Thank God for GPS
Storyteller
Sat 20 Jun 2009 04:17
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Position 16.46S 179.20E
It's two weeks since we made our last diary
entry and we are now at anchor, rather earlier than planned, in the exotic port
of Savusavu on Vanua Levu, the northern big island of Fiji. Our plans
to venture north to the remote islands in the north of Tonga had to be
changed when we learned that a nasty cold front was heading our way.
Disappointing, but hey, there's always next year. Our 6 weeks in Tonga
were really enjoyable, and helped by pretty good weather in the main, in
great contrast to last year. We spent most of our last week anchored in an
idyllic anchorage--idyllic only after you had entered through a
scarily narrow passage, recommended only at high tide in light winds with the
sun directly behind you so that you can see the coral. Once in through the
entrance it was one of the most beautiful spots we have ever visited. There was
just a local village and a rather up- market fishing lodge which probably saved
us a lot of money by not opening until a week after we left. We didn't starve
though, thanks to a very serious NZ fishing boat who donated us a huge slab of
marlin which we cooked on the barbecue using a Sicilian recipe from Rick Stein's
Mediterranean cookbook. As usual, we took turns providing the evening meal with
our friends on Harmonie and Lady Kay. We were also well provided with pawpaws,
passionfruit and banana which we traded for canned corned beef, rice and instant
coffee. Our trading partner was a lovely 'older gentleman' in an outrigger canoe
who turned down my offer of milk powder because it might have come from
China. The word certainly gets around! He invited us to his church and
lunch on Sunday, the thought of which made the chaps decide we had a
pressing engagement back at the main town, Neiafu. We did make a serious
fishing expedition one day with our mates on board and hooked into a very large
mahimahi which managed to get off as Don was attempting to gaff it. The more
tender-hearted of the crew were secretly pleased, especially as we had lots of
frozen fish on board. Another fishing trip out to a FAD (fishing attraction
device) was similarly unsuccessful with a huge fish getting off at the last
moment. At least we still have all our lures.
We had a very amusing encounter with some good ole
boys from Marlborough who were commercial fishermen turned vineyard owners and
coffee merchants. They had sailed straight up from Wellington in a southerly
gale in Jungle,a big motor sailer which they were delivering to a new
owner in Hawaii. Incredibly, one of the guys had recently been looking
over the yacht, Storyteller, in Auckland. They were unusual among the cruising
crowd in that they were 4 guys instead of the ubiquitous 'mom and pop'
show.
Once we heard the weather forecast, we went through
all the onerous formalities of entering into Fiji, as well as stocking up on
homemade pies, curries, roti and lobster ravioli from the various expat business
that exist mainly because of the patronage of boaters. Refueling for the trip to
Fiji kept being delayed since the tanker had only arrived ther previous day.
Luckily our lovely Tongan agent insisted that the delivery truck come
to us instead of heading to the service station. Filling the fuel
tanks with (duty free) fuel took two full hours,so instead of leaving early
in the morning, we didn't get away until late afternoon, which meant coming
through the Oneata channel in pitch dark. We didn't even get much help from the
radar, as at that time it was pouring with rain, so you couldn't tell what was
reef and what was rain. It might have been the middle of the night, but we
were both wide awake. To add to the adrenalin level, the depth sounder
had some sort of blip and showed very shallow water at that time--perhaps
it was a big fish going under us! Next morning a couple of whales crossed
in front of us, and then some pilot whales.
The excitement continued as we passed a major reef
in our way into the Savusavu Harbour, again in the dark and heavy rain. There
seemed to be no sign of the main navigation aid, a flashing
light marking the edge of the reef, which was rather worrying. Instead
there there some verry bright lights that suddenly came towards us and forced us
to change course abruptly--yes it was the 10 pm ferry on its way out. We
slowly edged our way up past the Jacques Cousteau Resort, using our spotlight to
dodge local moorings. When we pulled up the anchor next morning there were a
mooring rope and a largish lump of coral attached to our anchor
chain.
Flying our yellow quarantine flag, we picked up our
mooring in a wonderfully sheltered creek outside the famous Copra Shed marina
and bar where we'll go tonight to watch the rugby. The quarantine,
customs,health and immigration people were all ferried out to us and
were extremely welcoming, unlike some of our previous experiences entering
into Fiji. They didn't even search the boat looking for pornography and
seditious literature. I'd actually taken the precaution of hiding the Lonely
Planet. We're very much enjoying the icy cold beers and the delicious curries
here, not to mention being able to read the Fiji Times, even though it
is heavily censored. One of yesterday's hightlights was having much needed
haircuts from Reggie, the local transvestite hairdresser. $15 for the two of us,
which must be our record. Reggie appears to be a big fan of
Colonel Baniarama, so who are we to argue.
You'll see from the attached photo that we
were in the centre of things this morning when hundreds of local
people gathered in a big rally to encourage young people to
become blood donors. There were banners,music, speeches (lots), and best of all
a Tahitian dancer. We're only a few metres from the shore, in the midst of
stunning scenery that is as dramatic as anything we saw in Tahiti. Evidently
property prices went trough the roof here before the global financial collapse,
and there are quite a few Americans and Europeans living in the area. The mix of
indigenous Fijians and Fijian Indians makes this a very interesting place as you
couldn't think of two more different cultures. I went into an Indian store today
asking for a dvd copy of Slumdog Millionaire
and was sold one for $2--mind you, it may be
in Hindi!d
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