Category: Fiji

Are we allowed two in a row? Of course we are. We’re cruising.

I did go out and check the lobster pot. For the second day in a row there were no lobsters in it although this time a reef fish was in there looking all lethargic, probably all full of rainbow runner carcass. I had to use my face mask and snorkel to untie the line to the marker buoy from the reef and once the lobster pot was freed I spent a little time on the reef exploring. I found a great new spot on the reef with a huge overhang. This could be a lobster apartment block so I plonked the pot there to see what happens.

The Jacksters left the anchorage (they’ll be back Tuesday) and the Callistos arrived. We went out to dinner with the Callistos and ended up back on their boat until pretty late.

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary. It’s also the Queen’s Birthday public holiday here in Fiji so there may not be much to do until our meal this evening. 3 in a row? I think we can do that if we have to.

Got a bit of news from the folks who do the catamaran haulouts here in Fiji. They are in fact the ferry company who are willing to use their equipment for hauling their own ferrys for short hauls for other boats. The length of time we need to be out of the water is an exception to their normal practice so this is beginning to look less likely. Plan B is to go back to NZ now needs a little more follow up.

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 had a surprisingly good day. The wind was up around 20 knots so we had good sailing making 8-9 knots at times. Within the confines of the reef we caught a 3ft rainbow runner (see pics below) which our fish guide says is a rare catch and make exceptional eating. Once clear of the reef I fileted the fish and kept the frame for our lobster pot.

On the way over I started researching haul out facilities here in Fiji. It is looking possible that we could do the major work here. Flight costs for the technicians are also similar to alternatives. I have put the case to Lagoon and hope for a positive response.

On the way into the anchorage we were surrounded by 10-12 dolphins who followed us in – they say dolphins bring good luck. Maybe for us too. I made a brief foray ashore to pick up some phone time and to book our anniversary dinner at Coconut Grove. They’re going to put curry on the menu for us that day and if none of their staying guests order it, we’ll have dinner on the beach. Before sundown I had the lobster pot with fish carcass strung up inside sunk near the fringing reef. Will this be our lucky day?

Jackster was here in the anchorage and when Dave and Jacquie returned from shore we invited them over for dinner. Fish of course. The fish turned out to be very good (we think it tasted better than mahi) and Helen’s cooking even better. Jacquie brought some great veg to go with the fish.

In the middle of the night I had my first call to the US to progress the near term fix for our charger and have another call to make soon. Things look promising on this front.

So we’ll be here for a few days working a few things out. In that time we’ll explore the island some more. We’ve also put an invite out to all our cruising friends who we know to be in the area for a get together on the 14th. Being east of the 180 line of longitude we’re sort of a day behind so the 14th is still the 13th (sort of) so we can have our public celebration with whatever friends that will be here.

I’ll leave you with the few pics of our hike up Cobia and of our delicious fish.

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.

Shortly after breakfast it was time to take Judy and Colin ashore. To make things easier Helen said her goodbyes aboard so just the three of us headed ashore where I did mine.

A little later Helen and I went back ashore to provision and pick up fuel for the dinghy. Soon after returning to Dignity we were off to explore the islands within Budd Reef.

The winds were quite light but we had the time to sail over. We approached one possible anchorage but decided against it as it looked a little tight and rolly. We engaged the generator for the rest of the distance to our next anchorage. At this point I noticed a problem. It looked like we had another issue with one of our chargers.

When reaching our final anchorage I immediately performed some additional tests to help diagnose the problem. Things went from bad to worse. Without going into too much detail I’m going to backtrack and first perform a confession.

Back in New Zealand we spent some time considering our future options once we reach Australia. Continuing our circumnavigation would take us either up the Red Sea (not a good option these days) or round South Africa. As much as we like the system, we felt the power of the hybrid system was not sufficient for either of those legs given the conditions we may face and possibly have to motor through. A third option that was always on the table would be to sell the boat in Australia. From our research and contact with others it turns out that a second hand hybrid 420 is a lot harder to sell than a diesel version. It is sad but we came to the conclusion we would have to convert the propulsion to diesel once we reached Australia in 2012.

Having another issue changes our position on this. Our appetite for being out in a remote area of the Pacific if another issuer should occur has dropped somewhat. Having already made the decision to switch our thinking has now shifted to having the conversion done this year rather than next.

Lagoon are remaining remarkably supportive to us. They’re onside with providing us help and parts to get over the current issue and are with us in setting up a conversion either here in Fiji or in Australia later this year. We have friends due here in September and really don’t want to cut our time here in Fiji and miss them. At present it is unclear if Fiji has the facilities to do the work. That will take some research.

So how does this all affect us here and now. With this new issue we’ve abandoned our plans to head off to the remote islands of the Lau Group for now. In a way we’re glad this has happened now when we’re not so far from communications. I’ve sent off what observations and thoughts I can to the techs.

Depending on weather, either today or tomorrow we’ll head back to Taveuni and get back connected. There we can research haul out costs/facilities in Fiji. We can also get talking to the tech to determine what can be done in the short term. We can still motor but at reduced speed over distance and still gave full power from the batteries for maneuvering. That’s fine for getting on/off the hook. We even have a back up for the port charger albeit one which also has a problem. The redundancy of the system shows (if not the resiliency) but we do have to adapt our plans to cater for the changed risks/failure scenarios. Hopefully after a few conversations we’ll have the parts identified to be sent to Fiji, probably Savusavu where we can rendezvous with them in a few weeks time.

Being back in Taveuni will not be so bad as it gives us a chance to have a nice meal somewhere on our soon to arrive 25th anniversary. So it’s not all bad.

This is all a bit of a pain but things will still work out. With Lagoon working with us and remaining very supportive we are in a good spot. We’re keeping our fingers crossed we can get the big work done here in Fiji later this year. We will know soon.