But not a lot.
All in all it was a good day but it felt, to me, quite busy.
In the morning Paul and I went ashore to formally clear him off the boat. That means I am no longer responsible for repatriating him if he disappears. To clear him off they needed to see a plane ticket which Paul had sorted out the day before. On the way I dropped off our application for a cruising permit. We should get that soon.
We then went next door to book massages for Helen, Sam and myself. As she was free straight away I asked Paul to return to the boat so I could have the first massage and Helen could return for the second. In the end we all had our turn and felt very relaxed afterwards.
For me the afternoon was spent pursuing parts online and repairs.
I rearranged the pulleys we have on the boom using an old slightly damaged one to replace a low load good one which in turn I used to replace the one that had completely broken. Now the traveller has it’s full complement of pulleys albeit two of them damaged. We’ll be fine for coastal sailing.
I ordered the replacement pulleys and spares as well as the rubber piece I had to cut to remove to jury rig the traveller while at sea. I’ve progressed on ordering the batten cars for the sail. I also had to order a sump drain pump for one of our A/Cs as that went a little mental when we ran the A/C while doing a morning wash. Also ordered is some colour printer ink. Even though I rarely use colour I seem to have to replace the cartridges fairly often. We are in danger of running out of the ability to print. All these items will go to our Florida mailing address and be forwarded to us in Denarau later this season.
We also picked up a voice mail regarding Sam’s passport. They don’t accept payment by personal check. Why they couldn’t have told us the first time around I don’t know. We had a number to call to register credit card details which we did straight away. Hopefully no more snags on that front.
I spent some time with Vodafone support as I have no means to check on my bandwidth availability. I am supposed to be able to send an SMS message but that doesn’t work. I went through two support calls and got nowhere. I now have to take my laptop to someone in town.
Both Paul and Sam took trips out on the kayak. Sam landed on the island beside us and tried to reach the summit. He came back in hurry having been bitten by around 20 hornets.
In the evening we ate out at the Chinese restaurant in town. Average food but an excellent price. Can’t complain. We finished off with some ice creams from another store.
I’ve decided that clearing out of Savusavu today with all these pending items would be a little too hasty. I checked with customs and it’s ok for us to leave the port without clearing out as long as we don’t go past the lighthouse at the end of the peninsular. Paul has booked a dive for himself, Sam and me for tomorrow. After this we’ll head out and anchor off the resort for a couple of nights. We’ll return here on Monday and leave either the same day or on Tuesday depending on how things have progressed.
I’d rather have not had all these things to do on arrival but that’s boating for you. It’s often called “fixing your boat in exotic places”. It’s an apt expression.
Here are some pics from our passage and arrival
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