Yup, Island Time strikes again.  Sorry for the delay, here is a summary and pictures of our fast and rough ride from Tonga to Fiji.

 

Number of seasickness episodes - Don - 0, Anne - 0

 

Pictures 1 and 2 - We sailed past Lady Kay shortly after leaving Tonga and Michael took these shots of us as we went by.  That's me in the red raincoat taking pictures of Michael on Lady Kay taking pictures of us.  The surf was rough and the waves confused.  We're on the downside of one of those confused waves in picture 2.

 

Picture 3 - Lady Kay was to the south of us and the southern sky was just starting to clear and a rainbow starting to form as we passed. 

 

Picture 4 - 45 minutes later, this full rainbow appeared.  Note how its end is reflected in the sea.  This is the best part about seeing a rainbow over the ocean - both ends go right through the surface of the water and continue on down.  Makes you wonder if leprechauns know how to scuba dive.  I couldn't get the full rainbow in the frame of the picture, but you can imagine how amazing it was to see.  It was about this time, we learned from Michael and Jackie later, that three very large humpback whales appeared directly in front of Lady Kay.  After a brief second of indecision as to which way to turn the boat, Jackie swerved into the wind to avoid a collision while the three whales nonchalantly waved their massive tales at she and Michael.  A boat can feel mighty small when the sea is rough, but a close encounter with humpback whales can make a boat feel downright miniscule.  Jackie said the whole episode was terrifying and incredible all at once.  As in, 'Michael!  We're going to hit the whales!  Which way should I turn?', followed by, 'Wow!  Aren't they beautiful?'.

 

After the first day, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful - with the possible exception of winding our way through the reefs and small islands surrounding the two main Fijian Islands in the dark on a cloudy, moonless night using charts based on surveys done in the 1800's and looking for land navigation beacons that no longer exist.  In these circumstances, identifying and staying away from nearby islands is somewhat difficult.  Actually, just locating a nearby island is somewhat difficult.  Using the radar and then peering into the darkness for long periods of time generally results in affirmation that indeed, the slightly darker black lump to the left or right is the island in question.  Reefs are impossible to see in the dark, but the radar sometimes picks up breaking waves on a reef if there are enough of them and if the surrounding waters aren't full of breaking waves too.  In situations like this, we generally choose a conservative path (translation - a path with the least number of island and/or reef obstacles in and around it).  If we get to the point where we have to sail between two obstacles and we can't physically see either in the dark, then we use radar to position ourselves in the middle as best we can.  We figure if there are four miles between an island and a reef and we can see by radar that we are two miles away from the island, then even if the charts are off by a mile (a good possibility), we wouldn't be closer than a mile to the reef.  See the logic here?  Seems to be working so far.

 

We arrived in the very protected Savusavu harbor around noon on June 25th and unlike our arrival in the port of Latouka, Fiji last year, our check-in with immigration, quarantine, health and customs was a breeze.  There was no inspection of our liquor locker and no prolonged customs inspector silences waiting to be filled with an alcohol bribe.  Latouka is more of an industrial port whereas Savusavu caters more to boaters like us as well as the occasional cruise ship.

 

More on Savusavu and Fiji later.

Anne