Leaving Interlude on a mooring in Denarau , we both spent May in Canada making sure that we were not forgotten back in Canada! Keeping in touch with friends and relatives, always a great time! Thank you all so much for making the time to visit.
Back in Fiji, we had scheduled to get the Bimini replaced, it was made in 2002, not bad for a piece of cloth exposed to the weather all the time. Best laid plans, so how we were taken off the list for the Bimini repair as the shop was just too busy! They had to many Winston resort issues to address, not to mention a lot of sails to repair as few boats had an easy passages up from New Zealand this year. So we are waiting for a quote now as they promised to give us a great off season price for waiting.
We had a few days catching up with Summer Spirit, Ian and Colleen and of course Wiggle butt (aka Koli the dog). They had moved SS to Musket Cove, so it was a good excuse to hang there, a beautiful place to visit and play.
We went to Vuda to get some Winston kisses fixed, but again got dropped from the work list. We had one piece temporarily done, to be redone this cyclone season, but it left us ready for the cruising season.
After 16 years we had to say 'thank you' and goodbye to Trouble our trusted sometime OK, most of the time floating dinghy. Yep we bought a new dinghy, we hope that it will give us as many years as Trouble. The new name, Double Trouble, or DT for short. She was brought up from New Zealand by some friends on Paws Time. Not having had a hard bottom dinghy before, didn't realize what a favour we were asking when Geoff and Penny agreed to bring her up. They have a Catamaran but still had to rearrange where they usual have dinner while underway as our new dinghy occupied their cockpit table. Anyway, they were amazing, when we got back to Interlude after our Canada trip DT was on Interlude's foredeck! Thank you, Thank you
So with a new dinghy and food we load the V-birth with Sea Mercy stuff and head off for Taveuni, via Savusavu. The first two days are fine motor/sail, then we get stuck at the corner between the 2 big islands as the wind is steady over 30 knots. After a couple of days in one spot with high winds at anchor, not real fun we started to get stir crazy so we move to Vitu Levu bay around the corner to take a peek at the real weather plus a change of scenery, guess what awesome, you wouldn't know it is howling just around the corner and talk about pretty.
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| Bye old friend |
Back in Savusavu! Wow, we have a bunch of friends here to catch up with. So good to see everyone! Not to mention dinner with the boys!, Curly and Brian. Then we said see ya soon and off to Taveuni again back to Paradise.
Well after some very hard work at our friends resort (Paradise Resort Taveuni) renovating, sewing and rewiring and launching their dive boat and only 2 dives for leisure, Interlude was definitely mad at us for not paying too much attention to her. On route to Savasava to check out to do our annual Futuna run in Sept. to clear our boat papers and passports, 3 things went wrong. The backup autohelm didn't work, (primary autohelm which we got the new part for still doesn't work....it needs a new brain like us all) our water maker leaks ( contacted Spectra need new seals and o rings not happening in our timeframe to leave) and to top it all we are not charging from the batteries. ....okay interlude we are sorry we neglected you.
So why would we still want to head off in 2 days to go on a 500 nm Futuna run, you may ask...well Karen and I want to motor up and maybe motor sail back this time....last year we got the sh.......t kicked out of us. Last years forecast was so wrong..but this one looked so right. Okay so what to do,? The next morning we put out a call for help on the VHF radio on the local net... yup we got it .We had a guy from another bay offer to give us a new part, another boat in the our bay offer a part as well for our backup autohelm but both are the wrong size but what a great feeling to know that their are people out their willing to help....we have seen that and still see that all over the world and especially after Winston. Okay so plan C...we had heard of a guy for crew which we think we met before so hand steering is and option...then we get a knock on the boat and Brian offer to help with our problems...let me describe him, he is about 73, heavy smoker, skinny as a rake, wonderfull smile, deaf but an amazing paino player...so over he comes with tools and advise. So Karen and Brian tackle the autohelm and charging issue. Yeah they get the autohelm working and the charging works maybe ...sort of....kind of......but we have plan D and E just in case.
So do we or don't we get crew..hummmmm. I didn't not want crew at first, Karen did. So we wrote the guy who had this 29 year old as crew. Tom on Piko who is a single hander had nothing but high praise for Alexis and would have him as crew again anytime plus he cooks and cleans up...okay Cheryl feels better, besides Cheryl knows Interlude is mad at us..so a 3rd hand would be good idea. So we meet him, yup it is the guy we met before who asked to be our crew in Denarau. During the conversation he asked all the right questions and he seemed like he would be a hlep so I asked him to be our crew for the trip.
So with diesel and food and now water loaded, we met at customs the next morning to check out. Weather still wonderful :) You remember the comment about the charging problem well it is back...so plan D comes into play, change the alternator so now we are really underway.
We did get the forecast, yup we are pinching ourselves on that one, we stop mid passage for an afternoon swim as the water was flat, flat, flat did I mention flat as a pancake. Here you are in 2100 meters of water swimming, way cool and guess what the water was way warmer then when we were diving...hummm.
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| Futuna early morning....love those flat seas |
We arrived in Futuna early morning and with the usual Futuna friendly French check in, by the way Alexis is French/Kiwi. so easy all around. So..after 4 hours in Futuna we are off with 3 duck breasts, a baguette and brie and other French things stowed on Interlude. There are some advantages to making this trip. We had 10 knot of favorable wind and very little seas back to Savasava, and the boat is cleared for another 18 months. yeah.
As for our crew...he cooked a lovey curry dinner the first night and spaghetti on the last night. He was a great help and crew and yup I definitely would have him as crew again...and he does cleanup. (and yes this is Cheryl saying that). He is still learning about sailing and navigation but he is very keen to learn.
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| Alexis, Karen and Cheryl a very happy crew |
As for Interlude we think she is forgiving us, we have promised her we will order her new things and fix her back up.
By the way Alexis came back the next day and offered to haul jerry cans and wash the deck just to help out. :)
Back in Savusavu we had dinner with Alexis's host family. Fish two ways, with two sauces, wow to both! And Casava, of course. A great evening.
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| Alexis and Karen and the host family...Great food and lots lots lots |
Paradise revisited! We provisioned for a trip over the top or Vanua Levu. An area seldom travelled. We dropped off the last two pieces of the Dive boat Explorers covers to Paradise. Amazing, two of the divers came up and thanked me for making them, allowing them to sit out of the sun on the top deck. Cheryl finished the work on three of the bed frames she was repairing, another Winston thing, so they will be ready when the last three Vale's are rebuilt.
We did 5 dives this time. A deep dive at the resort looking for salvage. Two 'normal' dives on Rainbow Reef, if you could ever call that diving normal, that is if spectacular is an new word for normal. Then we went with Allan, one of the owners of Paradise Resort to check out the two cyclone holes we were recommending to him to keep the Explorer safe, Naqaiqai Creek and Dakuniba. And we took tanks! the first dive was at the purple wall, not dealt with nicely by Winston! The second site was a new site not done before just outside Dakuniba Bay, beautiful pristine reef, amazing colours, great fish life and beautiful corals. What a great last dive for the area until next year! As we are heading back to Paradise Mikali the captain spotted a pod of pilot whales, so he slowed down and headed for them. And they decided to play with the Explorer! The pod was large, 20-30 whales, on the surface again and again. At least three of them came along side the boat to see us! Of course we were so in awe we didn't get a picture..sorry. An amazing end to a day of exploring safe anchorages, diving and just being on the water! 💦
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| The new dive site |
Then we looked at the weather, oops, what do you mean cyclonic winds, it is October! Then a week of wind from the north and west. That means the plans to go over the top top would not be a good place to be...so we are back in Savusavu to wait for a weather wind as it 's time to head back to Vuda Marina and put Interlude in her cyclone pit, no more in the water during cyclone season for us for a very long while. Now it is time to fix our baby. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
