Year Two
Date: 29/7/2009 17:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Savusavu (16 46.63' S, 179 20.05' E)
Author: Peter.

Our first sight of the eastern side of Fiji is somewhat different in aspect to Tonga. The islands in the section of Lao group that we are making our way through are much taller in height and are much more rugged in appearance. Unlike Tonga which is mainly low and flat, here we see mountain peaks and many there of. Also in these eastern islands there is a lack of palm trees, which seem to be so abundant on the islands of Tonga.

Our sail across from Tonga was a simple quick affair with good steady winds and relatively flat seas. We chose to leave just after a low trough waiting for the breeze to swing south. We had planned to get away at midnight but as the breeze was still from the west this was not possible. In the end we got away at 04:00 and made great progress under grey skies for the next two days as the wind slowly rotated to the south east. After 56 hours of sailing we moored up in Savusavu on a clearing morning followed by a beautiful blue sky day.

We were kindly assisted in doing Customs and the like by the friendly staff at the Bosun's Chair which made life so much easier and hassle free. They even arranged our cruising permits for us which included the Lao Group (formally, this was a difficult region to get permission to see).

Savusavu is a pretty little town with a fairly equal looking mix of indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians in the population. It is clean and unlike our past experiences in Nadi the locals are all friendly, helpful and in no way pushy. As soon as you leave town everything is uphill. From these hills flow some natural springs, the water from which is extremely hot. Steam rises from the drains that exit the town into the waters of the bay. Some of the locals use the hot water to cook corn that they then sell off on a street corner. The markets here are great with much more variety than we had in Tonga, however without the local market gardens, some of the quality is not as good. The supermarkets also have much much more, with a major influence from the Indian population at affordable prices. Pity they still don't seem to stock the kind of lollies that Kylie loves.

On a side note it is a weird but beautiful world we live in. I was only thinking this morning when I was having a shave how different things can be. Normally guys would have a shave in their bathroom at home looking at themselves in a mirror. Every second day (how lucky am I) when I have a shave I sit in the back of the cockpit and take in the surroundings about me. My scenic bathroom takes in so wonderful a view that unlike the mirror I used to use, changes and varies with each new anchorage. Oh what bliss. We all need to see more of our wonderful planet.

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Year Two
Date: 31/7/2009 08:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Savusavu (16 46.63' S, 179 20.05' E)
Author: Peter.

During our travels we are starting to notice that there a few different styles of cruisers. In no particular order here are our observations.

The Dreamers:
This seems to be the largest category as far as we are concerned. This is a group of people that dream about going cruising, perhaps they already own a boat, perhaps not but for one reason or another they can't or are unable to do it. We meet so many of these. If you are one of these on the edge, just do it. We love it, it is a fantastic lifestyle (not holiday).

The Fliers:
This group of cruisers all seem to come from the around the world group. They seem to fly into Port, spend a short time there and just as quickly and quietly, sail on back out to the next country. They either seem to be cruisers that are time short, therefore see each country quickly, or they have one goal. To sail around the world. Each new country is just some stop off point to sleep before the next crossing. Tick, been there done that "I've sailed around the world"

The Townies:
This group of cruiser sails from one major town to the next and just sits there. Indefinitely. You never see them anchored in some small bay or at an island. They just town hop. We think it may have something to do with the bars or shopping but we are not exactly certain yet.

The Explorers:
This group of cruiser likes to take a bit more time and see as much of each of their new surroundings as their time limit allows them. They seem to move along slowly like a snail and can be seen frequenting some anchorages multiple times if they like it. They also seem to spend much of there days either in the water or ashore looking about.

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The Fiji Islands in the South Pacific are an archipelago of over 330 islands of which 106 are permanently inhabited. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population. West of the main islands lie the Yasawa and Mananucas groups. East of Vanua Levu is Tavuni Island with the Lau Group further south.

Year Two
Date: 26/7/2009 16:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Port Maurelle (18 42.01' S, 174 01.76' W)
Author: Peter.

It is just fitting that our last day in Tonga is just perfect. Clear blue sky's, warm air, and magical water. We are anchored in 8 meters of water and it is so clear all around that you can see the wave pattern in the sand below and Stripe Faced Unicornfish and a Moorish Idol exploring a piece of green coral just off to our right. Only a short while ago we had a variety of fish around the boat as Kylie fed them the last of our stale bread.

We are now packed up and stowed away as we are setting sail at midnight tonight. Savusavu our point of entry into Fiji is 407nm away if the weather is good and we can take our preferred path through the reef. To make a comparison that is pretty much exactly twice Bass Straight or 2/3rds the length of the Sydney to Hobart Race. We are hoping for a good sail with moderate winds from behind. (Fingers crossed)

Last night we went back to the Crows Nest Cafe for a last hooray at an Indian Night (a special event they put on only once in a while and when they get the right number of people interested). At our table were Carl and Linda off Navara, Jeff, Meryl and James from Miss Molly. We got to experience some wonderful new foods all based around southern Indian food. Again we had a great meal and night on our last day ashore in Tonga.

We are both now looking forward to Fiji and something different. Some of other friends who are already there are telling us to hurry up as they are loving it.

On Friday night we repaid the favor given to us by the crew of Twin Image by crewing for them in the twilight race. Well to say the least it was something different and nerve racking. Twin Image is about 58 feet long and 30 feet wide and she does not turn that quickly. This meant that just before the start we were put into irons trying to dodge another boat that put us behind the eight ball. Sailing through the fleet was at times a little stressful, especially for Richard and then the close finish in the moored boats of the club was unreal. To put it simply, Twin Image only just fits between the moored boats and we had to work and tack within them to get across the line. In the end we finished second to Robyn a Najad 46 sailed really well by its owners. This result did not matter much however as I have said in the past, each boat gets a prize and we got a good one for the kids and Richard. On a side note, 12 boats from all around the world were racing in the small harbour with boats ranging in size from 58 feet to 20 feet. The course varies depending on the length of your boat (handicap system) which makes for an interesting finish. The little 20 footer never really rounds any marks except for the finish line. When the lead boat rounds each of the marks at the extreme ends of the harbour he is to turn and aim at the next mark. Weird but it seems to work.

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A view from the top - top spreader actually






Having lunch aboard twin image


Peter reviewing the boys school work


the average quality of the cars round here

Year Two
Date: 23/7/2009 16:00
Weather: Windy
Location: Tu'ungasika Island (18 39.46' S, 174 04.30' W)
Author: Peter.

Its a little cooler today as the wind is up. It is only 24 deg celsius and we are dressed warm again. It is actually warmer in the water, 26 deg celsius at the surface and 25 deg at 20m.

Anyway now to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The ugly:
A few days ago I started doing some checks and maintenance as we will be crossing for Fiji in a few days (Monday) and we wanted to be prepared. Part of this involved the engine, so late in the day just after I had finished changing the engine oil I headed up on to deck to cool down and to check the exhaust from the back of the boat. Being somewhat tired after a long day and not thinking straight, I happened to lean on the BBQ, the very, very hot BBQ. Needless to say I now have a ripper of a burn on my arm (you should see its colour now) and a small one on my left side. How stupid. Stop work time Dad.

The bad:
The next afternoon I decided to check our engines impeller (a small rubber part that pumps saltwater into the boat past the engines fresh water cooling system and then back overboard). It needed replacing so I went and turned off the valve that lets the sea water into the boat so I could change it. All was going well until I went to turn the valve back on. It would not move, so silly pete decided a little persuasion was needed and in the process completely snapped the handle off. Now we had a problem. Without the sea water our engine cannot be run as it will get hot very quickly and then cook itself. with no way of moving it I decided to sleep on it but only after calling up Twin Image asking them to stop by in the morning so that I could borrow a large shifter, and calling Carl on Narvara who is a diesel mechanic with exactly the same engine as ours.

Navara - Carl and Linda from New Zealand

The following morning Richard and I started to pull the fitting apart but we still could not get it to move. After some careful thought (during the night) it was decided to remove the valve. The problem here being that once removed the boat would have a large hole in it that would let in water very quickly. This was solved by a few meters of glad wrap wound around the sail drive leg (a good one to remember for the future) and once the valve was out, a wooden plug. We still could not get the valve to open once we had it up on deck and with no spare we decided to drill an opening in it. Not pretty, but it is now back in place and is working well and should see us back to Aus where we can replace it.

The Good:
Where to begin. We have had some great swims lately. Yesterday Both Kylie and I had a rare experience that is so hard to describe. We both got lucky enough to swim with three Humpback Whales. It was just breathtaking, that is all I have. I know that is not much of a description but WOW.

Here is proof, ok poor quality but it is a still from the movie footage Peter took. Hoping to get movie footage up on blogsite




Whales in our anchorage


Kylie swimming with whales!!!

Today I also went diving at Tu'ungasika Island with Richard from Twin Image. The water is just so clear. We were twenty meters down, you could see at least 60 in each direction, the fish and coral were amazing and to top it if we also had a turtle and a whale. Bring it on.

Scuba Taylor, a smaller version of scuba steve


Kylie snorkelling


Peter snorkelling

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Year Two
Date: 18/7/2009 17:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Ovalau Island (18 45.00' S, 174 04.87' W)
Author: Peter.

We can't believe it. We have just been chased off the island by a very aggressive local. We went ashore exploring when just as we got back to our ducky we ran into a mob of goats. As we went to untie the duck the rather large male came for us causing both of us to back track into the water. He then made his way over towards our duck and rather nicely proceeded to entangle his very circular horns into our painter (rope coming from the bow of our duck) tied up to a coconut palm. It took him about 5 minutes to untangle himself before coming back to have another go at us and almost getting caught up again. It was only after his heard came down to him and then started walking off that he finally left us alone.

We went and did the local friendly twilight race last night. The boats that had wanted to race us earlier have already left Tonga so we missed out on the opportunity to sail against the earlier round winner. It is an interesting race having a start line the width of the harbour. A very relaxed start sequence, originally five minutes but then it got changed to three minutes mid sequence. Marks ranged from laid buoys to large channel markers to 40' charter boats. We were joined by the crew from Twin Image and lead from start to finish thanks to the professional crew. I am rather glad we had no boats around at the finish as we finished between the yacht club and the most inner moored boats. This meant sailing into the very closely packed moorings and bouncing back and forth like the ball in a pin ball machine. Not nice if you had other boats around as the mid fleet did. There is no charge to race each week which is interesting given each boat gets a prize. We won two prizes, a ten dollar gift voucher for a local souvenir shop and lunch for two at the Crows Nest Cafe. Wow what a lunch. Who would have thought you could find food this good in the middle of the south pacific. Thank you to Steve and Tess the owners for handing out such a great prize. We had two of the best fruit smoothie's either of us has ever had. We had the best chicken burger I have ever eaten and Tess who is originally from South India makes a truly amazing curry. We cannot rave about the food enough and we cannot wait to go back.

It is obvious lately that it is school holidays in New Zealand or Australia or both as there has been a major increase in yachts in the anchorages. The charter fleet is now in full swing. They all seem to be enjoying the warmth. Especially those from NZ who seem to be having some extreme weather. A side bonus is that one New Zealand family we met out near Nuapapa have just given us a box of their excess food. Their 9 day charter was coming to an end and they had over catered. What a bonus for us as they had some nice things on board like pastrami, cream cheese and latina fresh pasta. YUM. Thank you very much. Charter boats also mean some entertainment every now and then. About a week ago we watched a charter cat try to make its way into a difficult anchorage after the sun had just set. You should only navigate through the reefs while the sun is high unless you have a good reason. And this was one of those spots. We sat and watched on while he tried to feel his way through the channel to the anchorage running aground so many times I lost count. He even had a few ducks run out to give him a hand but i don't think they knew much more as they all seemed to come off other charter vessels. A couple of times he hit quite hard. I know we should not call this entertainment but well!!!!

Dudley and Tanya took us to our first Tongan BBQ the other day. We both choose the chicken which meant we each got three pieces of chicken, two sausages and some sweet potato. All for $5 pa'angi, about AUS$3.50. The chicken tasted surprisingly like KFC. And neither of us got sick. On a slightly different note the range of foods available here in Tonga is quite limited. Despite this limited range what fresh produce there is here is good. For example the carrots we are getting are much smaller than what you would get back in Aus but they are perfect. They look like the ones you get in fancy restaurants, they are full of flavour, and the are so fresh, just out of the ground and with their tops still on. Still you would not want to be to fussy an eater or you may go hungry. It is amazing to think what you can come up with when you have to.

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Biakal sailing in Vavau Group


juvenile something or other


Beautiful Nuku Island







Lion Fish




We would love one of these cats in the future


No maximum person limits here








Locals on a dug out canoe


Sunset in the Neiafu anchorage


mother duck and her swarm

Year Two
Date: 16/7/2009 17:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Neiafu Island (18 39.30' S, 173 58.98' W)
Author: Peter.

The main Street of Neiafu


The markets here in Neiafu. Veges are sold in little piles, each $3.


A local supermarket, not much of a range hey?



One of the larger supermarkets! however it is a little deceiving as there is little inside.

We are back in town again picking up some fresh supplies at the market. While we were here we thought we might go for an explore so we took the bikes ashore. Although the island appears big on the chart it is actually rather small as we found we could ride to each side rather quickly. Our exploration helped us find a real bakery. Yum. Another part of this journey took us to the highest point in Vavau to the peak of Mt Talau. To say it is a peak is a little miss leading as the top is actually quite flat. There is a Tongan story that says a Samoan spirit came and cut the top off the mountain so that he could have a clear view in all directions (sounds rather modern, in a bad sort of way). Anyway it is well worth the ride and walk (up a very steep track) as the views are definitely worth it as demonstrated by the spirit.

Picture back into Port Refuge and the Neiafu, capital of the Vavau group.

While here, I also gave the under surfaces of the boat a well overdue wipe. The new anti foul (vivid petit(for aluminum boats)) is so much better than the old one. It is lasting alot longer and as a result we are both much happier. It is also much easier and more forgiving to clean. Tomorrow is Friday Night Twilight race night so we thought we might finally join in. Every boat wins a prize and it sounds as though it is worth it just for these. Not that I am missing racing or anything either.

The Mermaid Bar also known as Vavua Yacht Club

We have been hearing news that back home it has rained a great deal. It sounds as though the drought is over which is a good thing but Coffs especially seems to be getting more than its share. Here the weather is too good. We have been hoping for some occasional rain but as to date have had very very little. We have been wanting to catch some rain to help fill the tanks so we don't have to use the water maker so much and I want to give the whole boat a bit of a scrub. A few days ago we got our first decent rain but it only lasted a couple of hours which only just helped out with our tanks. The only bonus is that the temperatures are so mild that we both had a shower on deck. It felt unreal to shower in the rain. Lucky for everyone else that no one could see us do it.

You don't need much to live this life style as you can see in the photo below. We have come across two very small yachts both of which have sailed from the UK. The dark blue boat is only 20 feet in length and is a bilge keeler. The light blue boat is only a little larger but I think that may all be in their bow sprit. See you can sail around the world in a Hartley
TS16!!

20footer!


not much bigger

Here is another photo of a sea snake. A small reminder to take more care as I almost stepped on it whilst trying to take photos of cows on the beach.

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Year Two
Date: 14/7/2009 17:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Vaka'Eitu Island (18 43.28' S, 174 06.03' W)
Author: Peter.

When cruising we are often asked "don't you get bored?" The simple answer to this is no. If you forget all about the beautiful places and different cultures we sail through there is always plenty to do. For example unlike a land based house ours is constantly on the move and is in some harsh conditions. It is important to look after the boat so that you always stay ahead of any possible future problems. That way our self destructing house will continue to look after you. This is not as major as it sounds but does take up spare time here and there. A second example would be to think about something simple like the sandwich that you may have had for lunch today. In our case we cannot just go down to the shops and buy a loaf of bread. If we want sandwiches we have to start off by making our own. Every third day or so we have to mix, knead, and bake our bread which takes time and requires some pre-planning.

So it is the small things you can take for granted back on land that start to occupy your time aboard. Other problems can arise with this lifestyle also. If you think about how much rubbish a house makes each week and then think about what you do with it. It is quite simple when you have garbage collection each week. We on the other hand must try to minimise our rubbish as we may not be able to dispose of it for three weeks or more. As a result you want the least amount possible. Anything smelly gets stuffed into used milk bottles, and then where do you store it? Here in Tonga there is also no way of disposing it like you would find back home in Aus. Most villages burn it. The big towns as we have mentioned before can be somewhat untidy.

This brings us to yesterday and today. Currently in the Vavau group there is a tidy village competition going on. I think this is a fantastic thing and I wish it could be applied to schools back home (are garbage bins so hard to use????). The result has been that the last two villages we have visited have been beautiful. Even the pigs have been put into pens. The only downside was the fact that each anchorage we visited this week was full of smoke as each village burnt off its excess waste. One village created so much smoke you would have been forgiven for thinking there was a major bush fire. On the daily radio sched they have been asking for donations to provide garbage bins for the schools, currently they have none.

We were anchored off Nuapapu Island (18 42'.49 S, 174 04'.20 W) when late in the day a local boat came around covered in kids (sitting on the roof and around the sides of the rickety, decaying boat). The mother on board asked to trade banana's for lollies or biscuits which we had neither of. We did however trade a bag of marshmallows for the bananas which were superb. She then asked if we would like to come and visit her village (Matamaka Village, 200 people, 4 churches that I saw, and the nicest village we have yet seen) and go to church the following day. This was our first look at a Methodist Church and it was somewhat different to what I grew up with. There was alot of singing, a little dancing and plenty of tears. Yes I said tears, in a normal service. Some of the service was translated to English which we "Palangy" were all grateful for.

The kids lined the boat roof and loved posing for pictures


during the church service










It was during this visit that we learnt about the contest and about the Tongan Princess coming the following day to judge the contest. So the next morning we waited along with the two nearby villages for her arrival. It was during this time that we had "our" (we had heard plenty of stories from other cruisers) first "give me" experience. Three teenage boys paddled out in their dug out canoe and hung off the back of Jura asking for Lolly pops. When we responded with "no", they then asked for a drink (soft drink) and this continued. Our friends on Biakal have been asked by kids for money, I think the request or demand was "where's my money?". They just put there hands out and demanded money. Later that day Tanya had her thongs stolen out of the tender. This is also apparently normal.

It was not until after lunch that she arrived so we all made our way over to the village of Nuapapa and quietly sat with the locals while gifts were presented and speeches were made. It was a wonderful spectacle as the whole village sat there on the stone wharf, but we felt a little let down as the Princess never left the boat and Kylie and I were seated up the back, so never really saw her. Kylie was however presented with a frangipani necklace, and we did meet some nice young locals before we toured this village.

Waiting for the princess to arrive


The Princess arrives by whale watch boat

It is a little funny how things are the same yet different. Last year we walked through ruins of war training camps. This year we are walking through the remnants of old resorts. It seems such a waste as it is obvious alot of money was spent back in 1994 to set up todays "old resort" but now what is left is truly lost in the jungle. We have seen alot of this in Tonga, good ideas that have been let go or are still there but very run down.



On a different note I am not sure why I love cruising because I also love and miss my friends and one takes you away from the other. On our wedding day Andrew talked about how I missed Kylie while we were away in Melbourne and how much I wanted to go back home to see her. Right now I feel similarly about Andrew, our other friends, and our families. At times it can be difficult. We were hoping some of you would come and visit us (and help alleviate some of this pain) but we understand many cannot. It is a pity as we miss you all and it would be great to share so many of our wonderful experiences.

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