18:07.377S
178:25.3E
Arrived Suva at Fiji
Retry of post two days ago. Read this before Sunday in
Suva in the rain.
Well, we had some night. We arrived at 7:30am this
(Sat) morning. After a glorious sail we started to get close to Suva around 11pm last
night when all of a sudden, the visibility closed in. The lights of the
town disappeared as we were covered in a fog and rain with winds pushing us
from behind at 25 knots. At this point we were 10 miles from shore and
couldn’t see the city anymore. According to regulations, I had just
checked in on the vhf radio with Suva
harbor port control when they mentioned that the yacht just in front of us,
Marita, had missed the opening and hit the reef. Given all this, I
thought the better part of valour was to turn away from the shore and await
first morning light. We then turned south away from Suva and motored from 11pm
until 3:30am into the 25 knot wind and 5 meter waves and had a very rough
wild ride. We calculated the time to get to the harbor at first light. At
that time, we then returned on our track and sped into Suva; of course a fog descended just as we
entered between the reefs. As we entered, we saw poor Marita, stuck on
her side on the reef; a sad and chilling sight. We anchored and asked to
be cleared into customs. We were told we need to wait until Monday
morning to clear which means we cannot get off the boat until then. And
here we sit.
The crew did famously throughout the night. Thom and
Dick are now watching Flight Plan video. Suva looks nice from out here at anchor.
Babelfish
