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Our visit to the Aquarium the other day was well worth the trip and the entrance fee (about NZ$15 each). This is the first aquarium we have seen where there are live coral reefs and all the typical reef fish you would expect to see in real life. We saw staghorns, parrotfish, lionfish, butterflyfish, chromis, aenenome fish, triggerfish and many more, swimming amongst a pretty selection of corals such as lettuce leaf, blue staghorn, plate corals and soft corals. The huge tanks were amazing and watching the coral and the fish was exactly like we see it when we are diving. There were also tanks with larger fish, giant trevalley, sharks, bump heads, large batfish, sweetlips, unicorn fish and blue tangs. Wonderful to see these large species up close. There was also a turtle tank, although these poor creatures had no seagrass or any other natural features in their tank. Many other smaller tanks completed the trip, with too many displays to list here, most of them very well done. Well worth a visit if you are in New Caledonia.
Our autopilot has been giving us plenty of headaches and many of you will be sick of hearing about this recalcitrant crew member. Well, we have good news! The French technician came back to do some more diagnosis on this intermittent issue and discovered that the drive (the little motor that drives the unit)was shot. It was only connecting in the right places every now and then, which is why we kept having on and off issues! We now have a new drive installed and have been putting it through the paces over the last few days. All is working perfectly. We have tried it motoring and sailing, in calm conditions and in high winds. We have tried it for a few hours at a time and it has not missed a beat. So hopefully this is the last you will hear about it! After we waved farewell to our friends Graeme and Sue on Saturday we headed out to explore a few new anchorages. Our stops have been to the north west of Noumea this time, including Baie Maa and the many little bays and islands inside Baie de Saint Vincent. This area is dry and brown. The creamy coloured clay hills are barely covered in pale tussock grass and a few scruffy pale bushes. There are no coconut palms or pine trees here and no greenery. It looks like whatever grows here is struggling to survive. A complete contrast to the lush green slopes inside Baie de Prony to the south of Noumea. We decided to leave this area today as it is completely uninteresting - sandy bottom, clay hills, no coral and nobody lives here - remarkabley unremarkable. But the weather had a different plan! The local weather forecast from the French weather model was for light winds, about 12-14 knots SE. This would have been ideal for the trip south towards the pretty southern lagoon area. In reality, after a calm start to the day, by 11am the wind came up, and continued to rise, up, and up. We headed back into shelter as the wind gusts topped 40 knots! So here we sit, in the sunshine, listening to the wind howl by. But we cannot complain - it is 26 degrees with beautiful blue sky.

The southern lagoon area of New Caledonia is really a boaties paradise. Together with Graeme and Sue we have explored many bays and little islands. In Baie de Prony we tucked right up in the far reaches at the head of the bay and went by dinghy up the little stream to the tepid baths. A pretty area with a small waterfall/cascade. In the middle of Baie de Prony, we anchored at Isle de Casy and walked right around this island. Beautiful beaches, free camping amongst the trees, nice snorkeling on the reef. A superb area and well used by the locals who come to camp here at the weekends.
After being inside Baie de Prony for a few days we headed out into the southern lagoon, down to Amedee Island. This has the tallest lighthouse in New Caledonia, a stunning white sand beach and a coral garden to explore by snorkel. We walked around this island and had a swim. Sue decided to swim out to a smaller lighthouse just offshore and Karl helped her up onto the steps before he saw the sign saying this was strictly forbidden! Another day we anchored in Baie de Citron and enjoyed walking along the waterfront amonst the cafes and restaurants, sitting for a while to enjoy and ice cream. The area is a little like Townsville with a lovely long sandy beach and plenty of people swimming. Last week we thought we had solved our autopilot problems, alas this machine does not want to keep working! We had the technician back on board to fix it again on Wednesday evening, and again it started working. Fantastic - but wait - we had to do a sea trial.
Yesterday was a fine sunny day, no wind and flat calm sea, so we decided the sea trial for Mr Autopilot would be a trip to Isle de Maitre. This time it took 25 minutes before Mr Autopilot stopped working again. Bugger! But the day was spectacular so we carried on to Isle de Maitre. On the way, Heather saw a huge splash in the water about 100m away. We watched and we saw a large whale surface, basking in the sun. We approached very slowly and got fairly close to watch. Beside the huge whale was a baby. So wonderful to see these magnificent creatures up close. As we watched, the mother whale did a dive, lifting her tail high in the air as she plunged below the surface. The next thing, baby whale leaped right out of the water, way up high, and came crashing down with a massive splash! Later, they surfaced again to bask in the sun. We followed them to the next spot and Karl decided to jump over the side to swim with them. As he swam towards them they slowly plunged deeper, out of reach. Onwards to Isle de Maitre and we had a fabulous day in the sun, swimming with turtles, watching all manner of fish swim around the boat in the clear blue water. The snorkeling was lovely and we had a very relaxing day before heading back to the marina last night.
As I write this, the technician is on board, trying to figure out the autopilot, he now thinks it is the motor, so watch this space and see what happens - hopefully we can resolve it before our journey back to NZ.
Today is our last day with friends Graeme and Sue as they fly back to NZ tomorrow morning. We have had a wonderful week together, loads of laughter and good fun. Today we will explore things on land together, perhaps a visit to the aquarium!

Kiapa's 2015 season in Musket Cove Fiji Just WHERE have the last 5 months gone? Have we really had to extend our visa twice already? As the old cliché saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun!!”, and this has certainly been the case for us this winter cruising season. In some respects, this year has been quite different to the time we spent here in Fiji last year. First up, Lionel’s broken rib (from the passage up from NZ) meant our routine of his daily yoga classes for cruisers couldn’t begin, and it also slowed us down on the surfing and kiting front. Who would have thought the healing of a broken rib takes about 3 months? Consequently, our penchant for exercise has been somewhat curtailed. However, we have had a lot of fun enjoying the company of friends. Of the 143 days we have been in Fiji we have spent one week back in Australia (more on that later) and 18 days without guests on board……. So let’s see, that adds up to 115 days of visitors………. and we have loved that! Of course all our guests are special, but three groups of friends are extra-special because we go way WAY back, as in 32 years back!! Yikes, that’s more than half my life ago! First up we had an old Uni friend of mine, Brigid, come and visit with her hubby Brandon and their 3 kids. Then we had Mike, who was best man at our wedding, followed by Adele and Duncan – Adele and I used to waitress together in Cape Town 30 years ago! Brandon, Mike and Duncan are all keen surfers, so having the opportunity to surf at either Cloudbreak, Restaurants, Namotu Left, Wilkes or Swimming Pools was a ‘dream come true’ for each of them. Brigid and Adele live in NZ, so we did see them over summer when we were down there, but sharing our home and spending time together here on Kiapa was a treat.
As was the case last year, we have teamed up with the Lions Club (Papakura branch in Auckland) to distribute reading glasses to Fijians who either do not have access to them, or cannot afford them. Overall I think we have held about 7 ‘clinics’ so far, distributing, I’m guessing, over 700+ pairs.
The joy and appreciation of some of these gentle folk is enough to break your heart. One elderly lady needed a +4, and she confided in me afterwards that she had not been able to see clearly enough to read for over 2 years! Can you imagine?? Other news? A major (and somewhat heart-breaking for me) decision that we made earlier this year was to sell our home in City Beach. After renting it out for the last 3 years some quite significant renovations were necessary – an expense we felt we could ill-afford. It sold at auction at the end of May. We flew back for a madly busy 5 days in June, and managed to give away probably close to 80% of our ‘stuff’ to Good Sammies and the like. Thanks to our dear friends who are kindly storing a box or 3 for us. So we are now really, truly “of no fixed abode”. If truth be known this makes me a tad anxious, but then I reflect on where I am and what I am doing………… Moving on to a more light-hearted topic……. Last week was Fiji’s premier sailing regatta, the Musket Cove Regatta. This equates to 5 days of fun in the sun, and while the 2 sailing races are the main focus (I think??), other shenanigans include a Pirates’ Day, Coconut Olympics (which Lionel and I volunteered to organise this year), a hairy chest competition, a quiz night (we were useless!!), a golf competition, some hobie cat racing, and a Shipwreck Party. While we registered for the regatta, we at first thought we wouldn’t participate in the 2 races, rather just enjoy all the fun events. The reason being the surrounding reefs are treacherous, and last year Lionel saw one catamaran T-bone another boat right in front of Kiapa, so he was understandably concerned there may be other skippers with a similar careless attitude out there this year. But once we saw the list of boats entered and also the weather forecast, we decided to have a go (luckily one could enter up until the night before the race). And what an exciting race it was. The course was around Malolo Island, which is quite mountainous, so of course this has an interesting influence on the winds.
We purposely started last over the start line in a light southerly of ~ 8 knots, which died right off in the lee of the island - at one stage Kiapa was going backwards, I kid you not! We then had about 10 k of northerly for half an hour, and then as soon as we rounded the eastern tip of the island we were back in the SE trades of ~ 20k. A small, very fast cat (which is not a cruiser’s home) was first across the line. Kiapa had a very good race with another cat – Kiapa’s ability to point really well into the wind combined with Lionel’s upwind tacking tactics ensured we snuck ahead in the last mile, so crossing the line in 2nd place. Thanks must go to friends Kerry and Craig, who were our knowledgeable and skilled crew. I’ll let the photos on our get jealous blog do the talking re all the other fun and games which all up made for a fabulously successful Regatta.
Our plans from here? We hope to cruise up to some of the Yasawa Islands over the next few weeks, and then from mid-Nov we’ll begin to study the weather (even more closely than we already do) for passage making to NZ. We are planning to head back to NZ via Minerva Reef, but more about that later…….
While I have included a few photos here, you may like to look at our blog if you are interested in some more (photos). See www.getjealous.com/kiapa

Suva to Robinson Crusoe Island Aug 3 Janet "I was doing fish whispering last night," said Richard as he sipped his coffee.
"Let me hear some," said David.
Richard sits in the cockpit in silence for a minute.
"Can you hear it?" he asks.
Richard was trying to break our fish drought.
Mmmmm, I'll wait and see the evidence I thought, and went back to my coffee.
*** It's been over two weeks since that idyllic passage from Kadavu to Suva in my last post, and now I want to go, get the sails up again and head out away from the city. In Suva I shopped and shopped, and loaded up Navire with provisions to carry us through to who knows where. David's colon procedure was completed with no worrying findings. We caught up with old New Zealand friend Rita and her husband Ken, then Richard Moss from Wellington joined us for two weeks cruising.
*** Day 1 Suva to Beqa: We woke to mist draped over the bay like a lacy wedding veil. Was it to be another grey damp day, with poor coral spotting visibility, thwarting our plans to depart? I lay in bed dialing up the weather forecast on my phone, seeking assurance the sky was still going to clear. The marine forecast sites promised improving conditions. I jumped into action transforming our floating caravan back into an ocean going vessel.
That first day out gave our guest a taste of open-water sailing with two to three meter swells, rough seas, and 25 knots of wind. Four hours later we dropped the pick on the western side of Beqa, an island on the south coast of Viti Levu. It wasn't particularly sheltered in the anchorage and I was glad to weigh anchor at first light the next morning, after a less than ideal night's sleep.
*** Day 2 Beqa to Cuvu: The wind blew 30-40 knots but being behind the reef we had no swell or sea to contend with so we raced along skimming over the flat water. The sun was out. This always raises the spirits. After lunch the wind eased, and eased, and eventually went ahead, so we reluctantly started the motor. It soon became evident that there was a two-knot current against us and we had doubts about making our destination before dark. We started investigating breaks in the reef but the first two bays looked bleak and exposed, with surf crashing on the beach, a sure sign of a rolly anchorage. Seven hours later we sailed up to Cuvu Bay with Yanuca Island offering some shelter.
In we went, through the 200m wide pass, with surf breaking either side. Here we encountered our first resort of the trip. Tourist Fiji. Not just any resort but the one where David's parents used to hang out in the 60's. The Fijian. They ran charters on their 40' catamaran here. David used to come up there to visit sometimes in his school holidays.
What a contrast to the remote village Fiji life we'd seen till then. The now renamed Sahngri-La Resort (how Fijian is that?) stretched out over a long white sandy beach littered with umbrellas, kayaks and people, all white, and loud music pumped out over the water. A speed-boat zipped back and forwards past us towing para-gliders. One came so close he looked like he was going to catch his parachute on the mast.
As soon as the anchor was down we dived in. First swim in weeks. Bathwater temperture- yum. Finally I felt thoroughly sunbaked and salty, and relaxed.
*** Day 3 Cuvu to Robinson Crusoe Island.
We moved on early the next morning as the weather was due to go south and we didn't want to get caught on the south coast, a lee shore, with nothing between us and the Antarctic . Leaving Yanuca in light conditions the wind speed steadily increased. We made good time. It was gusty though, we kept heeling over and eventually reefed both sails. Then the wind headed so we pulled in the jib and motored again.
Into another surf-fringed pass to Robinson Crusoe Island. Boy has that tale endured. David was up the mast directing me, via our headphones, to keep away away from the coral in the pass. The wind was still north not due to go south yet so we anchored in northernmost part of bay. David and Richard made divine watermelon Margaritas, very sweet, and crisp. Highly recommended.
*** Day 3: Rough night. I woke at 2am to what I thought was a gust but after a while realised it was consistently windy. I got up and saw we were facing the opposite way to when we anchored. The expected front and ensuing southerly had come a day early and we were exposed to it. Not to the sea fortunately as we were inside the reef. I turned on the instruments and started recording the depth, our position, the wind speed and direction every 15 minutes. David got up for a while and we discussed whether to move or not, never an appealing prospect in the dead of night in a bay with scattered shallow patches, ringed by coral reefs. We voted to stay put and do an anchor watch. I took first shift. By the time it was David's turn the wind had eased and it was obvious we were not going to drag. I let him sleep and fell into bed.
As the sun was setting that evening we rowed in to Robinson Crusoe Island. It really did look like the one from the story, small and oval, with coconut palms, fringed with sandy beaches. We had a mediocre meal (hardly any local food content) and saw a touristy but very entertaining show. The Fijians love to dance and joke. First they showed the audience how a kava ceremony worked which of course we knew having participated in several of them by now. They invited the audience to come and drink with them, and I joined in, sitting next to a young absolute hunk, his oiled body wrapped in a green sulu. Turned out he was from Rotuma, an island 250 miles north of here, but still part of Fiji. When we leave here to go north we are thinking of going to Rotuma. Apparently not many yachts go there and those that do are made very welcome.
The show finished with spectacular fire-dancing. We then tried in vain to find somewhere to watch the rugby, the second Bledisloe Cup game but alas no Sky TV. David and Richard ended up listening to it on the radio via a cellphone. Isn't technology wonderful. Alas it was a fairly forgettable sort of game.