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| Sailing under the rare double rainbow.....and on to Fiji |
I'm generally a bit slow to wake up; there is that "reboot moment" where for a split second, you don't know where you are. If you add the fact that before she was my wife, Kirstin was a work colleague- you have a perfect recipe for confusion. "What am I doing in Fiji with Kirstin?" Don't worry, it passes quickly. I'm aware that if I end up with dementia, all of my moments will be reboot moments. Ah, the sailing life.
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| Upscale, swanky Fiji......a bit like Australia's Hawaii |
If the flavor of the day is confusion, Fiji adds to it. Here at Port Denarau (L'ORIENT's home for the next two months), I'm not sure what I thought Fiji would look like, but it's not this. Beautiful houses on the bay, high end restaurants aplenty, golf, tennis- this is some weird combination of Hawaii and Florida. It's wonderful. And the people we've encountered are falling all over themselves to help us; certainly the most delightful people we've encountered on our travels.
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| It's nice to not be the biggest boat in the marina - far from it |
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| Through here somewhere is the golf course |
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| Some multi-million USD houses with their own docks |
Our first stop in Fiji, Savu Savu, was also quite nice........just in a more rustic way. The first clue that we were not in French Polynesia anymore was the marina proactively calling us on the VHF in the middle of a massive squall to tell us that they would send someone out to guide us to our mooring ball. Sure enough a few minutes later a very wet but very enthusiastic dock hand guided us to the mooring ball and helped us with the lines. Savu Savu is more of a working town than Denarau, but delightful in its own right. The food and the people have been uniformly fantastic. Chicken curry lunch for five US dollars - count us in. That is the second clue we are no longer in French Polynesia - the price of everything. Much, much less expensive - the bag repair shop repaired a backpack zipper in one day for two US dollars.
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| An aspirational choice of names for this store in Savu Savu |
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| Crabby tied up in Savu Savu's solid dinghy dock at wonderful Copra Shed marina |
Savu Savu is in for some major changes as the largest marina in Fiji just opened while we were there - rarely do you drive around a marina in the dinghy and see it entirely empty. Probably won't be for long.
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| The new marina- cleverly, they opened the bar/restaurant before the marina |
Bula. It's the Fijian word for "hello". You need to master this word because everyone......even people you don't know.....will "Bula" you when you least expect it. We're getting more clever with our responses. "Bula to you Tula", "Bula to you and you-la", etc. We love word-play on this boat.
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| Savu Savu's financial district |
Having hit Savu Savu first, we knew the journey wasn't over. Port Denarau was still 138 miles away, through some treacherous reefs and coastal waters. We broke it into 3 jumps of about 45 miles each. Wake up early, get the barge moving, anchor before the sun was too low. It was kind of a grind, but we made it. We saw exactly four sailboats on the move before anchoring in front of the channel to Port Denarau.
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| Fiji's coast- mostly pristine with hardly any sign of man anywhere |
So, who are these Fijians? Counting Hawaii (correctly), we had been among Polynesians for roughly three years. In Fiji, you definitely sense that you are in a different culture and, in fact, you are. Firstly, Fijians are technically Melanesian as they are descended from Austronesian peoples. So you feel the Australian and Asian influence here - the French thing is gone. Secondly, Fijian culture draws from the UK, India, Africa, and Asia. The customs and food draw from everywhere but the smell of Indian cuisine is pervasive.
We were in a restaurant last night (Indian, of course) and we endeavored to give our server a tip. Mai had been so attentive, sharing, and funny. We wanted to give back. So we were quite surprised when he took our tip and put it in the communal jar. "No" we protested. "This was for you." Mai explained that Fiji is a super communal culture. There is no such thing as the individual......everything is shared. Wow. That's an enlightened idea.......one that might be useful in a large country I'm thinking of that is enduring culture wars and unprecedented gun violence. Just sayin.
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| Haut couture in downtown Denarau |
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| An odd sign until we figured out that a "vest" is the Fijian term for a sleeveless shirt |
Kirstin is in heaven here from a food perspective. Any place with pizza, Mexican, and Indian food gets high marks from her. And we've only touched 4 of the 9 restaurants in the Denarau complex so far.
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| You'd think you were in Naples, Florida |
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| A super slick waterfront retail arrangement |
Our time in Port Denarau has a work component. L'ORIENT needs a make-over. Our yacht has taken us from Annapolis to Fiji, but we need to give the old girl some attention. We have only 420 watts of solar power, old lead-acid batteries (versus lithium), and instruments in the cockpit that are downright embarrassing. Add to that some decaying wood trim inside, a hole in the galley wall, worn cushions, a torn sail, and cracks in the deck fiberglass and you have a tired boat in need of some TLC. So we will no doubt be spending kilo-dollars here making things right. Gulp.
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| The damage from our Samoan electrician- to be fixed when my parts arrive |
It's funny that after our long trek these past weeks from Tahiti to Bora Bora to Pago Pago to Samoa to Savu Savu.......we've reached the "Australian Caribbean". We're encountering alot of folks who are novice sailors. Nice shiny big boats that they inhabit for the season; marina hopping never too far from Australia or New Zealand, and then back again.
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| In a big storm, my moneys is on the Hallberg-Rassy; this 80ft catamaran might be Chinese |
While L'ORIENT shows the wear of the distance we've sailed, I can see my own reflection in the gelcoat of both of our slip neighbors. I didn't have a lot of company when I dove under the boat to change the zincs in pea-soup colored marina water. I'm fairly certain nobody here ever does their own work on the boat. If something breaks, call the mechanic. To each his own.
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| Sunset in our new digs. Not bad. |
The real cruisers are evident from the clothes they wear as well. After six months of no shopping and no Amazon deliveries, a good pair of shorts means there is still a semblance of elastic left. Our neighbors who "dress cruising" but don't really cruise are bedazzled in Helly Hansen and the latest sailing shoes. We can't wait to go shopping someday. Having an ensemble with no grease stains will be nice.
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| So Elvis was in Fiji all this time |
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| Business in a box; commerce seems to be a high priority here |
It's early, but so far Fiji looks like it's going to be wonderful. We're feeling like a year here might not be enough. Enjoy the pictures.
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| No idea what comes next, but enthusiastic nevertheless |
