Hi All,
As they say, no rest for the weary and we sure did not get much rest this past week:
Vunisea on Kadavu Island: Later in the day after we arrived and gorged ourselves on the internet, we did go into Vunisea to try and find Bis’ family. And, we were successful…met Bis’ dad, his sister, and Mary a high school friend of Joanna. They have a small store and gas station. They invited us in for tea and we had a good chat before they got busy in the store. We promised to be back the next day. We did a quick tour of Vunisea…..ugh….not much here for provisioning….they have a big market the next day @ 6:00am for fresh veges so we will be there…..have one more store to go to check out if they have any wine…..PK is getting dangerously low….yikes…..but, we could not get to the store as it was becoming a very low, low tide and we had to get Moon Lite out of there….in fact 2 guys came and helped drag her a ways…..arghhhhh!!!
The next day found us at the market around 7:00 am…..and it was just partially setup…..Fiji time…..so, we walked the village some more and found ourselves at the bakery and bought some much needed bread, then back to the market where the rest of the farmers had come and we loaded up on tomatoes, green peppers, bok choy and some Chinese cabbage…..that was about it….not much selection but hey, it was green:))). Then on to the 2nd store where they did not have any white wine, but we did score 3 bottles of red that PK can have in a pinch!!
We did see Bis’ family again and gave them the pictures we had of Bis and Joanna. They are able to call Bis on the Fulaga landline, but they have not seen each other in several years…..they were very happy to have some new pics!!!! We made arrangements to have them out to the boat around sunset for a tour and then back to their place for dinner. Mid-afternoon we hear a man yelling at the old pier….maybe 150 yards from Mystic….it turns out to be Bis’ dad…I go over in the dinghy and he says a change of plans….we are cooking dinner and will bring it to your boat…..oh, ok….when…..later….ok!!! At 7:30 I can barely see the beach with my binocs as it is very dark, but I see a lot of people walking the beach and getting into a panga….uh, Kathy, this is going to be fun….sure enough, 12+ people come on Mystic each bearing dishes of food…..wow, everyone was 20 something except Bis’ dad and us…..they were soooooo excited, friendly and gracious to be on a “yacht”……it was like the paparazzi had invaded…..phone cameras galore….they said many pics will soon be up on FB!!!! It took a long time to give the tours as they wanted to see everything…..finally, we had dinner….wow, great food…..curry dishes, chicken, fish, salads….yummers….Kathy had made a cake which was a big hit also!!!! When they all left we had a wee dram to calm ourselves. It had just been a kick in the pants fun evening!!!!
The next day we made a 30nm passage to Naqara on Ono Island just north of Kadavu. We had planned to go to Dravuni and meet Bella Vita but they were delayed and probably not coming to the Astrolabe Reef. We decided to go to Ono Island instead as it was closer and as we approached we saw the AIS for Lisa Kay and Buffalo Nickel.
Naqara on Ono Island: Another beautiful Fijian island and Bay. We had a delightful sevusevu with the Chief and the spokesperson Paul. But, what a small world…..Paul knows Meri, the kindergarten teacher in Fulaga quite well…..we think like a first or second cousin??? They talk on the phone when they can and Meri last visited Ono the Christmas before she went to Fulaga….maybe 2 years ago. When they found out we knew Meri, out came the kava bowl and we had a very long and most fun visit!!!
We were invited to church the next day. There are actually 2 religions here…..Methodist which has been the predominant religion in most places and Pentecostal….curious!! Since there are two religions our service had maybe 10-15 people there but a lot of kids. We were directed to sit on the side near the front and right by the children……hmmmm, we were closely watched so we had to be on our best behavior:))))
The 3rd and 4th days we both got sick…..me especially. Kathy just did not feel good and was extremely tired. I had lot’s of aches and pains and ran a fever up to 101+…..you know, “man pain”…..where you are going to die:))))) The fever finally broke and later that day Kathy was trying to open some emails (the internet sucked there, less than dial up speed) and I was napping/reading in bed when we get this call from Lisa Kay…..uh, Mystic Moon, do you have any shovels or rakes onboard…..uh, no, why….well, there is a big fire and we are trying to save Anna’s house…WTH…..so, machete in hand we both go over….some kids had accidently started a fire burning some rubbish near the forest….Larry on Lisa Kay, a 30 year firefighter, was telling people where to make firebreaks and soon the 2 houses were out of danger but the fire just kept going and going….it burned for 2+ days and wiped out a lot of underbrush but we don’t think it burned too many pine trees (they grow for lumber) or Coconut trees (to eat and for copra)….yikes…..anyway, no rest for the sick and I especially still had no energy or strength….but fortunately, no harm no foul as we both seemed ok and I was even a bit hungry although Kathy still had no appetite yet.
We finally felt better and got in 2 days of diving. We dove the Naigoro pass…..off the NW side of Kadavu. We dove the pass as well as outside the pass. The dives were good ones….saw lot’s of coral, a huge variety of small fish but not too many large ones. One dive was called Purple Wall for the dark purple soft coral we had seen in Viani Bay on the Purple Corner…..but some of these were closed….like a fist, while others were fully open…..these corals do need current in order to open up and feed on the nutrients in the water….we did have some current but I guess not enough!!!
Passage to Likuri: We got up at 3:00 am, downed a cup of coffee and were anchor up at 3:30am…..whoa, is it dark or what…..no moon….we slowly inched are way out to the pass, about 3.5nm away avoiding many reefs…..we had our old track from when we came in so we just stayed on the track and 45 min later we were out in the open ocean. What a sweet ride….<5 kts wind, sea flat calm…..trawler weather for sure. BUT…..yep you guessed it….about 9:30am the winds started to pick up and by 10:00am they were 15-20 kts out of the south…..30 deg off the port aft beam…..ugh….rock and roll time on just one stabilizer fin…..the winds did back a little to more on our stern but the waves increased to the 3-5’….but about that time we got very fast internet so it was good times on Mystic. And we talked with Brett and Stacey on Bella Vita….they are about 1 hour ahead of us…..opening ceremony tonight for sure!!!
We arrived @ 3:00pm outside the entrance and hailed the resort to send a boat to guide us in…..they were very prompt for Bella Vita but on Fiji time for us…..hmmmm…..no boat came and it was blowing 20-25kts and nasty seas so we decided to make our way in…..the visibility was pretty good and we could see the reef so a few zig zags and soon we were in and anchor down…..let the games begin!!!!
This place is a little lacking on the cute factor and while protected from the nasty seas it is not protected from the winds so poor Mystic is getting coated w/salt…..not sure how long we will stay!!
Boat Stuff:
Stabilizers: The new cylinders have been ordered and are now due to arrive in Fiji tonight. Of course, the package still has to clear customs so that could take a few days. Wesmar has been great to work with and gave us a substantial discount. Steve has booked a flight on the 29th so hopefully all will be fixed in a few weeks! We have been fortunate to have had pretty good downwind windows since Matuku but we are definitely not as stable on one fin as with two!!
Dive Compressor: Hmmmm……after many emails with the Alkin technician it seemed we might have a simple fix….replace the o-rings on the 3rd stage cylinder…..they gave me very good instructions on how to proceed but somehow the Allen set screw got jammed into the valve head. I’m not sure how it happened….I thought I had followed the instructions but now it is jammed…..something must have fallen into the threads or due to the o-ring leak it jammed the valve head into the set screw. I twisted two allens trying to get the set screw to turn either direction and it is not budging. So…..I have emails into the tech and maybe we can find some parts in Nadi:(((((
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
