Monday, June 25, 2007

Ugly crew stows away on MD




This is the long awaited set of pics of our latest, and now dearly departed, crew member. He caused a lot of anxiety, sleeplessness and physical damage. We do NOT want to have another like him, or her, on board ever.


He was a healty big guy and no wonder after the feasts he had on board - potato chips, cookies, pasta, etc. What really irritated me though was his taking one of two bites out of many expensive, and long, ropes and nylon webbing, and only out of the middle of the lines, so the whole piece would be ruined. He also chewed on our woodwork and decorative rings for the cabinet finger pulls. I am not sure how we will be able to replace these and may have to have them made from teak. Notice the large size rat trap - he was over 3x the size of the mouse traps we had. I am not a hunter, and would not kill a deer unless I had to for food, but am estatic about getting this guy. We used Peter Pan Smooth peanut butter for bait.
We still are not sure how he got on board, but it was at the Whangarei marina in NZ. We have since found several other boats who have had similar experiences, all unhappy. But he's gone now and I think we have found all the food he stashed around the boat.
Remember - you can blow up any pics on the blog by double-clicking on them - in case you want the gory detail.


Sunday, June 24, 2007

Savu City and Anchorage

This will be a brief description of the thriving city of Savu and our anchorage. To get in to the anchorage and port you first have to pass through a large fringing reef that is visible at low tide but completely covered at high. The approach to the main pass, which is a fairly wide natural channel into the interior deeper water, is marked with large day markers with night lights on either side. The markers are large when you get near them but very difficult to see when a couple of miles out and anxious to find the channel without hitting the reef. The guide books all go out of there way to tell you that the paper and electronic charts are all off by as much as a mile so you are just a little bit uptight on the approach. We had a GPS waypoint which we assumed would be more accurate than our electronic chartplotter but in fact the chartplotter was dead-on and the waypoint would have put us on the reef. We had to correct when it was obvious it was not right but at that moment we were close enough to see the reef and had to make a big course change. Nevertheless, all was well and we got in okay.

The harbor is a major seaport for the South Pacific, bigger than we have seen other than Auckland in NZ. Big cruise, cargo, tanker and fishing ships all put in here at the big wharves and boatyards that line one side of the harbor. This is all built up with the cranes, warehouses, fuel tanks and other structures found in any major port. There is a very large Chinese ship that has four enormous satellite antennas on equally big supports coming out the midline of the ship. It is a "research" ship, which is patently a lie, as those kinds of floating antennas would only be necessary to eavesdrop on the communications and radar facilities of other countries, in other words, a spy ship. It must be 400ft long - a monster. You do see this groups of single Chinese men wandering around the city, in plain clothes. This is also a major port for smaller Chinese fishing boats. These boats are coming and going at all times. One came in the other day that was listing so bad to port that it looked like it would capsize at any second. They got to the wharf and fixed whatever was the problem and took off again.

Scattered around the harbor anchorages are groups of derelict looking medium size fishing vessels or inter-island freighters, some more than just hulks. We are anchored near six of them. Three next door are being refitted by gangs of workers who come out in small open boats. They are painting, scraping and doing other maintenance on these very old and well-used boats, probably 150ft each, with three of them sharing the same mooring buoy. The men wave and smile at us when we see them go by each day. There are larger strings of ships at other buoys around the bay, one with at least 10 ships tied up together. I would not want to be near them if a cyclone was imminent.

We are anchored in about 20ft of water just off the Royal Suva Yacht Club. The club is a relatively classy club with a small marina, dinghy dock, fuel dock with a very small boatyard with a slipway on the same channel. The club is a real members only club but cruisers can buy a temporary membership for $8/day which allows you to use the dinghy dock and get very good tasting water at the dock. The bar has a good happy hour with an excellent little restaurant next door. We left our laundry there and it is picked up for you and brought back the same day ($26 for two loads). I have been taking in 3 gal water jugs and filling them up and bringing back to the boat for our tanks. The water here is too dirty to use the water maker.

The club is about 2 miles from downtown but buses run in front on the main road, along with inexpensive taxis. The road is very busy and honking is a way of life for the drivers. Unfortunately for our anchorage there is also some kind of waste processing facility along the road away from downtown and they burn something all day long. This drifts in to the bay and makes for a smelly anchorage. It really detracts from an otherwise excellent place to stay.

The town is hustle-bustle to the max. Very exotic with two major racial mixes and some minor ones, primarily native Fijians who are dark, big and very friendly, and Indians brought in to work the sugar plantations generations ago by the British. There are also some Chinese, Europeans and others but definitely in the minority. The Fijians and ethnic Indians work and shop together but do not intermarry at all, or almost at all. The recent coup is from the tensions between the two groups. The Indians are go-getters, shop owners, government workers and are always trying to get ahead. The native Fijians are just as smart but are not as enthusiastic about working, money and business. I won't bore you about the issues this causes but you can see it everywhere in the world, including the US. The military here have tried to "fix" it their own way several times though hence the three military coups over the last 20 years. The latest one is causing major grief here to the economy. They just promised new elections in 2009 - may be.

We went to the big produce market downtown yesterday - Saturday. It was extremely difficult to even walk the sidewalks and through the market because of the throngs of people. The whole thing assaults your senses. Cindy kept saying she was overwhelmed by the masses, the noise, the heat and the smells. The market had hundreds of small vendors selling fruits and veggies of all kinds - carrots, taro, ginger, okra, cabbage, tomatoes, watermelons, lemons, limes, etc. etc. Fresh fish were offered along a separate fish market with the vendors swishing cane "fans" over the fish to keep the flies off. Any kind of fish you can imagine was available. Upstairs in the big market is the kava area. They sell the roots and stems of a plant in the pepper family which is used to make kava. Traditionally the roots were chewed by boys or women until masticated. They would spit the large ball of "stuff" into a bowl and then strain the juice out with coconut cloth into a big bowl. Small bowls are dipped in to that and passed around. We have not tried it yet but it looks and tastes like well-used dishwater. It has been an important part of traditional life here for centuries, and on other islands as well. When you cruise to other smaller islands you are supposed to ask permission from each local chief to anchor and visit there by offering kava to the chief in a sevusevu ceremony. Otherwise you can't stay, simple as that.

Kava is a big part of everyday life in the towns and cities too though. The men (mostly men) sit around and drink this stuff. It is a mild intoxicant, with the first obvious symptom is your lips go numb. It supposedly relaxes you and makes the world all right. Fights are not common with kava, unlike alcohol. The locals around the islands can be very aggressive with alcohol so kava is a good thing.

Even though the military have taken over, there is no evidence of it walking around the city. Life goes on. The army is not out at checkpoints like they were just a few weeks ago. They are trying to get the tourists to come back. The US, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand all have travel advisories to Fiji though and that is not helping. Fiji also just through out the NZ High Commissioner (like the Ambassador) so the Prime Minister of NZ just told all kiwis to stay home and not come here. Kiwis are still coming but not like they have in the past. Suva is not a major tourist destination though as it is wet here and across the island from the main international airport. Most tourists stay on the west side of the main island or immediately go to other resort islands. Fiji is definitely worth a visit if you want a tropical vacation, especially for snorkeling and scuba diving with fantastic fish and coral.

Overall, we like it here so far and we have not even gotten out of the big city. The people are friendly, the prices are good and it is warm (actually too hot for us). We will take off for the cruising areas next week some time after seeing the university here, the museum and a couple of other places. We also still need to top off the fuel tanks and get a couple of parts fixed.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Safely Anchored in Suva Harbor

We made it in yesterday after 10 days from NZ. The passage was a mixed bag with the requisite terror, calm, boredom, and excitement. There are several other boats here in the anchorage right off the Royal Suva Yacht Club where we went to last night for beer and wine with Steve on Oz. He gave us a ride in on his dink so we would not have to put ours down. To check in we had six officials from various agencies come on board. I still am not sure who they all were and some I think just came out for the ride as they did not give us any paperwork to do nor asked any questions. All were friendly and after signing and filling out numerous forms we were given four month visas, a health clearance (Question: did you have unusual numbers of rats or mice die on the passage on your ship? yes/no. Question: did any crew or passengers die on the passage? yes/no), etc).

It is hot and muggy here but no rain. Getting in the channel was a bit unnerving as you could not see the markers until seemingly close to the exposed reef on both sides of the channel. We were told by numerous guidebooks and local knowledge not to trust the electronic charts we have so we trusted the GPS waypoint we were given and it turns out the waypoint was way off and the charts were spot on. Go figure. I am sure this will not be the case out in the outlying islands and reefs. The electronic charts seem to be really accurate any where big ships go but not necessarily where the little boats like ours are the only ones.

Today we will go in to town and pay the medical/health fee as they would not let us pay it on the boat despite taking money from Steve on Oz for exactly the same thing on our boat in front of me. Go figure again. That's OK though as we will want to do some exploring of town in any case. The fee is only $33FJ and the launch fee to ferry the officials out was $106 and not $130 as we were told. We also have to go to get an official Cruising Permit for Fiji to hang around the islands, and we have to check in and out with Customs any time we come in and out of major ports like Lautoka, Savusavu or Nandi.

We are excited to be here. The people seem very friendly and will "bula" you to death (hello) we are told. That's OK after NZ and Tonga where they ignore you. Suva seems to be a real metropolis with several highrise buildings and a major shipyard. We have some groceries to get, laundry done and odds and ends. First I have to go on deck and get the dinghy off the bow where we stow it for passages, get the outboard off and on the dink, along with gas tanks, etc. When we got to shore yesterday I felt like the land was floating under my feet after the long passage. It will take a few hours today to get my "land" legs back.

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

Should be in Suva Harbor tomorrow

We are just 50nm south of Kandavu Island which is just south of the entrance to Savu (pronounced Saboo) Harbor on Fiji. Our ETA is around 4pm local time, we hope, so we can get in with daylight. It sure has been hard to try and plan an ETA when you go only as fast as the wind will let you and at that you can go 6kts max. Today has been a great sailing day. We turned off the engine this morning at daylight and have been ripping along with nice seas and partly cloudy skies and it actually got hot and humid. It is cooling off now that the sun is going down though.

We have about 110nm total to go and we are ready to be there and anchored. We have to check in to the country which is always a bit of a hassle. We will call in on the VHF radio outside the harbor and ask permission to come in. Then they will send a launch out with guys from 5 different agencies (Agriculture, Medical, Customs, Immigration and I am not sure who else but 5 total) to our boat. We can't get off the boat nor any one come to our boat before we check in. It also costs $130fiji for the launch, which they make you pay for. If you check in at the port of Lautoka on the other side of the island you only have to pay the Medical fee which is small (around $20). The Fijian dollar is about 1.6 to 1 US$.

It is just getting dark which is when we get the best radio propagation to send and receive email via the SSB radio. Otherwise the atmospheric conditions cause a bunch of static and it takes longer or is impossible. We also have to turn off our refrigerator since it causes radio interference and slows or prevents the radio signals. Life on a boat.

We are ready to be anchored so we can clean up, and have a nice quiet day and night on a non-moving boat. I hear there may be a little noise and commotion from the town and passing ships but that will be A-OK. We have been catching up on our reading though. I just read two books about the Pacific Islands - "The Happy Isles of Oceania" by Paul Theroux, the noted travel writer, which was actually kind of depressing. He made it sound like most of the islands were full of totally nasty people. We'll see if he was right about Fiji, but I don't think so. We also both read "Getting Stoned with Savages" by J. Maarten Troost who also wrote "Sex Lives of Cannibals". He is very funny and writes about his wife's and his life in Kiribati, Vanuatu and Fiji. Vanuatu and Fiji were both very cannabalistic until recent times which many of the early missionaries learned the hard way. I don't think they still do it, but there have been stories about Vanuatu....

Fiji is still under the "leadership" of a military guy, Commander B (long name), who took over by coup in December this last year. He is an outcast with the other countries out here but he says he is doing it for the good of the country and Fijians. It is not supposed to affect tourists or travelers here at all but tourism is way down which should mean some bargains for us. We'll keep you loyal readers posted.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Flopping around on the deep blue sea

Today is a flop day. We have been motoring along for the last 36 hours because of no wind but that will put us in to Fiji on the Queen's Birthday holiday which is an expensive hassle to deal with for check in. They charge overtime and it takes longer to do on a holiday so we wanted to slow down. Unfortunately that means the boat just flops around in the gentle (smile!) seas without enough wind to keep you steady. We have about 3-4kt of wind which allows us to go 1-2kt. A VERY slow boat to Fiji.

So we are reading and doing some minor repairs (always, always repairs to do). We are also checking in on radio nets and doing email, etc. The best thing is we are in shorts and tees all day long now as it is definitely warmer this farther north. The stars and Venus has been knock your socks off bright. You can almost read a book by Venus just after the sun sets in the west.

Since it was calm last night we had a big meal - steak, beans, and tomatoes, and I even had a beer. We have not seen one other boat nor even a fish since getting away from NZ. Right now we are at latitude 25S and longitude 177E. I have updated Yotreps under KE7BQN or Maggie Drum with our position.

Good news is the weather files say we should have fresh wind later today or by tomorrow. So in the mean time we will flop along.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Over Half-way to Fiji

This post has been delayed while we got over the worst seasickness either of us have had since we have had the boat. Your life if miserable and you don't have the energy or will power to do anything. The seas were rough, not big, just rough and the winds strong and constant. You move through the day and night in a fog. We did not eat for two days and actually had a hard time keeping even water down. Medication helped but a change in weather was what really fixed it.

Today and yesterday have been beautiful. We are at 26 45S and 176 54E right now and gently sailing. It is about 500nm to Suva, the capital of Fiji on the big island. We are actually slowing down so we do not get there on Monday which is supposed to be a holiday. Not good to check in on a holiday - very expensive. So we should arrive on Tuesday (Monday in the US).

We haven't seen any fish or mammals on this passage. Usually we have flying squid all over the boat and see dolphins or whales. Cindy did have a cute visitor while I was off watch sleeping. It was a tiny, tiny little bird that came out of nowhere and spent about an hour in the cockpit. It had a bright red face and black wings with some yellow. Not sure what it was or what it was doing out here. It was probably tired and looking for water and food. It finally flew off and I never saw it.

It is getting warmer each day. When we started it was in the 40's and very, very chilly. We lived in our foul weather gear day and night. Night watches were cold! Now it is warm enough for shorts and tees during the day but gets chilly at night. It will get warm enough to be only shorts in a couple of days.

Our passage this time is over 1100nm and will take about 10 days. Would have taken 9 days but we are slowing down on purpose. We have had some minor squalls in addition to the extremely strong and nasty near-gale conditions we had the first two days out of NZ.

I will try to get Yotreps updated daily from now on while we are on passage. When we get to Fiji we will not update Yotreps while parked. Hope all is well with all our friends and family.

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Thursday, June 07, 2007

Planning to Sail to Fiji tomorrow (Saturday the 9th in NZ)

We are finally planning to leave NZ tomorrow just before high tide here, or around 11 local time.  We have about 2.5 - 3 hours to go downriver to Bream Bay south before we can get in the ocean, at which point we will turn north and head for Fiji.  Unfortunately we have to get through a couple of small lows just above the North Island here and will get very wet with some winds in the 20-25kt range.  The lows seem to be travelling fast so we won't be so miserable for too long - may be 12 hours or so.  The trip to Fiji will take any where from 9 to 12 days (1100nm). 
 
Our planned arrival port is Suva, the capital.  Fiji is still under military rule from the latest coup in November or December but is supposed to be completely safe and friendly for tourist and yachties.
 
We need to get out of NZ as it is getting too cold here for us with only a small space heater and a long walk to the toilets and showerd (which are both unheated too).  We have a lot of condensation on the boat even though we are not showering or really cooking that much.  We also have some out and out leaks in the deck which I did not get to fix while we were here but which will be a priority to fix in Fiji.  It will be very chilly on the boat for the first 4-5 days until we get closer to the equator.  We are at 36 south and Fiji is at 18 south - big diff.
 
We did make a big decision to come back to NZ next cyclone season.  We will leave the car here parked at a kiwi's farm outside of town and get it when we get back.  This way we can take more time to explore Fiji and Vanuatu and not rush off to Australia or Indonesia/Thailand, and we can do more exploring in Kiwiland when we get back.  Another unfortunate bit though - the kiwi dollar is appreciating to historic highs against the US dollar which makes everything here that much more expensive.  It is already an expensive place for any parts, food, and other purchase items.  Labor is the only relative bargain here and that will be higher now. 
 
So, that's the plan.  I will try to be more communicative when in Fiji for the blog.  May even send a note along the way.  And, I still plan to put on some notes about our stay in NZ.   (Can't quite tell where all the time goes.)