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| The anchorage outside off the coast of the resort |
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| The pier that gave us access to the restaurant/bar area |
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| Just another day at the beach,,, |
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| Our route from Cousteau's to Vuda, Musket Cove, back to Vuda, to Lautoka, then westerly direction |
Vuda Point,
After spending a few days making our way south along the western side of the big island, we spent a night outside the entrance to Vuda Point to take the dinghy into the small harbor (and boatyard) to make arrangements to haul out and get the hull made pretty again. Our friends Adrian and Christine had already departed for Musket Cove, and we let them know we'd catch up the following day as there wasn't room in the boatyard for us just quite yet. We were scheduled for about a week out.
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| The bar and restaurant for the hotel and harbor |
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| The harbor is circular and everyone med-ties after grabbing the red mooring ball to await small craft assistance to aid in backing in and securing the mooring lines fore and aft |
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| Our friends on Terrapin had just sold their sailboat and are now in China teaching high school |
Musket Cove,
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| Here's the island (Malolo Lailia) Musket Cove is located, some 20-odd miles west of the big island |
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| We purchased a membership in the Musket Cove Yacht Club (for $10), good for our lifetimes. Membership Numbers: 19,012 and 19,013 |
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| One of the hotels on the island |
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| A draw bridge to let the occasional tall boat to pass |
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| Lots of room to roam during low tide |
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| The mooring field where just about every boat on the island hangs out |
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| Another hotel nearby to where we land our dinghy |
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| Had lunch here, and enjoyed the quiet and the view |
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| Yes, you can get hamburgers and fries even in exotic islands |
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| Luckily, it is so quiet here, you can hear forever... |
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| The runway....to the right is the third and last resort |
Time to leave Musket Cove behind and head back to Vuda Point to haul out on the 14th. Back in Savusavu, our diver Ezra had warned us of the numerous holes in our keel board, so we made that issue a priority for the haul out, as well as new bottom paint so we would into Australia with as little fuss as possible. Little did we realize that having a few worms would cause such a crisis when the local bio-inspectors were informed (by some unknown individual(s) which resulted in quarantine and a shutdown of all work for four days). Turned out that the culprits were indeed just ordinary sea worms, and we were permitted to resume operations....we also replaced the bob stay, which is a length of chain attached at front end of bow sprit and front of the keel, very near the waterline. Also had time to get the carpenters into the aft head and replace the floor (sole).
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| Shakedown hauled out |
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| We found out that our Norwegian friends Halvar and Ann-Helen (s/v Wilhelm) had "lost" their dinghy, having split at all the seams and not repairable. |
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| Since we had an extra 8ft. dinghy that we'd probably never use again, we gave it to this young couple, who were ecstatic to say the least. But forced $200 on us. |
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| Discussing some finer points of progress |
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| Lifting boat and moving supports to gain access to more of the keel board |
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| Watching the relocating exercise |
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| How to balance a boat on the hard |
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| Ripping off more of the keel board (worm board...so named due to its sacrificial nature...let the worms eat it, and leave the remainder of the hull alone) |
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| Ladder up and ready for use again |
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| Always test the ladder, boss |
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| Ladder test successful! |
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| The old worm boards (two 1x6" mounted in Mexico) finally removed and single new board (3x6") replacing them |
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| Two 21-ft. boards end to end completes project |
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| The pulpit boards (also installed in Mexico) had rotted away at both ends and need replacing |
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| Adrian and Christine's boat, m/v Rainbow's Shadow keeping us company at the bar and restaurant most days, awaiting our return to the water so we can move on west |
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| Path around the ring of boats |
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| Hull is getting close to final inspection of primer coats (silver/gray) before bottom painting (black) |
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| Finishing up the pulpit installation |
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| First coat of paint applied.. almost done |
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| Bottom paint (black) being applied |
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| The last few feet and rudder awaiting bottom paint |
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| "Splash" Day. Back in the water, time to head out. |
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| Heading out of the harbor at 0840 |
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| Passing, and saying goodbye to our relaxing spot and outdoor movie theater |
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| Vuda Point in the rear view mirror on the 30th |
We headed north and dropped anchor near the (second largest) city of Lautoka and next to s/v Rainbow's Shadow. The morning of the 31st, we moved nearer the commercial harbor, anchored, joined Adrian and Christina to get supplies (mostly food stuffs). After dropping our goodies off at our respective vessels, took the dinghy over to the Customs Office to clear out of Fiji. Unfortunately, the process took a bit longer than expected, as we (Shakedown crew) learned that we had overstayed our Fijian visas by almost 30 days! It's now 1600 on a Friday afternoon. The office at the harbor cannot fix it. A cab was quickly arranged by the office staff, the skipper was driven to the downtown Customs office, only two people left therein. The head of the office had (luckily) been notified of my imminent arrival. She spent more than 20 minutes attempting to contact someone in the capital city of Suva to obtain an authorization number to create a document to keep me out of jail and get me out of the country! Having failed to obtain said "approval", she asked me if I could leave Fijian waters today, to which I replied affirmatively. She further asked if she could email me the document on Monday, after she got approval for issuing it. Again, same response. She sent me on my way, taxi having waited for me, and after returning to the harbor, getting our passports stamped, they started locking up, and we skedaddled right the heck out of there, got back to the boats, took a deep breath, started engines, and took off in a "cloud of dust, and a hearty Hi-Ho Silver, AWAY!"
Vanuatu....here we come!
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| Rainbow's Shadow leading the way out of Fiji, with Lautoka in the background |
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