Pump update

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Thu 15 Nov 2012 18:16
Yet another 'Fiji saga'!
Pump arrived Monday night at 2330 in Nadi (international airport on the west coast).
Tuesday was a public holiday so nothing happened (Diwali).
As usual they needed the customs rotation number to process the shipment. As usual it's on the address label which nobody seems capable of looking at. Usually DHL ring me to get the number, this time they didn't. Wednesday afternoon the tracking system showed the part still in Nadi so I rang them. Eventually I got the right department then ran out of credit on the phone. Called using Skype, they kindly called me back.....eventually.
Thursday I called again and insisted on giving them the customs number. They promised to callback.....nope.
Today, Friday in Fiji I see the pump left Nadi at 0157 this morning. That means in Suva by about 0700. It could mean delivery to the yacht club this morning....or it might not!
THE PLAN:
Hopefully fit the pump/commission the autopilot this weekend. Final stock-up of dried beans.
If the weather is OK depart on Monday bound for Tanna, Vanuatu. It's 515 nm so should be there around Friday. A 24 hour 'sleepover' then off to New Caledonia, which is about 270 nm from Tanna (port to port). Let's say three days for that.
I'll be departing with Calypso and certainly for the first couple of days we'll try to stay in VHF range to make sure all is well with Trouters. I don't have SSB or satphone so I can't send emails from the boat and my Fijian dongle won't work in Vanuatu so I'll ask Calypso if they can send a quick email to this blog to confirm arrival.
 DON'T PANIC if this doesn't happen.
Once in New Caledonia I'll get an email off somehow. It might not be worthwhile getting a dongle for New Cal, just depends on how long I/we decide to stay. At the moment I'm thinking a couple of weeks then off to Oz around the 17/18 December....no I'm not, that would mean arrival during the holiday period and massive overtime fees. OK, that's up for review then!

Gosh, exciting isn't it!
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