AUSTRALIA UPDATE, SYDNEY FAREWELL

I have been in Sydney, Australia for several days now and I have decided to return to Fiji.
Unfortunately, Australia has proven to be way too expensive for my blood. Although it is blessed by riches and things that are unheard of in Fiji it is also doomed by its own success.
I have been to "OZ" many times now and I realize that Sydney is not a complete picture of Australia, however, I must report that Sydney is, unfortunately, an expensive, multi-national experiment wherein most races and nationalities tolerate, as opposed to accept, one another.
I will return to "OZ" one day I am sure, I don't think my return will ever include Sydney

MIXED FEELINGS

As I prepare to put Torrid in storage for the cyclone season and leave for Australia I am flooded with mixed feelings. As much as I like Fiji, I know that I must push on to new travels and activities.

I'm flying to Australia in a few days and will probably go on to SE Asia for a few months.

My plan is to return to Fiji in April and sail on to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. It should be a busy 6 month schedule.

Of course I will be updating this BLOG with pictures and observations during my travels.

The picture is one I took a couple of years ago in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

BACK AT VUDA

TORRID and I are back at Vuda Marina.
I am preparing her for storage during the Cyclone season which runs from November until April. Accordingly there will be little to report on this BLOG for the time being.
I expect to go to Australia in the near future and then to SE Asia. I will be updating the BLOG as my travels continue.

FATHER (SAINT) DAMIEN'S CHURCH

I've been safely moored at Musket Cove for the past few days.

Today, Monday October 12, 2009 is "Fiji Day". It celebrates Fiji's independence from Great Britain. Fiji was granted independence and did not have to fight a war for it as we did in the United States.

Nothing of any consequence has happened to merit reporting in my Blog. However, I did find out that Father Damien, the Belgian Jesuit priest who tended to the lepers of Hawaii during the late 1800s at Kaulapapa, Molokai, Hawaii was just canonized as a Saint in the Catholic Church. I was fortunate enough to visit Kaulapapa several times while living in Hawaii. I met and became friends with "Boogie", a colorful ressident and Hansen's disease patient. He took me on a tour of the area and I was lucky enough to visit Father Damien's Church. The picture I took has a great deal of significance to me. I'm happy to share.

TSUNAMI ALERT !

Today, 10/8/09, a major earthquake (8.3) struck the island nation of Vanuatu.

Vanuatu is situated almost due west of Fiji. The area where I am anchored faces West. I was very concerned.

By the time the word was passed around there were only 20 minutes until the possible tsunami would strike my location.

There was not enough time to take Torrid to deep water, so I grabbed my wallet and passport and zoomed in to shore. I hastily beat a track to high ground where dozens of other concerned yachties, hotel gueast and Fijian employees were waiting.

I took a "Before" picture, just in case. I hoped I wouldn't be taking any "Action" or "After" photographs.

Fortunately no Tsunami was generated which affected my area. Whew!

The picture is my "Before" photo of Torrid placidly lying at anchor at Musket Cove.

SEA SHELLS AT NAVADRA ISLAND

To say sea shell collecting on Navadra Island is GREEEEEEEEEEEAT! would be a vast understatement.

I collected these in a little over an hour.

Please remember, the were all dead shells that had been washed ashore.

ANOTHER STUNNING SUNSET

OK, OK, OK!

I'm a sucker for stunning sunsets.

Taken off Navadra Island 10/5/09.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

WE MAY NEVER PASS THIS WAY AGAIN

As I looked North from Navadra Island, I could see beautiful, stunning, wonderful Waya Island in the mist. It made me a bit nostalgic realizing that I will probably never come this way again.

Then I realized, I sholud thank my lucky stars that I came here at all. Besides, there is a great big world out there yet to be seen.

This picture is of Waya Island.

ASHORE AT NAVADRA ISLAND

This is another picture taken from pretty little Navadra Island.

BACK TO MUSKET COVE

I am currently headedback to Musket Cove.

It is Wednesday 10/7/09 at 1030 hours.

I'll start putting up some recent pictures.

This one is of Navadra Island. I only had to share the ENTIRE island with 2 goats!

YASAWA ISLANDS UPDATE- PART 2

I just got back in internet range on Wednesday 10/7/09.
Here are my Yasawa Islands note taken since I last made an entry.


TORRID- YASAWA DIARY- PART 2
As I’m out of internet range again, I’ve decided to write these recollections until I can get back on the Net.
　
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Today the winds turned favorable for my return voyage back down the Yasawa group. It was my intention -note, not my “plan”, to sail back to Octopus Bay and enjoy some good food------for a change.
As 3 pm came and went I could tell that if I continued on that I’d be pulling into Octopus Bay after dark. Accordingly I decided to anchor near Manta Ray hotel. I remembered it as a pleasant anchorage.
It was a good thing I made this decision as my roller furling system decided to stop working. I could not roll in my jib.
Being alone on a boat requires one be able to solve problems and this was my PROBLEM DU JOUR.
The solution was relatively simple. I put the boat directly into the wind, turned on the auto pilot, went forward and dropped the jib. Then I had to make sure the jib didn’t flop over into the ocean. I tied up the jib and all was well.
After anchoring I examined the roller furler and diagnosed the problem. Three set screws hold the roller in place. All three were gone, long gone. I retired to a quiet night.
Sunday, October 4, 2009.
I awoke after dreaming all night about how to solve my jib problem. As it turned out, the solution was pretty simple. The hard part was re-raising the jib single-handed. Fortunately there was very little wind first thing in the morning and I managed to raise the jib and test the roller-furling and made sure TORRID was sea worthy again.
I had a very pleasant sail back to Waya island and Octopus Resort. The folks are so very pleasant. I’d say that if you were to come to Fiji and stay only at Octopus Resort you’d get your money’s worth. Many people I talked to have come back to Octopus year after year.
Sunday evening was another “Green Flash” sunset. I think I’m now up to 8.
The Sunday evening movie under the stars was very enjoyable.
Monday, October 5, 2009
I decided to sail over to Navadra Island. It is beautiful despite a fairly “rolly” anchorage. I saw some nice surf at the next island. I went ashore and did a little exploring. As far as I can tell, these islands are unoccupied.
It may be difficult to imagine, but there are literally hundreds of miles of deserted beaches in Fiji. In the Yasawas it is not uncommon to have an entire beach, if not island, to yourself.
As far as I can see, the main impediment to the use of several of the picturesque little outlying islands is a lack of reliable a reliable water supply. The resorts use a combination of river, well, catchment and desalinization systems. These are not cheap. The other problem is energy. Fuel for generators is brought in by boats and is brought ashore in 5 gallon containers . Most food and other necessary supplies have to be brought over from mainland
Fiji by boat.
I plan to do some snorkeling in the morning and will probably stay the day as it is a full day of sailing to get back to Musket Cove.
One of the REALLY nice things about being retired and on my own is that I am beholden to no time schedule. Life is good.
　
Tuesday, October 6, 2009. Navadra Island
This morning I went snorkeling in some very beautiful water. The reef is beautiful and is untouched. Sadly, I did not see any lobsters.
The anchorage here is somewhat exposed to a swell from the northwest. I few wave have rolled in and it is probably a pretty good break on big days with a consistent swell. As it appears the island is uninhabited there would not be any interference from villagers or resorts which specialize in surfing holidays. I have heard that some breaks are “owned” by resorts or villages and access is restricted to guests of the surfing resorts who pay a large fee to be able to surf in uncrowned conditions. As a former surfer myself, I can understand the desire to find uncrowned conditions. However, I cannot abide the idea of someone claiming “ownership” of the waves.
I went ashore and did some exploring. My only company seemed to be two goats which were also beachcombing. I was looking for shells. The goats were looking for ANYTHING to eat.
Tomorrow I hope to make my way back to Musket Cove.
　

FRESH FISH

Here is a short video of some fish we caught off Taveuni.
The narrator is George.

GOODBYE SAVUSAVU VIDEO

This video was taken as I was finally leaving Savusavu.