The Longest Ever Grocery Expedition, and Arrived at Kia Island

The Adventures of the Good Ship Equinox
Cate and Chris Galloway
Mon 11 Jul 2011 06:07
Position at 1800 FST: 16.13.9137S 179.05.1877E
 
Last night we had one of the best sails ever - even by Cate's exacting standards. We arrived at the reef entrance not long after first light and in company with "Silver Fox" we anchored shortly after 8 AM.
 
And so we went shopping - an hour up the Labasa River (pronounced Lambasa") in the dinghies  - a romantic notion which ceased to be romantic after about 30mins of droning engine and bad posture... The fuel connection on the caddy stopped working about 15 minutes out from Equinox and so after some messing around and petrol infused cuts I just gave up and pulled the fitting off the end, the connector off the tank and just put the hose straight into the hole. Worked perfectly, might make it a permanent fitting.
 
We arrived in Labasa into the back of the market, on a smelly dirty and slippery ramp, where we then went ashore to do the shopping. Cate was able to pick up pretty much all that she needed and within 90minutes we were back in the dinghies and on the way. As soon as we got underway we headed straight out to Kia Island out on the northern fringing reef, where we dropped anchor about an hour ago. We will head ashore and do sevu sevu (kav gift) with the locals in the morning - we are all too tired to do it now!
 
We will most likely remain here for two nights (before the rally lobs) and we wil then continue our passage west to the Yasawa Group.
 
All is well, except for a cold which is passing through the crew, but hey, you get them in winter time....