The Glamorous Sailor's Life

Cleaning up under the spot where our forward
fuel tank used to be. The aluminium tank had developed
pinhole leaks and will need to be replaced... fun.

Twelve hours after our friends Gord and Jane departed, and 12 hours before Patrick and Bev arrive we are hard at work cleaning up underneath the spot where one of our fuel tanks used to be!

We have been having problems over the past week or two with this tank getting water into the Racor fuel filter and as we were having the engine serviced today we thought "while we are at it..." It will be great to have this fixed so that we can be confident that the fuel will be clean and without contaminants going forward.

This photo is after we got it about 1/2 clean. Doug scraped out the worst of it and then Maureen climbed in and finished it off. Actually it is clean enough now that we are thinking we will have our dinner down there.

Tomorrow brings our Patty and his girlfriend Bev for a visit. We are very excited to have them join us and we are looking forward to showing them the spots we have discovered over the past few months. Today was a very rainy day here so we are hoping that the sun pokes out tomorrow! Chris on the other hand is exactly 12 time zones away right now teaching in Ghana. We hope that he is doing well and we will raise a glass of Fiji Bitter in his honour and wish him the very best in his adventure.

Vinaka vaka levu

Vinaka vaka levu means "Thank you, very much!" The extra emphasis of 'vaka levu' are our newest Fijian words. Sereana wrote them out for us yesterday morning in the Plantation Island Medical Centre. We were quite impressed with Sereana and the wonderful medical service she provided, but more for the warmth, kindness and good cheer that she brings to her work -- this after 48 years of nursing!

Maureen and I left our guests on the boat yesterday and took the dinghy ashore to see what we could learn about an infection that had been pestering my elbow for the last 2 or 3 days. When we arrived Sereana was sitting in her chair at the medical centre and assessed my situation quickly. "Doug" she said, "I am going to have to punish you -- you should have started antibiotics right away and now I am going to have to give you a shot in the bum!" She managed our query with gentle efficiency carefully recording the details of our conversation in a ledger and providing both a shot, and a follow-up prescription. Through it all she joked and shared local stories and educated us on how to look after ourselves on the boat. We are thankful!

Millie checks out the visitors at Lo's Tea House from atop her
perch of Fiji Gold. Vinaka Millie!

But on to the real action of the day -- which is not much at all! We are coming to the end of a month of cruising with Gord and Jane Shoquist and have found ourselves back at one of our favorite spots -- Musket Cove Marina. Since arriving back in Fiji we have been touring the Yasawa Island group. In the middle of the Yasawa's is an area called 'Blue Lagoon' which apparently has some connection with a movie of the same name. We certainly enjoyed the beaches and snorkeling and spent two or three days visiting the 4 or 5 islands that protect the lagoon.

Perhaps our favorite trip was a walk across Nanuya Lailai Island to visit Lo's Tea House. The walk takes us over the top of the island and down through a wee village where we happened upon a family just sitting down for lunch on their veranda. A little shy to be walking through their 'living room' we were greeted with a broad "Bula bula" and the characteristic warm smiles of Fiji. They urged us on to the shoreline and into Lo's. As we walked down one of the same gals quickly ran ahead and opened up the teahouse as we were certain to be their only visitors this day. It was fun.

Since our stop at Blue Lagoon we have been working our way toward Vuda Marina to complete our travel loop. Back in Musket Cove we have been enjoying the abundant freshwater showers and cold beer of the Musket Cove Yacht Club. When we turned the corner to head toward the mooring balls Maureen looked at me and said "look at all the boats". Whereas we have had this spot to ourselves throughout March and April there are now perhaps a dozen boats taking up residence waiting for the surf to settle in and the fine reliable weather to take hold. It is different now -- but fun and social too.

Off to France

We have had a fun and interesting beginning of April down here. Our longtime sailing friends Gord and Jane Shoquist arrived to join us for a couple of weeks and we have taken advantage of the extra hands on deck to travel to Wallis & Futuna which are two tiny islands that are actually part of France.

We left Fiji on a Friday afternoon and sailed the 410 miles to Futuna over the first weekend that Gord and Jane were here. Our thinking was that maybe they would forget that part of the trip by the time they left Fiji.

Getting ready to leave Fiji with our friends Gord and Jane Shouist

This trip takes us northeast of Fiji and so the wind is a bit forward of beam. We motorsailed much of the way and and arrived in Futuna on Monday morning.

Since this was our first international customs and immigration clearance as the new owners of Sophrosyne we were a bit anxious about all the paperwork we may encounter. The duane agent (customs) and gendarme (immigration) were very kind, helpful and efficient and our arrival was straightforward and without incident.

It was interesting to see how different this 'first next' Pacific Island was from Fiji -- it is funny the things we noticed. For example, everyone on the island seems to drive a new Toyota Hilux 4x4 truck (in Fiji everyone -- including us -- walks or takes the bus). The one road around the island is made of concrete and although it is a bit worse for wear it is the nicest road I have seen for several months. And then there were the baguettes and Camembert in the Supermarche. Say whatever you want about Wallis & Futuna -- it cannot be denied that we are a very long way from Paris!

On our second day Gord and I went ashore to find to diesel fuel for the boat. This process had actually started the day before with Maureen making a number of inquiries on our behalf. First stop was the gas station to inquire about the cost of 'gazoil.' The next step was to find the South Pacific francs that we needed to purchase the gazoil. On this score we were in luck because this was the one day every 4 months that bank officials arrive from Wallis island to open the Futuna bank branch. We were on hand right a 8:00 when the bank opened and were amazed to find 50 or 60 people already waiting in line. At first it seemed like we were going to make slow progress because we were outside in the hot hot sun waiting for our turn in line (or so we thought). About 8:15 the bank opened and everyone piled inside to sort through their past 4 months worth of banking details. I think the gal behind the counter took some pity on me and started asking a couple of questions in French. After a few halting replies she asked me again, in English this time, "where is your wife." As soon as she realized that Maureen was not there and that I was 'useless' she took my $200 Fijian dollars and my passport and started the international money transaction. Now we get to the part of the story about banking fees and international money exchange rates... Oh well, no need to relive that pain here, in the end I did get my money and Gord and I and our six 20 litre jerry cans were back at the pump waiting to get our gazoil. (In case you are wondering, or find yourself in a similar situation some day, you may find it helpful to know that the French word for 20 litre jerry cans is -- "jerry can." The pump jockey was very helpful and had an amazing system of collecting various combinations of cash, coupons, notes for fuel purchased on credit. As we began our fill, it became comically obvious that our ambitions of filling six jerry cans were going to be sadly lacking. By the time we had 1 1/2 jerry cans -- all of the south pacific francs were gone gone gone...

Among the many talents that Gordie brings to the boat it turns out
that he is happy and skilled with a fishing rod in his hands. Here he shows off his 40 pound Mahi-mahi.
(Editor's Note, Jane should get equal credit for this catch since it was her who beat the fish lifeless
with a hammer once Gordie got it aboard..)

No matter, the sail back to Fiji was a lovely trip with 15 knot trailing winds in which we made great haste traveling an easy and gentle 7 or 8 knots per hour in glorious warm weather without the need for an engine at any point.

We did have some excitement with a 35 knot squall on our last evening at sea but we managed well and appreciated that the pelting rain was actually quite warm and refreshing (Editor's Note -- next you see Maureen you may ask her for Her version of events during the squall...)

We are in Savusavu now, again enjoying the warmth and kindness of Fiji. For those who may have followed this blog and noticed that I am effusive in my praise of Fiji -- Savusavu is better!

Pinch me.