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Really the last day in Fiji

by steve, on October 23rd, 2011 (Coramandel, Fiji)

The first part of the morning was spent readying the boat for ocean sailing. That mainly meant tidying things up a little more than normal as well as putting on the jack lines around the boat to allow safe movement around the deck in bad weather. On the way over to our ‘secret’ location our problem with one of the baton holders recurred. I spent a little while working out a fix yesterday and hopefully have the issue now under control.

Once the boat work was complete, Lissa and I went ashore to feel terra firma for a while. Helen, perhaps feeling a little anxious about the forthcoming passage, wasn’t feeling brilliant and stayed aboard. I took my running shorts with me and went for a run around the perimeter of the island. I had intended to run two circuits but when I hit the soft sand on the back leg by own legs felt very wobbly so one circuit was enough this time. I think I really need to get into a bit more running when I can.

We spent the rest of the morning hanging out and telling jokes, most of them coming from Don from Coramundel.

We returned for lunch and later in the afternoon I went ashore on my own to deal with our surplus wine.

At 5pm we all went ashore. Helen and Lissa were soon being looked after by the locals and ended up playing a passive part in the ‘cava ceremony’ put on for the arriving visitors. Helen, again, looked incredibly nice and Lissa looked pretty good too.

Regular blog readers will probably have a very good idea where we are right now so here are a few pics from last night which will totally give the game away.

The current weather forecast couldn’t look any better. If the real weather matches the forecast weather we’ll be on one tack all the way down to New Zealand. The first few days should be in relatively light seas although there is a chance of the seas picking up towards the end. We are absolutely and definitely leaving today. We’ll go ashore for breakfast but on our return the dinghy will be prepped for passage and we’ll be off.

Category: Coramandel, Fiji | Here is my comment

Cleared out

by steve, on October 22nd, 2011 (Fiji, Nymph)

We’re officially no longer in Fiji. Except right now, we’re not sailing. So where are we? Well, it probably wouldn’t be wise to say.

What I can say is that anticipating a scrum at the customs office we left Saweni Bay before 7am and on just our head sail moved the short distance to the anchorage by the wharf at Lautoka. We immediately went ashore and plonked ourselves down, first in line, at the customs office.

We soon had our immigration form to fill in and as others began to fill the room behind us we were processed by the head of customs. In Fiji, the customs form filling is computerised. What this means is that the customs officer sits there and asks you all the questions on the form which he then types in. I’m not sure if this is the best use of his time but that’s the way it works.

At the end of an hour we were done. We waded out through the throng of cruisers now crammed into the office all waiting to clear out. We were glad we arrived early as well as processing Lissa onto the boat when she arrived.

So by about 9am we were off sailing. Our desired holding location for the Sunday weather window was just under 30nm to the SSW of Lautoka. The winds were blowing from the SSE which meant we had a bit of work to do to get there. We had to tack a few times down the west coast and once outside the main reef we were faced with oncoming 3 meter swells, all directly upwind. Helen was quite keen to wait a night before proceeding. Usually I concede to Helen’s needs of this sort but this time I blew all my credits (past and perhaps for my eternal future) by pushing the case for pressing on. It was rough. To make it while it was light we motor sailed allowing us to make a decent clip at 30 degrees apparent to the wind. With the effects of the swell and current we were still tacking through 100 degrees each time. We squeezed our way along the outside of the reef in a narrow band between the reef and further out where the seas got quite rough.

We made it to our destination by about 5:30pm. Helen got the dinner going (double sized so we have portions for our trip) while Lissa and I washed down the cockpit area from all the salt that had accumulated from the day’s spray. Peter from Nymph popped by (he’s the manager from Norsand boat yard in NZ where we’ll be hauling). It was good to chat and I was able to make some advanced arrangements for our haul out. Nice bit of luck. He’s in the same boat as us, so to speak, with respect to clearing versus leaving.

After dinner we went ashore, gave a gift of cava and enjoyed the company there.

Today we have our final boat prep to do. Yesterday was a good shake down and we discovered a few things that need sorting out. Once this is done we can relax the day away and enjoy our final evening here.

Category: Fiji, Nymph | Here is my comment

Gearing up to clear out

by steve, on October 21st, 2011 (Fiji, Passages)

The current opportunity to sail south is looking better and better so unfortunately for Lissa, our new crew member, she’s not going to get much time in Fiji before we leave. With that in mind we took her out snorkelling on the same two patches we went to with Anne and John back in August. The water is now a few degrees warmer which was nice. We saw abundant fish at both locations but no octopii this time.

We ate lunch ashore and then left for Saweni Bay where we are now anchored.

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The winds were quite strong initially and we were bombing along at 8-9 knots before we encountered wind shadow from the land and had to motor.

We’re now just around the corner from Lautoka where we’ll move quite soon and clear out of the country.

Yesterday evening we got in contact with Passages who turns out to be just around the corner and are committed to leaving this weekend too. We’ve agreed a contact schedule with them so we can stay in touch each day. The anchorage here is quite full so I suspect a lot of boats are heading out this weekend.

Category: Fiji, Passages | Here is my comment

New Crew Arrived

by steve, on October 20th, 2011 (Fiji, Just in Time)

In the morning Helen and went ashore for fresh food and bread and to pick up mail. Our credit cards had finally arrived. Having taken Helen back to the boat I returned and made my way to the airport to pick up Lissa. I had to wait a while, as did she, as a result of the previous plane load taking extra time to clear in. Once met we made our way to Immigration to officially put Lissa onto the boat and into my responsibility. That’ll save us one set of paperwork and possible complication on the day we clear out.

We took the busses back to Denaru. In both cases we ended up in mini vans blaring loud music that ply the bus routes offering rides for the same fares – somewhat reminiscent of those we frequently used in the Caribbean.

We arrived in time for lunch and soon after we got out of Denaru. We had a mixed sail / motor sail over to Denaru with the wind starting in the north west and ending in the south. Once the boat was settled on a mooring we cracked open a beer to relax.

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I took Lissa ashore so we could announce our arrival and to create our tab. I let Lissa have a little wonder while I headed back to the bar to see if there was anyone I knew there. In fact, I ran into Jock and Lianne from Just In Time along with a number of other Kiwis. We were soon chatting about a bunch of things. People are very much beginning to congregate prior to leaving for NZ later this month or early next.

Back on the boat we decided to BBQ aboard rather than ashore. After dinner Lissa was looking tired from her long day so we all retired quite early.

The weather forecast are continuing to point to an ideal departure on Sunday. Our intention was to be ready to depart at the earliest on Monday with a hope we’d be around for a little longer. There is a temptation to hang around and wait for the next weather window but this one looks too good to miss. I really, really, don’t want to leave Fiji but it looks like we must.

So it looks like we’ll have to make the best of today. We cannot clear out on Sunday so we’ll either have to leave on Monday or be a bit naughty and clear out on Friday and hide somewhere until Sunday. That decision will be based on tomorrow morning’s forecast.

Category: Fiji, Just in Time | One reader has left a comment, here is mine

Bumping into friends

by steve, on October 19th, 2011 (Anthem, Drifter, Fiji, Ivory Keys)

As it was promising to be a hot day we used the morning to head to Nadi for remaining shopping. Before catching the bus we tried the marina office and the post office for our mail. Neither were there but we dropped off the exact address we’d used at the post office in case that would help.

On the bus to Nadi we bumped into the Ivory Keys. We’d heard that some of the busses go on a really roundabout route and this turned out to be one of them so the journey was 2-3 times longer than normal. It was good to have someone to chat to along the way.

Having bought gifts we went to pick up provisions at the supermarket. There we bumped into Jack and Jan from Anthem. We all had the same intention of stopping off at the butchers on the way back so we decided to share a taxi.

The afternoon turned out really hot and sweaty. Here in the marina there is little breeze so we just vegged out through the hot period.

At 5pm I went ashore to meet Rico. I met Arnold and Coby from Drifter. They reported seeing mail for us at the marina office. Hopefully it is the item we’ve been looking for which should have arrived four weeks ago.

In the end Rico didn’t show. Not unusual for a Fijian. I eventually managed to exchange texts and it turned out he’d forgotten. While waiting I again met Jack and Jen from Anthem. We had a couple of beers together while I continued to wait. In the end we agreed to have dinner together. I fetched Helen and we ended up having a curry at Indigos.

Today our crew member Lissa arrives. The weather is looking crisp and clear so she’ll hopefully have a nice first day here. We don’t intend staying any longer in Denaru so we’ll move off this afternoon.

No surprise but the long term weather forecast is beginning to look a little more complicated. A second high is now forecast to follow the first off of Australia although further south. The general plan is to leave on ESE winds with moderate seas hoping for the wind to turn more to the ESE on the way down so we can curve our way into NZ. This second high may delay that turn and hence our departure from Fiji by a few days. The good news, at present, is that this combination presents a long period of trades so a good start is looking quite likely. But each day brings a new forecast and a new decision to make. We’re back in familiar territory.

Category: Anthem, Drifter, Fiji, Ivory Keys | Here is my comment
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