Friday 29 June:  Viti Levu, Fiji  South Pacific Ocean 17 46.3S  177 22.7E  

Today’s Blog by Peter (Time zone UTC +12.00;  BST+11.00)

We left you last Thursday as it was blowing old boots and a chilly 25 degrees on the shortest day of the year.

Friday morning dawned bright and sunny with a gentle sailing breeze.  We therefore continued round the north coast of Viti Levu  under headsail alone accompanied by Anastasia, Working on a Dream and 12Moons.  Flat water, sunshine, sea breeze on the beam, boat upright, 6 knots on the dial, views that could almost be Scotland – what more could you ask for. 

One did however have to navigate carefully round the various reefs. 

Shortest day here means longest day in Sweden which is a big celebration there.  Pre-dinner party was therefore on Working on a Dream.  It will be for ever memorable for Hannah’s wonderful sponge cake and glorious sunset.

Saturday sailing was almost a repeat of Friday’s except that instead of a secluded anchorage it ended anchored off Lautoka harbour.  We visited the town, scene of Scotland’s rugby victory the previous weekend, on Sunday morning.  As expected nearly everything was shut; Fiji, like Tonga coming to a virtual standstill on the Sabbath except for religious activities.  Lautoka, however has a very heavy Indian influence and a number of their stores were open.  Indians came originally to work on the sugar plantations but despite being here for several generations are not considered true Fijian’s and cannot, for example, own land.  This, naturally, is one of the reasons for the on-going underlying political unrest in the country.

Sunday afternoon we reached the marina of Port Denarau on the west side of Vitu Levu.  This is one of Fiji’s top island resorts with all the big hotels represented and a golf and country club in the middle (the golf course proudly advertising water hazards on 15 of the 18 holes).  One bunker we looked at was tidal (under water at high tide) though David never got an answer to his question of “am I allowed to move a floating coconut in a bunker without penalty?”!

On Monday Serendipity came out the water, principally to be cleaned off, re anti-fouled and the odd gelcoat chip repaired.

It was originally intended that this should happen in New Zealand (half way round) but it was discovered that it was rather better value to have the work done here.  The crew therefore took to land and swapped sea-berths for double beds – I think I already mentioned the abundance of hotels.

The days since then have passed doing the odd bit of work on the boat and catching up on all the news from the various World Arc boats collecting here before the formal meeting in Musket Cove next wek.  I spent one day on a  trip to a nearby tropical island  to sample life from the other side of the fence.

The transport

Yours truly

View from my sun lounger

This morning the final stages of cleaning are in progress and we are due back in the water this afternoon.

We then need to re-assemble the boom, backstay and bimini which all needed to be taken down so we could fit on the crane.  Bit more provisioning and other things being equal we hope to set off tomorrow for the nearby Yasawa group of islands including “Blue Lagoon” where the film of that name was shot.