Fiji Part IV

Forgot to put in a few photos of Cousteau's Resort (owned by son of famous Jacques Cousteau) where we spent two nights at anchor and had a bit of fun....

The anchorage outside off the coast of the resort

The pier that gave us access to the restaurant/bar area

Just another day at the beach,,,

Our route from Cousteau's to Vuda, Musket Cove, back
to Vuda, to Lautoka, then westerly direction

August,

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.  

The bar and restaurant for the hotel and harbor

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

Our friends on Terrapin had just sold their sailboat and
are now in China teaching high school 

Musket Cove, 

Here's the island (Malolo Lailia) Musket Cove is located,
some 20-odd miles west of the big island

We purchased a membership in the Musket Cove Yacht
Club (for $10), good for our lifetimes.  Membership
Numbers:  19,012 and 19,013

One of the hotels on the island

A draw bridge to let the occasional tall boat to pass

Lots of room to roam during low tide

The mooring field where just about every boat on the
island hangs out

Another hotel nearby to where we land our dinghy

Had lunch here, and enjoyed the quiet and the view

Yes, you can get hamburgers and fries even in
 exotic islands

Luckily, it is so quiet here, you can hear forever...

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).

Shakedown hauled out

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. 

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.

Discussing some finer points of progress

Lifting boat and moving supports to gain access to
more of the keel board

Watching the relocating exercise

How to balance a boat on the hard

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)

Ladder up and ready for use again

Always test the ladder, boss

Ladder test successful!

The old worm boards (two 1x6" mounted in Mexico)
 finally removed and single new board (3x6") replacing them

 

Two 21-ft. boards end to end completes project

The pulpit boards (also installed in
Mexico) had rotted away at both
ends and need replacing

 

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

Path around the ring of boats

 

Hull is getting close to final inspection of primer
coats (silver/gray) before bottom painting (black)

Finishing up the pulpit installation

First coat of paint applied..
almost done

Bottom paint (black) being applied

The last few feet and rudder awaiting bottom paint

"Splash" Day.  Back in the water, time to head out.

 

Heading out of the harbor at 0840

Passing, and saying goodbye to our relaxing spot and
outdoor movie theater

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!

Rainbow's Shadow leading the way out of Fiji, with Lautoka
 in the background

Fiji part III

January, 

We finally got a chance to take the ferry from Savusavu to Suva, the capitol of Fiji, on the thrice-weekly ferry service connecting the two islands.  We got a ride with Shane and his wife Tamara and towards the very end of the month, we both had birthdays.

Waiting to load up in Savusavu

Drive in, turn around, and park....so you can drive out.

"First Class" section.  Sleep anywhere... on the floor.

Landing in Suva at 0530 in the morning.

Be sure to follow directions....

Nancy and Tamara await opportunity to get off the ferry.

Hiking into town after parking car.  But first, we visited
with Shane's sister and killed some time before businesses
opened for another day of trading.

Clever "wall paper" advertising.

A bit of traffic

A bit of water front shopping

Heading towards a place to have lunch.

Our view from the eatery

Had some pretty good pizza at the I (heart) NY.

Unfortunately, we had to return to the ferry landing (being required to be in the loading zone not later than 1630).  We arrived on time, finally drove aboard about 1800, then sat around waiting (in first class once again) to depart.  Apparently, the departure was delayed awaiting a truck hauling something important (maybe).  We finally left a bit after 2200 into the face of a storm, sending green water over the windows in first class compartment....very uncomfortable all night, and the cold steel floor was still uncomfortable...duh.  No more ferry trips planned....forever.

February,

Engine parts arrived (from France!), and the mechanics all jumped on the motor parts and started putting in back together.  By this time (since it was dismantled back in November), the parts were spread all over the shop, slowing the process of rebuilding because of the searches for various pieces, nuts, and bolts....and we were fortunate when tropical storm Gita hit the southern part of Fiji.  We just got a lot of rain and some extra wind (topping out at one 50-knot gust.  Nobody in our "hurricane hole" felt any need to worry.  The moorings were as advertised.

  The engine finally got back together, tested and painted.  There were a few bolts missing here and there, but they weren't "critical".  Time to drop it back into the engine room....

The repaired engine being lifted off the truck at the
Ferry dock

The freshly painted drip pan awaits the motor.

Forgot the paint can that was supposed to be used
to touch up bottom of oil pan...

The Skipper gets involved in directing traffic

Engine down, time to remove lifting chain

Back at the dock and a bit of celebration with the
mechanics

March,

Engine is back in boat, attached to propeller shaft, fuel, cooling water, electrical connections, control cables, liquids added (oil and cooling water).  After starting and some minor adjustments, engine ready for duty once again!  We departed the work dock and drove the boat under its own power to the mooring.  What a relief..

We departed Fiji on the 18th to fly to California for Mom's 90th birthday party.

Grandson Steve congratulates his Oma

Happy Birthday Mom!

Spent some two weeks in the States and attempted to fly back on the 30th.  Upon arriving at the gate for our return (round-trip) flight, we were informed we could not board because we did not have a round trip ticket.  We argued we were using the second half of our ticket.  Not good enough for the LAX folks.  We explained we had sailed to Fiji, our boat/home was there, and we were just trying to get back to it.  One of the other attendants saw our dilemma, pulled out here cellphone, called the Fiji Customs office (in the middle of the night Fiji time) and spoke to the person on duty there.  She passed the cellphone to me, I spoke with the guy at the other end, gave him all the correct codes, he asked to be put back on with the attendant, they spoke briefly, she hung up, they let us board...whew!

April,

Due to the flight time and crossing over the international dateline, we got back to Savusavu on Sunday, the 1st.  Our ride was not waiting for us.  We had a difficult time getting a taxi, since it was Sunday, and Savusavu is normally void of any businesses being open or cabs working.   After about an hour, the local airport operator called a friend (who owned a cab) and talked him into coming out to get us.  We were robbed...solar panels, cellphones (broken into).  

Cyclone Keni came near, but we again escaped any serious effects.  Our new inverter/charger (Xantrex XC2000) arrived and installed, replacing our old (14 years) Freedom 30, which stopped charging.  We replaced the "window" (which had been temporarily repaired with clear packaging tape) that was torn in the storm back in October. We moved Shakedown to the working dock at end of month to make some repairs.

May and June,

At the work dock, we commenced the long needed replacement of our rusty old chain plates (they hold up our two masts, which makes them an important entity to say the least).  Stainless steel was ordered from England, bought a nice wide (and long enough) piece of stainless from one of our neighbors, who had it left over from a similar undertaking on their catamaran.  The new chain plates were welded and holes drilled during a one-for-one replacement process.  This was going to take a long time....

This is the ONLY dock in Savusavu Marina and is cobbled
together from pieces left over from a cyclone three years ago

Old and new chain plates side by side

Old chain plate prior to removal

New chain-plate mounted (foreground)

Was a small hole....now way bigger, awaiting repair

The hole from inside the lazerette

More repair work at forward end of cockpit

We also hired a carpenter to assist with locating and repairing the numerous leaks caused by rotting or broken sections of the "roof".  Ezra (who did our bottom cleaning) became assistant to Tuti (his uncle and carpenter) in this effort.  It was also a long and seemingly (for us anyway) painful process.  The starboard rub rail was also removed and hull in that area patched.  Then the entire hull was painted by hand by Ezra.  We were always teasing Tuti about finding a small hole and making a large one from it and then fixing the larger hole....

July,

As we were getting closer to a potential departure from Savusavu, we found out we needed a cruising permit in hand in order to visit any other islands in Fiji.  It wasn't hard to get one, and in hind sight, could probably have done without it, but why chance some unknown wrath of the Fijian government.  While we were waiting for the permit, we started cleaning up our mess from the construction, packing supplies away, making the ship ready for the open sea and taking an evening off to join the few other cruisers for a "full moon" gathering

Full Moon party at the "Yacht Club/Marina Office/Laundry" 

A little Kava tasting

The evening's sing-song session

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Every once in awhile, spend a bit of time to see who was selling boats on YachtWorld.com and came upon a "too-good-to-be-true" offering.  But mulling over plans for the future, thought it would be nice to have such a vessel that we could use as a "retirement condo" of sorts.  Well, after emailing the broker (in Florida) and having a number of questions answered, we ended up beating five other buyers to the punch, and, on the 12th, purchasing Grand Lady, a 1965 Stephens Bros. 65 foot flush deck motor yacht.  

Lady Enjay (former Grand Lady)

Has a bit or repair to be completed before she gets wet again

On the 22nd, we said our goodbyes to our boating buddies, pulled away from the dock and departed the Savusavu Marina.  We didn't go too far, passing the Copra Shed Marina and dropping  anchor at the Waitui Marina until the 27th, then anchored off Cousteau's Resort for two nights, followed by Nabu Walu (to fix alternator belt), then across the nasty water between the two big islands to Volivoli Point on 31st, having now left the Island of Vanua Levu and have entered the waters surrounding Viti Levu, the larger island.

Waitui Marina...just mooring balls

A goodbye from our friend Ezra

And a "so long" to Savusavu the night before we depart

Am trying to play catch-up with the blog....stay tuned for last portion of our stay in Fiji.....