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| Row, row, row your expensive carbon fiber super dinghy |
We talk a lot about Crabby our dinghy, but here's the deal- Our sailboat is our house, but Crabby is our car. Without a functioning, reliable dinghy we would be limited to the handful of marinas in Fiji. Considering that there are 330 islands in this beautiful country, our dinghy is essential for exploring islands, diving, snorkeling, provisioning, etc. No dinghy = no cruising.
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| We sprung for the optional bow locker cover.....installation begins ! |
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| Any project I finish without an emergency room trip is a win |
So we have been delighted to welcome our new carbon fiber masterpiece of a dinghy........strong, fast, light, and extremely roomy. We've gone from a covered wagon to the space shuttle (of course referring to the 1 or 2 that didn't explode after lift-off). Kirstin sewed cushions on the hard deck which snap down, sparing us the jolts as our rock solid dinghy hits choppy seas. We are in love with this dinghy.
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| Dinghy arrives- I've just received the bad news that there will be a fork lift surcharge |
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| These guys kind of made their lift process up as they went along |
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| The guy in yellow is looking for dead bodies, drugs, or cash....... |
When Crabby's crate arrived in Port Denarau, of course there were hassles. First the crate was a problem. Our 92 lb. new dinghy somehow arrived in a 500 lb. crate. Real head scratcher there. Then, the fork-lift I paid for to unload the dinghy from the flat-bed truck broke. Now I have to rent the BIGGER fork-lift for more money. OK. No options there. Then the customs guy had to watch us open the crate and inspect the dinghy. I guess this is how they keep drugs out of Fiji, but the customs agent was a lot more focused on what we were going to do with the old dinghy. "Throw it out, sir. It's garbage. It barely floats". There are apparently forms required for this so we endured that hassle for a while.
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| Out with the old... |
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| But not without some work |
We quickly got Crabby integrated with L'ORIENT (hoist points, tie-downs, davit lines) and took off. Cyclone season was now less than three months away, and the plan is to see some of the eastern islands now, when it's relatively safe. We rented (at great expense) a cyclone pit at Vuda Marina in the western part of Fiji. Our thinking has been that we would explore islands near Vuda in cyclone season, and quickly drop L'ORIENT into the cyclone pit should a severe storm arise. So the mission was to get east as fast as we can to see some of those islands before we have to hurry back west to Vuda and proximity to our cyclone pit.
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| No delivery is easy - transport boat to the outer islands |
One snag emerged. For about 5 years, there has been an annoying trickle of transmission fluid underneath the engine. I clean it up, it comes back. We're talking about half a cap-full at the most, but I don't like anything leaking. As we were making our way east from Denarau to Savu Savu, it suddenly got worse. On one passage, we lost about 25% of our transmission fluid. Running the transmission with no fluid would potentially ruin our drive train, so a small deal suddenly became a big one. We activated our supply chain, and the correct $2 oil seal (priced at $36) made its way from the UK to Florida to Los Angeles to Nadi, Fiji to Savu Savu, Fiji along with some other important boat parts. OK, all ready to leave.
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| A red sky at night - not always a sailors delight |
But wait, the weather has gotten weird. All 5 of our weather forecasting services have forecast extreme wind and dangerous seas........like day after day. Weather maps show huge areas of intense dark purple right over our island (not what you want to see). When you've sailed long enough, you begin to recognize what we call on this boat "evil clouds". These are cloud patterns that just don't look right.
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| Angry sky from Koro Island |
Another clue is watching the local boats, or rather the lack of them. On bad days, the locals seem to know before anyone and they stay put. So quite unexpectedly, the weather has become a factor in our planning even BEFORE cyclone season. Bummer, but at least there are yummy restaurants here in Savu Savu - I think Kirstin has had chicken curry three of the last five meals.
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| Some of the neighbors; a few have been here for years |
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| Scenic but dangerous; the mooring balls are really close to boat-killing coral reefs |
On our way east to Savu Savu and our shipment of boat parts, we decided to stop at Cukuou Harbour in Yadua. To say that Fiji has incomplete and inaccurate charting is an understatement - 100 feet on the chart could be 12 feet in reality, blue water can be a reef. As you can see from the below screen shot, this harbour has no information at all. Enter satellite imagery - we have used satellite imagery from Panama's San Blas Islands through French Polynesia, but it is an absolute necessity for sailing Fiji. Still no depths but at least you get a clue as to reef placement and depths based on the color of water. Of course your eyes and a sunny day are the best tool of all.
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| Our chart of Yadua- follow this blindly and you wreck your boat |
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| Yadua again, but viewed from a satellite- enter at the center; bank 10 degrees starboard and anchor |
All of this drama was worth it as we were one of two boats in this gorgeous bay. We breathed a sigh of relief when anchored.
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| Yadua- we are mostly alone, as usual |
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| Fiji's 330 islands have around 940,000 people total, clustered on a few islands |
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| The obligatory perfect beach |
Then on to Koro Island. We had thoughts of diving, swimming and snorkeling. We thought this right up until the wind started shreaking at 30-40 knots, and big waves entered the bay. Our anchor chain was groaning, and the whistling of the wind through the rigging was quite haunting. We waited 3 days hoping against hope for a reprieve. One afternoon we were able to dinghy to a small spit of sand exposed only at low tide. Kirstin was able to snorkel for about 20 minutes before a really angry looking cloud bank approached. We made it back to the boat just minutes before the wind started raging again. Utterly defeated (and having had so much time on the boat that we watched the Taylor Swift documentary) we went North to Savu Savu.
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| No gold at the end of this rainbow - only more rain and wind |
Our freight forwarding company told us that our parts would be delivered to the Savu Savu airport. OK, sounds great. We called a cab and were immediately alarmed as he pulled off the road and towards what looked like a shed from a chainsaw massacre horror movie. Oh, no.........it ends like this? Really? But fortunately, this was actually the airport.
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| Savu Savu Airport.......no kidding |
Barely room for a riding lawn-mower in this "terminal" if you could dignify it with that name. The worst part was the "weigh-in" process. As only a small 21 passenger plane can use the airstrip, weight is important. A girl ahead in line (yes, this airport actually had a line) had to stand with her carry-on bag on the scale and the big red screen announced to us all that she (with backpack) was 72 kilograms. Multiplying 72 kg by 2.2 gave us all her weight in pounds.........how embarrassing. "Hey sweetie, maybe go easy on the cookies". We were spared this indignity because we were just there to pick up our package.
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| Arbiter of all things at the airport; "The Scale of Truth" |
So, as of this writing we are in the brand new marina in Savu Savu enjoying life and now ready to plow east again for a new island......as soon as the weather improves.
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| Count us in - live music and a two minute walk from the boat |
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| Fiji is going all in on this new marina; glad we were able to give it a test drive |
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| Cruisers are a suspicious sort; maybe the bookings will come after this place survives its first cyclone |
