (types of potatoes), and taro leaves cooked in coconut milk. The meal was delivered in a palm frond basket. It was a huge meal for which they asked $20F or $10 U.S., but we gave them $30F, and it was still a bargain. We ended up eating three meals from all the food.

Tomorrow we leave for Suva for three days to do some shopping at Cost U Less, which is similar to Costco and to visit the Papau New Guinea Embassy in order to get visas for our stop in the Louisade Islands. We also plan to do some sightseeing. It will be good to get awhile and see another part of Fiji.

Also, the refrigerator arrived late last week, so we were able to install it pretty easily since it is the exact same unit that we replaced. Of course, nothing is ever perfect—two screw holes had been moved, but we won’t complain. We now have cold beer and ice.