Quick Visit to the US and Big Time Boat Work- Port Denarau and Musket Cove, Fiji

View above Musket Cove.....not bad !

We never telegraph our visits to the USA before we leave the boat because it's a "rookie cruising mistake" to tell the world there's nobody on your boat for 5 straight weeks. Things like electronics, outboards, money, and other important items tend to disappear. It was probably an unnecessary precaution in Fiji; these people are like super friendly help-bots. Weird how uniformly happy, helpful, and cheerful they are. Being from Wisconsin, Kirstin feels like she's at home. Being from New Jersey, it makes me feel like there's someone behind me with a gun.

Family reunion at a Naples eatery

Nevertheless, our visits to San Francisco, Miami, Naples, Chicago, Omro, the Wisconsin Dells, Nashville and Los Angeles were uniformly wonderful, albeit expensive. Friends, family, our beloved Grand-kitty and Grand-puppy were snuggled and lavished with attention. And wow, did we shop up a storm. I didn't actually have any shirts without stains (blood, grease, ocean-slime). Our daughter Emily was especially useful in being a personal shopper for us. After she figured out what a "novelty shirt" was (a wacky, tasteless shirt for under $10), she functioned like a heat seeking missile finding shirts only her Dad and a small coterie of fashion challenged lunatics would buy. Well played, Emster.

Our power shopper and Chicago tour guide

Wrigley field fun

We discovered a new passion for Kirstin. Our son Ryan took us to "Top Golf". Talk about an entertainment break-through of colossal proportions.........drinking mixed with driving golf-balls. This is Nobel Prize, next level type thinking.

Top golf launching pad

We loved this place; hit it anywhere and you don't have to find it for your second shot

A afternoon out with Ryan, who seems to get skinnier each visit

A bowling tournament ensued as well, with the usual no-holds-barred competition that occurs when people of central European descent compete is this oddly fun sport. Except it's not a fun competition; we're all deadly serious. Nearby bowlers often ask to change lanes. Each game came down to the last frame, which made it fun. But it's never over. Next visit, it's game on again in the next installment of this never ending battle. The war only ends if you stop fighting.

Heidi has calmed down since her puppy days; now more snuggly than ever

Bubble hockey table is Ryan's prized possession

Let the bowling brawl begin- despite the smiles this is VERY SERIOUS

As Emily has steadily become more of a true Chicagoan, she's found some fun spots. We even visited a comedy club and saw a few acts destined for big things. A first time visit to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play was also a highlight. Not sure how she juggles full time work, almost full time, big time MBA and the rest of her life. But it was great to get a week to catch up with her.

Emily outside of Wrigley- she's a real Chicagoan now

One highlight was certainly meeting Kirstin's brother and family in the Wisconsin Dells, which is apparently the largest water park complex in the US. And having stunt kids is key; then you don't look creepy enjoying the sometimes scary rides. Kirstin's two nieces had endless energy in the park, but Kirstin kept up nicely. Herb (Kirstin's Dad) and I were out of our league energy-wise, so we enjoyed the fact that you're never far from your next beer anywhere in Wisconsin.

Terrifying water park rides that only kids (and Kirstin) can appreciate

Surprise ! a thousand gallons of water dropped on your head with no warning

The locals rescued some amphibious vehicles ("ducks") from WWII days and use them for tours

We probably gained weight, eating out constantly for 5 weeks, but arrived back in Fiji fully energized. And we needed to be energized because L'ORIENT had limped into Port Denarau needing a lot of TLC. We spent about three solid weeks doing major work. Canvas, upholstery, wiring, more solar panels, plumbing, engine work, electronics, even the refrigerator required repair.

Kirstin's sewing "Magnum Opus"; new solar panels in the bimini

We thought we were done, but during a pre-passage check to start exploring Fiji I noticed an alarming sight. A large sheared off bolt with a nut still on it directly under the transmission. As our engine room is kept spotless, this was definitely not something I dropped. Uh-oh. Please no.......please no.......but yes. It was the dreaded flex coupling job staring me in the face. The flex coupling connects the engine to the transmission. Ours was now destroyed and using the engine without replacing it could ruin the engine, transmission, and drive train. The only good news was I had the spare part. The bad news was everything else, mainly that the engine needs to be lifted and moved to change it. Our Yanmar turbo-diesel weighs 800 lbs and is wedged tightly in the engine room.

Broken flex coupling finally removed

The next five days involved disconnecting the engine from everything and documenting how I did this so I could reconnect it - about 100 pictures. Then we borrowed a chain hoist and a large wooden beam. Lifting the engine involved being serenaded by the groans of the rope stretching as the engine rose out of its cradle and was pushed back about 6 inches. Dropping the engine even from a relatively low height would cause it to fall right out of the bottom of the boat, rendering us a submarine. Kind of like something that would happen to Wiley Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon.

The engine room in tatters; a lot of things to reconnect using the 100 pictures I took

Changing the flex coupling was straightforward, but did involve some brutal hand to hand combat. Putting the engine back together again went well, if very slowly, but I didn't really expect it to start when I tested it. But surprise! It started, had no leaks, and ran without vibration. Total elapsed time, 35 hours of work over 5 days, innumerable cuts, scratches, blood stains, etc. Fortunately, as we are in the southern hemisphere it's the Fijian Winter, so the temperature isn't suffocating like in Summer. But we had dodged a major bullet. If this happened at sea vs. in a marina we would have had a major problem.

But now we are back in business. Oh, things break every day (as always). But we're not starting as far behind as before.

First grocery run after returning to the boat. Food on an empty boat = rats

Among the unexpected problems was the virtually complete and unexpected destruction of Crabby, our beloved dinghy. Front air chamber blown. All attempts to patch it, glue it, fuse it.......completely unsuccessful. We bought Crabby in Tahiti during the height of COVID. It was the only dinghy available due to the supply chain stoppage. We knew this dinghy was shoddily made (PVC vs. Hypalon), but thought we'd get more than two years out of him. Nope. And to make matters worse (read expensive), our super reliable Yamaha 15 HP outboard bit the dust also. Corrosion, salt build up, etc. We had to buy a new outboard as well. Fortunately, Denarau has a Yamaha dealer too. So while this hiccup was costly, it was at least reasonably convenient.

New Crabby being crated in New Zealand; this is the last dinghy we will ever buy (hopefully)

On the dinghy front, we found a dinghy we want. Carbon fiber (read rigid), indestructible, and doesn't need inflation. Problem ? There's a six month wait for them to be built by a small family business in the wilds of New Zealand. On Facebook we found a used one though. Great. But the owner also lives in the wilds of New Zealand (what were the chances of that ?). So, we had to get it crated, get it to the coast near some sort of shipping (Auckland), put it on a freighter going to Fiji, process it through customs, and delivered to us here. Should be a layup, right? You can imagine the hassle we are going through, but it will apparently be here in a week. I think Kirstin has spend more than 15 hours on this and sent at least 40 e-mails. She's relentless but this has tested her. Her e-mails, cc's, etc. look more like she's arranging Middle East peace than buying a dinghy. It's a miracle international trade happens at all given the blizzard of paperwork involved in shipping one crate.

After leaving Port Denarau, we decided on something not so ambitious, as we still considered L'ORIENT unreliable since my flex coupling testing was limited by the fact that we were in a dock the whole time. Musket Cove (a posh resort area) is only 12 miles away, so we decided to make that our next stop. And what a good choice this ended up being. Great restaurants, a very settled anchorage, a swimming hole (but the water temp has dropped 5-10 degrees since we left here). We have loved it. We have been spending days here lounging, fighting the shipping and customs mafia, and continuing to work the supply chain to acquire the parts we need.