We had hoped to leave towards Vanuatu a week or two ago but on the morning of our planned departure we discovered a problem with our satellite phone.  Now, I know my hero James Cook survived up to three years at a time in the Pacific without so much as a postcard home but we had no intention of heading off without our beloved e-mail and the ability to download the latest weather maps and forecasts.  Despite our best efforts to solve the problem locally, which involved letting various Chinese teenagers loose inside our (very expensive!) phone with a soldering iron and tweezers, the problem remained unsolved.  Eventually we decided that either we stayed in Fiji for the rest of the year (which Lucy thought was a brilliant idea) or we sourced a replacement, which DHL have now whisked across the oceans to us in a matter of days.

The wait gave us a great chance to hire a car to drive right around the main Fijian Island of Viti Levu and to visit the capital, Suva.  This city is big by Pacific standards (180,000 people) but does not have a huge amount to recommend it except a good museum (including the rudder from Capt Bligh's HMS Bounty) and some of the best Indian restaurants this side of the sub-continent.  A large number of Indians were brought here as indentured workers by the Brits in the 19th century to harvest the sugar, something the Fijians clearly had the good sense not to get involved in.  Many of them stayed on after their original contract despite the back-breaking labour, probably because it took a further five years indenture to earn a passage home.  Those of Indian descent have now grown to become half the total population and to dominate much of the economy.  This in turn has caused a degree of ethnic and political tension which is the root cause of  Fiji's multiple military coups.  There have actually been four since 1986, the most recent of which was just last December.  Fiji is therefore currently controlled by the military, although as a visitor (and I am told as a local) this has remarkably little impact on daily life.  Anyway....moving on from my little aside, these Indo Fijians not only do much of the hard work but they also produce some great chefs and some great golfers (hands up all of those who always thought Vijay Singh was a surprising name for a Fijian!).

We are now back on the boat with our new working "bat-phone".  We are fuelled up, topped up with water, fully provisioned and ready for the off but unfortunately now the weather has thwarted us.  There is a nasty little depression just the other side of our destination which we have no desire to sail towards so it looks like we won't be on our way until early next week.