Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Category: Fiji

  • Last day anchored off Matei

    Latest news first. It does appear that our replacement charger is on it’s way and we have agreement from Lagoon to do the sex change in New Zealand next February. The detail has still to be exchanged and agreed but for now we are free to move on. We will.

    I did actually get onto doing some chores around the boat. I checked the house batteries – all fine. I inspected the standing rigging, tightening one of the locking nuts in the process. I cleaned the water strainer for the water maker as well as fixing a small leak where the nipple screwed into the cock. Bilge pumps tested fine.

    In the evening we visited Scream for dinner, drinks and cards and got back tired and late.

    Looking at the weather we have NE to N light winds for the next couple of days. Not perfect but it’s not bad to help get us east to the Lau group. With the details for our boat work sufficiently progressed we can leave today. First hop will be a short one to the east side of Taveuni which we’ll do in good light. That’ll position us well to leave early tomorrow for a longer passage east.

    It’s exciting to leave and get going again. The sad side of all this is that this may be the last time we’ll see many of our friends here in this anchorage. But that’s cruising.

  • Socializing ….

    Some folks left the anchorage (Tahina, Dreamtime), a couple more arrived (Passages, Scream). Mike from Callisto popped by to invite us to drinks Thursday night. Steve & Darusha popped by and invited us for dinner Friday night.

    During the day we just amused ourselves aboard the usual way. I decided to condition the batteries and ran the generator for most of the morning. I had planned to do more routine checks of the boat but put it off to today.

    Drinks aboard Callisto was fun and went on til late. Also there the Kilkeas and Passages’s.

    It’s nice here but we need to get out. All this socializing is hard on the body. The bloodstream at least.

  • Lavena Coastal Walk

    15 cruisers (including us) got together yesterday to take the bus down to Lavena and walk the coastal walk. We had mixed information about the bus departure time which ranged from 9am to 10am. The most specific advice was that it was due at 9:15 but we could have to wait until 10am. We were all ashore by 9:30 and caught the bus at 10:30. It’s called Fiji time by the locals.

    The bus was the typical open window (ie, no window) kind which offered a cool breeze and fantastic views of the coast and the villages we passed through. After an hour or so we reached the village of Lavena where we paid to enter the Bouma National Heritage Park and for a couple of guides to take us on the trail.

    The trail took about hour and a half to reach the waterfalls at the end. The pace was slow to allow chances to listen to the guide tell us about a few of the things we could see and to take photos. The final section of the path took us up to a shaded spot on a river where we stopped for a swim and to eat lunch. From this spot we could see one of two waterfalls a little way up the river. We swam up to the bowl beneath this waterfall where we were able to see a second waterfall pouring into the same bowl which was not previously visible. Of our group I was the only one to climb the slippery rocks behind our guide and slide down the slick chute created by the second waterfall.

    After our swim we rested and had a bite to eat before following the trail back to the starting point. Our return was a quite a bit quicker as we had no need to stop so often. By now school was out and we were greeted by happy, smiling children. It’s wonderful to see the innocence of small kids not having had to be scared off by the boogeyman of strangers.

    We headed back to Matei in two minivans and decided to eat at one of the local restaurants. The food turned out to be delicious. Helen and I ended up on Kilkea after the meal where we were plied with beverages that are still working their way out of my head.

    On the maintenance front we progress slowly. Permissions have been sought and now fully granted to have the Lagoon techs perform the work in the Norsand yard. We’re close to knowing if/when/where the replacement charger will be sent and we should soon have the details of the sex-change worked out.

    Having made the decision to slow down and spend the whole season here in Fiji there is no stress involved in staying put for a while in one place. We’re really enjoying the beauty and tranquility of Taveuni as well as this breezy anchorage. Sharing time with our friends here makes the experience priceless. So all is good.

    Even better, we’ve received confirmation from our good friends, Anne and John, that they will be with us early August. Much to look forward to.

  • 25th, East of the Line

    Once the sun was well up I headed out to say hello to some of the new arrivals in the anchorage and make sure the folks who hadn’t received my earlier email knew they were invited. I didn’t have to go too far as we ended up with a few dinghies/kayak congregated around Gerimar so I managed to get the word out.

    While there, six local officials/policemen came out in a fishing skiff to inspect the paperwork of the boats here. We came to the conclusion they were bored and wanted to see the boat show in the anchorage. Only one fellow did any paperwork / inspection and all were very friendly and keen to look around.

    After this unexpected interlude Helen and I went out to snorkel one of the nearby coral patches. On the outside of the reef the water was fairly clear and the coral diverse and abundant. The fish were small but colourful and we managed to see a beautiful but dangerous (to the reef) crown of thorns starfish.

    After our swim we went over to the lobster pot. The only thing in it was the extremely stinky fish frame which had now collapsed and got stuck in pieces in the netting. It was a disgustingly smelly job to clean it all up. It took me a while to get the awful smell off my fingers.

    In the evening we had our public anniversary party. Along came the Borees, Callistos, Dreamtimes, Gerimars, Jaranas, Kilkeas, Tahinas and True Companions for a fun evening. Bert from Boree made us all smile with a bit of a speech presenting Helen and I with hats they’d made earlier in the day appropriate for the celebration.

    Quite a few of us are interested in going down the coast to the Bouma National Park, some to see the falls we’ve already seen and some to do the coastal trail. So it looks like today a crowd of us will go down on the public bus returning by taxi. Should be fun.

  • 25th

    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.