South Pacific « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Back to Lesiaceva Point

by steve, on May 16th, 2012 (Fiji)

First thing in the morning we went ashore. Helen and Sam went off for fresh veg while I obtained our coastal cruising permit. They met me at the customs office just as I finished. While they went back to the boat I headed back to the market to collect some cava for sevusevu ceremonies as we travel around the island. Sam met me at the market and on the way back to the dinghy we picked up some extra beer.

Once all were back aboard we headed back out to Lesiaceva Point where we anchored for the night.

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Just when I’d been thinking the water maker hadn’t given us any trouble for some time it did. We got another salinity probe failure yesterday. We had a spare so I fitted that. During the fitting a connecter to the feed pump popped out of the control box and I couldn’t find where it had come from. On top of that, the new probe showed the same error message. Doom and gloom. I sent off an email to Spectra for help. I then went back to search again. I eventually found where the connector had come from and when I removed the probe and reconnected it it all worked. Phew. Now all I need is another spare from Spectra.

Today we’re off to Fawn Harbour. The winds are really light so it looks like we’ll be motoring all the way.

Another oil change

by steve, on May 15th, 2012 (Fiji)

We decided to spend another day off Lesiaceva Point and to use the time to do our first oil change on one of the engines. The starboard engine is up to 46 hours of use, close enough to the 50 hours required for the first oil change.

It is of course two oil changes as both the motor and the sail drive both need to have their oil changed. Extracting the old oil took most of the time. Because this was the first time I took no short cuts focussing first on the engine and then on the sail drive. Next time I’ll save some time by draining them both simultaneously. The foot pump assembly I made back in New Zealand worked really well for draining the oil from the sail drive. All in all it took nearly three hours to complete the work during which time I must have lost a huge amount of sweat working down in the engine compartment in the local heat.

Given the effort it takes to change the oil on one engine I’ve decided to wait a week or two before working on the port engine. It only has about 44 hours on it so it will be easy to stretch this out. The next oil changes are at 250 hours which will be some time away.

In the afternoon we transferred the 20 gallons of extra fuel we carried in jerry cans into the main tanks so we could store the jerry cans forward.

We all had some R&R until about 3pm when we up anchored and moved the boat back to Savusavu where we were given the same mooring ball as before.

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In the evening we went ashore to eat at the Back Deck.

We’ve come into Savusavu to get our clearance to the next port. That also means we have to now decide what our next port will be. Chances are we’ll stay just the day and move back out to Lesiaceva Point prior to heading east in a day or two.

Oil change

by steve, on May 14th, 2012 (Fiji)

Paul left the boat yesterday. I took him ashore to the nearby resort who kindly called him a taxi to take him to the airport. It was my first chance to see inside the resort, it was quite plush. I waited and chatted with Paul until his taxi arrived. This could be our last goodbye as we have no idea if/when we’ll ever be out this way again.

On the way out I asked about the possibility and cost of having dinner ashore. Yes, it was possible but at $85 per head it’s a bit prohibitive for us.

I had plans to change the oil on the generator and the two engines. It turned out the heat was quite oppressive yesterday and it took until 2pm to have the motivation to do anything. In the end, we just changed the oil on the generator as it was the one who’s time was actually up.

Sam continues to work on his graphic design. He has a project from Paul to do which is giving him some direction.

In the evening we watched a few TV shows. I fell asleep during the last so I’ll have to watch that one again.

Looking at the weather it looks like Wednesday is a good day to sail east. So it looks like we’ll stay here another day then head into town tomorrow to clear out.

Lesiaceva Point

by steve, on May 13th, 2012 (Fiji)

We’d had enough of the rainy micro climate in Savusavu so it was time to move. We made one trip ashore pick up some fresh fruit and veg before heading off. We motored west to Lesiaceva Point where the Jean Michael Cousteu Resort (and free internet) is.

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Here we had a leisurely day. The weather was better than in Savusavu where we could see it was raining frequently. We all went of on a snorkel together. Unfortunately, the moorings for the boats from the resort have disappeared since last year so we couldn’t find a particularly decent spot. Nevertheless it was good to get wet. Paul went snorkelling from the kayak a couple of extra times as he’s trying to pack it in before he leaves today.

As it was Paul’s last night with us, and in fact Fiji, we dined on a BBQ off the back of the boat. This involved replacing the igniter I’d bought ages ago which turned out to be a lot trickier than anticipated. Fortunately, and with Sam’s help, the job was completed without any mishaps. Working off the back of the boat is nerve wracking as one wrong move means a tool or essential part is lost overboard.

After this we settled down to watch a couple of TV shows before we fell off to bed exhausted.

Today may end up being a pretty busy one. The generator needs an oil change and the new engines are close to their first 50 hour change. So it seems a good idea to get all that done today. Messy work.

In the mean time, here are a few pics provided by Paul

Rained in

by steve, on May 12th, 2012 (Fiji)

The boat is now very clean. That’s the best thing I can say about yesterday. The reality is that it rained all day. Heavily most of the time and lightly occasionally.

Paul, Sam and I had a dive planned with a local instructor but that was postponed until today because of the weather.

We made a few brave forays when the rain looked light – always coming back soaking wet. The main one was to load up on gasoline/petrol for the dinghy and to pick up some groceries and a Fiji courtesy flag.

In the evening we went ashore to eat a BBQ dinner at the Copra Shed Marina. There we saw some Fijian dancing (as we did at the same event last year). Not too many people showed up for the BBQ due to the weather.

Sam went back ashore to meet up with some medical students he’d run into earlier in the week. The dinghy is back so he must be. We’ll find out how he got on later.

This morning we plan to move the boat and anchor out at the resort at the end of the peninsular here. Hopefully the weather will be ok and we can call the dive instructor out for our dive. Otherwise we’ll get a couple of days out of town.

Savusavu has very localized weather. We heard from others who left town for the day that they had no rain at all. Last year we witnessed heavy rain over Savusavu while we were anchored out and had blue skies over us. Hopefully we’ll escape the rain.

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Lesiaceva Point

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