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| This the reason we are out here. Interlude and Somerset in Budd's Reef WOW!! |
After checking back into Fiji, we seemed to be stuck in Savu
Savu for a month eating our share of
curry and meeting up with old and new friends.
We actually did not spend all of our time in Savu Savu , we
took a ferry from Savu Savu to Lautoka, to help our friend Caz on Somerset to
deliver her boat back up to Savu Savu.
We were greeted at the ferry dock with a big hug and off we went to Vuda
Marina the marina we left our boat at during last years cyclone season. As we rode in the taxi from Lautoka to Vuda
Marina our friends who heard we were coming started to call on the phone, as
they were all waiting for us at the bar.
We had a lovely greeting from our Vuda
friends and staff. The next
morning off we went on Somerset for our 4 day passage to Savu Savu using our
tracks from when did the passage with Interlude. Sailing a Catamaran was a new experience for
us both it is definitely different than a mono hull for sure. We even manage to catch a Walu and a Mahi Mahi
which way easier to bring aboard on a Cat and we even did a few repairs as we
went along.
Then the focus was on getting Somerset out of the water,
which turned out to be easy, it was getting her back in after her repairs that
was hard. They had cut some supports for
the trailer to have better access to the area that needed repairs, so when she
went back in the trailer buckled. Cheryl
suggested putting wood under the cross beams of the trailer that broke and
where digging into the dirt, sort of like creating mini skies. So the day at low tide with Curly’s staff,
Caz, us and Bill from Island Bound we worked at digging out the beams and
placing the wood. After 2 tries and a
larger back hoe pushing and lots of help Somerset was afloat. Yippy.
We finally broke loose of the Savu Savu and headed back over
to our favorite resort. With a BIG BULA
and a wave we were welcomed back to Paradise Resort. The smiles and laughs all began again.
After a few days we
set sail again back to Viani Bay. We meet
up with our friends on Monkey Fist, Paul and Frances and Caz on Somerset, great
food and laughter where on the agenda. We then went from Viani Bay to an anchorage
in North Kioa. Our first day we had all
decided we need to do a garbage burn, so off to shore. Since the island is mostly made up of coconut
palms and mangroves we just had to collected some coconuts and have few to
eat. Paul gave us husking coconut lessons,
not sure but we think we need a lot more practice as it is not as easy as it
looks. After our lessons a Bocce game
broke out. The next was water skiing of sorts,
we used Caz’s paddle board and a dingy and off we went around the bay…what a
blast after you got the hang of standing up on the board without getting a
snout full of salt water. It was an
awesome time. Then Monkey Fist had to
move on and we moved to Katherine’s Bay in Rabi to meet up with Bill on Island
Bound.
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| Yup Cheryl is up sort of.... |
Katherine’s Bay is a lovely flat anchorage. We even went to church!
We had a couple of decent walks on the
island, and had some great conversations with many locals. One man gave us directions to a school some
ways on; when we got back he gave us a husked coconut to quench our
thirst! Lovely people!
Our next stop was Budd’s Reef, a place The Rose had
recommended to us. We anchored the first
night at the most westerly island.
Cheryl tried out her BCD repair, while Caz and Karen snorkeled. The water was amazingly clear, cold and we
did discover that there was no way into shore.
The next day we moved to the village and had our first Sevu Sevu, a
welcoming into the village ceremony. It
was really a non-event. Then we found
Willy the chief’s son as the Rose told us to and the fun began. We hiked up the island, which offered us some
amazing views!
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| What can we say....Amazing |
Then we
hauled anchor and headed over to another island, an extinct volcano. Willy was our guest for 2 nights on board
Interlude. The first night we did a night snorkel and the boys speared fished! With our booty from the guys, fish pie was on
the menu for the next night’s dinner on Interlude. The next day we hiked this island, again
amazing views.
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| The crater at Cobia in Budd's Reef |
And then we had barbequed fish
on the beach, with left over salads! The
next day we did a dive in the morning, while Willy tended the dinghies. We motored back to drop Willy off near the
village and then once we had anchored we went into the village to join in on a
Meke, a local dance and cava ceremony put on by the village for a small cruise
ship. Once the ‘cruise ship’ guests left
if was just us, we sat down on the mats and had an awesome time talking to the
chief’s wife Elizabeth. An amazing
couple of days.
Then we headed down to the anchorage at the north end of
Taveuni, Matei. From there we did a
provisioning run, had a great snorkel.
Yup we then moved back down to Paradise, again. We had been gone a month, but not forgotten! Welcome home…..www.ParadiseinFiji.com
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| Interlude in Paradise |
After a couple of days at Paradise it was back to Viani Bay
and this time, a dive a day. We went
with Caz in Clyde (the dingy really it is Trouble’s boyfriend) to a couple of
dive sites and one dive with Dolphin Bay Divers, an amazing time on the Great
White Wall. We finally caught up with
the Rose and had drinks on their boat and then the next day, dinner on
Interlude. The Rose, John and Pat ,
where in the graveyard with us in Vuda and will be again this year, but it was
the first time we had had them on board, it was great to get to really talk!
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| White Wall you have to see it to believe it |
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| Circus of Clown Fish |
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| He is so cute. A Blackspotted Puffer Fish |
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| Guess Who???? |
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| Can you see him???? |
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| Here is the other one...A Scorpion Leaf Fish |
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| Lots of Fishies |
Now we are back at Paradise, for our 7th time, not
a surprise, waiting for Will (a friend from Canada) to arrive. Cheryl has been teaching Suli to read music
(Suli works in the dive shop and plays guitar most nights). He is a great musician, doing it all by ear!
So far the season has not gone as planned but who cares it
has still been a great one!
