Goodbye Fiji

Courtesy of  M/V Emily Grace

We are really sad to go.  Fiji is by far one of our most favorite places....primarily because of the wonderful people, beauty of the islands, and abundance of sea life.

Looks like tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, Solstice Day, will be the day we head out to Vanuatu.  First thing in the morning, we will head to Lautoka to checkout.  Russ tried to take care of that detail today, but was told we had to bring the boat over because immigration wanted to board and make sure there were only the two of us on board as we leave.

So that's what we will do in the morning.  Hopefully if all goes well we will be out the pass and heading to Vanuatu by tomorrow afternoon.

Our last week here has been filled with running errands, provisioning, cooking meals for the voyage, taking care of projects on the list (reattaching Hydie our Hydrovane rudder, downloading podcasts, updating software, filling propane tanks, getting fuel, water, etc.)

Veggies purchased, washed, and ready for packing

But we have also had time to go diving.  We saw the beautiful lion fish out at the pinnacles dive site.  Lori and Ken from Trim, Scott and Kate from Beachhouse joined together for a dive last Wednesday.  It was a glorious day.  We met up with Suzi and David from Sidewinder and Jules and Lewis from Simpatica.  Jules and Lewis have sold their boat and were selling off some of their gear.  We picked up two more air tanks from them.  Originally, we were interested in their dive compressor.  Unfortunately, we just don't have the room to store it conveniently, so we opted instead for some tanks.  We have seven tanks now which should be good for 3 dives each, plus 1 extra for anchor dives.

Clockwise from 1 o'clock:  Lori, Ken, Lewis, Jules, David Suzi, Roz at 11 o'clock.  Russ (12 o'clock) is taking photo

Yesterday morning, Russ and I took an early morning walk around First Landing and Vuda Point 

committing the beauty and the fun we have had here to our heartfelt memories. 

I spent most of the morning in the galley, making take along (frozen) meals so that cooking is minimal while underway.  I have two spaghetti and meat ball dinners, two coconut, curry, beef meals, precooked taco meat, extra spaghetti vegetable sauce, and bbq'd chicken and steak for salads. We spent the afternoon swimming at the pool, then playing cards with Lori and Ken. 

Our card game has become a cut-throat version of Baja Rummy.  We call it Fiji Rummy and it has two distinctive differences from Baja Rummy.   Coups and Cannibals!   You can either win big or be gobbled up by your opponents.  At some point, I'll publish the rules.    


After our game, the First Landing musicans and staff who have become quite accustomed to our afternoons at the bar playing cards, sang us a farewell song, bitter sweet!  It's hard to say goodbye to a place that seems like home.  We sure hope to come back!

We'll Miss You, Too!

For the next couple of days while we are at sea, our only communications will be posts sent by radio.  Family and friends, please use our sail mail address if you need to get in touch with us.  Check out FIND ME SPOT for tracking our progress and location.  We'll be back on the net again sometime once we get ourselves established with some telecommunication in Vanuatu.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on the S/V Worrall Wind