Mid morning we dropped the dinghy and did the round of the nearby boats to say our goodbyes. We then briefly went ashore to pick up fresh food.
Around 11am we were off. With good light and using our old tracks we picked our way out of the reef and headed north around the fringing reef. For a while we were motoring into adverse wind and current with a very short chop. Soon we were round the corner and had the sails up and sailing nicely.
We didn’t go far, ending up in Naiviivi Bay.
We anchored in deep water in a small bay surrounded by mangroves. After making sure the boat wasn’t going anywhere we put the kayak into the water and rowed ashore with our bunch of kava, camera and bag of sweets for the village kids.
We were met ashore by two small boys playing with toy boats on the shoreline. They helped us put the kayak ashore and earned a toffee each for their labours. They became our firm friends.
They showed us the way to the village. On the way there we met a lady with four children who were removing bark from some sticks which they were preparing for some sort of building. When we reached the headman’s house we learned he was away in Taveuni and wouldn’t be back until 5pm. Our two friends, now with a few more, showed us around the village. We saw where they lived, their school and church.
By the time we returned to the kayak we had about 7 or 8 kids all eager to have one more round of toffees. Once in the kayak we explored the mangroves mainly for some exercise.
We were both feeling quite worn out so the rest of the afternoon we rested. As we approached 5pm Helen wasn’t feeling too well so I went back ashore alone to give sevusevu to the village headman. Here I had a more formal but splendid ceremony. We went into his house and suddenly the room was full of his smaller children and grandchildren. His older son was there too. We all sat down and I offered my kava. He made a speech in Fijiian and in places clapped. When he clapped, all the kids clapped with him. It certainly was a warm welcome.
We chatted for 45 mins or so. We were joined by an Australian whose been living in the village for the last month. He’s involved in a project to rid the island of iguana that were introduced 11 years ago and are aggravating crops and quickly spreading to nearby islands.
When I took my leave his older son walked me back to my kayak and we continued our chat. We were invited back for kava but Helen still wasn’t feeling to good. I must admit, after the nights of parties we’ve had we were both a little worn at the edges and we ended up with a very early night.
We needed it for around midnight the starboard bilge went off. Not because there was water in it. The float switch had failed setting the bilges off and the alarm. I tried to knock it into submission but that didn’t work. I replaced the pump with the spare but that had a different problem – a crack it seemed – so it couldn’t pump out the test water we put into the bilge. The secondary bilge pump took care of most of the water but not enough to stop the switch.
Running out of ideas I put the first pump in to drain the bilge then put the second back in to trigger the second pump should we have a leak somewhere. As I was going back to sleep I came up with an idea to piggy back the two pumps so the good switch is first in the circuit and powers both pumps so we can drain the bilge and have the alarm stop. That will take some work.
Our plan was to leave the anchorage this morning by the light of the full moon. The weather forecast is mixed for our trip east and we can’t yet leave because the sky is overcast. We need more light. So we’re going to have a later start than originally planned and who knows where we’ll end up. In the bay here we have almost no wind but hopefully that’s due to the shelter of the island. If this stays the case out at sea we may have to change our minds. We’ll see.