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| Yup this is Sir Winston |
So what have we been up to post SIR WINSTON you ask. Well the next morning, it was a day of reflection and alot of
OMG. As you looked around you saw boats all over the place, on rocks, in trees, twisted and broken. Not a sight any one wants to see. But as you look ashore you see the people of Fiji starting the clean up of the town.
We also went with a few email addresses and a short message, saying we were fine, one of the boats volunteered to send off short emails so that friends and family knew we were OK.
The next morning there was a call from Curly wanting 2 strong guys to deliver a battery and hook up a bilge pump for a boat that was taking on water....no one answered the call sooooooo we got on the radio and said we are not 2 strong men but we are certainly willing to volunteer the 2 Interlude girls...thus started the trend. We ended up in a 2 week period, help move rocks from around keels and rudders, tie ropes to help re-launch boats, fix or secure broken hatches. In total we help re-launch 4 boat and involved 3 other boats to prepare for re-launching. As for the working conditions, lets just say you are either knee deep in mangrove mud or walking on boats with broken glass or twisted rigging and leaning at about a 45 degree angle. All the prep and all the cuts and scrapes is nothing because when you see that boat move off the rocks or out of the mud, oh what a feeling. A boat needs to be in the water for sure. Re-launching the boats was made possible by a great team including the power by Alistair on Conterband a large powerboat. It was his amazing boat handling skills and the team work from the dingy drivers who kept Conterband straight and out of danger, and the people on the boats who secured the bridles and made sure the ropes did their job of pulling and not doing any more damage. It was a super team effort by all.
In our spare time we repaired our own boat, had our rigging inspected as we got a direct hit to our side right at our side plate for our shrouds. Plus we tried to look after Curly, he called us mom 1 and mom 2! Curly sometimes needed to have 2 Moms telling him that he needs to take his meds and eat as he has an infection and cuts on his legs, but Curly being Curly it is hard to tie down.
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| One of our little dents....okay a section of our boat missing |
We did finally get a hold of our friends on the island of Tavanui, where we knew they where hit hard. The call was heartbreaking, we had so many good times there, moored in front of their resort, hearing they had lost their resort was difficult. They said there is basically nothing left and their staffs houses in the village are lost as well. With tears on both end of the phone Allan said they will let us know in 2 days if they are going to rebuild, our response was they are like family and so are their staff we will come and help any way we can just let us know. So we sat for 2 days on pins and needles, watching the weather and planning our departure . So when we got the call, could we come and help, you bet we said we will be there, what do you need us to bring?
With a small shopping list of some tools and food for us and finally check on a boat that was Cheryl's project, turn over of keys and responsibility, we said our goodbyes to our cruiser friends. But first we had to get a diver to take the stray mooring line we picked up along the way which was wrapped around our prop and to remove our safety line from our mooring. We didn't feel too bad about leaving our cruiser friends at this stage as most of the remaining boat need some more pre work by the owners and the super high tide which was in a week. So off went.
One thing we would like to say is the comrade and the new friendship, the bonding that any disaster does...is truly amazing thank you all
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