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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.

13 Kadavu passage Date July 21 (several months ago!) Janet At last, I get to sit and write. We are out beyond the reefs that fringe the entrance to Vunasea Bay, with a ten hour sail ahead of us to get to Suva.
*** Rising at 5.30, a bit of an effort for our somewhat indolent systems, I ran through our usual pattern of securing things. Drawers, hatches, musical instruments, and padding the booze cupboard with teatowels. Shipping the anchor we headed out past the first of several layers of coral reefs.
"I'm going to head up there," I said, pointing at a clear spot on the paper chart laid on the deck, "then I'll turn around into the wind and head back towards the wharf. That should give us plenty of room to hoist the main." David nodded, and donning his headset went forward.
As the sail reaches the top of the mast I gun the engine to quickly turn 180 degrees, making for the gap in the next reef.
"I'm going up the mast," said David. He climbed the mast-rungs like a 35 year-old.
In my headphones he directs me quietly. "Starboard 5 degrees, port 10..." "David I need to go to the loo," I said urgently. I'd been hanging on hoping to get through all the reefs but couldn't wait any longer.
"All right I'll come down." I glance at the chart and calculate we have just under a mile to the next reef pass, and race to the head.
Back on the helm feeling a lot more comfortable, I look ahead over the wide clear vista. It looked like you could sail in any direction but in reality it was cruelly strewn with submerged coral.
David had climbed back up the mast. "Can you see the waves breaking at about 11 o'clock?" he asked.
I watch the horizon closely and sure enough I see the telltale line of the white foam of breaking waves.
Glancing to starboard I ask, "Can you see the waves breaking at 2.30?" "Yup, we are dead on target for going through the last pass." He lithely descends the mast.
Clear of the reef David looks back and wistfully says "Goodbye Kadavu." We smile at each other, knowing we just had a very special five weeks in that place. Now as I write this months later we still reflect on this part of our trip and consider it the highlight of our Fijian experience so far.
*** "What's our speed?" David asks.
"6.5 knots." I answer from the chart table.
"Time to go?" "Seven and a half hours," I read from the GPS screen.
"I don't know if we'll make it in time," said David, "that's only to the waypoint at the Suva Harbour entrance. We'll need another hour of daylight to get in and anchor." "Maybe we will have to heave to for the night," I suggest.
"Let's make the call in an hour's time and keep motoring till then." As we moved further into the ocean the wind rose.
*** 0930 "Wind is 16 knots and steady," I said to David, watching the windspeed instrument.
"Okay, put her neutral and we'll see what happens to the boat speed." I watch the number on the screen drop a little then steady. "Speed's good." "Engine off then." We sit and enjoy the silence for a moment before putting Robert Earl on the stereo. The sun is out, no three metre swells and rough sea, like on our passage down to Kadavu.
"Champagne sailing," I said.
"You know what would make today perfect," I said, gazing at the two lures that we have towed for thousands of miles, "A fish." "We'll get two!" said David. And you can tell how the rest of that story goes.
*** Navire rocks gently on her anchor. The sun's just disappeared behind the hills west of Suva.
"May we have many more sailing days like this," I say to David, and raise my glass.

It is hard to believe we have been back for one week now. Day one was spent catching up on sleep after our travels from Tokyo and meeting Nettie for lunch. On Monday we reported our stolen outboard motor to the Police but we are not holding our breath that it will be found. We also picked up our replacement piece of rigging that had arrived while we were away. The Post Office did not want to release it to us unless we engaged the services of a customs clearing agent. So we asked the man at the Post Office (which is also the Customs office) where we had to go to find a customs clearing agent. He did not know! After some time he found a telephone number for us, but he could not ring it because the Government phone lines can only ring landlines and he only had a mobile ph number for the agent. We tried calling the number he gave us but it was not a valid number. What to do? The man refused to give us the rigging because he said they had strict procedures to follow and we must have the clearance form from a customs agent. After much discussion and a second visit later in the day, we talked to the boss and explained that this part was requir ed to stop our mast from falling off and it would be a serious safety issue if we could not repair the boat before we set sail to New Caledonia. We showed him a photo of our broken rigging. The boss did not know where to send us to get the part cleared through customs either! At last, he decided to ignore official procedures and let us have the rigging. But he made us promise that next time we would need to follow procedures. Phew! We are pleased to report that this new stay has now been installed and all is fine with the rigging now.
During the week we discovered another issue - the fridge/freezer was no longer working! We had left it empty of course while we were away so it had not been used for 5 weeks and now it refused to get cold. Thursday and Friday we had visits from the local refrigeration people, who thankfully fixed the leak and filled the system up with new oil and new gas - all working well again now. We were pleased that we had purchased our new electric fridge freezer in NZ which came in very handy as a back up while the main system was down.
It has been a rather social week. We returned to Paradise Cove resort, 3 months after our wedding there, and were welcomed like long lost family. Hugs all around from the staff and owners of the resort. We had a delicious lunch and a bottle of wine overlooking Aradonna in the bay - just beautiful and such a romantic setting. Back in Port Vila there are several boats here waiting to sail to New Caledonia and we have been chatting to a few of them with promises to catch up again in New Cal. Had drinks on board Dagon with Tom and Fran, who have recently come from sailing around Japan and also know Karl and Netties Dutch friends who live there. A small world! But it seems Aradonna is still protesting about us being away and leaving her alone for 5 weeks. Now we have autopilot issues again. Different symptoms than previous times and this one is still a mystery to us. If we cannot find the solution in the next few days we may have to hand steer to New Caledonia and see if we can find someone to fix it over there.
Meanwhile, Vanuatu is having problems of it's own. The Government here is quite unstable, we have seen 3 changes of Government since we arrived in May as they keep having votes of 'no confidence' and throwing out the incumbent. Now, 16 members of parliament have been charged with bribery. One of them, the Finance Minister plead guilty! Then he changed his plea the next day to not guilty. All 16 ministers are still in their jobs and refuse to stand down until the outcome of the trial is known, which could take months - this is amazing. Procedings started on Thursday with one minister announcing that he had no idea it was illegal to accept money in return for doing certain favours... Meanwhile they are still earning full salary and still making decisions for the running of the country. It really is a different world here.

We have been away from our floating home for 5 weeks, having a ball in Europe! On the way we stopped in Auckland for a couple of nights where Heather's family officially welcomed Karl into the family - even decorating the spare bedroom up into the Honeymoon Suite! On arrival in Holland, Karl's family went the extra mile to welcome Heather into the family. We had many family gatherings with brothers and sisters and in laws and nieces and nephews - with so many laughs and so much warmth. We loved life in the camper van, for 2 weeks touring through Holland, Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Heathers friends in France put on a special wedding lunch for the newlyweds! We discovered that France is an esay place to travel in a camper with loads of free parking spots and camper friendly places along the way. Karl introduced Heather to many of his old friends in Holland and we had a fabulous time - Karl caught up on all the news from the last 35 years and Heather got to meet so many wonderful p eople that had been part of Karl's life when he lived in Holland. For the second half of our stay in Europe we shared a house with Karl's sister and brother-in-law who had travelled from Canada to join the family gatherings. It was very special to spend time with the family and to see all of the family together again after so many years. Karl had been a bit worried that he had forgotten how to speak Dutch after such a long time away, but it didn't take long before he was back into the swing of things. Heather has been learning Dutch for the last two years and was finally able to put this to good use, following along with conversations and even managing to speak some Dutch! Heather experienced the true meaning of the Dutch word 'gezellig' which translates to English as 'cosy' but really means so much more. The fun, the laughter, the warmth, the closeness of the family as we chatted around the table - that was gezellig! As Heather was clearly a tourist in Holland, various friends and family members became tour guides on different days, each showing us interesting places and explaining some history and fascinating facts along the way. It was truly a wonderful time, with so many experiences that will last forever in our memories and too many stories to tell here! The one highlight we will share here however is our visit to Amsterdam during "Sail Amsterdam". Every 5 years the old tall ships visit Amsterdam, along with replicas of ancient vessels. We were lucky enough to be there at the right time and our tour on a canal boat through the city ended up in the harbour amongst all the grand old tall ships as they were circling the harbour getting ready to depart! On shore the waterfront was packed with people and here we were on a boat in the harbour with the whole fleet around us! Awesome!! On the way to and from Europe we spent a few days in Tokyo and enjoyed experiencing the vastly different culture, the ultra modern city, intermingled with ancient shrines and temples - and the delicacies of Japanese cuisine. Surprising to see so many rice fields and vegetable crops and mountains and lakes just 45 minutes out of the city centre. We were also very lucky with the weather. In our 5 weeks away we had beautiful weather almost every day - only two rainy days in 5 weeks!! Temperatures ranged from 35 degrees one day in Tokyo down to about 20 degrees one day in Europe, but most of the time we enjoyed very pleasant mid to late twenties which was just about perfect.
On return to our floating home on Saturday, all was well with our yacht, apart from a missing outboard motor. Our new 8hp Yamaha had been padlocked on the the back of the yacht but someone must have been determined to have it. So it appears we have made another donation to the people of Vanuatu, albeit unintended. Last year we lost our 80hp main engine and now this year we have lost our 8hp outboard - so it feels like an improvement on last year's effort!