Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

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.

Over breakfast we all decided to spend the day relaxing on/around the boat. I, personally, was glad of this as I was feeling a little unwell and spent much of the day lying down sleeping from time to time. I did do some research on flights for next Xmas and progressed nailing down our plans for next cyclone season. By mid-afternoon I was feeling better and decided to replace the blower for our genset compartment. Turned out the old one had water in it, presumably pushed up into the ventilation system during our passage from NZ.

Colin and Judy fished, snorkeled and went ashore once. In the evening we drank far too much.

Our guests will be leaving this morning for Viti Levu where they will be attending a wedding later this week. The trades are blowing so we may well head off somewhere later this morning.

The morning started with a bit of extra work as the genset impeller needed replacing before we could do a planned wash. Colin helped with the job and it was soon done.

We went ashore around 8:30 which, being high tide, made for an easy run over the shallows. We soon had a taxi flagged down and after a brief stop at the nearby supermarket we headed down the east coast road to Bouma National Heritage Park to walk the Tavoro waterfall trail. The work ‘road’ is somewhat generous as at times the road had the texture of a dry, rocky riverbed which, we imagined, it might well have been after a deluge.

The park office was located in a very nice garden and we were sold our access permit by the very nice Maria. The path to the first waterfall was well groomed with soft grass underfoot. It was also short, only about 10 minutes. The waterfall we stunning with a deep pool beneath into which we plunged. The flow was strong so approaching the base of the falls took a lot of effort. The water was refreshingly cool lowering our body temperatures in advance of the next section.

This next section was a steep climb taking us well above the first falls. The effort was more than rewarded by some spectacular views of the coast and the land below. There were two routes to the second falls. We took the left fork which was shorter but involved a slippery river crossing. A rope had been conveniently placed to help us across.

We reached the second falls and again entered the pool for a swim and a cool down. We then pressed on to the third and final falls. This trail was quite muddy but we had plenty of opportunities to wash the accumulation on our feet and shoes. Again, another swim and this time we stopped for a snack.

On the way down we took the alternate, longer route, from the second pool down. The earlier views were now even more stunning as the sun had shifted more behind us. Just by the first pool we noticed a table had been set up, perhaps for a romantic honeymoon lunch.

Back at the office we debated the pros and cons of continuing further on to do the coastal walk which would take us to another couple of waterfalls. It turned out we didn’t have the time to do it justice so we grabbed our sleeping taxi driver for the ride back to Matei.

We had hoped to stop at ‘Audrey’s’ for a late lunch as all the guides raved about the place. It was, unfortunately, closed until the weekend so we ended up at Coconut Grove. Here we had some heavenly fruit juice/ice cream combination drinks followed by lunch overlooking a magnificent view of the bay.

When we eventually arrived back at the boat I was too tired to go lobstering and snoozed for an hour or so.

The evening concluded with a BBQ. Definitely a good day. Enjoy the pics below. The last couple of days have also been uploaded.

Having motored against 10 knots of wind and a knot of current on Saturday we had hoped to have a chance to go sailing on Sunday. It wasn’t to happen. There was no wind and the current was again slightly against us. We had a late start to ensure we had the sun high when approaching Taveuni. When we arrived we anchored in 40 feet of water before surveying the area in the dinghy. We picked a better spot nearer in in about half the depth and moved the mothership there.

We rested for the early afternoon. Colin and Judy when snorkeling and Colin spotted a lobster. I may have to go out with weapons sometime soon. Our trip ashore was delayed a little when I had the opportunity to chat online with family. Once we were ashore we randomly picked a direction on the one road to walk and went about a mile or so out of ‘town’. We turned around looking for a restaurant or a bar to stop at. All were closed til about 6:30pm. We eventually found an open restaurant (Tramonto) with a fantastic view of the bay and sunset to the west. It was a really nice end to the day. Colin and Judy bought us dinner and drinks which was welcome.

We walked back to the dinghy in the dark ending up on the boat for a couple of bottles of vino.

This morning there is still no wind. Not that it matters as we’re not going anywhere in the boat. We’re going to hire a taxi and visit the waterfalls and coastal path to the south. Maybe later we’ll go out lobstering.