We did get up the next morning and head out to Makogai (Makongai). Had a quick snorkel first though. Tried to get some pictures of the reef and fish. Some of the pictures turned out okay, but the ones of the big brown spotted sweetlips didn't turn out very well. Note to self - the waterproof camera really is leaking/condensing don't use it in the water... sigh..... Oh well, at least it still works. The sail over to Makongai was uneventful, getting out of the south pass from Namena was okay, felt pretty narrow but the visibility was good and really there was plenty of room. We anchored off the Ag (Agricultural research) Station on Makongai - and did our first sevusevu (not). Actually just asked for the "boss", handed him our yongona - he said thank you and asked if we wanted a tour.
The Ag Station is on the site of the old Leper colony. Our guide (whose name is just too hard for any english speaking person to remember after only one repetition) told us people from all over the pacific used to come here. First though, he showed us the tanks with green turtles and where they grow the giant clams. There were several tanks of very small giant clams and the last had bigger ones and one ginormous one - picutes to follow. After that we toured the remains of the leper colony. They had a movie theater and finally the graveyard. Pretty interesting.
I think Makongai has been my favorite stop so far - even if there is no bakery or internet. We did a bunch of snorkeling and yesterday Josh, Dennis and I did a tank dive on one of the coral heads - very nice. I had forgotten how much I enjoy being able to go down and look at things and not have to hold my breath. This particular coral head had like a zillion little fish at the top, it was as if we were in a giant aquarium. We pretty much took out all of the toys. Dennis and Paul got the paddle board and paddle in working order (Crystal I will post a picture!) and we all tried that out as well as the kayak. Dennis and Josh tried spear fishing with no luck one day, and the next they made a target to practice on. The anchorage was pretty active and our neighbors on Gyspy Lee filled out tanks after our dive yesterday.
We left Makongai today. Thankfully only a short 16 miles to Naigani (Na ing ani) because it took all of two hours to put all the toys away!!! So we are here now. Internet still not useable, so not sure how long we will stay. Josh had hoped Far and Away would come thru Makongai, but they screamed past and are now around Musket Cove (SW side of the big Island of Viti Levu), while we are still here on the NE side. bummer!
Not much else to report.
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Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
SavuSavu to Namena
Well we were off like a herd of turtles. Our 0800 start was closer to 0900. And, bye bye sun. We had enough of a rain shower to thoroughly wet the awnings, but thankfully we were so late getting off that the big one was entirely dry, and I finished drying out the small one today. It was hard for Josh to say farewell to his new friends on Far and Away, but hopefully we will meet up one more time before we all depart Fiji.
On our way towards the reef exit we calibrated the autopilot and "swung the compass". We had some trouble with our "tracks" which are helpful getting us out of places we have successfully entered - or help us to miss things we came to close to. Was one of what I am beginning to think of as a Fiji sail - lots of wind at the beginning, none in the middle and lots again at the end.
Not an uneventful trip either. First off around 1400, in squirrely winds, Dennis decided to "heave to". It was something we had been meaning to practice, and when the winds shifted and we backwinded the sails, he decided to go for it. And then guess what??? "Fish on". Paul pulled in his first fish - an very nice Dorado/Mahimahi. Yum! (Dinner tonight). Curly's lure is now 3 for 4. Once we were settled from that and moving along, I discovered that we were taking in water through the sink drains. Now, that is not a first, but it was a first to happen to all three and the first time I managed to flood the cupboards on the starboard side. Paul and I removed everything from the cupboards, bailed them out (the drains were now closed) and I cleaned them when we got to anchor. So I guess on the positive side, it did make me clean the kitchen thoroughly. Was definitely a spaghetti (comfort food) night. The pass into Namena reef is easy - we used Curly's North Save a Tack waypoints, and a mid waypoint from the compendium. Oh, and no internet.
We are anchored here behind Namenalala Island. So far noone has come to collect the 35$/person fee. We are anchored wharfside of the mooring (not that we can see the wharf, but that is the best way for me to describe it) in about 45 feet. Josh did a good job of putting the anchor down in a sandy spot. We had an early night - I think that 5 days in town with the projects and the heat, wore us all out.
Today was leisurely, I finally made breakfast around 1100. After breakfast I decided that Josh's PE for the day would be free diving to salvage my favorite pan that fell in while I was pouring out grease. Gotta love it when your mother does those things to you - dontcha?? I did a reconnaissance snorkel to make sure he knew where to go and he got in and dove down and retrieved it first try - in at least 40 feet of water! That's my boy!!! After that Paul, Dennis and I went and snorkeled the reef by our boat. Sure can tell that this is a marine reserve - the spotted grouper were almost docile enough to pet. Josh didn't go, because he couldn't stand the thought of all those big fish - and no spearfishing :(. Dennis went further afield than Paul and I, and he said he saw some marbled grouper that were quite large as well. We will probably head out to Makogi tomorrow - another 20+ mile trip.
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On our way towards the reef exit we calibrated the autopilot and "swung the compass". We had some trouble with our "tracks" which are helpful getting us out of places we have successfully entered - or help us to miss things we came to close to. Was one of what I am beginning to think of as a Fiji sail - lots of wind at the beginning, none in the middle and lots again at the end.
Not an uneventful trip either. First off around 1400, in squirrely winds, Dennis decided to "heave to". It was something we had been meaning to practice, and when the winds shifted and we backwinded the sails, he decided to go for it. And then guess what??? "Fish on". Paul pulled in his first fish - an very nice Dorado/Mahimahi. Yum! (Dinner tonight). Curly's lure is now 3 for 4. Once we were settled from that and moving along, I discovered that we were taking in water through the sink drains. Now, that is not a first, but it was a first to happen to all three and the first time I managed to flood the cupboards on the starboard side. Paul and I removed everything from the cupboards, bailed them out (the drains were now closed) and I cleaned them when we got to anchor. So I guess on the positive side, it did make me clean the kitchen thoroughly. Was definitely a spaghetti (comfort food) night. The pass into Namena reef is easy - we used Curly's North Save a Tack waypoints, and a mid waypoint from the compendium. Oh, and no internet.
We are anchored here behind Namenalala Island. So far noone has come to collect the 35$/person fee. We are anchored wharfside of the mooring (not that we can see the wharf, but that is the best way for me to describe it) in about 45 feet. Josh did a good job of putting the anchor down in a sandy spot. We had an early night - I think that 5 days in town with the projects and the heat, wore us all out.
Today was leisurely, I finally made breakfast around 1100. After breakfast I decided that Josh's PE for the day would be free diving to salvage my favorite pan that fell in while I was pouring out grease. Gotta love it when your mother does those things to you - dontcha?? I did a reconnaissance snorkel to make sure he knew where to go and he got in and dove down and retrieved it first try - in at least 40 feet of water! That's my boy!!! After that Paul, Dennis and I went and snorkeled the reef by our boat. Sure can tell that this is a marine reserve - the spotted grouper were almost docile enough to pet. Josh didn't go, because he couldn't stand the thought of all those big fish - and no spearfishing :(. Dennis went further afield than Paul and I, and he said he saw some marbled grouper that were quite large as well. We will probably head out to Makogi tomorrow - another 20+ mile trip.
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
SavuSavu
Well it has been a crazy busy stop here. And, as luck would have it the first 3 consecutive days of sunshine since we arrived!
Thankfully Sunday - the day Dennis did the first stage of the generator replumb was overcast. That project required the emptying of 4 and 1/2 storage spaces - the worst of which was removing all of our real books from their storage space. But, it is all done now. We will have to do a live undersail test, but the replumb is working and the exhaust water leak is fixed and cleaned up after. Still have some things to restow. That is on the agenda for today.
Since Sunday, it has been beautifully sunny which means - hot, darn hot and humid. My only complaint is that we are here at the marina working. No water activities for us. We have gotten a lot done though and plan to leave tomorrow in time for the usual overcast weather pattern to return. We put the sunshades up because of the rain, and have ended up thankful for their protection from the sun!
Josh has been busily doing homework and ferrying me back and forth to shore. SV Far and Away arrived on Sunday evening, so he has spent some quality time with the kids (seven!) over there. Of course he is loving the excellent internet access. Paul replaced the old latches and installed new locks on all my cupboads behind the settees. Nice, no more storage spaces opening and spewing out contents when we are heeled over in rough seas - YAY!! We on boarded 20 gal of diesel by jerry jug and filled up on dinghy gas, so we are good to go - hopefully all the way to Vuda Point. The freezer is almost full, need to pick up a few more things and I have gotten everything on my list that is available here. One thing I haven't found and this is the first place since the US that doesn't have it, is tinned butter. I hate to take up refrigerator space with butter, but oh well -no other choice. Went back to my favorite store (Savu Savu wine and spirits) to pick up blue corn tortilla chips - and they were out!!! They only got 2 bags in their shipment on Saturday and they were gone immediately. So sad here on Evergreen :( . Next shipment is Saturday, but we will be gone - sigh.....
I have also been trying to get a sim card in order to make one of our many phones to work. I need to make some calls to the US for my NZ nursing license. Let's just say that has not been a huge success. We have 4 phones on this boat and none will work with the local sim cards. I will probably have to break down and buy another darn phone - PITA, which won't work in NZ probably.. Oh well, the cost of doing business I suppose. Sure glad i started doing this license thing in APRIL!!!
In another case of "OMG it is a small world", sv AKA (Ed and Fran) came in on Monday morning. They were on the hard next to us in San Carlos Mexico in 2010! They were wonderful about giving us all kinds of charts and information about Fiji - and now they have given us information on New Zealand. Nice folks. I recognized the name, but couldn't believe it would actually be them. The cruising community is really very small. And Far and Away is from Vancouver Island - where we kept the boat before bringing it to SF. As Ed said - there are not 6 degrees of separation in the cruising world - only about 1. Is nice to think of such a small community spread out all over the world.
Not much more to report. Will be busy again today finishing things up - we are out of here tomorrow, and on to more exploration. Namena reef and the Island of Namenalala (say that fast). Supposed to be good diving there, so hopefully decent snorkeling as well.
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Thankfully Sunday - the day Dennis did the first stage of the generator replumb was overcast. That project required the emptying of 4 and 1/2 storage spaces - the worst of which was removing all of our real books from their storage space. But, it is all done now. We will have to do a live undersail test, but the replumb is working and the exhaust water leak is fixed and cleaned up after. Still have some things to restow. That is on the agenda for today.
Since Sunday, it has been beautifully sunny which means - hot, darn hot and humid. My only complaint is that we are here at the marina working. No water activities for us. We have gotten a lot done though and plan to leave tomorrow in time for the usual overcast weather pattern to return. We put the sunshades up because of the rain, and have ended up thankful for their protection from the sun!
Josh has been busily doing homework and ferrying me back and forth to shore. SV Far and Away arrived on Sunday evening, so he has spent some quality time with the kids (seven!) over there. Of course he is loving the excellent internet access. Paul replaced the old latches and installed new locks on all my cupboads behind the settees. Nice, no more storage spaces opening and spewing out contents when we are heeled over in rough seas - YAY!! We on boarded 20 gal of diesel by jerry jug and filled up on dinghy gas, so we are good to go - hopefully all the way to Vuda Point. The freezer is almost full, need to pick up a few more things and I have gotten everything on my list that is available here. One thing I haven't found and this is the first place since the US that doesn't have it, is tinned butter. I hate to take up refrigerator space with butter, but oh well -no other choice. Went back to my favorite store (Savu Savu wine and spirits) to pick up blue corn tortilla chips - and they were out!!! They only got 2 bags in their shipment on Saturday and they were gone immediately. So sad here on Evergreen :( . Next shipment is Saturday, but we will be gone - sigh.....
I have also been trying to get a sim card in order to make one of our many phones to work. I need to make some calls to the US for my NZ nursing license. Let's just say that has not been a huge success. We have 4 phones on this boat and none will work with the local sim cards. I will probably have to break down and buy another darn phone - PITA, which won't work in NZ probably.. Oh well, the cost of doing business I suppose. Sure glad i started doing this license thing in APRIL!!!
In another case of "OMG it is a small world", sv AKA (Ed and Fran) came in on Monday morning. They were on the hard next to us in San Carlos Mexico in 2010! They were wonderful about giving us all kinds of charts and information about Fiji - and now they have given us information on New Zealand. Nice folks. I recognized the name, but couldn't believe it would actually be them. The cruising community is really very small. And Far and Away is from Vancouver Island - where we kept the boat before bringing it to SF. As Ed said - there are not 6 degrees of separation in the cruising world - only about 1. Is nice to think of such a small community spread out all over the world.
Not much more to report. Will be busy again today finishing things up - we are out of here tomorrow, and on to more exploration. Namena reef and the Island of Namenalala (say that fast). Supposed to be good diving there, so hopefully decent snorkeling as well.
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Monday, September 23, 2013
Pictures - Apia Samoa
Pictures - Pago Pago
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Matei to SavuSavu
The best laid plans of mice and yacht captains. The plan was to leave Matei around 1000 with the last of the outgoing tide, and reach the narrow part of somosomo straights in time for the slack and then go with the flood current thru the straights and down to Fawn Harbor. Yes, that was the plan. The reality as with most of our plans didn't exactly adhere to the script. Not exactly sure what part of the plan was based of faulty information.... the tides (think they are out of Samoa, maybe) or the flow of the current (the compendium said SW on the flood). Regardless... We had a good sail if a bit shcizophrenic all the way to the narrows. According to Dennis typical for wind behind an island; 5-25 knots of wind varying from in front of the beam to downwind. Paul and I were on watch, so he got a good experience with our love hate relationship with the fickle b**** (wind). Right at the point where the straight was the narrowest, we could see the water get really swirly and the waves pick up. That was when the wind decided to quit entirely and with the current going not in the direction we anticipated we came to a full and complete stop. Paul and I had a mini fire drill - furling the jib, centering the main and getting the engine started. Even with the engine going we barely made any headway. Took about an hour to go one mile. Finally it smoothed back out and we were able to make better progress. And that was how it stayed the rest of the day - flukey winds and current. Dennis relieved me so I could make lunch, then I totally crashed for about an hour and a half. Paul got a full day's experience on sail trim.
We made the entrance to Fawn Harbor by 1500. Interesting, but once you get close enough to actually see the break in the reef it was fine - winds around some, but not worries - Curly's waypoints were good. The channel to the anchorage is deep and we actually set the anchor down in almost 50 feet behind a little islet. The holding was excellent - in fact Josh had to clean off the seagrass the next morning when we brought the anchor up. Had pasta for dinner and an early night (for me at least, until I woke up at 0100 and was up until 0400 - pain). The internet was spotty, and we couldn't use the wifi for the boat, Josh had to direct connect to the usb.
We were up and out of the anchorage by 0800, another day of flukey light winds. Got chased out of the anchorage by big rain clouds, rained just after we got the main up. It was another day of flukey winds. Another great teaching day for Paul. And of course after 7 hours of light winds, when it was time to jibe into the pass to Savusavu what did we get but 20+ knots. Was a pretty flawless jibe though. Couldn't see our next turn for the low clouds and rain, we got pounded a little, then it cleared just long enough for us to get on a mooring - then the heavens opened. Didn't last too long. On a side note, we called Copra shed on the radio with no response, so headed for the first open mooring ball. Turns out it was supposed to be for someone else.
"did you call",
"yes, no one answered",
"oh, well dolly will be back at 7 tonight",
"we can just stay here",
"yes".
So we are parked directly in front of the Marina, and will be here at least until Monday. It has continued to rain off and on since we arrived. We had a brief break last night - long enough to go in for dinner and go to bed with hatches open a little. This morning I got up and closed them again. It is raining now, but not too hard. So here i am in the cockpit writing the blog watching it rain. We Hope to be in and out of SavuSavu pretty quick, but will stay until the rain lets up enough to see where we are going. Have a list of things to do in town, and Dennis wants to replumb the generator raw water intake to come off the engine intake. That way we can run the generator underway (a good thing to be able to do on long crossings). We also hope to see Mike and Cheryl from Hawaii - they are at their house here now.
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We made the entrance to Fawn Harbor by 1500. Interesting, but once you get close enough to actually see the break in the reef it was fine - winds around some, but not worries - Curly's waypoints were good. The channel to the anchorage is deep and we actually set the anchor down in almost 50 feet behind a little islet. The holding was excellent - in fact Josh had to clean off the seagrass the next morning when we brought the anchor up. Had pasta for dinner and an early night (for me at least, until I woke up at 0100 and was up until 0400 - pain). The internet was spotty, and we couldn't use the wifi for the boat, Josh had to direct connect to the usb.
We were up and out of the anchorage by 0800, another day of flukey light winds. Got chased out of the anchorage by big rain clouds, rained just after we got the main up. It was another day of flukey winds. Another great teaching day for Paul. And of course after 7 hours of light winds, when it was time to jibe into the pass to Savusavu what did we get but 20+ knots. Was a pretty flawless jibe though. Couldn't see our next turn for the low clouds and rain, we got pounded a little, then it cleared just long enough for us to get on a mooring - then the heavens opened. Didn't last too long. On a side note, we called Copra shed on the radio with no response, so headed for the first open mooring ball. Turns out it was supposed to be for someone else.
"did you call",
"yes, no one answered",
"oh, well dolly will be back at 7 tonight",
"we can just stay here",
"yes".
So we are parked directly in front of the Marina, and will be here at least until Monday. It has continued to rain off and on since we arrived. We had a brief break last night - long enough to go in for dinner and go to bed with hatches open a little. This morning I got up and closed them again. It is raining now, but not too hard. So here i am in the cockpit writing the blog watching it rain. We Hope to be in and out of SavuSavu pretty quick, but will stay until the rain lets up enough to see where we are going. Have a list of things to do in town, and Dennis wants to replumb the generator raw water intake to come off the engine intake. That way we can run the generator underway (a good thing to be able to do on long crossings). We also hope to see Mike and Cheryl from Hawaii - they are at their house here now.
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
Land excursion
So what was it I am supposed to remember about tides and the full moon??? Oh yeah, the lows are very low and the highs very high. Now picture 4 people in a dinghy heading to a dock that was floating the evening before when they left it. OH NO the dock is sitting on dry land!! Good thing I hadn't put my tennis shoes on yet. We all had to get out and pull the dinghy thru 20 yards of shallow water and across dry land to the end of the dock. I know someone out there is laughing. Wish I had a picture of it. I guess that is why Greg and Debby's workers took all the boats to the island that morning. I left the guys to situate the dinghy as we knew that when we returned in the afternoon it would be floating. I met our driver for the day - Sajmir, gave him a run down of what we thought we wanted to do - he kind of smiled. We all piled in his 4 wheel drive 4 door truck for the ride down the coast. I don't think we went even a mile before the road went from paved to dirt to almost 4 wheel drive. I am sure a good rain storm would make it impassable. I guess now we know why he just smiled in his quiet way when we said he didn't have to wait, we would just get a taxi or bus back. Yeah, not so much. 100 fijian was a total bargain for a driver all day - one who knew what we needed to do better than we did. We thought we wanted to do the bush walk, the waterfalls and the Lavena coastal walk. Sajmir without actually saying we were nuts, suggested there would not be enough daylight for all that. "Which two did we want to do the most?" Well, we didn't know, but the bush walk was the first thing we came to, so we stopped to get the scoop. As it happens, the bush hike is 5 hours, lots of up and an out and back hike. Josh was not too interested in that, and frankly it sounded pretty strenuous to me as well. So we decided on the Lavena walk and the waterfalls. Being smarter than the average bear, Sajmir took us to the Lavena walk first, ostensibly because it was the farthest away and the longer activity.
The Lavena coastal walk (in the Bouma nature preserve) is a 9 kilometer mostly flat walk to a waterfall/swimming hole and back along the Taveuni coast. It was a great hike. Just about all I could handle really. (not much space for aerobic exercise on a 45 foot sailboat). We walked thru the village, past the new school (saved them a 7 kilometer bus ride at 530am each day). There are 8 teachers and 111 students. This day they had neck kerchiefs on and were learning about scouting. On our way back we saw lots of kids running on the trail, making arrows out of sticks or drawing them in the sand. Two teachers were in the middle of the boys keeping track I guess. On the way out we saw lots of flora and fuana. They grow the pandana (sp?) palm for its leaves. They use them for weaving. We also saw Kava plants and a Kava nursery. Kava is ready to be harvested beginning at 3 years old. It does not seed or flower, so must be propagated by hand using the gnarled stems. The stems are planted in sandy soil until roots are established, then transplanted. We saw bird's nest ferns that were ginormous, taro plantations, a cool caterpillar (will post a picture of that). We eventually came to a suspension bridge across a river - pretty Indiana Jones -ish, but not as high thank goodness. I could hear this barking sound and when I asked Pio our guide what it was he said it was a barking Dove. Sounded just like a dog too - and not a yippy one either. Pio also showed us the very rare orange Dove ( i have a not so great picture of it to post). We finally arrived at the waterfalls, had to swim the last little bit to get right up to them. Way cool! and guess what??? the water wasn't salty!!! yes, I was in heaven. We played around until lunch called us back down to Pio at the end of the trail. We sat and had a good lunch, then sadly bid the best swimming hole ever "goodbye". The trip back went more quickly (Josh was on a mission). The hike and swim took exactly 4 hours, so it was then 1500 - on to the waterfalls (didn't we just see waterfalls?) . Sajmir said the hike to the upper falls and back was approximately 2 hours - noone had the energy for that, but the lower falls were a short 10 minute hike. Sadly it was 15 fijian per person. We decided that we didn't need to spend that kind of money to see another waterfall. I told you Sajmir was smart - we got a hike and a waterfall in one stop, and it was about all we were up for.
We made it back to town around 1600. Sajmir stopped to let us check the dinghy and pick up some fresh veggies, then took us to a pizza place for dinner. Josh thought we were nuts to try pizza again, but Sajmir said they had chicken, so he was okay with us having pizza - he just wasn't going to. Have I said what a great driver Sajmir is??? The restaurant was great. Good food, amazing view (on a hill overlooking the water) and cold beer. Hands down the best pizza we have had outside the US. They even called Sajmir to come get us for the trip back to the dinghy. We decided over dinner that we would have a rest day before leaving for Fawn Harbor. So it was nice to get home and not worry about getting the boat ready to go, or the dinghy up, just relax and prepare to sleep in.
Slept in a little today - 0815 for me. 1100 for Josh. Josh got a pretty good blister yesterday, and his back is still a little sore, but improving. He was happy to mostly rest (had to do a little math). I mostly rested as well, only did a few housekeeping chores. Dennis and Paul installed the fan in Paul's room, but that was the extent of our labors today. Don't remember if I mentioned the watermaker is back to working the way it should. It started acting up again, so we had to unload the anchor locker for the third time. After checking things for blockage, he went back to the manual and decided to check the pressure on the pump. He did something to it, and it is working like a charm. Mega Yay for that. So, I made water today (still making it actually). We want to hit Savu Savu with full tanks.
We plan to leave here tomorrow around 1000 and head 25 miles to Fawn Harbor, then in to Savu Savu on Saturday. The weather is forecasted to turn yucky by Sunday (read lots of rain) and stay that way until Thursday. Might as well be in Suva, get our provisioning done. Maybe see Mike and Cheryl.... Hope to post pictures there as well. Gotta get them off the camera first.........
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The Lavena coastal walk (in the Bouma nature preserve) is a 9 kilometer mostly flat walk to a waterfall/swimming hole and back along the Taveuni coast. It was a great hike. Just about all I could handle really. (not much space for aerobic exercise on a 45 foot sailboat). We walked thru the village, past the new school (saved them a 7 kilometer bus ride at 530am each day). There are 8 teachers and 111 students. This day they had neck kerchiefs on and were learning about scouting. On our way back we saw lots of kids running on the trail, making arrows out of sticks or drawing them in the sand. Two teachers were in the middle of the boys keeping track I guess. On the way out we saw lots of flora and fuana. They grow the pandana (sp?) palm for its leaves. They use them for weaving. We also saw Kava plants and a Kava nursery. Kava is ready to be harvested beginning at 3 years old. It does not seed or flower, so must be propagated by hand using the gnarled stems. The stems are planted in sandy soil until roots are established, then transplanted. We saw bird's nest ferns that were ginormous, taro plantations, a cool caterpillar (will post a picture of that). We eventually came to a suspension bridge across a river - pretty Indiana Jones -ish, but not as high thank goodness. I could hear this barking sound and when I asked Pio our guide what it was he said it was a barking Dove. Sounded just like a dog too - and not a yippy one either. Pio also showed us the very rare orange Dove ( i have a not so great picture of it to post). We finally arrived at the waterfalls, had to swim the last little bit to get right up to them. Way cool! and guess what??? the water wasn't salty!!! yes, I was in heaven. We played around until lunch called us back down to Pio at the end of the trail. We sat and had a good lunch, then sadly bid the best swimming hole ever "goodbye". The trip back went more quickly (Josh was on a mission). The hike and swim took exactly 4 hours, so it was then 1500 - on to the waterfalls (didn't we just see waterfalls?) . Sajmir said the hike to the upper falls and back was approximately 2 hours - noone had the energy for that, but the lower falls were a short 10 minute hike. Sadly it was 15 fijian per person. We decided that we didn't need to spend that kind of money to see another waterfall. I told you Sajmir was smart - we got a hike and a waterfall in one stop, and it was about all we were up for.
We made it back to town around 1600. Sajmir stopped to let us check the dinghy and pick up some fresh veggies, then took us to a pizza place for dinner. Josh thought we were nuts to try pizza again, but Sajmir said they had chicken, so he was okay with us having pizza - he just wasn't going to. Have I said what a great driver Sajmir is??? The restaurant was great. Good food, amazing view (on a hill overlooking the water) and cold beer. Hands down the best pizza we have had outside the US. They even called Sajmir to come get us for the trip back to the dinghy. We decided over dinner that we would have a rest day before leaving for Fawn Harbor. So it was nice to get home and not worry about getting the boat ready to go, or the dinghy up, just relax and prepare to sleep in.
Slept in a little today - 0815 for me. 1100 for Josh. Josh got a pretty good blister yesterday, and his back is still a little sore, but improving. He was happy to mostly rest (had to do a little math). I mostly rested as well, only did a few housekeeping chores. Dennis and Paul installed the fan in Paul's room, but that was the extent of our labors today. Don't remember if I mentioned the watermaker is back to working the way it should. It started acting up again, so we had to unload the anchor locker for the third time. After checking things for blockage, he went back to the manual and decided to check the pressure on the pump. He did something to it, and it is working like a charm. Mega Yay for that. So, I made water today (still making it actually). We want to hit Savu Savu with full tanks.
We plan to leave here tomorrow around 1000 and head 25 miles to Fawn Harbor, then in to Savu Savu on Saturday. The weather is forecasted to turn yucky by Sunday (read lots of rain) and stay that way until Thursday. Might as well be in Suva, get our provisioning done. Maybe see Mike and Cheryl.... Hope to post pictures there as well. Gotta get them off the camera first.........
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