Fiji June 1 2007

Hi everybody.Well, you just cannot believe how nice it is to be back in the tropics. No shirt, no socks and still warm as toast. 80's during the day, 70 and nice breeze at night. Last year when we were here the weather wasn't nearly as nice and so we only planned a month or so here before moving on. It's so nice and the people are great, we'll probably stick it out to the end of August. It's a big place and there's tons to do, so we definitely won't get bored.Anyway, first things first. The political situation as known in the US and NZ, particularly, is a load of bollocks, as Rose would say. There was a "military" coup in December, and the NZ government, especially, is particularly strident in its condemnation of the usurpation of the rightful government. Well what really happened is the native Fijian commander of the armed forces here threw out a government as corrupt someone like Manuel Noriega. He's in the process of installing a civilian government now. About half the population is of Indian descent brought in in the 19th century to work the sugar cane business, and the old guys were taking away all their rights, including land ownership and voting rights. They totally raped the exchequer as well. Virtually everyone here from white guys to local Indians and Fijians all say it was the best thing to happen to Fiji in years. Unfortunately, they need a good PR man as the rest of the world doesn't seem to understand the situation. Also unfortunately for Fiji, tourism seems to be suffering as a result.So, back to the trip. Just a reminder even to those of you too cheap to call, our new Fiji number is country code 679 971317. Unfortunately, even though we have wifi internet on board, the phone system has figured a way to block Skype. We can bring it up; we can dial out, we can hear the person on the other end, BUT we can't do voice out. This was a bit disturbing to my daughter as she thought she was getting obscene phone calls when we tested it out!!On arrival, we had to go to Lautoka to check in. It's the sugar capital of Fiji, and there can be a lot of ash from the processing plants, but the season doesn't start 'til next week, so we dodged the bullet. We ended getting the same guy who checked us out last year. Everything was very easy and in one place. The guy even drove me to the ATM as there are heavy overtime charges on a Saturday. He was going to drive us around on Monday to renew our cruising permit as well, but we discovered we could just fax our old one in which came back renewed in an hour. Can any of you current or former BVI guys imagine that happening in the BVI? He even gave me his cell number in case we had any problems dropping our 4th crew. While we were trying to arrange fuel with port control, a good Samaritan came on the radio and suggested to blow it off in Lautoka and go down to Vuda (pronounced Vunda) Point--just around the corner and fuel up there. As we had to pull in there or Denerau--a little further on for some, you guessed it, repairs, we moved on after checking in.Vuda Point is a great little man-made marina, which claims the channel they cut through the coral is 25 meters wide. Based on the width of Rendezvous, we estimate 50 feet or less. by the time we arrived, the office was closed as well as the fuel dock so we just tied up there to wait for morning. An Aussie guy asked if he could raft up while he got water, which is FREE, so we chatted with him a bit--a Qantas pilot waiting for his crew to arrive deliver the boat for him to Sidney. I noticed it seemed to be taking a while for him to fill up which reminded me of an incident years ago where I also filled up my bilges with overflow while filling the tanks. Sure enough, about a half hour later, he checked and he's loaded with water. Then he discovered his bilge pump wasn't working. Poor guy, bought an old Footloose, which is a fleet of already old Moorings boats, and he had a nine inch crack in his fiberglass tanks and no spare float switches (which was his bilge pump problem) on board. My two young crew bailed him out and we used one of my spares to fix the pump. I say we, but the boys did the work while Rose and I checked out the yacht club bar. Nice place out on the point overlooking the lagoon. One good thing about the political situation, is the Fiji $ is down to about $.60 and drinks are pretty cheap as a result. So we met a bunch of nice people at dinner, and Fred, the Aussie, bought the boys drinks and dinner. As he was leaving in the morning, we promised to keep an eye out for his crew and let him know what was going on. For reasons beyond our knowledge these guys didn't show up for a few more days, but they did, and the boys showed them what repairs were necessary. As an aside, we saw them again at Musket Cove and poor Fred's head stay had broken on the way over. Better here than at sea!! We even ran into the people we had passed on the way up and talked to on the radio. Also ran into the guys moored right behind us in Auckland. Small world out here. Later, we met up with several people we knew from last year. The boys also decide to do a bit of "halyard swinging" off the boat while there. Genius Joey, against my admonition made the first attempt, managed to miss the water and swing right into the forward crossbeam. You can't believe the noise, and we were certain he had broken his back. Fortunately, I think there were beers involved and he escaped with just a few bruises. Halyard swinging was suspended!!!While we were hanging out on the fuel dock, the local South African dude who owns the boat yard was about, and we arranged for our repairs to be done first thing Monday. So Sunday the office was open as was fuel, so we fueled up and moved to a stern-to mooring in the marina proper. Sort of a lazy day with some cleanup, etc., after the passage. The yacht club had a big Sunday do going on so we found ourselves over there again for cocktails and dinner. Ran into our radio good Samaritan who gave us the advice about the cruising permit as well as other pearls of cruising wisdom in Fiji.So the work that needed to be done was this. The high pressure water pump for the watermaker sits on a hefty bracket bolted to the engine. You take out the bolts for the backing plate for the oil pump, pop on the W/M bracket and replace the bolts. For 8 years, with old engines, we never had a problem, but I'm guessing Voyage must have modified the original engine system as we found the weight of the pump was vibrating the bolts loose and actually stripped some of them. This was a small problem last year, but as we weren't making water in Auckland we forgot to get it looked at. The result of all this is the bolts loosen, and the bilge fills with engine oil. On passage, we finally just took the bracket off and clamped the plate on with great success, but no watermaking capacity as a result. Speaking of it being a small world, I was chatting with Brian, the South African owner of the boatyard, and it turns out he is one of Robin Downing's (the guy who runs Voyage Charters) buddies. Not only that, but one thing led to another, and he tells me Robin did the interior of his boat, and he was in West End in 2000 or 2001. Turns out I was moored right in front of him there, and Robin actually took me on board to show me the work of which he was rightfully very proud. So we must have met back then. Brian's an interesting guy, and Robin had told me he had a bunch of casinos in SA. I don't know the full story but there was something about the casinos being in the Homelands before they were reintegrated into SA after the end of Apartheid at which time they became illegal. Who knows, but I figure this guy must be in the witness protection program or something--really, casino magnate to boatyard jockey, I don't think so!!! Nonetheless, we had a great chat about the goings on in the BVI and SA. Really nice guy who did great work on the boat at a reasonable price. While George the actual mechanic was working on the boat, we discovered a recurring water flow problem with the genset which was supposed to have been fixed during our $4,000 rebuild of the genset in Auckland. George was great and diagnosed the problem in about 5 minutes which was a loose hose clamp allowing air into the system.Tuesday, repairs completed and with a full load of fuel off we go a bit further south to Smugglers Cove which one of our new friends recommended for the younger crew as there were a couple of backpacker places there. We were on our way to Denerau to drop off Piers, our 4th crew, on Thursday and to repair the outboard which developed a mysterious water leak under the cowling. On arrival the boys disappeared ashore. About that time Rose noticed a diesel smell, and, when the boys returned, we checked it out and found some fuel in the tank locker. Oh oh!!! Called Brian and told him to be on the lookout for us in about a week to fix a leaky tank. It wasn't that bad, and we were pretty much able to contain it with oil absorption pads, and didn't want to go right back in. Besides we had to drop off Piers and get the dinghy fixed. So the boys returned to shore and had an eventful night with the backpacker chicks, and we shoved off for Denerau in the morning. Just so you know it's not all work on Rendezvous, the lads went water skiing and "skurfing"--towing a surfboard behind the dinghy. Water's warm, I'm told. Might actually get in this week.Denerau was empty this year after being chockablock with super yachts last October. We really scored on the dinghy with a guy able to fix it right away, AND it was only a $9 diaphragm. What a win!! We also went looking for some teak as we lost another one of the back deck boards on the passage. Couldn't find teak, but we now have a really nice and cheap mahogany board back there. Ran into some guys we met at Vuda and had cocktails and shoved off again in the morning for Musket Cove which, if you read our stuff, you'll remember is a yachtie friendly resort on a little island at the west side of the barrier reef. On the way, you will not believe this, one of the engine alarms started chirping just a little. We were making water with our newly repaired watermaker. Joey checked that engine room and with great alarm tells me to shut down the engine. Turns out somehow, the system had overpressurized and blew one of the membrane endcaps right out so high pressure salt water was spewing all over the place. Sorry guys, I know this is getting really long, but a lot has happened in the 2 weeks we've been here. And I'm not done yet.Musket Cove, like Denerau, was also pretty empty, but it's early in the season. It was Thursday, and the place was just as nice as we remembered it. Unfortunately, our fuel leak was getting worse and our containment efforts were still allowing an oil slick to form behind the boat. Called Brian and told him to expect us on Tuesday back at Vuda as Monday was a holiday. Spent the first couple of days on the phone and email with the W/M guys and decided just to remove the damaged membrane and replumb the system. That worked, and we've been monitoring the pressure carefully. The regulator just doesn't seem to want to keep the pressure at the right levels. The system was overspeced for what we need anyhow, and this just reduced our capacity slightly. Okay, there's more, all of a sudden our Probe, forward looking sonar which is very helpful keeping you off reefs, etc. developed a big squiggle in the screen. This was just like the radar--works fine but the display was going bad. Email to Interphase, the manufacturer, revealed, once again, sorry, we don't make that anymore, but send it in and we can fix it.. Right, I'm going to leave a big hole in the helm for a few week while it's out. Thought I had a new one purchased from the web, but that crapped out so we're working with Interphase on a swap when, and if, they get an old unit in. As Bill Smith, my old boss would say "That's it!!!" And you all think we're out here having cocktails on the back deck watching sunsets. Just ask my son how nice the sunsets are in a dirty oily engine room at 110 degrees upside down changing stuff out. I actually used to do that myself which is why he's losing weight and I'm starting to look like Moby Dick. Actually, now that I'm getting some tan back I just look like a regular whale. The funny thing is, the weather has been so beautiful, it's hard to get pissed off about theses fairly minor inconveniences.So the saga continues. After a great weekend in Musket Cove, back we go to Vuda. The guys had to pump out the fuel tanks--nice that we had just filled up and carry 800 liters!!! Turns out the leak was not the tank itself but the shutoff valve and a fat diameter very short hose between the fore and aft tanks. It took about a day and a half and two guys to get sorted and, in the meantime, I had the brainstorm that Brian might like to trade me part of the tab for my old South African 12/120V freezer, which is really too large and has required way to much work to hassle with. After he looked at it, we BSed about the Caribbean and SA, etc., he got a phone call, had to leave, I asked how much I owed him, and he said he hadn't done the invoice yet and why didn't we just trade the freezer for the work on the fuel tank. Major win!!!!Okay, almost done. Left that Wednesday for Musket Cove again. Pulled in to see that "Tango Dave" , a guy we met last year, had arrived on a delivery job. Partied a bit, got a massage yesterday--I earned it after all the work Joey had to do and the stress involved for me paying for repairs, etc., and about the only other thing I've done is write this letter which is taking way to long. Next week, after we pick up some mail here, we'll get down to the serious business of cruising around. tons of little islands in this area with all ranges of resorts and it's all inside a huge reef system so you can anchor safely just about anywhere.So, until next time, CheersTim, Rose & Joey