We have been out of range off and on. Lots of good times, sailing and also bad weather. Out of season tropical disturbances NW of Fiji, convergence zone moves, disturbances coming from the south, troughs, lows and fronts, all these mysterious weather things that I don't understand, keep coming to Fiji. They translate in rain, wind and rough seas. Our friend Sue came to visit and only the first 4 days we had good weather. We spent a few days on Rabi Island and then sailed to the south of Taveuni Island, in an anchorage off the Paradise Resort. What a nice way to escape the fury of the weather Gods, there is, a partial escape. We still had the rain and the gusty wind but the anchorage was good. The Resort stuff were super friendly, as it is a norm in Fiji, and we treated ourselves to a massage, and I even had a pedicure. Yeeey. They have an extensive vegetable garden and we purchased cauliflower, herbs, eggplant,, a delicious green from the bok choi family that I haven't see before, papayas, and cabbage. They also grow tomoatoes, carrots, string beans and other vegies but those were not ready to be harvested. The soil is very rich and everything grows well and it looked so lush. We went for a day trip to a forest nearby, where the owner, Bobby, a self educated naturalist, took us to see endemic birds such as the orange dove and the multi colored one (I will post a photo when we get internet connection). He is trying to save the native forest in Taveuni and he has vowed to preserve his land as it is. He grows cassava, kawa, eggplant, hot peppers and a few other things, but he does it without cutting down the beautiful old trees. We tasted different types of lemons, drank fresh coconut water and were served an amazing lunch cooked by his wife Jiu. We had an exquisite dish made out of fresh coconut, lime, garlic and salt, a green papaya curry, a grilled eggplant paste, a blue peas curry, cassava chips, rice, an array of vegetables cut really fine and sauteed in curry spices. All this was served with freshly made rotis which is a flat bred like a tortilla but made just with flour and water. What a feast. After Paradise Resort we had to go back to the north side of the Island where the small airport is. Sue left and Monica arrived from California. We sailed the same day to Naivivi Bay, because the anchorage was terrible and I was getting sea sick. It was wonderful to see our friends Pita and Anna. They made a lovo for us. Lovo is a traditional meal that is cooked on a pit filled with very hot lava rocks. I will report on this later as I am sending this via SSB radio. From Naivivi Bay we motored to Budd Reef but couldn't stay there but one night because of wind. The weather turned out to be not what was reported. We are back to lovely Albert Cove. More later. Aloha to all.