Busy time since we arrived here in Fiji. Getting our gear out of the storeroom and putting everything back on board, putting all the sails up etc was hard work in the heat. A few hitches and frustrations along the way for instance with our jib furler and also our chart plotter screen that will need to be sent back to New Zealand for repair, but hopefully all will be sorted in good time. Cold beers at the end of the day are always a welcome reward!

 

Karen and Jonathan arrived on the 16th. Their plane had been cancelled because of the earthquake that shook New Zealand again that day of so instead of arriving mid-afternoon they only got here late evening. To add to the frustration their luggage didn’t follow but fortunately were delivered the following morning. Mike had decorated their bed with fowers and made a “Bula” – welcome in Fiji- with leaves bits. So pretty!

 

We hired a car for two days to tour the island (we are on Viti Levu). Our friend Karen from the Australian boat GiGi whom we met last year in New Zealand joined us as she is on her own for a month, her husband having returned to Australian for business. We went to Sigatora where we strolled through the market, did some shopping, had lunch and took a beautiful walk through huge sand dunes. We visited a pottery village and were given a demonstration by the ladies who are making the potteries. On the way back we stopped at Denareau Marina and had a beer. It is a very big private compound with a golf course, several luxury hotels, masses of shops and restaurants. the marina is not very big but there are also a few mooring balls in the bay. All done in the American style so you could think that you are in Florida instead of Fiji. We quite prefer where we are, Vuda is small, friendly and welcoming.

 

The next day we went to the Orchid gardens which were very pretty. We enjoyed a 2 hours walk through the gardens and forest, all well maintained. Both Karens and i climbed the steep hill to admire the view but Mike and Jona stayed behind. Too much hard work! We had lunch in Lautoka on the terrace of a hotel overlooking the bay. Then back to the marina and the boat, just in time to go to the bar and listen to a very good live band.

 

Our sailing departure for Musket Island had to be delayed for one day because of the failure of our chart plotter and our attempt to solve the problem immediately. That failed as we now know that we need to ship it back to New Zealand as they can’t do the repair here in Fiji. Instead we spent the afternoon by the swimming pool with a rum punch. Very pleasant!

 

So on Tuesday 20th we finally sailed to Musket Cove. It was a beautiful calm day. The colour of the sea was a beautiful turquoise and we sailed gently with only the yankee out through a few little islands with very white sandy beaches. The entrance to Musket Cove offers a few hazards, like rocks and shallow patches everywhere but they were fairly well marked and with keeping a good lookout we made it with no problems. We took a mooring ball in the bay. Musket Cove is a resort with beach bar, restaurant, swimming pool, sandy beach. All very pleasant. Karen, Mike and Jona played golf on the nine hole course. First time that Karen was playing golf. Fiji is not a bad place to have a first try!

 

We came back to Vuda yesterday. The weather was overcast with some tropical rain shower and we had 11 to 18 knots of wind. Not much really but enough to make Jona a bit queasy... Nice sail back though!

 

Yesterday was the last night for Karen and Jona so we went to the marina restaurant where we had a nice meal, a few bottles of a French rose wine called J. Moreau which made Jona happy as it is his surname too, and took some fun photos to remember this lovely night.

 

After a pancake breakfast Karen and Jona left to catch their plane back to Auckland.It was great to have them on board and we will miss them.

 

Quick change of sheets and boat cleaning and we are not waiting for the arrival of our friend Wendy who will stay with us until Monday. A cake is baking in the oven making the boat very hot but also smelling delicious!

 

Hope you will enjoy the photos attached.