29 September

We are now at Fulaga. Last stop before heading to Vuda Point. We got here on Tuesday afternoon. Upwind motorsail from Namuka, but not too bad. The pass into the lagoon here is narrow and shallow at the lagoon side. The light wasn't great, but we made it, and I only have a few new gray hairs to show for it.

Wednesday, we walked into the village for our sevusevu. It was about a 45 minute hike thru the bush. There is of course an easier walk from a different anchorage. But the walking is good for us. We have a host family. Ma, Teddy and their 6 year old son Joshua. They are the same family that hosted Doug and Carla on Moondance, whom they remembered with big smiles. Dan our teenaged guide showed us first to the wood carver - Dennis bought a really pretty bowl. After that we went to see Ma. She served us Tea, yams and pancake like things. Her grandma, auntie and another lady were there weaving a huge mat for her house. Eventually her husband (Teddy) came by and we were shown their house. Its a nice village, pretty simple, they have solar and I think the school might have internet. Dennis had a look at their inverter - needs a fuse that we might have. Unfortunately their TV is broken and not something we can fix or replace. They told us that since they are our host family, that we should come to them if there is anything we need or want to do - they offered fishing, clamming and of course church and food on Sunday. We will do the Church thing. Carla told me Ma loves chocolate, so I will bring in a wacky cake. After all that, we walked over to the close anchorage to check it out, then back to our boat. We dinghied around a little first to get a feel for the place. It really is cool. The lagoon is huge, mostly sandy bottom with the requisite bommies scattered throughout. It was cloudy and rainy , so I didn't take very many pictures.

Thursday was a spectacular, picture postcard perfect day. We gathered our gear and toured the whole lagoon. At some point I will post pictures, because even those won't be able to show just how amazing this place is. Lots of white sandy beaches interspersed with islets that look like sculptures that have been haphazardly placed. We explored like crazy, were able to go out a pass into the lagoon on the east side of the island, stopped on a beach where we say a white eel. We drove the dinghy out the main pass thinking we might snorkel, but way too much current. There is a cool beach with a lagoon to the outer reef just west of the pass also right out of a post card. We ended the day on a small beach close to the boat, just hanging out with a bottle of wine and snacks. I can see why people suffer the 2 day bash to get here from Suva. Its pretty idyllic.

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day. The forcasted winds came, so we moved the boat to the anchorage with the easy walk to the village and yeah.... that was it.

Today is forecasted to be windy again. There is a picnic planned with all the boats and villagers. I imagine it will go ahead unless its pouring down rain. I am going to make a peach crumble. We are down to our last 6 eggs, so am having to plan what I bake around them. No eggs or butter to be had here - sadly.

So we figure we will be here till a good weather window next week then head off to Vuda Point on Viti Levu. That will be a 2-3 day trip, depending on whether or not we go straight thru or break it up. It is an overnighter (90 miles) to the next closet Island and at least that again to Vuda, but we'll see. We are trying to eat thru the freezer as we will have to turn it off when we haul out. It is hard to believe that we only have 4 weeks left before we head back to NZ. I am torn, as Fiji is pretty amazing, on the other hand a grocery store sounds pretty good too. hahaha

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22 september

Currently at Komo in the Southern Lau. Did our sevusevu yesterday with our guide Matai and the aging chief. Matai gave us a tour of the village and we were able to buy a few eggs. He said the supply ship was due today and in fact it came in last night just before sunset. It will be a busy but happy day for the village today as they unload supplies.

The anchorage is on the north side of the island and the pass into the harbour was easy. Good thing as our 5 hour sail from Labeka took all day as it was of course upwind. We arrived at sunset and happily got the anchor down in 30 feet on the first try. The village is on the south side of the island, about a 20 minute walk over the hill. The first thing we came to was the school. Funny how kids playing outside is a universal sound. Then paved path from the school into the village was lined with painted plastic bottles - a very colourful and pretty way to use that plastic. Except for one barking dog, everyone was friendly. Matai showed us his house, and promised us bananas today. In exchange, we copied some movies onto a usb for him. Note to self, next time bring more empty usb drives. We are also going to give him some of our recorded DVDs. hopefully they will work on his machine.

Yesterday morning was a work morning. The raw water pump we replaced in Tonga, started leaking like crazy, so we had turned off the valve to the water inlet, which in turn overheated the pump to the freezer. So, Dennis had to rebuild the old pump - thank you Josh for bringing the parts. It is a pain in the butt to remove and replace, but it is done and appears to working, and the freezer is working again too. A hard but productive morning.

Today the plan is to hand off the usb/dvds to Matai, snorkel and hopefully have a fire and dinner on the beach. Its raining at the moment, but its not socked in, so maybe it will clear up enough to go on with the plan.

We will be here a day or two, depends on the weather, the next island is not far, but really dont want another day of bashing.

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21 September

Arrived Komo late yesterday afternoon. Fixed the raw water pump again this morning walked to the village to do our sevusevu this afternoon. Standing on top of the hill hoping for internet to send this. 

20 September

Leaving Lakeba heading to Komo. Of course that is directly into the wind. Lakeba crazy anchorage and long dinghy ride into the village to do sevusevu. At least we were able to buy bread. Loosing signal. Bye

13 September Vanua Belavu

Nicer day today. did a repeat dinghy ride with the video camera in the morning. Ran the generator, dicked with the engine oil, changed a filter on the watermaker and been making water all day. Usual day in the life.

This afternoon we moved to Mbavutu Harbour. It was an interesting drive thru the channel between the reef and the island. Thankfully we had good light and good waypoints, so got here no problem. Its like a lake in here. blowing 15-20 kts in the channel to get here and less than 5kts where we put the anchor down. had lunch then went for another dinghy ride, walked on a cool beach, saw some turtles, then had a snorkel. A Great snorkel. We will go back, hopefully with a little more sun. lots of fish and interesting coral - and Dennis saw another turtle.

We have to laugh, busy anchorage (not) - one other sail boat when we got here. 2 houses up on the hill, an abandoned looking yacht club and a dock at the southish end of the bay where we are anchored. around sunset 2 more power boats arrived. So wow busy compared to the last few days of being on our own. Saw the 2 people that came in on the first powerboat, and heard the people on the second one (really big). But yeah, not a lot of activity.

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11 September 2018 Vanua Balevu

Evergreen and crew have arrived in the Northern Lau group - Vanua Balevu.
We left Qamea before the butt crack of dawn this morning for the 50 ish mile crossing. OMG 4 am is early and dark!!! We dodged the catamaran that came into Naiivivi(sp?)Bay after us and except for one little bump on a coral head (helps if you actually follow the way points carol), made it out of the bay, put up the mainsail and were off. Managed to get a couple of messages out on the internet as we rounded the southern end of Qamea, but lost sight of the tower quickly.
Our course was of course pretty much directly into the wind. We chose to leave today as the winds were forecast to be the lightest for the next 8 days. So, motor on and sails up we made our way here. All told not a bad trip. The sails helped some and the sea state was pretty flat. I guess if you have to motor, today was one of the best. We arrived approximately 2-pm, and are tucked in just north around the entrance. It has rained off and on all day, but just a light to moderate mist.
It looks beautiful and we are excited to explore.

There is vicious rumor that there is internet to be had we will see. Definitely not at our current position. So, folks its sailmail for now.

12 Sept

Moved anchorages this morning. Still rolly, lots of wind. put the dinghy in the water and went for a long wet dinghy ride. It is pretty spectacular here. Even in cloudy rainy weather. Hoping it will clear up some - better pictures. :) Quiet day after that. Just chilling out.

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Out of chronological order post

6 September 2018

Paradise Resort, Taveuni Fiji

I am behind since we got to Fiji, but just had to write this today.

Exciting day in the mooring field today.

Things started off to plan. Leisurely morning, coffee, run the generator. Dennis working on weather and route planning for our next couple of hops. North from  here to Matei and then on to Vanua Balevu in the Northern Lau. Yikes I did laundry and stowed dive gear and made water.
Around noon we went ashore  to drop off rubbish, refill the water jug i used for laundry and fill up on gas (petrol, not deisel).  Flat calm when we left the boat, but by the time we were  ready to head back it was rocking and rolling. No major though. We  got back,  stowed a few more things, had lunch and decided to sit out the bounce on shore. Really rocking and rolling by that time, but again no issues. Not fun, but not worrisome either.

On shore we were standing by the dinghy to make sure it wasn't rubbing on the rocks and chatting to the woman from the boat  moored in front of us. A couple of boats had already left, having decided to wait out the rollies in a more protected anchorage. As we chatted  we saw her boat moving down wind. Really,  that is not supposed to happen.

We quickly loaded her and her husband into our dinghy and Dennis drove them out to catch their boat.  (I swear she dove into the dinghy. Keeping in mind there was alot of surge, it was a spectacular leap) On the positive side they were able to board, get the engine started and get the boat under control. Sadly not before hitting Evergreen and damaging the port toe rail and breaking their own bow sprit. Our toe rail has two small fist size gouges and a 3 foot split. Dennis says that's okay, Ray will know how to
fix it!!!

To be honest, both boats are very lucky. Things could have been much worse. Two heavy boats colliding?  Yikes a recipe for disaster. And yet......Our toe rail is fixable and basically cosmetic. The other boat may have more damage, hard to tell at the moment. They are worried about their rigging
 
In the meantime on shore we were trying to move dinghies around so that the dive boat could come to the dock. After a pretty impressive chinese fire drill, the dive boat decided not to come in. Poor divers had to swim ashore.

During all this I am being told we have to leave the anchorage or wait, just add another line to the mooring, no leave, no....   in the end we are still here. Not having dinner ashore as planned, but oh well. All boats are situated, owners on board. Our anchor alarm is set tight, just in case. Sunset was beautiful  (no green flash) and fajitas instead of Fijian. Ahhhh the relaxing life of cruisers.......