Tonga July 03, 2005 Malo e Lelei, We left Nomuka on the 30th and sailed overnight to Vava'u. We had 25 to 30 knots on the beam most of the way, and the huge swell coming from the same direction made for an uncomfortable ride. We made the 120 mile trip in a little under 24 hours, which is good time for us! Whale migration season is just starting in this area and we had two sightings. One surfaced a couple of times very close to the boat. She took a dive and never resurfaced once we took the camera out. The second sighting was as we approached the islands of Vava'u. We were treated to a fluke and dive, but too far off and too fast for the camera, again. We'll keep trying. We caught a small yellow fin tuna on the way up and are having sushi on board tonight, yummy! Just big enough for a few meals. Still have a little of the mahi mahi we caught last week. And we thought we "used" to have a fishing boat! The islands of Vava'u are different than any we've been to. Coral, but with height. They are densely forested with palm trees interspersed within the thick jungle. There are bunches of small islands all grouped together to make almost a maze. We wound our way through them back into the north east corner and are anchored by the principal village of Niafu. There are probably 50 or more boats on moorings here. Within the islands there are about 40 or so different anchorages all within a few hours sail from here. Tomorrow is the King of Tonga's birthday and the 4th of July. There will be a celebration at the Mermaid, a famous - among cruiser's - local beach bar. We had fun there our first night in and are looking forward to it. Happy 4th of July to all our American family and friends. Take care and we'll be in touch soon. Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Tonga July 12, 2005 Malo e Lelei, Vava'u is so beautiful. If anyone is planning on chartering a sailboat for a vacation, this would be the place. The waters are so protected and with so many anchorages, you can be social or secluded, depending on your mood. We don't have our scuba gear with us, but our friends who do are really enjoying it! Just snorkeling is tremendous and swimming in the cool (78 degrees!) clear water is so refreshing. The King's Birthday celebration was great. We danced the night away. This place can be crazy. Boat races started at the bar. At the go one person from each boat had to power down a drink then get to the boat. At the end they had to get back to the bar and kill another drink to finish. Some race course, huh? As the boats sailed by people were diving off and swimming in to the finish line. Barb entered Jim in a dingy race. A friend and his little son were his crew. Jim only had to finish one drink at the start and might have done better but Barb ordered a beer while everyone else got shooters (live and learn). Even with their slightly delayed start they did pretty well. They won a prize - a pitcher of beer! Only in Tonga.... They have an excellent market in the village, daily, and sell fresh fruits and vegetables as well as baskets and woven goods. They also have a few small grocery stores and hardware stores. The exchange rate is favorable; 1 dollar = 1.86 panga. We stocked up and left the anchorage at Niefu on Friday and moved out to Port Morrell, a nearby anchorage. There are nice reefs to snorkel on both sides of the bay and a white sandy beach for landing. Sunday evening we all got together on the beach and cooked dinner over a campfire. There were about seven boats here and everyone joined in. We had only met one of the couples before. We played bocce ball on the beach and watched the sunset. It was fun. Aside from one other boat that was here before we arrived, the boats come and go almost daily. We pulled one of the two available moorings instead of anchoring this time. We needed to do some work on our anchor windless and decided this would be a good place. We also have been dealing with a twisted anchor chain since we were in Tahiti and finally got that straightened out. No jobs, no freeways, no time schedules, but boat maintenance is one thing that you can not escape from. With the amount of time we are using the boat nowadays, 24/7, it's a constant battle! We really can't complain (or shouldn't). Bye for now, we're gonna go take a swim before we lay around in the sun and relax for awhile. Poor us :-) Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji July 26, 2005 Hello Everyone, We left Tonga on July 22 at 06:45 UTC and have just made landfall off the north west coast of Fiji. We are entering the Nanuku Passage on our way to Savusavu. We have a day of sailing within the Fijian waters before we enter Savusavu Bay and formally check in to the country. We spent most of our time in Vavau anchored in Port Maurell or off the village of Nieafu. Port Maurell was so beautiful and relaxing we stayed there for over a week. We had quite an exciting night in that anchorage right after our last email. Because of the strong tides in New Zealand, a lot of the Kiwi boats have bow thrusters and Tonga is chock full of Kiwi cruisers. About 02:00 am Jim woke up to the sound of a boat thruster and splashing water. He visualized a boat about to collide with us and stuck his head out the front hatch. He just about....well uh... he was quite excited to have a whale blow right next to the boat. We both scrambled out to the cockpit lured by the sound of the "whale song" (which did sound kind of like a thruster). It was quite dark and we could barely make out a whale as she surfaced within 50 feet of the boat. Her breathing sounded awesome and she blew a couple of times as she left the anchorage. It took everyone in the anchorage awhile to settle down after she left. It was a hot chocolate night on the Spanish Stroll. On the 19th we decided we were anxious to get going to Fjij so we headed back in to Nieafu to take care of last minute things and check out. Check out, much like check in, was a pleasant experience. The Tongans (including officials) are all very relaxed and friendly. We checked out on the afternoon of the 21st. After returning to the boat and breaking down the dingy, along with all the other things that need doing to ready the boat for a crossing, it was pretty late. We decided to take our chances and stay till early the next morning to leave. We maintained radio silence throughout the night so on the way out Friday morning, we cruised through Port Maurell and shouted our good byes to a few friends on boats still anchored there. Our first day out of Tonga, Jim caught a nice wahoo early in the afternoon. Fresh fish for dinner. We had stocked up on chicken in Nieafu and our freezer was full. We cooked most of the thawed chicken up the next day. The freezer is now full of wahoo. Yahoo! The last couple of days have been stormy due to a low pressure system that formed northwest of Fiji and crossed our path on its way to Tonga. The last two nights we hove to and went to bed after conditions became too bad to continue. With high winds, torrential rains, and an incredible lightning show, we were lucky to be over a hundred miles out with plenty of sea room. Friends in Fiji had problems with the wind over fifty knots and being anchored next to coral reefs. The low is past now and conditions have turned very nice for our arrival. We'll be in touch again soon.... Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji July 30, 2005 Bula, We are on the island named Venua Levu, Fiji. We arrived outside of Savusavu Bay after dark on the 26th and stood off for the night. We entered the bay and sailed on to the town of Savusavu on Wednesday morning the 27th. The weather was perfect. We sailed along on calm seas with 20 knots of wind and were almost disappointed when we had to turn into Nagana Creek and head up to the town. Now this is paradise! We called ahead on channel 16 to alert them to our arrival. We were met at the mouth of the creek by a very nice (and Barb says handsome) young man, who showed us to a mooring and helped us to hook up. The marina notified the appropriate officials and they came to the boat and processed our paperwork. It was all very pleasant. We are on a mooring at the Copra Shed Marina. Showers, laundry service, restaurant, bar, internet, and several stores. They are all housed in the oldest (renovated) building in Savusavu. The town is right on the waterfront and all the many stores are within easy walking distance. The weather is warm and sunny. The landscape is absolutely tropical and the people are really friendly. Almost everyone you pass on the street says "Bula!" with a big smile. The exchange rate here is about $1 US = $2 Fiji.....very good! One could consider retiring right here. It's hard not to eat out every meal with our average tab less than $20 ($10 US). That includes beers! Did we say this is paradise? The Samoan Circus came to town on our first night in. We attended last night with our friends, Barb and Bjorn from S/V Freya. It was so much fun. A small production by Barnum and Bailey standards, but full of amazing acrobatics. It was a small group of performers and everyone wore many hats. Bjorn was picked from the audience to go on stage and dance with one of the clowns .....it was great! We spent today getting laundry, shopping and stuff done for a departure on Monday or Tuesday. We will travel to Fiji's other large island Viti Levu and make our way to the west coast. It's less than 130 nautical miles, but we'll be traveling through reefs and it will take a few days to get there as we can only travel with good visibility. One thing nice is that it will almost all be in protected waters. Mike and Laurie will fly in to Nadi on August 9th and we'll be there in plenty of time to pick them up. Can't wait! Hope everyone is healthy and happy back in the USA. Emails sent to the website will reach us on board, so drop us a line! Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji August 16, 2005 Bula, Fiji was hit by two cyclones simultaneously on Tuesday, August 9th. They were named Laurie and Michael. We had plenty of warning and did not sustain any damage aside from a few hangover's and sore muscles. A week was way too short for a visit and we were only able to visit two islands; Viti Levu and Malolo Lailai. Viti Levu is the largest island in Fiji. We moored the boat in Vuda Point Marina to be close to Nadi Airport for their arrival. We used a rental car to pick them up and do a little sight seeing. On Friday, we shared a beautiful sail over to Musket Cove on Malolo Lailai. It's a resort island about 22 miles from the marina. The "kids" kayak'd and took wind surfing lessons. We all snorkeled. We sailed back to Vuda Point on Tuesday and after refreshing showers and a nice dinner at the yacht club, we took a taxi to the airport to see them off. It was great to see them and share a little bit of paradise. We usually try to stay in more secluded places and out of restaurants, but it was fun to discover a different Fiji with them. We hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we did! We will be in touch soon. Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji August 25, 2005 Bula, Our trip from Vanua Levu to Viti Levu was excellent! We were mostly inside the reefs which makes for smooth sailing. The winds were up to 30 knots at times and with the reefs keeping the swells down we just buzzed along. Viti Levu, at least the north and west coasts, is more dry and "barren" than Vanua Levu. We stopped at four different anchorages on our way to Vuda Point. All were mostly just roadsteads. We didn't pump up the dingy or go ashore to explore until we reached our fourth stop, called Sawini Bay. We considered leaving the boat in Sawini and catching a bus to Lautoka for our check in, so we went ashore there to check it out. It was too far from the main road to easily catch a bus. We decided to move on down the coast to Vuda Point. Vuda Point Marina is quite different than the marinas in the states. The marina is shaped in a circle and boats are tied bow to with stern lines running out to blocks in the center. Boats are pretty much side by side and it's necessary to have fenders on both sides of your boat. It is considered a safe cyclone hole. It's quite tricky to climb in and out of the boat over the bow rail.....especially at low tide! They have all the amenities; showers, laundry machines, internet, small market, small chandlery and coffee shop. Nearby is Vunda Point Yacht Club and a resort called First Landing. Both have good inexpensive meals and happy hours. We took a taxi into Lautoka for our check-in with customs. Fijians like paperwork and we pretty much had to fill out the same forms (in triplicate) that we did on our initial check in at Savusavu. Afterwards we walked on into the business section of town and rented a car. It came in useful that very afternoon to do some provisioning. It also made it easier to pickup Mike and Laurie at Nadi Airport and to transport all the goodies they brought us from the states! When they cleared customs on arrival the quarantine officer spotted the cans of chicken we had requested. They had to take everything out of the box to reach the cans in the bottom. Bummer, we were really looking forward to chicken curry, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken spaghetti....Bigger Bummer, with the hustle and bustle of the customs area distracting them, they failed to pack a new handheld vhf radio and charger back into the box. Left it laying it on the table. It's absence wasn't discovered until late that night. We returned to the airport the following day and have to admit we all felt doubtful about retrieving it. Fiji ain't Los Angeles though...... they had a piece of paper in quarantine with Mike's name on it and a description of the radio. Just took the paper to customs and they released the radio. Not quite so simple, but after a trip back to the boat for some more paperwork and filling out more forms, the ending was a happy one. After our trips to the airport, we drove on to Denarau and had some drinks at the Sheraton while we watched the sunset and a torch lighting ceremony on the beach. The following day Jim and the kids went into Lautoka to return the car and do some last minute provisioning. Barb stayed on board to make tortillas. We made fish tacos for dinner with some of the last of our Wahoo. Yum. Next morning we all set sail for Malolo Lailai. It is just 20 or so miles off the coast of Viti Levu and a popular spot for cruisers and tourists alike. We stayed on a mooring at Musket Cove. We joined the Musket Cove Yacht Club. To be a member you have to have sailed here from a foreign port. We snorkeled a few times. The water is very clear and fish are abundant. There is a sand bar about a quarter mile out that dries at low tide. We dingied out and walked on it. Weird thing. Mike and Laurie took wind surfing lessons and both lost their sun glasses. We spent a lot of time just sitting around on the boat and catching up. We had some interesting dinners on Malolo Laili island. One place that we really enjoyed is called the Island Bar. It's a round bar surrounded by picnic like tables and wood burning barbecues. You bring your own meat to barbecue (and side dishes) and they supply the plates, cutlery, napkins and firewood. Drinks at the bar are fairly reasonable. It's a very popular gathering place for cruisers. Monday night was our last night on the island with Mike and Laurie. We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with dinner at the Plantation Resort. Live music, tables on the beach, good food and good company. It was a beautiful setting and how nice to share the occasion with two of our favorite people! We left early the next morning and sailed back to Vuda Point. The kids gathered all their stuff together and then we all took showers before going to dinner at the Vuda Point Yacht Club. We tried to take pictures of the little geckos that wander freely on the walls and ceilings of the club, but they are pretty quick. Makes them good bug catchers. After dinner we took a taxi to the airport and said goodbye. Could hardly believe that they had been with us for a week. We stayed a few more days in the marina installing some of the goodies the kids had brought. We took our head and stay sails off to be repaired. We then motored back out to Malolo Lailai and dropped our anchor in Musket Cove. Just kicking back and making plans for our next moves. We may go ahead and explore the Yasawa Group while our sails are being repaired. They are pretty close and we can easily motor from place to place. We can also use our spinnaker if the winds are light enough. Decisions, decisions..... We'll let you know where we're headed soon as we know, but in the meantime just picture us kicked back on the Spanish Stroll surrounded by paradise..... Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji September 11, 2005 Bula Everyone, We are still kicked back on the Spanish Stroll surrounded by paradise. We stayed in Musket cove for at least two weeks waiting for our sails. We never pulled the anchor like we thought we would ...it was already perfectly beautiful! It's been pretty warm and Musket Cove is so clear and inviting, we did a lot of swimming and snorkeling. Barb's got a big fat sunburned lip to prove it! We met up with a lot of the people we've cruised with off and on since we left Redondo. We made some new friends too! It's kind of a gathering place as people prepare to move further west. Went to a few bon voyage parties. Never even missed our sails... We motored back to Vuda Point on the 7th and our sails were there waiting for us. We are very happy with the job and the price! They are back on the boat and ready for action. We just spent one night and then moved north to an anchorage we stayed in when we first arrived at Viti Levu, Sawini Bay. There's a little backpackers type resort on shore, but nothing like Musket. Not very welcoming to cruisers. There's also a park and lot's of picnicker's and swimmers on the weekends. There are about 8 or 9 other boats anchored here. It's a nice quiet anchorage for the most part. A quick walk up the dirt road to the little store and you're also at the bus stop that will take you in to the "big" town, Lautoka. We went into Lautoka on Friday to do some provisioning. It is about 3 kilometers away. We caught the bus at 8:30a and it was probably a 25 minute ride into town. It's a great way to travel. For only 75 cents (FJ) you get to ride with real local Fijians as they go about their typical day. Stopping off and on along the way provides a closer look at the neighborhoods. Once into town, most people got off with us and we all scattered. Nothing touristy about it! We went to the bank and then to a large grocery store called Morris Headstrom. They have stores all throughout Fiji and a fairly good selection (different brands are becoming more familiar to us). They even have a "club" card for discounts and we signed up. Jim went back in to buy the loaf of bread we forgot and with our new card we got two fresh rolls free! What a deal. There is a local market at the bus terminal and that's where we went for fresh vegetables. We bought cabbage, cucumbers, coriander (cilantro), limes and onions. They have handcrafted items, cooked foods, candies and kava too! We will definitely have to go back and check it out more thoroughly. By the time we got there, we were burdened down with our groceries and the heat was starting to take the fun out of it (for some of us..he, he). The bus terminal/market is a bustling place. People of all ages on so many different errands. Lot's of school children in uniforms. We carried our bags of groceries around and around the terminal and talked to many different drivers looking for the right answer to what we thought was a very easy question; "What bus will take us back to Sawini Bay?". Turns out we were just a bit too early. Once closer to boarding time, the right bus drove up and parked right in front of the bench we sat on with SAWINI clearly marked in the front window. We bought the charts we need for the Yasawa Group and are planning our trip to those northwest Fijian islands soon. In the meantime we've decided to take a slight detour and go into Suva. The largest city in Fiji and right here on Viti Levu. We may go by bus and stay a day or so in a hotel, or take our boat. One drawback to taking the boat is that we would have to check out with customs in Lautoka and then check back in at Suva. It's also a beat into the wind. We haven't made a decision yet! We are definitely going to have dinner tonight on S/V Music, and that's as far as we can plan ahead! We'll be in touch soon (island time). Take care of yourselves, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji September 19, 2005 Bula Everyone, We just got back from a road trip to Suva, the capitol of the Fiji Islands. Just what you would expect. Throngs of people walking along the streets, in the market place, on the buses, in the stores and vying for taxis. Most of Fiji's 800,000 plus population must have been there for the weekend. We caught an 8:30a local bus from Sawini Bay (where we are still anchored) into Luatoka. From there we caught a 9:00a bus to Suva; a four hour ride. Very crowded and uncomfortable (picture a United Shuttle to Las Vegas on a Friday Night with no air conditioning!) We were happy to get off the bus even though it was 1:30p and the hottest part of the day. We walked till we spotted a tourist information office and they helped us to locate a room close by at the Capricorn Hotel. The Capricorn is a well know hotel (by the Fijians) in the heart of Suva. It is totally made of block walls and even the ceilings were cement slabs.....cyclone proof. It was clean and air conditioned with a bathroom and shower right there in the room! A little kitchenette and a television with one channel. We were on the third floor with a patio overlooking the pool and Suva Harbor. It was quite a treat for us cruisers. Our main objective in Suva was a doctor's appointment for Jim. He was growing a second nose or eye (we couldn't tell) and we thought it should be checked out. We were lucky to be referred to a really good doctor, Dr. Sitiveni Vudiniabola. Everyone called him Dr. Siti! He is a senior lecturer (teacher) and consultant at the Fiji School of Medicine. The growth was really about 1/10th inch in size, but close to the tear duct by Jim's left eye and growing. It was very carefully removed and sent to pathology. Dr. Siti thinks it was basil cell and that this procedure took care of it. Jim has a follow up appointment next Friday to remove the stitches.....Oh Boy, another eight more hours on the bus! While we were in Suva, we had dinner at the Royal Suva Yacht Club. It's a place we have read about and it turned out to be really quite nice. We were graciously signed in by a member, Brian Jenkins, who was on his way out, but happy to meet us and have us visit the club. We ate at a table out on the lawn with colored lights and a cool breeze. We shared a good bottle of wine with our meal and relaxed. It was an early night for us, as we were anxious to get back to our room and take showers and watch tv!! We also had an excellent lunch while we were in Suva.... cheeseburgers and fries at McDonald's! McDonald's, once again, did not disappoint. They have such good quality control world wide.... tastes the same in the US, Tahiti, New Zealand and now Fiji.....we'll continue to check this out as we travel to other countries. As we said once before, we were not big McDonald's fans when back in the states, but now it tastes like home to us. Our chicken at the KFC in Suva was, however, even more greasy than we remembered (if that's possible) and the thighs had the backbones still attached...some of us liked that, some didn't :) It is so nice to be back home at Sawini Bay. We will spend the coming week filling tanks, provisioning, and taking care of some chores. We'll be ready to sail away once we return from Suva next weekend. The Yasawas are calling us..... Take care, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji September 22, 2005 Bula Everyone, Still in Sawini Bay. We spent last week provisioning and getting the boat ready to go. We went in to Lautoka on both Wednesday and Thursday coming back to the boat each day burdened down with supplies. Traveling by bus does have it's drawbacks. The combined weight of canned goods and large sacks of flour and rice add up quickly not to mention trying to keep a few things cold and/or frozen. Then try to keep everything from rolling around on the bus floor and don't leave anything behind... Our current record is sixteen bags. We checked out with customs on Thursday and our next "official" check in will be at Savusavu on Vanua Levu. It will be awhile before we make it there. Check out was once again a simple procedure, if you don't consider writer's cramp and sacrificing a few more trees. Fiji alone could save the world's rain forests, by just cutting down on their repetitive paperwork. We took that trip back to Suva on Friday the 23rd. Jim saw Dr. Siti that afternoon and he removed ONE stitch.... the others were dissolving!!! We think he just wanted to see how it looked, as it was so close to the eye and tear duct. Five hours each way on a crowded bus....grrrrrr! We'll get the results of the biopsy by email. We did a little more site seeing while in Suva. We took a picture of the guard outside the presidential palace. He stood at attention and couldn't talk or even shake his head "yes" when we asked if we could take it. Kind of scary to see someone that uptight with a big rifle in his hands. We heard on the news later that night that an intruder had been caught actually inside the palace the night before....no wonder! We spent the night and enjoyed being able to watch TV one more time! Last time we watched TV (before these two trips to Suva) was with the kids when we toured New Zealand. We are ready to go! We will fuel up on Sunday and leave first thing Monday morning. We will start by traveling up to Fiji's most northwest group, the Yasawas. We'll write again soon. Take care, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll Fiji September 29, 2005 Bula Everyone, Wow, we finally got away from Sawini Bay and are now anchored in the Yasawas. It was challenging. We waited for high tide to cruise to Vuda Point on Sunday to fuel up. The fuel dock wall is steep and the tires they use as fenders tend to leave tracks on the side of the boats. We shot for high tide at 12:00p. The fuel dock closed early. We cruised back to Sawini Bay to anchor for another night. Our anchoring spot was still open. It's only about 5 miles or so....no biggy. On Monday we cruised back to Vuda Point, but went early, rather than wait for high tide and a possible early closure again. On the way Jim caught a nice fish. We had the fillets in the freezer before we arrived. We saved the head and carcass this time. We had heard/read that the Fijians like them. It was happily received by a local Fijian at the fuel dock, but he did jokingly ask, " Where's the flesh?". He identified the fish as a Walu. Turns out to be a very delicious fish. White meat and very tender and juicy.... After fueling up and doing some last minute shopping at the marina store we cruised back to Sawini Bay to anchor for another night. Up early on Tuesday morning and we took off! It was a little overcast, but the reefs were pretty visible and we decided to go as far as we were comfortable with. We had good gps tracks to follow from our trip down in August. We traveled within the reefs to the top of Viti Levu before exiting into Bligh Water. On the way Barb caught another Walu. These are probably about 10lb. fish and each gives us at least six meals in the freezer. We were just getting ready to fillet Barb's catch and somehow make room in the freezer/fridge when a local Fijian boat headed by on their way out from shore. We flagged them down and gave the whole fish to them. They were happy and so were we. Filleting fish is a lot of work on our little sailboat. We may regret it later, but for now we have plenty of fish, steaks and chicken in the freezer. Barb made fresh bread as we cruised along and we were planning which movie to watch that evening after we anchored. HAH! When we reached the pass that would take us through the reefs we still had calm seas and good visibility. It was early afternoon. We could have stopped and anchored there in the favorable light. We were misinformed about an anchorage just a few miles outside the pass and close to yet another reef, so we continued on. A bad judgment call. We should learn from them, but it's definitely not the first and we haven't learned yet. The wind and seas picked up, of course, and after we exited the pass and neared Bligh Water, there was no anchorage. The sun was setting by that time and as the light faded, so did our options. We decided to motor out into Bligh Water, to gain sea room away from the reefs, and heave to. The weather wasn't really bad, but the winds at 20 to 25 knots made it hard to keep our place hove to (you need stronger winds) and the swell was big. A very rolly and uncomfortable night. Barb got really, really, really sea sick and Jim didn't get much sleep. At first light, we headed toward the next set of reefs and the pass to the Yasawa Group. As we went through the pass and closed in on Yasawa Island, it started calming down. It was a long 57 mile trip! It has been almost three days since we dropped anchor in Land Harbour. It's on the southwest coast of Yasawa Island. It has been windy and pouring rain almost continually. We haven't pumped up the dingy yet! "Everyone" said this was the most beautiful part of Fiji and we couldn't miss it. We could be reading books and watching movies anywhere! Wait a minute. It's stopped raining. Guys are swimming. Guys are sailing...... Playing rugby, gee that's better........kindly disregard this letter :] Take care, Jim and Barb S/V SpanishStroll