Well it has been a busy week. While we were at Musket the wind blew a steady 25 knots.

Underway to Musket - started out with a nice light breeze.

There is a small bar at the end of the warf where the cruisers hang out. While we didn't even get off the boat on Saturday when we arrived, we were invited to a Lovo Pot luck so to speak for Sunday night. But before doing that, Lisa and I took a 6 mile walk through the mud flats to another island to visit a friend we met in Fulaga. Jasmine was quite surprised when she saw us. She had been at the community shower facility, had stopped by a friends when she was summoned by one of the other ladies. When she came over to where we were waiting she was surprised to see us as she was just covered with her towel, albeit a large towel that wrapped twice around her.

Jasmine and I with some of the school kids. (You can tell it was a windy day - my hair was out of control!)




Walking back to Jasmine's village as the tide was coming in.


Visiting with Jasmine and her girlfriend before we take the fiber back to Musket Cove.

We spent about four hours with her walking over to the main village and back before we got a ride in a fiber back over to the other Island at which point we loaded Jasmine back into our dinghy and took her back to her island. You see after walking across the mud flat the tide came in and it would have made for a lengthy swim. With the wind still blowing like mad we made our way back to the boat, showered and then met the group for the Lovo.

Lisa had cut up some cukes and carrots and made a ranch dressing for the event. We were all getting sand blasted from the sand on the beach which made for a little shorter night than usual. By the end the ranch dressing that was left was peppered with sand.

We returned to Denarau on Tuesday and took up a mooring ball and then moved back over to the dock on Wednesday. We borrowed the slip from an Ausie named Jimmy the Plumber who was going out for a few days with friends. Our plan was the have a family day on Thursday.

Thursday came, Malo and Moses went to the Airport Post Office to pick up Malo's passport so we can get started on the Visa. I met Tevita at Fiji University to get him enrolled in his maritime certification and then we all met back at the boat for the Family day. We spent the day motoring out and around to Malolo Island, did a drive by the Cloud Nine float and dropped the hook near a sand bar for lunch.

Underway to Malolo Island where both Josiah and Moses grew up. Gorgeous Day!


Tavita at the helm.


Chillin on the tramps.


Taking in the beautiful scenery.


The infamous Cloud 9!


This used to be a floating home in Suva, now converted to a floating bar that sits at anchor near a reef about 3 miles from Musket Cove. Expensive beer and good pizza - and a second deck for diving off of.


Maka - all worn out.


Chef Moses who parted the Red Sea, and grilled up some great burgers.


The crew catching a nap on the way back to Port Denarau.


Josiah and Filo enjoying the day.

We had pre patted out some burgers and made a large batch of potato salad for lunch. Popped open some beer and just had a good time. We departed Malolo about 3 pm and by 5:30 had reached the slip.


Moses and Malo pulling in the fishing lines before reaching Denarau.

As we were trying to back into the slip and were most of the way in the starboard shift/throttle control stopped shifting. Unbeknownst to us for the first try or two the transmission was stuck in reverse. Well is was not uneventful. We got turned slightly sideways and with a small steel hulled 20' boat on our port side we clipped it and pushed it partly up onto the dock. Just prior to getting set sideways because I thought Tevita was doing something wrong, I took the helm and only made it worse. After all, the transmissions always have behaved properly except when we were in New Zealand after the launch but that was different. So anyway, unknown, starboard is stuck in reverse, my mind says go forward so control is pushed forward and of course throttle goes with it....... Only made us a bit hotter in reverse and twisted us into the little boat. Needless to say there was a bit of excitement on the dock that night.

So more work. Friday morning we remove the flex cable from the starboard control head and the end fell off in my hand. The flex cable is made up of a very strong stiff wire in a sheath with special ends swaged on either end. The end at the control broke right where the wire enters the swaging. Now in my mind I just know I am going to have a hard time getting these cables, especially in the right length. Took the old one up to International Marine Accessories and sure enough they had two. I bought both and when we returned it took us the better part of 5 hours to replace both the Port and Starboard. Why both, well they both do the same thing only for different engines, they both are the same size and they both have been used about the same amount so if one is going to break they both will eventually break.

So the damage. Remember the new stern scoops I added back in New Zealand. Well the port scoop edge fiberglass finish is gouged pretty good and will need some repair next week and one of the stainless handles on the starboard side got tweeked and will eventually need to be replaced. That will happen when we get back home.

Now for the report on the crew status. We got Malo's passport on Thursday and submitted an online visa request yesterday which was accepted. The US state department website that handles the visa applications make it seem like you are in the 21st century with the technology and the expediency of action. NOT. Now that we have both Malo and Moses Visa requests in we went on line yesterday to schedule their interview and find the first open date is 17 June, not good! Then after trying to schedule the appointment for interviews, guess what, we have to go to a local post office and make a $160US payment for each visa interview. Oh and not that you have done that you have to wait one business day to make sure the US government has their money. OK so that is done and on Monday we can try to schedule their interviews and once scheduled we can try to get them expedited or scheduled sooner to which if it happens will probably mean we have to pay more money for this wonderful service.

The bad thing is that if they delay the interview until the 17th it pushes us further into the Northern hemisphere's hurricane season and therefore the reason for expediting.

Well here it is Saturday again. Need to move off the dock and onto a mooring ball. So that is the update for now. OBTW - we have sold most of our old Raymarine equipment and have a place to sell the extra wire and old wire. Now just need to unload the old Duo Gen and all the extra non essentials.