Catching up on our travels

Our last post was from Denarau Island in Fiji, last September, we've visited Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania in Australia. We had a wonderful time everywhere and no serious mishaps..

So, to continue in brief, we spent a couple idyllic weeks in Fiji's Yasawa islands.
That was some of our best cruising: turquoise waters, benign weather, great snorkeling and we even caught a fish!

On September 21st, we checked out of Lautoka for an uneventful sail to Port Vila on the island of Efate in Vanuatua. We really enjoyed our 3 weeks there.
We spent a few nights at Havanah Harbor, Port Resolution on Tanna Island, and several lovely days at Aneityum

After 3 weeks in Vanuatu, we checked out of Aneityum and left after dark. Bad idea....But we managed OK and the rest of the passage was easy and uneventful passage,, we arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia and enjoyed some lovely anchorages and French food there. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the Loyalty Islands or Isle des Pins.

Our friend Seth Seigal joined us for a great 6 day beam reach to Bundaberg, Queensland in Australia. (Seth found the best Black Forest cake EVER at the local patisserie! )
We arrived in Bundaberg November 10th.

We spent a few weeks cruising the Hervy Bay and Moreton Bay, stopping at RQYC in Manly for awhile. Brisbane is a great city with terrific museums, especially the Maritime Museum.

Traveling south, we stopped in Port Stephens and met Jim and Barbara Cole from Seattle. Jim is one of several Boeing employees working at a nearby Aussie Air Force base.
They showered us with hospitality, even taking us to the office Christmas party in Newcastle, which was very nice indeed.

We did manage a short stop in Pittwater, a popular cruising ground just north of Sydney.
We arrived in Sydney December 20th. What a fantastic place. We spent 10 days and lots of money at Cammeray Marina with Totem. We were able to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart Race from a tall bluff. The boats came quite close and the big boats' mastheads were higher than us. What a sight.

On New Years Eve, we anchored with friends in sight of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge for the fireworks. What a show! It's incredible, and warm!!!!

We spent 10 days anchored in Blackwattle Bay in Sydney along side Don and Bonnie on Minerva and really enjoyed the city. And Costco! Yay!

On January 20th, we sailed south to Jervis Bay, Eden and Tasmania. Tassie has spectacular scenery, great anchorages and very friendly people. We had a wonderful time visiting Howard and Lorraine Smith of Nomzamo who lavished us with fine food, drink and a cozy bed in their beautiful home. Three weeks in Hobart flew by and we were really sad to leave.

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

Lautoka and Denarau Island Marina

Fiji is divided into several customs districts, and we are required to file a cruising itinerary with each one and to check in and out with customs at each district's main port. The west side of Viti Levu is under the jurisdiction of Lautoka. Lautoka is a commercial port with one big wharf for freighters and a decent anchorage for yachts. After checking in at Lautoka, we went to Denerau Island Marina and Resort. There are lots of restaurants there (some pretty disappointing), but we were able to eat out (pizza and ice cream). Denarau has a number of marine businesses: chandleries, canvas/sailmaker, electricians, haulout facilities, etc. There were some really big yachts there. Also, a number of island ferries, tour boats and cruising sailing ships. Denarau Island itself is a big development with big hotels and a big golf course. We hadn't seen anything like this in Fiji (or New Zealand). Our friends say it's like Florida.

Nadi, a busy Fijian town with all the normal businesses you would expect, is a short bus ride away. The buses run frequently and the Fijians also use an informal jitney system. Riders just flag down passing cars for $1 F, same as the bus fare. It was great.

We originally planned our trip to Denarau because our batteries were failing, and Bill got some advice from the manufacturer about equalizing them to recover their function. Because Fiji AC power is 240v and our boat is wired 110v, we needed a transformer. Bill got several quotes ranging from $330, $600 and $1700 (Fijian$), all for the same item! We got the $300 one and Bill made some modifications. The equalization (slow charging for 24 hours) worked, so that was a big relief. However,.....burned out... Our mainsail had been really falling apart so we ordered a new one. Doug Christi in Seattle designed it and sent the deisgn to Lidgard in in Auckland to build it and ship to us in Fiji. Doug had just done a sail for Jiminy, a sister-ship in Seattle, so he was familar with the rig. Bill, of course, made thorough measurements and was able to properly specify the sail without the sailmaker needing to visit the boat. It only took a couple weeks to get the whole thing done, and overall the cost wasn't much more than getting it all done in Seattle.

It takes a village...

.

The sail was delivered to the boat and went on OK, until the bat cars were attached. They new cassettes didn't fit the existing cars properly. Doh! Bill removed the new ones and attached the old ones and that worked. The headboard wasn't drilled quite right, so Bill had to fix that as well.

bending on the main, it's.. a big job

it looks a lot smaller now

The new sail is dacron and is cut quite flat, compared to the old, stretched out sail. But it works well.. Several weeks went by before we had the right trade wind conditions the sail was designed for.

The first few times we used the sail, it was reefed.  So it was a while before we could really see how it looked in action.




Jarana was berthed at the end of a long dock that was also used by a couple large, tourist ,sailing ships that came and went most days.  At night some of the crews and night watchmen would have a kava circle on the dock.  They would just sit down next to the boat, prepare kava in a plastic washtub, and play guitar and sing.  They always welcomed us to join them.  On our last night, we stopped for a while and brought some kava to share.  They seemed really pleased at the gesture and we had a wonderful last evening with them.  Many of the guys are from the remote Lau group.  Although, some of them are related, they all miss the  their large, extended families far away.  Bill gave them our old mainsail to use for a canopy.

Robinson Crusoe Island

We made a short and pleasant overnight passage to Robinson Crusoe Island. The route passes through several reefs.  During the night I was inattentive too long and got a few miles off course, and a few miles too close to one reef.  I corrected course in tim.  But it was a strong reminder to check the plotter often, even when I think I can see where we are.

It's a small  backpackers resort on a small island inside Likuri Harbor on the southwest end of Viti Levu. It sounds remote, but it's close to the busy, big resort section of the big island.  The Robinson Crusoe staff put on a great show on Saturday nights.  It's a jazzed up version of the kava ceremony and singing and dancing that we enjoyed in the villages.  Flaming sticks are part of the act.

Back to Ono Island, Naqara Bay

There was lots of clowning around

The wind was changing so we were able to go back to Naqara on the north side of Ono Island, just north of Kadavu.  We wanted to dive the famous Great Astrolave Reef, and we thought we would be able to go to a dive resort up there.

When we arrived in Naqara, several boats we knew were there.  Steve from Dignity is a great organizer and had set up some events with the villagers already.  So after sevu sevu we all enjoyed a meke, an evening of singing, dancing and eating at one of the homes.

The next night, another party was held, same crowd, more kava and even more lively.

Since we enjoyed the Fijians' singing so much, Steve organized the cruisers to perform "Let it Be", by the Beatles.  It was pretty pathetic compared to the Fijians, but they appreciated the attempt.

more clowning around

The weather was a little rough, so we never made it to dive.  Then we both came down with colds, so that really put an end to that plan.

Later, we were able to get in some snorkeling off Paikea Mist, while Gloria, Michael and their kids went scuba diving.

We made another short trip to Kadavu, but our batteries were dying.  They were only 8 months old!!!  Yikes!  So we headed off to Viti Levu instead to solve that problem.

Kavala, Kadavu Island

Kadavu Island, is a large island just south of Ono Island.  It was only a few miles from Nabouwalu Bay on the west side of Ono to Kavala Bay at the north end of Kadavu Island.  The passage between them is protected by the famous Astrolavbe Reef.

We left Nabouwalu Bay because the wind was predicted to swing around to the west and would send wind and waves into the bay, making it uncomfortable.  So we moved south to Kavala Bay, taking a sheltered anchorage behind a small reef at Kavala Village.  Bill went ashore alone to do sevusevu, as Kathi had a bad cold.  Bill was gone quite a while and had a good time helping drink the kava he brought.  Ironically, Kadavu Island's economy is based on kava farming.

Kavala is one of 60-70 small villages scattered around the shores of Kadavu Island.  The island is steep and mountainous in the middle, and most of the island has no roads.  People get around by boat.  There are a few small resorts as well.  I don't think it has an airport.

The next day, the weekly cargo ship made its stop across the bay from us.  Dozens of small boats came zooming in to meet the ship, unload goods for the local consumers and load up kava to send to the Suva market.  The kava we bought in Suva for sevusevu at Kavala, may have come from Kadavu.

Meeting the weekly ship

Small boats bring goods and people back to the village.  This boat had a stack of stacks of flour and rice covered with a tarp n the middle of the boat

Sitting a bit low in the water

As you can see from the photos, the weather has been cloudy quite a bit, with showers.  About every couple weeks there's a cycle of rainy weather and shifting winds, then a few sunny days, before cloudy, wet (and pleasantly cool) conditions resume.

On to Ono

We had a terrific sail south to Ono Island.  It was a day passage and we arrived at Nabouwalu Bay in mid-afternoon, in time to get ashore for sevusevu before evening.  Sevusevu is a ritual where visitors present kava to the village chief (ratu) or headman (turaga), requesting permission to visit the village and its surrounding lands and waters.  When we get ashore, somebody comes to meet us and escorts us to the chief or his stand-in.  It's very brief and we usually have a pleasant visit and get acquainted with a few people.  [hmmm, sorry no photos so far]

Fijian homes are sparsely furnished and we usually sit on mats.  Often there are family photos on the wall and that gives a good conversation starter.  It's interesting how many Fijian men have served in the armed forces overseas in either UN peacekeeping assignments or in Iraq or Afghanistan.  In fact once in a while you see a newspaper headline that a Fijin soldier has been killed over there.

Nabouwalu Bay is a particularly beautiful and calm bay. One night however, it was so stormy that the bananas hanging in the cockpit blew off the stock, just leaving some peels...

Savoring Suva

We spent a week in Suva on Fiji's biggest island, Viti Levu.  It's a small city of 200,000, with a busy commercial and fishing port in a large harbor enclosed by a protective reef.  There are several scraps of shipwrecks on the reef that remind us to take extreme care.  Part of the visit involves the ritual of visiting Customs to clear in .  Fiji is has several customs districts, and we have to clear in and out as we move around the country.

Everybody says Suva sucks, but we enjoyed it.  Granted it was a bit noisy.  There are big rusty fishing boats running 1-cylinder generators day and night,  Nearby shipyards and drydocks seem to work around the clock.  But it was interesting and not that loud.

We anchored off the Royal Suva Yacht Club, though scruffy, it's convenient, clean and friendly.  And interestingly, there's a prison across the street. 

RSYC has a big open clubhouse, a mediocre cafe and a big open friendly bar.  G&Ts $3.50Fj ($2.50 US)!!! Yay!

Suva's central business district is bustling, with department stores and many small shops and restaurants.  And real drugstores!  And coffee shops with good coffee!  We hadn't seen those in months. 

We provisioned at the supermarkets and the big, colorful municipal fruit/vegetable/kava/spice and flower market.

Cassava,Dala (taro) etc

Taxicabs are numerous and cheap $2.50-$3 Fj, ($1.50+ US!) so it was a breeze getting around.

We met some new people around the yacht club: a Finnish family was anchored next to us, a couple from Nanaimo and N Carolina, and Peter from the shipwrecked Troutbridge who was working on his boat,  Then we all went our separate ways....After a week of shopping and internetting, we weighed anchor and set sail for Ono and Kadavu islands to the south.