Sailing around the World, ( presently in " Suva " Fiji )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 25 Jun 2010 05:35
THURSDAY   24th  JUNE    2010  
 
It is exactly 12 months ago since we left crosshaven ( home port ) .
That was the start of our trip around the World,  and so far to date, we have covered 16,951 miles and visited more than 65 ports 
or destinations in 16 different countries.
 
Our crews have changed from time to time, and so far, we have had a great 12 months,
And its about to change again shortly, as Fat's and Margaret are going home to Ireland, and spending some time in the U.S.A. on route,
before reaching the " Old Sod"    ( not together )
 
Anyway, today is a very cloudy day,  We spent ages deciding wether to push on or not, eventually after a load of woffle,
we decided for all sorts of logical reasons , to push on !
 
So we raised anchor and motored to the customs dock, and skipper went ashore at
09.15hrs,   believe it or not, the customs guy had gone to the bank to discuss a loan for his new house,
Skipper was told to come back in an hour,
It was 12.00 hours when all the paperwork was complete , and we were free to go. ( mind you , it took " Lady Lisa " 2 days to get her clearances )
so we thought we were flying.
 
We sailed out through the eastern pass and headed for " Savu " , the capitol of Fiji.  a distance of approx 55 miles,
It was definatly going to be dark when we arrive in Savu.
We motor sailed for a couple of hours , as the girls were baking bread and cakes, so we needed to provide energy to the hungry electric cooker.
also, the wind was light enough, so using the engine was benificial.
Ohhhhh, its lovely to get the smell of fresh bread and fruit cakes drifting up from the galley.... well done girls..
 
Lunch consisted of cold corned beef sandwiches,  yum yum
Progress was good during this period, the wind was now 18 / 20 knots and we were averaging 8 knots,
And a lovely day to boot, not too hot...................  and every one enjoying the sail.
 
The whole journey had a continous reef off our starboard side, at times this reef extended 4 miles out from the coast
 and was dotted with ship wrecks,
Ohhhhhh  my god, ! how did the olden day sailors from this area survive, no navigational aids, no bouys, markers , beacons or flashing lights,
Big sailing canoe's that would not go upwind very well, and yet ,they sailed everywhere as there were no roads, and the bush was full
of fierce canabels, ready to gobble up whatever wandered into their territory...
Can you imagine being boiled alive, and then served up for dinner,,,,   yeach  , yeaaaaaaaaaach,
but to them, it was probably like belly pork to us,  
Ohhh, shit   how did we get onto this subject......
 
17.30hrs   We arrived at the entrance to Suva and nibbled our way up through the pass, in the dark,
however, there was a full moon, so that always makes things much easier.
 
We dropped anchor and Margaret made a meat loaf dish for dinner, along with creamed spuds, and green pea's.  
We had this in the Starlight restaurant as usual.  super dooper.
 
Later Aileen and Skipper went ashore to the " Royal Suva Yacht Club "  where they met Eoin Murphy from
Caherciveen , Co Kerry.  small world  , and getting smaller.
Fats , John and Margaret remained on board and demolished half " A Ladys " red wine stock ,,,,,
Well, after all, what is wine for !
 
Not an early night,   Skipper spoke to Barbara Ahern in Dublin, A relation of hers is a priest in " Suva"  can you imagine..
We made contact with FR. Hannan in the morning, and had a good chat with him on the phone on the phone.
We also had an email from Elenor Cudmore, good to she is on the mend...
 
 
Thats it for today,      zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 
signed  :-    Stephen  Hyde    ( Skipper  )