Fiji Arrival

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Wed 25 Jun 2008 09:11
17:36.002S  177:26.491E
 
We arrived at Lautoka, Fiji within a half hour of the time in the original plan.  The last four hours we had a beautiful sail inside a lagoon.  The view of the island of Viti Levu was beautiful and very different from the islands we have been to so far.  Inside the lagoon there were no waves or swell, and with winds just abaft the beam at 15 to 20 knots, very nice indeed.  Or as the Brits would say, 'Brilliant!'
 
OK, so that is just half of the story for the end of the trip.  During my watch from 0100 to 0400am, the winds were very light with some light rain.  The motor was on and I was reading at the helm.  Anne came on watch and I went to sleep.  Then torrential rain started with winds up to 30 knots.  Anne shut down the motor and started sailing.  At daybreak we negotiated a pass through the Viti Levu reef with 20 knot winds and seas that had built up to about 3 meters (Kathie would say 20 feet).  Once through the pass, it was as smooth as glass as described above. 
 
Clearing through customs and immigration (we are almost done) took almost three hours - I'll leave it to Anne to explain why.  Now for some sleep!
 
Don