Welcome to Paradise

This was always our greeting as we sailed into the moorings at Paradise resort Taveuni.   This time as we sailed towards Tavenui,  all we could say or think was OMG.  The lush green island was now brown and very different.   The palm trees that lined the shores and trees that hide buildings are either broken or gone. 

As we sailed close to the island we even  passed a dead cow floating by and of course lots of trees and coconuts.   People have been describing the destruction of Winston in some areas as like a bomb went off,  not have ever seen that before,  but  if you have describe it...yup a bomb went off.  We saw structures in the hills we have never seen before and the village that was always hidden behind green was now  visible showing the broken homes of some of our friends.
 

We needed assistance to pick up our mooring as it was not quite right yet, but Allan had made sure we had a safe place for us to tie up too.  So Christina the dive master came out to tie us off with a big a Bula smile, we did get our usual WELCOME to PARADISE.

 

As we looked around the whole topography of the shore line had changed there are new alcoves and rock walls, rock slides and fallen trees plus broken pieces of concrete. Even when I went in the water to just have a look at our mooring and a little snorkeling on what used to be our favorite house reef, I was shocked.  It was like a land slide had taken place, I guess it did, underwater.  Our mooring which used to have a chain wrapped thru a huge piece of rock and had about 30 feet of chain secured all over the place and visible, was now buried under the rubble and only 6 feet is showing, yup that is secure for sure.  Good news I did see some fish who came to say Welcome Back. 

 

We were invited for dinner at Terri and Allan's,  but first we had to first figure out where tie our dingy and climb up the shore as the dock is still there but no walkway.  So with our minds set on being mountain goats  we walking gingerly up over lava rocks.  On what used to be the grass lawn we wondered around and could not believe our eyes, it is so hard to describe the destruction, there were a few walls, but pretty well every structure had only 2 walls left.   The dive shop and compressor room were gone, spa gone, boat launch gone you get the picture.   WOW WOW.  We turned to each other and said we made the right choice to come and help.  Our reason for helping our friends rebuild their resort was by doing so, we were helping them and  the villages in the area by the villagers having  a place to work and make money to rebuild their lives.



As we made our way up to their house we saw some of the staff we have known for some time and as always and maybe even more special for us a BIG SMILE AND HUGS.  Yup the BIG HUGS continued up at the house. We brought in a bottle of bubbly and the stories began,  it was an amazing evening.

Paradise as we arrive

This was a bure  now just a few walls and a toilet

The next morning with jobs list  and our crew assigned off we went to rebuild Paradise

What did we do...

• Build 3 bures (Fijian type roofs/huts)
• Take down walls and ceilings, to be rebuilt.
• Put up fences
• Remove debris
• Clean up the old generator room and fuel depot, including cleaning all the jerry cans!
• Move rocks, the small ones became part of the walkways, the big ones part of walls
• Mix concrete
• Sort bottles, refundable vs to become land fill
• Paint trim, Put up trim
• Paint boards, trim you name it.
• Remove nails, so trim can be reused
• Took up tiles, for changing bure layouts and redecorating
• Temporary fixed plumbing and Toilets
• Repair water heaters
• Repair furniture, thrown around by Winston
• Started to build the ramp from the dock.

Removing the bamboo in the restaurant



Toss bottle into where concrete will be laid...yup landfill

The day began at 7:30  and finished at 4 pm.  Lunch was provided for over 60 staff and us...so if you have to feed the masses what do you serve you ask,  in Fiji it Dahl and rice....yup 6 days in a row.  actually the food was Dahl and rice, chick pea curry and rice and  curried eggs and rice on a three day rotation. Only  Cheryl doesn't  eat eggs, so it was Dhal six days in a row!  Cheryl will never eat Dahl again.  Dahl Dahl, Dahl!!!

Karen was assigned 4 women from the village who had never worked outside the home, but had fantastic attitudes.  They thought of themselves as doing men's works and they did it well.  We did so many different things, input from all so we did it smartly and the ladies did work , so we exceeded expectations on each task.  A group of ladies I would be delighted to work with anytime!

Karen and her ladies

 

Cheryl had a group men some of which she had worked with before, and some new guys who were farmers who had lost their  homes and crops and needed some money to rebuild and plant. So with our task of building bures, off we went rain or shine.. The joke is if there is ever another  cyclone everyone will hide in the roof of the bures my guys built. Yup it will be strong.  They were a joy to work with and I did learn a few more Fijian words for various tools and some other words....hummmm and they learned a few from me.  We all shared at least one or two ouches as we hit our fingers with a hammer or a cut from tin but all with a Bula smile at the end.

 


Cheryl and her guys.  Two of the bures that we built are behind us

During our weeks of helping the weather changed a bit one Sunday ...of course it was the day we were going to have a massage, so instead of a massage  we had to  run for shelter...first thought was just up to Viani Bay an 11 mile sail, but the waves and winds kept growing and in the wrong direction and our speed dropped to 2 knots and as we had a pass to go through, so we changed direction and went to Savusavu.  Karen figured it would take the same amount of time to go 11 miles or 40!  This was also good as we could get a fix of food other than, You guessed it, Dahl!  We also needed some fruit and veggies as  not much was available  in Taveuni..  So we called Waitui marina and by 6:30 pm we were safe and sound.

After a quick hello to everyone in Savasava and food shopping we set off again to head back to Paradise,  but oh no the weather and waves had different ideas, so we ducked into Viani bay for a night.  We could not believe it some 11 miles away from Tavenui and Paradise this little bay had absolutely no signs of a cyclone, not even a palm tree down, it was unbelievable did we mention. .....just 11 miles away. WOW. 

The next morning off we went as the weather settled and by 1pm we where back to work, but this time Cheryl refused to go in for Dahl so lunch on Interlude.....smart you bet.

For over a month we worked and once again the weather changed and maybe another cyclone oh boy, just what Fiji needs.  So off we ran  again to Savusavu but this time it was to stay until we head back to the big island to put the boat to bed for our trip back to Canada. So we took an afternoon off and prepared the boat and then went in to say our goodbyes to the staff, we had bought pop and cookies which has become a tradition for anyone of the volunteers who have flown into help, so with a little speech and lots of Hugs, we said see ya to our new and old  friends.  The staff where truly amazing. 

 That night before we left we had a lovely" thank you, goodbye,  see you soon", dinner hosted by Terri and Allan complete with Lobster yummmmy, plus a song that Terri and Allan composed to the theme song from the show Laverne and Shirley, it was so funny and  very  special.  We are so glad we went and helped and we wish them and the staff all the best for their opening of the New Paradise. If any group can do it,  it is the team of Paradise.  We will be back for sure in June.

We were not the only ones to go to help Paradise, Terri and Allan.  Phil, Ian, Travis, Bevan, Dip, Paddy where also there when we were, plus all the support from their friends and guest from all over the world who  had given support in one form or another, that speaks volumes for the resort and it staff.. People reaching out to help, awesome!   Disasters really do bring out the best in people.

As for the cyclone, in this case Zena, well it was definitely not a Winston in fact it passed the other side, so all we had was a little wind but all was good.....However the rain was another story...Fiji got hit with record  breaking rain...so glad we live in a boat and float. .Some areas had 11 feet of water on their main streets....okay Fiji has had enough. But no matter what happens you will always see a Fijian with a Big Bula Smile.

So we are now heading to the main island and to a mooring in Denarau to put the boat to bed for a month while we head to Canada so that is all from us  for now.

 

 

AFTER WINSTON

 

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. 

 

A radio call from Curly; our source,  our rock, our go to person ..."calling all cruisers to a meeting to assess damage and to rally the cruiser troops to assist".   We all had a day to see what damage we each had then it was  time for the meeting.  Since Copra Shed Marina  still had a dock and a place to meet the meeting was held there, with all of the marinas present,  even soft drinks where provided by Copra Shed.   So the planning began:  who can diver, who could fiberglass,  who could do do do....just help.  Hands went up. 

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.

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

 

Winston came to call 2 versions of our story

Went to sleep on the 19th with the weather reports showing Winston would go between Suva and Kadavu, some 100+ miles from us. Wake up in the am of the 20thFebruary, 2016 to find that Winston has moved only west, no south and will pass very close. Also Winston is now a category 5 cyclone and this news is BC, before coffee.

We had prepared the boat: removed the blades on the wind generator, extra ties on the solar panels on the arch, removed the solar panel on the railing, extra ties on jerry cans on the deck, main is off. Now we took down the enclosure, so we have as little windage as we could.

We had the two lines to the mooring, with chaffing gear and had put a safety line to the mooring, in case the mooring line itself broke. Also before the season started the moorings had been inspected by a prominent dive shop owner and he had pronounced our mooring sound. Cheryl dove it to, to inspect and put on the safety line. Cheryl went down almost to her armpit, to try to reach the mooring, felt nothing, but ucky, mucky oooge! Yuk, but good from a holding perspective.

So we are ready!? The winds start to pick up around 10am, but no big deal, except the winds they keep increasing! Then the calls on the radio start: Karma is lose, Heritage is lose, Chululu is lose...We had removed the remote for the radio so could only hear when we went below deck. This didn't really matter as you couldn't hear in the cockpit the when the winds increase.

When Chululu broke lose she was the first boat to hit us, she was a big windage wooden dive boat, and she started us dragging! Engine on and for the next four hours we drove, using the engine to slow our drag, avoid boats, and keep us in the wind as much as possible.

At the very beginning, Cheryl was steering, when we got the phone call from Hiedi, on Huck. Friends to wanted to know if we were OK, what a boost! As the winds picked up, Cheryl needed clothes, we had agreed to wet clothes in the sink, but Karen couldn't find them, so took the helm so Cheryl could find clothes to stop the pelting of 1000 needles.

Then fashion statement on Interlude was dive masks and foul weather jackets. The rain was so hard there was no other way to look into the wind . You couldn't hear a thing, except the wind. Driving, I switched from side to side so the helming was less effort. After a couple of hours I would drop an arm to let the water run out of my sleeve, also gave us a laugh.

Cheryl took the helm several times so that Karen could go forward and check that we were still attached to the mooring. The winds and waves were just pelting, Cheryl could only see Karen occasionally.

We danced for many hours with one boat. Afterwards we found out that she had broken her Helix mooring, had put an anchor down to slow her movement and was driving. While we actually kissed several times, we both managed to keep those as nudges.

Trust in yourself, trust in your boat, trust in yourself, trust in your boat. I kept repeating this to myself.

At some points the gusts were so strong that we were toe rail in the water, something we don't think we have ever done under sail!

The waves at the height of Winston were substantial, at one point Cheryl was looking back and saw the bow of a boat off our stern above our davits, which are 12 feet above the water. That boat missed our solar panel on the davits by inches.

We held the same position for an hour or two, with the mooring and the engine slowing our drag. While visibility was very limited, we could see the Fiji pearl farm dock every few minutes, so knew we were not moving. I went forward several times, against Cheryl's protest, to check the lines to our mooring, they were fine.

Then the eye went through and we had a 90 degree windshift. We started to drag again. But the same thing, switch from side to side at the helm as we heeled. I don't know that we have ever put our tow rail in the water on our boat under sail, but certainly did with the wind gusts.
Cheryl went forward to rescue the spare halyard, and was horizontal due to wind gusts, needs to eat more ice cream, or wear lead boots!

I told Cheryl to go down and prepare a ditch bag. She took the helm while I prepared a ditch bag with our passports, as Cheryl had noted that she didn't have them. Cheryl saw a pile up of boats on the shore behind us. She said, I don't want to be part of the carnage.

Cheryl had gone down stairs to check the engine, bilge, barometric pressure and the time, 2:30. Figured that Winston had hit Taveuni at 9am, 40kn from us, was moving at 12 knots, he had to be moving away and things would settle down soon.

At one point I said to Cheryl "do you realize that you can hear me?" The wind was dying and where we had drug to was sheltered by Nawi Island. We looked down the creek and could see how the mangroves stopped the wind and rain. We could see the hill in back of the town of Savu Savu, but not the boats down the creek. Now you can see white stallions in a snow storm running towards you, as you steer towards them, to try to keep the boat stable. Before we couldn't see anything, no reference, you couldn't see the bow of your boat!

Cheryl had gone down stairs to check the engine, bilge, barometric pressure and the time 2:30. Figured that Winston had hit Taveuni at 9am, 40kn from us, was moving at 12 knots, he had to be moving away and things would settle down soon.

Cheryl ordered me downstairs to get warm and put on dry clothes. I did not realize how much I was shivering, she did! I got on dry clothes, including a polar fleece, yes, I know we are in the tropics? I checked the weather, a beautiful satellite photo, showing that the eye had passed us!

All Cheryl saw was this grey mass coming down full tilt, like a bullet with, feeling helpless, not able to avoid the hit. She shouted, Hold on Kar! We were hit mid ships by an aluminum boat, going full tilt! Hits and slides down our side!

From then on things started to calm down. We looked not too far behind us and see a pile up of boats on shore, about 8 boats aground! Over time we find out that 23 or 50 boats went aground, one is a write off, or more from an insurance perspective.

The eye of the storm went about 25 miles south of us. We had winds of 140 to 185 knots. depending on who you listen to, as we do not have an anometer!

Being part of history is something, but something that we can do without!!!

2nd Version - A DAY WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

On February 20th, 2016, a category 5 cyclone hit Fiji, in fact the strongest storm ever in the South Pacific.

Here is the story from the perspective of Interlude, Karen and Cheryl:

On the 19th we prepared the boat for a cyclone.  We removed everything we could from the deck and double tied everything we couldn't, even the wind generator blades.  That evening Winston was forecast to pass 90 nautical miles south of us, between Kadavu and Suva.  At 2:30 am,  Cheryl checked the weather again and Winston's path had changed, it was now forecasted to pass quite close to us.  At daybreak we secured trouble (our dinghy) upside down on the foredeck and removed bimini and dodger and their poles, we had little windage left.

By 10am, the winds and rains started.  They got serious by noon.  The first boats broke free of their moorings, and the fun began.  The VHF became active as boats started to drift onto each other.  We got on the VHF around noon as the boat beside us drug down on us.  This started us dragging our mooring.  We then had another interaction, now there were three!  We got free from the two boats and started what felt like the longest passage of our lives, which was really only a 1/2 nautical mile down the creek.    We danced with the wind and waves, roughly in the same spot for an hour or hour and a half.  Then another boat joined the dance, a boat that had broken her mooring, was driving like us and anchor down to slow her passage.  We passed each other bow to bow, stern to stern, side to side, every which way until the end.  We did interact a few times.

At the height you could not hear, the noise was too much, worse than any rock concert!  you had to be inches from an ear so that maybe they could hear you.  We had dive masks on, but sometimes could not see beyond the bow of the boat the wind and rain was so strong.  We had sheets of rain and waves whiting out everything.  For those who have been in a serious snowstorm, you will understand the lack of visibility.

The dive masks certainly made a fashion statement, the accessory to  the outfit of the day on Interlude!  As we were driving to slow our drag, keep in the wind and avoid boats coming down on us, we needed the masks.  The driving rain and seas where amazing.  The boom is basically sandblasted from the water.  In actual fact we feel that our faces were exfoliated!

At some points the gusts were so strong that we were toe rail in the water, something we don't think we have ever done under sail!

The waves at the height of Winston, at one point Cheryl was looking back and saw the bow of a boat off our stern above our davits, which are 12 feet above the water.  That boat missed our solar panel on the davits by inches. 

Then the eye passed, the wind direction changed and drug to the south a little.  We were still dancing with the same boat, some awesome driving on both sides to have not had any serious interactions with them.  After the fact they found out that their anchor was caught in the wreck of a boat, stopping their drag!

With the change of wind direction and where we were located, somewhat behind an island we could see the wind funnel down the creek like sheets of snow.  But it wasn't as sever for us as it was for the others who were more exposed.

Karen turned to Cheryl and said, do you realize that you can hear me?  The worst was over.  The shore and its building started to appear.  Then we could see the hill in behind the town, you could still see the walls of rain as they came through gaps in the mangroves further down the creek.  It was probably an hour later before we could see Savu Savu marina at the end of the creek, they are so exposed to the north.

Somewhere out of the white sheets of snow came a grey mass, an aluminium boat had broke its mooring and was heading straight for the side of the boat.  Cheryl yelled "hold on Karen" as we were really and truly struck.  She hit our starboard shrouds and then ran down the boat and then joined the boats ashore on the rocks!

By six o'clock we turned off the engine, gave each other a hug and started to breathe again.  Then we looked around us.  There were approximately 50 boats in the creek, 23 had gone ashore.  Not to mention the local boats that sunk, or were turned upside down.  The town was without power and water, the roads were filled with debit and rocks that had to be cleared with front end loaders.

The town was mostly spared as it was tucked in behind a hill, at least from the direction the wind was coming.  The eye had passed less than 25 miles south of us and we are alittle bruised, dented and scratched put so very happy to be here.

South to North

From Southern Lau to Northern Lau okay it is only 120 nautical miles, an overnight sail.  No problem????

·         A good forecast … check

·         Winds in the right direction…yup downwind …check

·         Seas 1 to 1.5 meters from the right direction...NOT SO MUCH…2 meters.. WRONG DIRECTION

·         Sleep….are you kidding see Seas above

·         Food…yummy  split pea soup courtesy of Ian on Summer Spirit.

·         Buddy Boat; Local Talent, Dean and Sabina …check
 

Okay the winds where not quite the 15 -20 knot but okay and in the right directions so Interlude with just a head sail was honking.  However the seas were in just the wrong direction, so no sleep, even for Karen.  Apart from the seas it was an okay passage it was great to travel with another boat and yak  about the winds and seas during a passage. So with Local Talent on the radio and with great food in our tummy we arrived in Vanua Balavu, the Northern Lau.

With the sun shining we lead the way in the pass, with Local Talent on our heels, it was easy.  This set of islands have such many large openings in the reefs that current in the passes is not an issue, the issue is that most of the charts are off by almost ½ a mile!  While we have several tracks from other boats into the anchorage we get a heads up from Mer Soliel on a reef on our approach, so we motored around it.  We tried to anchor at the south of the anchorage as we noticed less swell, but couldn’t get the anchor to stick, so we went to the back of the pack and parked .

We put Trouble, our dinghy, in the water and went and picked up Local Talent so that both boats could do their Sevu Sevu at the same time.  We presented our waka and $60 to the chief and were welcomed to the village.   Then  off we went for a little walk with Dean and Sabina, to stretch our legs  after a wobbly passage.  We walked through the village and several kilometers down the road, lovely views over the sea.  We passed pigs, goats, cows and horses, the school and taro and cassava plants, papayas and bananas, all is well in the world.

Yup a grass skirt.  The birthday boy

One of the reason we actual bee lined up to the northern lau was we were invited to a surprise birthday party for a fellow cruiser.  Bev on Mer Soliel had planned this surprise birthday for Robbie’s 70^th  (also known as Robin or his Robbieness). Bev had contacted fellow cruisers and friends to meet up on a his birthday at the Vanua Balavu way back last year.  Bev had arranged with the village of Daliconi that they would put on a feast; a Lovo for us, complete with a pig cooked in the ground and all the fixins  Yummy!!  It was a complete surprise and poor Robbie had to get dressed up in traditional Figian garb, what a great time complete with singing and dancing.  

Robbie checking out the pig in the pit

Teaching the village kids Bocce

The next we had arranged to go on an island tour with Local Talent.  So we went to Lomo Lomo, the largest city on the island, bought Voda phone top ups for our cell phones, Local Talent bought some fruit and veg, such as it was.  With shopping completed, off we went to the hot springs and caves complete with human bones and then to a lookout, all before lunch.  Our driver took us to a lovely backpacker place for lunch,  then to the other end of the island to the village of the former prime minister and a church leader and then back to Daliconi, the village we were anchored off of.  We had a dispute over the price, which was not a nice way to end to the day, but it was all settled and well worth the trip.

Outlook mid island

Cooking off the moisture

We then moved to Batavu Bay, where Tony’s (the owner of Vuda and Copra Shed marina) grandfather bought a place, many many moons ago.  A deep lovely bay large enough to hold good 10-20 boats, but the depth of the bay ranges from 15 meters to 22 meters; we lucked in and found a place that was 9 meters.  Here you are welcomed ashore and welcomed to walk all around the plantation, which is complete with hiking paths!  The plantation has sheep and cows, the village has chickens too.  Here they do the first press of coconut oil.  It is mostly manual process; they husk the coconuts by hand, and then split the nuts in two, keeping the water and cores to feed to the pigs and chicken.  They then use an electric coconut grater to get the white coconut meat out.  3 kilos of coconut meat are then put onto a steel sheet heated by a fire made from coconut shells.  They cook it to get off most of the moisture then put it in a press.  The 3 kilos will yield a litre of oil.  Of course we bought a wine bottle full of oil!

Pressing the coconut oil out

The plantation has roads and trails, substantial trails.  One has a look out over the Bay of Islands.  It is just beautiful and we were welcomed to pick mandarins along the way!  And they were awesome. Nothing is better than just picked fruit

From the lookout with a view of the Bay of Islands

We did the same walk 3 more times, with Fabio and Lisa on Amandla and when Mer Soleil and Local Talent arrived, with them too.  Everyone was happy with the Interlude guided tours!

We celebrated Canada Day with Exit Strategy, Tom and Lisa fellow Canadians; we had met back in Bora Bora.

As the American boats soon took over the anchorage (Domino, MerSoleil, Amandla and Local Talent) and July 4^th was coming up so a potluck on shore was planned, at the Yacht Club, actually bocce followed by the pot luck.  Great food and great company.  Robbie took this day as an opportunity to light his birthday sparkler, courtesy of Interlude.

Follow the bat to the bat cave

Since we were just around the corner from the Bay of Islands we went there the next day, all of 7 miles.   In between rain showers we explored by dinghy as there is nowhere to go to shore.  We found the mother of Bat colonies!  It was something watching them climb the trees, like monkeys and watching them fly around. Didn’t see Bruce Wayne though.  They have these rocks that look like ship wrecks…well kind of or maybe if you are on drugs or something, but the anchorage was peaceful and flat worth the stop over.  We left the next morning to head for Savu Savu.

Do they look like ships to you????

Definition of a flat anchorage

From Northern Lau to Savu Savu another 120 nautical miles

·         A good forecast …

·         Winds in the right direction…

·         Seas 1 to 1.5 meters from the right direction…

·         Sleep….

·         Food…

·         Buddy Boat…nope.

STAY TUNE!!!

Falanga The Mushroom Islands



Yup The little islands look like mushrooms....kind of...sort of....maybe.

Anchor down just inside the pass in Fulanga, in the southern Lau, the eastern most islands of Fiji after an almost perfect weather window for heading in the wrong direction of the normal trade winds.  With the sun shining, off we went with Erie Spirit to snorkel the pass we just drove through. Lots of little fish with an occasional big one and a turtle swimming like something was chasing it and yup pointy edges that we happy made it through.   After that a glass of champagne and a relaxing dinner, then a good night’s sleep! 

More Mushrooms

Next day we moved to the village anchorage were we went in to do our Sevu Sevu, with Erie Spirit and another boat that had just arrived from Savu Savu, Local Talent, with Dean and Sabina on board.  Once at the village we put on our Sulus (long skirt or wrap) and asked around for Joe and Tara, who were Mystic Moons hosts last year.  We had pictures and a letter for them from Mystic Moon.  After a friendly hello, we exchanged some stories about John and Kathy.  Then Joe took us to see the chief, grabbing a sulu off a line on the way.  The chief is in his 80s and doesn’t speak English, so his son, Simon, is there to interpret.  We pass on our Waka and $50 and are welcomed to the village.  We are then get assigned a host family, it got a little confusing as they thought that Erie Spirit and us were on the same boat, there was no way 2 girls would be on their own boat so they must be crew of Erie Spirit.  So we had tea with Tie’s family Erie Spirit’s host , and then he realized that yup 2 girls can be on their own boat, so then we were assigned our own host family, Bis and Joanna as each boat has a host family.

Bis and Joanna are a young couple, both have degrees from the university of the South Pacific.  Joanna is from the village and Biz is a city slicker from Suva, they married a couple of years ago and are enjoying village life.  Sunday sees us at church, yes, again!!  The service was all in Fijian, so all we can say is the singing was lovely!!  They were probably 30 or 40 cruisers there, a greater number than the villagers!!  After church we went to our host’s house for lunch.  We were served fish, two different ways, both awesome and coconut water, so Karen was happy. To soak up the sauces we had coconut bread cooked in an earth over, lovely!! Interesting that we were given cutlery, our hosts used their fingers, then passed around a bowl of water after to wash our hands.  No dinner that night, way too full!! Do they normally eat that much….WOW!!!

Joanna took us clamming!  Awesome, she was very successful, Cheryl was also productive, I found a few as did Mark, Susan found 1.    Since you have to float in the water and find the little cracks in the sand where the clams are breathing let’s just say after 2 hours in the water we were FROZEN TURDS!  So we dropped Joanna off at the shore and went back to our boats to warm up.  We cooked a bucketful of clams and made clam fritters,   we then took them over to Erie Spirit for the feast of our bounty.  Cheryl picked up Bis, Joanna and Tie and we had clams as fritters, clams boiled and dipped in garlic butter and a sea weed salad a la Interlude(we call the sea weed sea grapes, not sure what it is really called.  Poor man’s caviar?).  Lovely.

Next low tide we went crabbing, at least Mark, Susan and Karen did, with Cheryl staying on the boat as the once a month delivery barge anchored right in front of Local Talent and us a little too close for us. Karen, Mark, Susan and Tie took the dinghy two bays over to where Tie has his farm.  We went up and down and onto Mangrove flats.  Tie caught a mangrove crab right away, a BIG one!  Tie caught it with his bare hands, crawling in the cave with half of his body into a ‘cave’ to pull it out.  We then spent the next hour or two wandering around the mangroves, where there were rocks behind for the crabs to hide in.  I had a Bahamian spear with me, while I saw several crabs, none large enough to kill, so they got to live another day, to grow.  Then as we were walking around we saw an amazing sight it was the migration of thousands of small crabs with large red claws, quite a sight to see.

Tie with dinner

On the way back Tie pick some Cassava, the root of a tree somewhat a cross between a hard yam and a hard potato.  Tie showed Susan and I how to make a basket to carry our Cassava and Papaya back to the dinghy.

We picked up Cheryl and went to Erie Spirit.  The crab was cooked, Tie peeled the Cassava, then Susan and I cut it up.  Mark cooked it as pan fries, making it very tasty.  We had made a salad, so once again we had some nutrition.  Another feast yummy

We had Joanna and Bis over for lunch.  Phad Thai was served, with fish.  After a second helping for our hosts, the Phad Thai disappeared.

We moved over to the sand spit anchorage to see what was there.  We walked the beach with Susan at low tide and saw some amazing turquoise pools and white sand beaches; we walked from one end of the beach to the other, just another lovely day in paradise.

Mark on Erie Spirit has to be back in the States for work, so they moved on.  Our playmates were gone! What a great time catching up with them but we know we will see them again real soon.

One day in the village in between rain and wind the village had an inter village competition:  volleyball, singing and dancing.  We watched some great volleyball being played by the villagers both men and women…boy they are good, then it was our turn to play a bit it was truly an embarrassment.

Being good cruisers we listen for weather everyday on the SSB when we don’t have Wifi so as we had been listening on Gulf Harbour Radio, an SSB net run but a retired meteorologist, who gives an awesome weather summary.  (on 8752 at 0715 our time)  So we found out Moondance was on her way.  And then we heard Moondance on the VHF, saying they are at the pass waiting for the tide to come in so we waited and waited and waited.  They made it in but they got lost and went to the wrong anchorage!  So we had a laugh about that, (yup they even said they wondered how they made it to Fij). So with plans for them to move over the next day to where we were as the forecasted was for the winds to pick up and we had hunkered down by the village as it was the most protected anchorage in Falanga.  And boy did we get wind and rain.  Moondance finally made it over, two days later along with all of the other boats in the other anchorages.  We took them into the village for their Sevu Sevu and show them around and as we passed Joe someone grabbed him a Sulu off the clothes line and he took Moondance off to see the chief.

One day in the village we made poor Tie teach Cheryl how to make a basket.  You see the Fijians make these baskets out of palm fronds.  They use them to carry everything.  Last year we had one made by Sepo at Paradise and put fruit in it.  It seems to us that the fruit lasted longer in the baskets.  While, Cheryl was successful and Tie still has fingers, but it was close, the question really is would Cheryl finish the basket before Tie ran out of patience.  So now we have two baskets holding our fruit, one made by Cheryl and one made by Karen.  Tie was a great teacher….Cheryl was an okay student but need more instruction for sure. 

Right over left or is it left over right??????

So with new playmates we had dinner on Moondance and played 42, a domino game.  We had Doug and Carla over for dinner and played more games! They are such good company it was sad when we had to move on!

Next stop:  Vanua Balavu, in the northern Lau

The Dreaded Pizza

What can change your course or plans.  The weather.. new information…a piece of pizza?  What?  Cheryl made pizza, not unusual on Interlude but then she bit down and broke a tooth.  Oops, so off to Suva we go.

Instead of heading the next to the southern Lau, to island called Falanga, we are off to a dentist 50 miles away in the capital city of Suva. We chose to go to Lami just a short bus ride outside Suva, where Tony, the owner of Vuda Point and Copra Shed Marinas has some mooring balls.  Karen called him and he said sure go ahead and use the mooring balls if one is free and gives Karen the caretaker, Sonny’s, number to see if one is available.  Yup we are in luck. We called Sunny when we were close, as it is Saturday, he had left for the day, but gives us some details and we are fine.  Cheryl had written to Ian on Summer Spirit and he contacted some people in Suva to get a name of a good dentist.  Cheryl has an appointment for Monday at eleven so all is good.

Sunday we go for a walk, after finding out the place to leave the dinghy which is behind the police boat!!  No problems the gentlemen are lovely.  We walk into Lami, a nice suburb of Suva.  As it was a Sunday we could hear the singing from all the churches in the area and we even lucked into a make shift local market, on the street.

Like all cruisers we had some parts come in but we didn’t get it in time when left Vuda so we heard a friend of a friend was going to Vuda and heading to Suva so arrangement where made.   As it turned our delivery person is the one who gave Ian the name of the dentist a good friend of both Colleen and Ian on Summer Spirit and who is currently looking dog sitting Koli, previously introduced as Wiggle Butt.  So we met up Nirmala lived in Lami, or so we thought and so she did until two weeks ago!!  Anyway we meet up with Nirmala and her daughter Angel, and instead of just passing on the goods, we gabbed for a couple of hours and made plans for the weekend if we were still in Lami.

Monday we headed into Suva, a short taxi ride.  We locate the building with the dentist and get there an hour early.  No issues, the dentist had a cancelation and Cheryl was done, before she was scheduled to go in.  There she stood at the reception with her tooth in hand, or rather the rest of the tooth in hand and a prescription.  We fill the prescription and head back to the boat. Now with another hole in her head…hummm

We had met a couple diving in Kadavu, Gail and Don.  We phoned to say that we were in Suva, certainly sooner than they expected to hear from us.  Anyway, we arranged to have dinner at their place on Friday.  Gail has done a lot of travelling and figured that one of the things we would want to do was laundry.  So in the end, we had lovely company, a lovely dinner and clean laundry!!  Heaven.

It looked like we had another weather window to head to the Falanga so we provisioned on the Friday and then it window slammed shut.  Okay we are in Suva, there must be things to do!!  Lets call Gail and Don.  Oh, Victoria Wines is doing a wine tasting, awesome.  And Gail and Don have been before, all we need to do is see if Cheryl is up for it after all it is only a day after she had her tooth pulled.  The night was great fun and good wine to taste, yup even for toothless.

We are in Suva, so of course we must go to Cost u Less, but really once or twice is enough.  We went to Cost u Less before the dentist.  Then 2 days later we saw a movie, Futureland, actually quite good and of course since Cost u Less is by the movie theater visit number 2.  Then we went to Sunday Jazz at Bad Dogs restaurant beside Cost u Less  with Gail and you guessed it we went in to Cost u less.  Okay 3 times is enough we need to get out of Suva.

Then Karen got the bright idea she wanted to see rice paddies and after searching the internet found a study about rice growing in Fiji.  Gail is selling a friend’s car, but not before she takes us in search of rice.  While we had a lovely day, we didn’t see and rice paddys.  Talked to several people at several government agricultural sites around the east end of the island.  Talked to a man who had been growing rice, but the government never fulfilled its side of the deal, and the land has been let go fallow, so no rice paddies but a lovely drive anyway.

Saturday we had dinner with Nirmala and Angel.  We went early so that we could be part of the cooking process.  Karen was very happy, got to help, got to make roti, had great company, great food and were sent away with leftovers for a very hardy lunch the following day.   

So I am to roll this thing and make it round not the shape of Texas ...hum I need some more work on this.

Moondance arrived in on Tuesday, yes there was a free mooring.  They had a very rough passage, parked just inside the reef at 3 30 in the morning, coming into our anchorage the next day.  After some food and a nap Carla and Doug joined us for a walk into Lami and then we took a taxi to the Royal Suva Yacht Club.  Karen was staring at a lady, finally said “where do we know you from”.  The answer, Erie Spirit, it was Mark and Susan who we had spent some time with in Panama!

While it seemed like we really did have a weather window, so we left on Wednesday afternoon for Fulanga along with Erie Spirit.  The seas were lively for the first few hours, then we sailed and motor sailed for 18 hours and then took the sail down and motored the rest of the way, a swell from the south west, no wind.  Took the pass into Falanga just after high tide, in the slack time, experienced no current.  Just the way a passage should be!!

 

Finally Falanga Southern Lau