Wednesday  May 30th , Port Denarau Marina, Western Division , Fiji  17:46S  177 23E 

Today’s Blog by Ted (Time zone BST +11; UTC +12.00)

Is it something to do with Serendipity’s bullfrog logo, or just the luck of the draw?

I arrived at Nadi airport at 0530 on Monday and had a palm tree pegged out to snooze under, before joining the boat. By 0700 the rain was bucketing down, as it had for the team before they left the northern NZ tip. Great weather for ducks as well as adult tadpoles.

When the rain eased (dressed in my wet weather gear) I found my way to her berth. She was all closed up, but I knocked anyway. Richard’s head appeared through the companionway and the soggy Aussie was welcomed aboard. I reacquainted myself with the skipper, and met Darryl before dumping my seabag in the ‘pit’. I had a quick look at the saloon before bailing out to Cardo’s café while they made Serendipity shipshape for the crew change. I met my shipmates, Lenie & Terry, when I returned at 1600 to settle in.

Over the past 48 hours we have been monitoring the weather. With a strong wind warning and high seas, Port Denarau is the place to be. For the surfers arriving for the Volcom Fiji Pro, it’s looking good. We envisage heading to Lautoka tomorrow to check out; then wait for favourable winds to Vanuatu.

During the two days aboard the ‘prodder’ has had some work done on it; the pressure valve on the hot water service has been replaced; provisioning has been carried out and recorded meticulously; dinghy anchor chain replaced; we’ve refuelled & rewatered; replaced the Jon Bouy (David knew the old one intimately, and managed to cannibalise the CO2 cylinder from the old one without an involuntary inflation); had the anchor pin rewelded; replaced the stern light and done a load of laundry.

Our Italian farewell meal with Richard and Darryl managed to break new ground in Denarau for wine choosing excellence and a restaurant bill to match their provisioning and meals tally in Opua. As the fermented grape flowed, there was talk of the Jon Bouy accident, the code zero folly and various other incidents I am unable to disclose here.

The following night’s Indian dinner was a taste sensation, but we lowered the tone somewhat when the skipper latched onto two buckets of Coronas. It worked though, as it started bucketing with rain and we were moved to a sheltered table. A couple nearby stuck it out holding umbrellas over their table.

Lenie made a superb Lasagne for last night’s dinner which we accompanied with an NZ red (thanks Richard, Darryl and Kevin) followed by Toblerone and a nip of 1995 vintage Armagnac (ta Kev).

I wonder what it will be like when we finally get to sea?