It has been a rough few days, and especially nights. I believe I've had a bout of food poisoning, bad chicken, I think.
Although I feel much better today, I've decided to stay on a liquid diet and fully flush out my system. Yuck!
On the upside, Almost all repairs on Torrid are complete as I near my departure for the Island chain of Vanuatu.
My wind gague needs repair. I think it was damaged during Cyclone Mick. My lightning rod also seems to have gone missing and must be replaced. I'm contemplating installation of a new, larger refrigeration unit for my ice box. It will be nice to have a completely reliable compressor.
I'm arranging to buy paper charts for Vanuatu and New Caledonia. My investigations of the yacht entry requirements and extremely high costs for travel to Australia have led my to the idea of giving "OZ" a pass. I'll probably sail to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea instead.
My only other "issue" is the return of my firearms from Customs/Police in Savusavu. It looks like I'll have to pay to have a police officer to fly from Savusavu to Nadi, round trip, at no small expense, in order to get my weapons to Lautoka.
Next week Ihope to sail out to nearby Beachcomber Resort as I'm getting quite bored sitting in Vuda.
Otherwise, no cyclones on the horizon and all is well.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
BOUNTY ISLAND ADVENTURE
Yesterday I met with Tammy and Reed, friends of a friend, and we sailed out to nearby Bounty Island. The sail was very pleasant with a nice following breeze.
I watched over Tammy and Reed as they went SCUBA diving. The water was not as clear as I'm used to in Fiji. I suspect the recent severe tides caused a lot of silt to get stirred up.
I noticed some extremely erratic behavior by the divers and I became quite worried. As it turned out, the had a Remora fish trying to latch on to them. A Remora is a hitch-hiker which usually grabs ahold of a shark or Manta Ray.
The Remora was very aggressive and eventually caused the dive to be aborted.
We went ashore at Bounty Island. It is a backpacker's place. I must say, I have never had quite such an unpleasant reaction to any other stop in Fiji.
We were charged a "landing fee" of $FJ 5.00 each. Although this is not very much, US $ 2.75, it was the principle that bothered me. Furthermore, I really sensed that the employees were genuinely unhappy and didn't hide it at all. This is the very first time I experienced true surliness from anyone in Fiji.
I met a pleasant young man from Argentina and his VERRRRRRY pregnant, bikini-clad wife. She was beautiful and absolutely glowing. We had a very nice conversation.
Sadly, during our conversation, one of the Fijian employees sat down at the adjacent table and was obviously listening in on our conversation. This "spy" was absurdly obvious. I felt as though was sent over to find out if we had anything negative to say about Bounty Island. I don't think anyone else knew why he was there, but I've never seen that happen before. The rest of the employees were stand-offish and not warm at all.
We returned to Torrid and the wind had shifted 180 Degrees and we enjoyed a very fast, pleasant sail back to Vuda.
My guests had brought me a "Care Package" from the States. You cannot imagine how happy I was to have a cordless screwdriver, toggle bolts, reading glasses, polarized sunglasses and toggle bolts. I was up 'til 0100 playing with my new toys.
I'm down to about 3 more minor repairs before I leave for Vanuatu. Then it will be a matter of reprovisioning, refueling, checking out of the country and setting sail.
As much as I really like Fiji, I'm nevertheless anxious to get back to some blue-water sailing again. The crossing to Vanuatu should take 5-7 days depending on the wind, weather and whatever breaks!
I watched over Tammy and Reed as they went SCUBA diving. The water was not as clear as I'm used to in Fiji. I suspect the recent severe tides caused a lot of silt to get stirred up.
I noticed some extremely erratic behavior by the divers and I became quite worried. As it turned out, the had a Remora fish trying to latch on to them. A Remora is a hitch-hiker which usually grabs ahold of a shark or Manta Ray.
The Remora was very aggressive and eventually caused the dive to be aborted.
We went ashore at Bounty Island. It is a backpacker's place. I must say, I have never had quite such an unpleasant reaction to any other stop in Fiji.
We were charged a "landing fee" of $FJ 5.00 each. Although this is not very much, US $ 2.75, it was the principle that bothered me. Furthermore, I really sensed that the employees were genuinely unhappy and didn't hide it at all. This is the very first time I experienced true surliness from anyone in Fiji.
I met a pleasant young man from Argentina and his VERRRRRRY pregnant, bikini-clad wife. She was beautiful and absolutely glowing. We had a very nice conversation.
Sadly, during our conversation, one of the Fijian employees sat down at the adjacent table and was obviously listening in on our conversation. This "spy" was absurdly obvious. I felt as though was sent over to find out if we had anything negative to say about Bounty Island. I don't think anyone else knew why he was there, but I've never seen that happen before. The rest of the employees were stand-offish and not warm at all.
We returned to Torrid and the wind had shifted 180 Degrees and we enjoyed a very fast, pleasant sail back to Vuda.
My guests had brought me a "Care Package" from the States. You cannot imagine how happy I was to have a cordless screwdriver, toggle bolts, reading glasses, polarized sunglasses and toggle bolts. I was up 'til 0100 playing with my new toys.
I'm down to about 3 more minor repairs before I leave for Vanuatu. Then it will be a matter of reprovisioning, refueling, checking out of the country and setting sail.
As much as I really like Fiji, I'm nevertheless anxious to get back to some blue-water sailing again. The crossing to Vanuatu should take 5-7 days depending on the wind, weather and whatever breaks!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
SUPER BOWL 2010
Today is Monday, Feb. 08, 2010. It is Superbowl Sunday in the States. Fortunately, I was able to secure the television in the adjacent First Landing Resort and was able to watch the American classic from start to finish.
I was happy that New Orleans won, they deserved the victory. What bothered me was twofold: 1. NOBODY ELSE CARED ABOUT THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt as though I was watching Sweedish Dart Throwing finals. The interest in the game was limited to........me. 2. The game TV provider, ESPN Australia, did NOT SHOW ANY OF THE UNITED STATES COMMERCIALS. I realllllllllllly love the annual Super Bowl commercials. Every time a commercial break came on I got to watch promos for Italian Soccer, Australian tiddlywinks or such other drivel that drove me to distraction.
Fortunately, the game was GREAT and the Fijians were amused at my cheering and yelling.
Tomorrow I hope to take some friends of friends out for a sail to Bounty Island, do a little diving, visit the resort and come back for dinner at First Landing. Hopefully I'll take some pictures and add to the LOG
I was happy that New Orleans won, they deserved the victory. What bothered me was twofold: 1. NOBODY ELSE CARED ABOUT THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt as though I was watching Sweedish Dart Throwing finals. The interest in the game was limited to........me. 2. The game TV provider, ESPN Australia, did NOT SHOW ANY OF THE UNITED STATES COMMERCIALS. I realllllllllllly love the annual Super Bowl commercials. Every time a commercial break came on I got to watch promos for Italian Soccer, Australian tiddlywinks or such other drivel that drove me to distraction.
Fortunately, the game was GREAT and the Fijians were amused at my cheering and yelling.
Tomorrow I hope to take some friends of friends out for a sail to Bounty Island, do a little diving, visit the resort and come back for dinner at First Landing. Hopefully I'll take some pictures and add to the LOG
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