Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

June 13th is our wedding anniversary and we’ve made it to 25. Big hugs to Helen for surviving me and putting up with me for all these years.

I had hoped the lobsters would have self-sacrificed en mass to give us a treat but it wasn’t to be. I decided to move the trap somewhere else by sticking it on the front of the dinghy. The fish frame was getting a bit manky and some of the flesh dropped into the dinghy creating a horrible stink which I had to wash off later.

We decided not to be too lazy and ended up going out for the day. We went ashore and caught a taxi to take us down the west coast of Taveuni to see all the attractions there. We first passed through the town of Somosomo where they have the chiefs meeting hall. Whenever there is a need to pull all the Fijian chiefs together, this is where they come. It stems from the fact that the first Fijian president hailed from here.

Next we were dropped off near the Waitavala Water Slide which is very popular among the local kids. There were a few there and they were very helpful showing us where to cross the slippery rive and where to get into the chute. We had two slides each videoing the second one. Helen unfortunately bruised her backside the second time resulting in a painful seat.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT2J-TlSrUs[/youtube]

We were then taken to see the large catholic church further south followed by the oh-so-exciting meridian. This was a split poster on the far side of a soccer/rugby pitch marking where the 180 meridian passes. I guess this is the only place in the world where you can kick a ball into tomorrow. There was also the 180 meridian church which was more of a tin hut.

We wanted to pick up rotis for lunch but we could find nowhere selling them as most places were closed for the Queen’s Birthday holiday. So we went back to the boat for a bite to eat and rest the afternoon.

During the afternoon another six friends arrived in the anchorage some wishing us well for the day which was nice. I understand a few more will arrive today in time for this evenings party.

In the evening we dinghied ashore for our anniversary meal down on the beach. The staff at Coconut Grove cooked us a wonderful curry which we ate under a thatched shelter. The only downside of the meal was a plastic table and chairs which I’m sure could easily be improved upon. All in all though it was a lovely night out.

Getting back to the boat it rained on us and we got a little wet but that did little to dampen our enjoyment of a great day.

Unfortunately we learned we can’t easily do the conversion work here in Fiji.  There is no guarantee on the dates nor that we’ll have the space to do the work needed for the time needed so it would be too much of a gamble.

With both of us suffering from a mild cold we really didn’t get up to much on Saturday. I did make some progress on researching our options but nothing is yet conclusive. Our insurance company has now verified that we’ll be covered if we leave the boat in the hole in Musket Cove, Fiji for the cyclone season which is good news.

We went ashore for lunch, the results of which left us feeling even more sleepy.

The rest of the day was spent reading, puzzle solving and watching a movie.

We decided to get a bit of exercise in the morning. Given that Cobia is an old volcanic cone exposed to the sea to the north east we figured we may get a good view from the rim. We dinghied to a nearby beach and hauled it up to the water line. The sand was soft and the new dinghy wheels just sunk in so this time they were no help. There was no obvious way up so we started our scramble where it looked easiest and just made our way up the goat trails. As long term residents they’d left paths through the ferns and worn easy paths up through the muddy areas which were easy to follow. There were many fallen trees to climb over but nothing too taxing. We made it to the rim and were rewarded with a nice view. Where we were there was no clear view to see everything so taking pictures didn’t really work.

We descended a slightly different route with the last section being steeper and more slippery than the route we chosen to go up. We were hot and sweaty by the time we reached Dignity so we went for an immediate snorkel on the nearby reef. I took my hawaiian sling just in case I found any lobsters hiding in holes. None were found and I discovered the sling was not really good against anything willing to have a go at getting out of the way.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We had plans to move the boat over to the village on one of the nearby islands and do sevusevu with the headman. As far as we could tell the village was exposed to the swell, particularly at high tide so we passed on this. Hopefully we can come back this way and do the honours.

I did do some more limited tests on the drive chargers. Things may not be quite as bad as I first thought. We may have 5/6 of our charging capacity rather than 1/2 as it seemed earlier. This still doesn’t change the picture painted yesterday in terms of our needs to address the immediate problem and ultimately replace the system. However, it may mean we have greater freedom while awaiting spares. More diagnostics are required before we fully understand our current position.

So, it’s back to Taveuni and the connected world today.