Busy Having Fun!

Since our last update, we've been busy having a lot of fun and doing nothing!  Tomorrow we have been invited to dine with a Fijian family in a neighboring village.  Wednesday, we are finally getting to do our shark dive.  We plan to leave on Thursday and head back to Latouka and Vuda Marina.

Monday, June 6, 2011 - Cave Diving
We visited Sawa-i-lau Island about an hour's boat trip from where we are anchored.  Our boat captain, Tui, skimmed over shallow reefs with the greatest of confidence.  We would have had a heart attack in our dinghy.  When we got to the Island, we descended into the caves for a swim.

There was the main cave, and another one that we had to dive under a rock to get to.  Yipes!  Can't say we enjoyed that.  We had our snorkels and masks on, but no fins.   The tide was high so there was absolutely no air space under the rock.   I am so buoyant that I hit the top of the rocks, and our guide had to pull me through.  It was very claustrophobic, and I thought my lungs were going to burst.

It was pitch black in the second chamber, and we couldn't see a thing, except for when one of the other people in our group took a flash photo with their underwater cameras.  We followed our guide's light into a smaller chamber that had an open chimney to the sky.  Interesting, but I think I could have done without that second chamber.

The main cave was quite lovely.  It was colder water than the sea as it was a mixture of fresh and salt.

Our boat captain Tui has invited Russ and me over to his village tomorrow night to have supper with his family.   The Fijian people are incredibly friendly and generous.

Sunday, June 5, 2011 - Diving at the Zoo
We signed up for a a dive to a place called the Zoo.  It's a reef and deep shelf where huge fish hang out.  Saw some Spanish Mackerel, Walou, Shark, and Lion Fish.  Our dive master also pointed out some soft coral that changed colors when we touched it.  Very fascinating.

We bar-b-qued chicken marinated in fresh lime juice given to us by Va and her family.  Also made a wonderful cucumber, onion, pepper salad with green coconut shavings, coconut juice, and limes.

Last night the moon was gorgeous.  It looked as if it were smiling down on us.

The Blue Lagoon cruise ship was anchored further down the beach from us.  The combination of the moon, tiki lights, star light, and Fiian music being sung on the beach, and a gentle sea breeze was magical.

Saturday, June 4, 2011 - Climbing the mountain at Nacula Island


Russ and I took our dinghy to a neighboring island about 2 miles across an open pass to a place called Oarsman Resort.  Manase, Va's brother, is the village chief and operational manager for the resort that the clan owns here.

Laite, Russ, and Chief Manase

We gave him kava for sevusevu and climbed the mountain behind the resort.

Turns out there was yet another higher mountain to climb, but since we had started late in the day, we were satisfied with our hike and the photos we took from the tops of the lower mountain.

Grass was 7-8 feet tall

Later in the day, we snorkeled around the reefs close to the boat and had a wonderful dinner at the Nanuya Resort.

Friday, June 3, 2011 - Fresh Produce at the Farm


As we were getting low on vegetables, it was time to go shopping Yasawa style at the local farm owned by Toki and Meri.

We used the waypoints we had established on our first trip to the school with some modifications.  It was low tide when we arrived, so we anchored in the middle of a muddy bay and walked to the Bay of Plenty Resort, where one of the employees took us on the trail to the farm.

We picked peppers, onions, eggplants, corn, and cucumbers.  We also packed home some fresh bananas.  Yum!

Thursday, June 4, 2011 - Boat Chores

We hung around the boat most of the day, catching up on reading, doing laundry, baking cookies, working on the computer.  I made up some new fliers for Va and her family.  And of course, we enjoyed a lovely sunset.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind

It's a Small World After All

Wouldn't you love to give them the world?

Thursday, June 2, 2011 - The weather for the last three days has been overcast and the lagoon has been an unwelcoming slate grey.  Last night we had quite a thunder and lightning storm with strong winds from the north that turned the boat on its anchor 180 degrees toward shore.  Fortunately, our anchor held well and we didn't drift beyond our safety perimeter.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 was a day of firsts for us.
We made our first dive without an instructor.  Basically, we descended down our anchor chain and explored the area around our boat.  We followed the chain to the anchor which was nestled deeply in white sand.  We dove to 14 meters for about 25 minutes.  We tested our new equipment, saw a few fish, examined the bottom of our boat, and felt pretty exhilirated by our first dive.


We experienced our first sevusevu.  Sevusevu is the ritualized greeting of visitors to a village.  Visitors present local village, in this case it is a family whose beach we are anchored off of a large bouquet of Kava root wrapped in newspaper.  We had purchased three bundles before leaving Latouka for occasions such as this.  We had purchased the highest grade of kava root which happily accepted with three claps of their hands.  Sevusevu is a respect gift brought to the village chief who in return upon acceptance offers his friendship and help to the visitor.  Sometimes, if the visit is late enough in the day, the kava drink is offered.    

Va preparing coconut leaves to make a floor mat.

Our new friends, the Naivalu family and their friend Bill welcomed us to their beach and for a small fee offered to bake us fresh bread, dispose of our garbage, serve us tea, do our laundry.  We were welcomed to walk on their beach and visit them any time.  We are the first yacht of the season to make sevusevu.  

From L to R:  Lai, 2 yr old Ane, Big Semi, Little Semi 5, Va, and Peter 6

Va, the matriarch of the family has books for every year since 2003.  She shared the books with us and asked if we would make a page to put in the book.  Since we were the first yacht this year, we offered to start a new book for 2011.  Va looks after her two grandsons Semi and Peter while they attend the school at Nosomo Levu, which is a catholic boarding school about a 30 minute boat ride down the bay.   Peter and Semi are in class 1 (equivalent to kindergarten).  They were excited to learn that we wanted to visit their school the following day.  We left with 2 coconuts, 4 limes, and leaves from their lemon tree which were to pour boiling water over and steep for tea.  It was delicious!

Wednesday,  June 1, 2011 -  School and Family Visits.
School
We had intended on visiting the school and the farm in Nosomo Bay, but spent so much time at the school that we postponed the farm for another day.  The Nosomo Levu school is a Catholic boarding school.  Children from several islands come and stay at the school or are boarded with friends and family in nearby villages.  Peter and Semi attend this school, but come home every night to their grandmother Va's home.  Russ and I arrived with a bag of school supplies (pencils, notepads, binder paper, stickers, shampoos, hand soap, nose tissues) at the school shortly after lunch and were able to visit several classrooms.

We started off in class 3 (grade 2) where the head teacher met us and invited us in.  The children were copying addition problems off of the chalk board for their homework. They were working on  adding columns of three digit numbers, very similar to what second graders would be doing at home. As usual our inflatable globe with our marked sail route from San Francisco to our current destination was a big hit!  The kids love that globe, and can't believe how little their "world" is in comparison to the rest of the land masses.          

                                                                                                                                                                              In one class room, we tossed the globe from one child to the next and they each told us their names.  In another class, Semi and Peter's class, I taught the children a song, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."

In every class, the children were excited to show us what they were working on whether it was adding sums, telling time, writing in their journals, or making arts and crafts.            

                                      

As the school wrapped up for the day, the children in all classes were busy cleaning and sweeping.     

Hanging on the Outhouse Door!

Outside of the school there were several outhouses.  The children had branches that they were batting against the walls.  We couldn't quite figure out what that was intended to accomplish, but outhouse cleaning looked like quite a sport!                                                                                                            

The school is better off than the ones we saw in Tonga, but not by much.  Makes me feel very appreciative for all that I had to work with as a teacher.  I admire the teaching that goes on in these little South Pacific schools with so few supplies.  We had an opportunity to visit the boarding village side of the school to see the church, dormitories, dining hall and kitchen.                                            

School Kitchen - Large wood stove accommodates 3 big pots

Dining Hall

Girls' Dorm with Mosquito Netting

Lovely Setting for a School

 he children eat a lot of rice and dahl, split peas.  The head master said they would really like more fish to serve, but depend on local people to donate fish.  Sometimes it happens, but most often it does not. When school was out, we followed the school boat back to Nanuya.  It was much faster than we were.  Just as we reached the anchorage, the rain came down in buckets.  Fortunately, we had taken our ponchos with us.

We arrived at the Naivalu Family's Bure where we were invited in for tea.

Lemon tea with sugar and crackers

We brought some color crayons and paper for the children and eyeglasses for Va. She was delighted to be able to read her Bible again.

 Before we left for the day, we took photos of their family so we could use these as the cover for the new book and fliers we were making for them. If the sun would just come out it would be perfect!  Maybe tomorrow.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind

Blue Lagoon

UTC/Local Time:  0600/1800 Fiji

Latitude:       16 56.570 S
Longitude:  177 22.080 E

Update: Monday, May 30, 2011

We spent a lazy day relaxing in paradise and going over our new dive equipment.  Talked to Ted and Marian on Skype, took the dinghy to shore, had a cola at the resort bar, walked along the beach, and met a few local folks.  Came back, watched the sun set, posted some photos on the slideshow above, and now it's time to make some pizza.  Phew!  What a day!

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

Worrall Wind Update - Safely in Blue Lagoon

 UTC/Local Time:  0600/1800 Fiji

Latitude:       16 56.570 S
Longitude:  177 22.080 E

Update: Sunday, May 29, 2011

The beautiful red sky last night brought a downpour of rain throughout the night and a strong east wind.  We woke to an increasingly overcast sky.  We were planning on leaving this morning, but Russ detected some engine coolant at the bottom of the engine room.  We weren't going anywhere until, he figured out and fixed the problem.  We certainly didn't want to have our engine go down while threading our way through the reefs.

After a couple of hours, Worrall Wind was back in order.  The leaking coolant and Russ's keen eye was a good omen because we were able to prevent a catastrophe that would have happened when we needed our engine most.  The coolant was coming from the hose near the clamp.  While examining the clamp, the camp broke in Russ's hand.

Rusted

This is where sweating the small stuff is worth the sweat!

By the time we pulled up the anchor at 11:00 a.m., the wind was blowing about 10-15 knots and a high overcast was forming.  It looked like it was clear in the east (direction of the wind), so we decided to take off.  Russ had set 45 way points into the GPS.  The overcast, 1 meter wind waves, and gusts up to 20 knots, and sea spray over the bow,  added to our tension as we snaked our way up the island chain to Blue Lagoon.    There were breaking reefs on the right, on the left, and in front of us.  We motored the entire way.....and didn't hit anything!  Yeah!

I am so thankful that we took our reconnaissance mission three weeks ago on the ferry to chart the trail.  Every point was spot on!  And we were both grateful that we caught the hose clamp breakage, before it became a huge problem.

We reached Blue Lagoon around 3:30, dropped anchor in 43 feet of water, let out 160 feet of chain, and are catching up on things.  Yes!  Our data stick works here!  Internet feast!

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind

Worrall Wind Update-Swam With Giant Manta Ray Today

UTC/Local Time: 0600Z


Latitude: 17 10.309 S
Longitude: 177 11.233 E

Glorious Sunset

Update: Saturday, May 28, 2011
We may have refreshed our memories yesterday with why we love to sail, but last night was not an idyllic memory. Fortunately, the anchor alarm only went off once when the boat drifted beyond the perimeter we had set. But what kept us from a good night sleep was the constant rock and roll of the swells coming in from the west. After being in the flat waters of a safe harbor, we had forgotten about the constant movement of the boat while at anchor.

The stars last night, however, were fantastic and the sea was calm enough even with the swells to see the reflection of the stars twinkling in the water. We woke up with a beautiful apricot dawn,

enjoyed a leisurely morning on the Lido deck (fan tail of the boat), sipping coffee, eating our cornflakes, and reading our books.

After lunch, we lowered the dinghy and followed one of the work boats from Manta Ray resort through the Manta pass.  We left WorrallWind and Rubber Ducky floating in the anchorage.  Ducky let us know the water was 89 degrees F.  Awww!

We caught up with the boat driver Leve. He was looking for the Mantas so that he could bring some divers and snorklers out. We searched with him for awhile. He showed us where the pass was and suggested we drift through with our dinghy as the current was fairly swift. We spent the afternoon, doing three drift snorkels through the Manta pass.

The fish and coral were beautiful, but we didn't see a manta ray and were pretty disappointed. We caught up with Leve at the Manta Ray resort about 3:30. We were just getting a glass of cold white wine and a beer. He called us by name and told us that he was taking a group of snorkelers out and would we like to follow him. He was going to call his ancestors to appear...the ray! Well, okay!

We left our wine and beer with bartender and told him we would be back later. We hopped in the dinghy and made our way out to Manta Ray pass one more time. Leve and the snorkelers jetted in front of us and we followed in their wake. We tied our boat off to the dive boat as Leve called the rays. Manhoney, head manta finder slithered into the water and snorkeled around while we all waited in silence. Then he gave us the sign to get in.

Sure enough, a huge black manta was only 10 feet below us. His fin/wing span had to be twelve feet across and his eyes stuck out in front of him like head lamps. It was thrilling! We swam along with him until he went too deep for us to see. Mahoney, born in Manta, can hold his breath up to five minutes underwater, and we saw him dive easily to thirty feet. He was almost as amazing as the ray. We gave Mahoney a ride back to the resort as the snorkeling guests were still in the water, and Mahoney needed to get back and help unload the supply ship that was coming in. We asked if they were able to see rays everyday? No, and today's ray was the first and only they had spotted. We felt very lucky, but obviously Manta Ray Bay is named for it's home team.

When we dropped off Mahoney, we sat in the remainder of the sunlight, sipping our beer and wine. We watched as seven young men formed a "bucket brigade" to unload the supply skiff. From the boat to the beach, they tossed boxes, sacks, and bundles of goods with practiced synchronization from one man to the next.

Everything is Imported to these Outlying Islands & Garbage is Exported

 One of the men Naka from the village of Soso on the next island over, wanted to know if we had a lightbulb and socket that he could have so he could demonstrate to the children at the school. We said we would look and see what we had. We told him we might have an extra light bulb, but a socket wasn't something we usually carried with us. If any of you cruisers are coming to Soso, maybe you can help out with this electrical science experiment.

The clouds are developing over the island this evening. It's been a beautiful day and the sunset was magnificent.

Red Skies At Night, Sailors' Delight!   Not Always True.

 We'll leave for Blue Lagoon tomorrow.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.

Worrall Wind Update - Fiji -Shakedown Cruise to the Yasawas

UTC/Local Time: 0600/6:00 p.m.

Latitude: 17 10.315 S
Longitude: 177 112.12 E

Leaving Vuda Point Marina through the Channel in the Reef

Update: May 27, 2011
Today was a great reminder of why we love sailing.. Just a little over one month after our return to Vuda Point Marina in Fiji, we cast off the bowlines and headed northeast to the Yasawa Islands. The sun was out, the wind was blowing 10-15 knots, and the boat was ready to go. The 2 Sail R's were
ready too, even though our hearts were pumping rapidly. It's been seven months since we've been sailing with WorrallWind, and we wondered if we remembered all the things on our check list.

READY
Since our return to Fiji from New Zealand, we've been scrubbing, polishing, reorganizing, shopping,

Bus Trip to Port Denerau

Nadi

Nadi Market Place

Stacked, Sweet Green Mandarins

working on this project and that. In between boat tasks, we've enjoyed the company of friends, dined out,

Suzi Sidewinder, Roz WorrallWind, Lori Trim

Russ WorrallWind, Ken Trim, David Sidewinder

explored the local area,

Garden of the Sleeping Giant Ho Ho Ho

Beautiful Orchids!

played cards, lounged around the pool reading books, learned to scuba dive, hunted and found some geocaches, and watched the royal wedding and the reports of Osama Bin Laden's demise on the big
screen TV's in the bar.

SET
We've actually been ready to go for the past week, but themweather wasn't quite ready for us. First it was rainy, then too windy, then moderate to strong seas, then a slow moving troph, then high overhead clouds.

GO
All of the reports and visuals looked good to go this morning, so we paid up our bill, unplugged the electricity, disconnected the water, and were eased out of our slip by the marina staff. It was a tricky process as we were rail to rail and bumper to bumper with our slip mates. We waved goodbye,
at least temporarily, to Trim, Sidewinder, and other folks we had met. We'll be back to Vuda in a week or so for final provisioning and fixes before we check out for Vanuatu.

The tide was low, but still deep enough for us to exit the channel even though the reefs were exposed on either side.  Russ had meticulously keyed in all of the waypoints through deep water channels to our first anchorage in the Yasawas.

By 9:00 a.m. the fenders that were needed in the crowded marina to separate us from our neighbors were stowed, and we were motoring across a calm morning sea with no wind to the first
way point. There was a balmy sea breeze on our faces as we headed west.

The wind picked up about an hour into our journey. We raised the main, jib, and mizzen and then cut the motor.  Silence….only the gentle lapping of the water against the hull and the rush of the wind in our ears.

We really hadn't expected to sail today. Our wind vane steering system was not yet set up, but it didn't matter. It was fun to hand steer and to feel the acceleration of Worrall Wind to 6 knots as we
skimmed through the water. Besides we needed to be very alert and on task navigating through the reefs.  Aaah!

We should reach our destination by 4:00 p.m. It's only half way to our ultimate destination at Blue Lagoon where the movie with Brook Shields was filmed. The last part of today's journey will be the most dicey as we thread through some reefs. Fortunately, we are following the waypoints we
recorded on our reconnaissance mission we took a couple of weeks ago on the ferry. When we get to that point, we'll be going slowly, and I will be on the bow.

We bought some radio headsets called "marriage savers". We no longer have to yell at one another and make spectacles of ourselves while anchoring. Well, we may still make a spectacle of ourselves,
but no one will hear us yelling at one another. ;)

Our tack changed directly into the wind around 2:00 p.m. We pulled in the jib, tightened the main, and turned on the engine. By the time we got to where we thought the reefs were, the tide was high and we couldn't see anything breaking like we did the day we were on the ferry. We could only hope
that the waypoints we had recorded were correct.

It was close to 4:00 p.m. by the time we got to the Manta anchorage and the sun was behind us, not great for seeing reefs or water color changes, so we went very slowly and stayed tightly on our waypoints. We would have been better leaving at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. I stood on the bow while
Russ was at the helm. Our radio headsets worked well, and we could carry on a normal conversation. If you consider this a normal conversation. "Do you see any reefs? I don't see any reefs!"

TIME TO RELAX

Home for 2 Nights

When we passed the last waypoint that indicated we had cleared by the reefs, we were both mighty relieved. I'm curious to see when the tide goes out where the reefs are and how close we came to them. We are now anchored in 62 feet of water with 180 feet of chain out. The wind has died, the sun is setting, and there is only one other large sailboat in the anchorage
with us. It's time for a glass of wine.

CONNECTING WITH US
Oh BTW….we don't have any 3G or WIFI service at thisanchorage, so I will be sending this blog through our radio.  Family and friends should use our sail mail address if you need to get in touch with us while we may not have Internet, not hotmail or gmail. For our cruising friends with SSB radio. We will be monitoring these frequencies for 10 minutes in the morning and afternoon if you
would like to get in touch with us.

2100Z 0500Z (5:00 p.m. Fiji Time)
14.315 for five minutes, switching to alternate frequency
6.150 for additional five minutes, then clearing.

Our VHF will be monitoring 16.  We are sometimes (often actually) forgetful about these times, but hopefully we will be able to connect.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.