Leaving Tonga to Fiji - Catchup Photos
Eowyn
Tue 22 Jun 2010 05:20
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Éowyn is presently
moored near the Copra Shed, Savusavu, Fiji in position 16:46.703S
179:19.967E for the first time since June 2004, Eowyn's longitude is East of
Greenwich!
Here is a catchup of photos of some of the folk in Tonga who made life
pleasant. Lee, the Customs Officer and particularly Tess & Steve of the
Crow's Nest, Neifau. Apart from Steve's great baking and Tess's magical drink
concoctions (no alcohol), they were a great source of information to us and
other WARC crews and Steve even drove me around the various grocery stores to
make shopping a little easier
  Indian Aussie Tess and Kiwi Steve from the Crow's
Nest
 Tongan Customs Officer Lee
We set off in close proximity to Thor V1 and Ciao a couple of hours
behind Kalliope and Brown Eyed Girl.
The forecast was for good winds on The Friday, followed by light winds.
In the event, we had 20-25 knots all the way. For 3/4 of the passage we ran
under genoa which was very rolly and made sleeping difficult. We were pleased
when on Sunday we could set the main for 12 hours and get a much kinder
motion.
Our arrival at Suvasuva was in very strong winds and we found the place
completely full. The harbourmaster did his best to fit us in close to the Copra
Shed cafe but mooring was very frought with the wind and tide taking us very
close to Noeluna. I had no option but to power away and twice (yes twice!!!) we
got a rope around the prop. The first was our own warp which the harbourmaster
had let too loose and it sank behind us. The second was a submerged disused
mooring with a 1 inch rope. My thanks go to Ambassador Marine and their very
expensive "Stripper" rope cutter which saved the day and cut the offending ropes
. After a dive later in the day, ther appeared to be no lasting damage to prop
or cutters. In fact we would not have moored at all in the conditions without
the help of the tenders from 2 other yachts which acted as tugs and pushed our
stern into the required position.
 Eowyn Eventually Moored Close to the Copra
Shed
There is endless beaurocracy in Fiji made bearable by the helpful nature
of the officials involved. We had to wait onboard for visits from Health,
Customs, Immigration and quarantine before we could then go ashore. Even then we
had to apply for a cruising permit and wait 24 hours before it was faxed back
from Suva. The whole thing takes over a day and involves a lot of
paper.
On Thursday we will visit a couple of Islands followed by the North coast
of Vitu Levu and finally after clearing internal Customs at Lautoka, we will get
to Musket Cove around the 30th June ready for our sail to
Vanuatu.
At last we have a decent internet connection so here are a couple of
underwater photos from Niue and Tonga. Mike's first cave dive and the sea snakes
for which Niue is renowned.
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