Hi All,
We left Fulaga yesterday, 8/6, for an overnight run to Matuku. I’ll follow this blog up with “Fulaga Part 5” in a few days.
It is now 8:30am on a beautiful Thursday morning and we are safely anchored in a gorgeous lagoon on Matuku. Kathy has read Matuku is one of the most beautiful islands in all of Fiji and what we have seen so far we think it is true. It reminds us somewhat of the Marquesas with fairly big and dramatic hill/small mountains. Everything is green and lush.
Daryl and Sonya on sv Donella are here….they have been here for a week or so…..they helped guide us in as the light was very flat this am and we needed to avoid a few reefs.
The passage was just ok…..115 nm (9 doing donuts, 17.5 hrs, 2 of which were doing donuts) 15-20G25 kt winds mainly SE (aft port quarter beam) then backed to ESE….which we liked as it put it more on the stern and made for a little better ride. The seas were 4-7′ wind chop, that ugly short period stuff that knocks Mystic around a bit. Fortunately, we did not have any southerly swell which would have been on our beam and just added to the mess.
We got here around 5:30 am, just as dawn was breaking….we tried to slow down to arrive a little later but the slower we went the more unstable Mystic became so we just sped up to 6.8-7.0 kts and the ride was better. So, for an hour or so we did donuts outside the entrance and then around 7:00ish hailed Donella and they helped talk and then guide us in!!!
Boat Stuff: Well we have good news and oh crap news. The good news is the anchor windlass worked just fine…this was the first real test of the “down” motion and it all worked after we replaced the solenoid in Fulaga. And, both winches worked flawlessly when we picked up the dinghy yesterday and lowered today…..double yea…..we were both a bit stressed on that one but hopefully the cobbled together winch will last for the next few months until we can replace it in New Zealand!!
The bad news:
Navigation Computer: the Big Bay computer that runs Nobeltec, our navigation software, crapped out again, this time while on Kathy’s watch about 1:00am…..it just went blank, gave a windows error message and then went black and will not come back on. We have had this before and it was some bad ram (I just replaced the ram in March) or maybe the power switch. We do have another stick of Ram and I will change it out and hope for the best. So, we used the Simrad chartplotter, which is our b/u, but it made me get out the manual and learn how to use the nav mode and set waypoints et al….just something to do @ 3:00 am….arghhhhhhh!!!
The really crappy news is the port stabilizer cylinders are leaking again….yes, these are the same 2 cylinders we had serviced in New Zealand…..can we get our money back please…….arghhhhhhh!!!! This leak is a good one…right out of the cylinder seal…..we probably lost 1-2 gallons of hydraulic fluid. We do carry 5-gallons of the fluid as spare so we will replenish the fluid and go from there. We have an email to Steve, the technician in NZ to see what we can do. We are thinking to shutdown that stabilizer and then somehow get these cylinders replaced/serviced while in Fiji as we need both sides working well for the run back to NZ. We will run with just the starboard stabilizer for the next 230 nm…..first to Kadavu then on to Port Denarau near Nadi……both downwind overnight runs each of ~115nm. It probably will require flying a tech to NZ….well, I guess better than Papeete when we had to replace the fin seals…..more arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhssssssssssssss!!!
Kathy and I are both spent….leaving Fulaga and our host family, Joe, Tara, Jone and Pita was an emotional killer…..how can you get so close to people in just 5 weeks?????
We are not sure how long we will be here. Per Donella there is plenty to do, very friendly villages, some supplies…..they actually dined on tomatoes and lettuce last night…..and some excellent scuba diving. The wind is going to continue to blow in the 15-20G25kt range for the next 5-6 days with some big swells so with only one good stabilizer and Mr Leaky we will probably wait until a good window which we think might be next Tuesday or Wed…..we shall see!!
The only downside to this paradise is there is still no cell or internet service….ugh!!!!
We did go in and have our sevusevu with the Chief, Chico. It was a very delightful session and we sat and visited for sometime afterward. The soil is very fertile here and they grow all sorts of vegetables and he said they will gather a selection for us tomorrow……yummers!!!!
Hope all is well!!!
John
Mystic Moon
