Finally, at long last, Sonsie was headed to the boat ramp! First thing in the morning, trundling along in the sling with Jim playing in true celebratory fashion, via our PA/foghorn, "On the Quarterdeck," by the Royal Marines, to the pumping cheers of fellow boaties!

After checking for thru-hull leaks and engine operation, we motored out into the bay with Baobab Marine's Chetty onboard for a test run. All seemed to be just fine until darn it, wouldn't you know it but the prop shaft was discovered to be leaking. As well, the bottom-most (stuffing box) part of the rudder post rotated slightly and needed to be made fast. So back to the marina we went to berth up while we awaited yet another haul out. The travel lift was very busy as a great many boats were arriving and being lifted out to be placed in pits as by now it was November and the cyclone season had officially started.

Another sailboat, Carmargue, followed us into the marina and berthed immediately alongside us. As fortune would have it! They turned out to be a newly-thrown together crew of three hailing from various parts of the UK with whom we got along famously from the get-go. What a cheerful, funny banter they kept up with each other and with us as we worked alongside getting our boats ready to sail away. Carmargue had some electrical issues so had a local three-man electrician team on board helping them sort that out. One evening, they came over for sundowners and appies and to have a tour of Sonsie, even though she was still a bit of a mess. Our wine cellar impressed them - it's a small cavity under the floorboard in the galley into which a half dozen bottles can neatly fit!

Isabel and Lynn really hit it off, slipping away to play hooky and do lots of non-boat activities together, like swimming, yoga and scrabble. One morning they disappeared to walk up the hill to the Fijian crafts shop, set in a bougainvillea-drenched garden. They bought matching tapa-patterned umbrellas - Bula brollies! - and agreed that whenever they used them, wherever they might find themselves in the world, they would think of the other 
One rainy Saturday, Jim, Isabel and Lynn all jumped in Allie's taxi to head over to Sigatoka to visit the Kula Eco-Park. The rainforest smelled fantastic and we learnt a lot about the native flora and fauna, walking around the nature displays, bird and lizard enclosures. There's a Fijian dove that barks like a dog and great big seeds that can be used as fishing floats. The contents of these seeds can be sprinkled on the water to stun the fish.

Early the next week, Carmargue's Hugh and Mark helped us on deck with the lines when Sonsie was hauled out to get fixed up once and for all. Just one night on the hard and we'd be ready to splash back in.

At this time, wouldn't you know it but Sieg beat us to it! He departed, laughing and grinning his trademark grin, with his crew and engine on Sorceress - who'd have thought they would sail out before us?!

Also at this time, some very sad news. The three electricians who had been hard at work on Carmargue opted to work on a boat in another town over the weekend. The work had been refused by Baobab, the outfit doing our repairs, as unsafe as the boat's bilge was contaminated with petrol. Well lo and behold it exploded under these three guys' hands, and they were covered in burns and died one after the other over the next few days. Such a terrible shame. What an unfortunate decision they had made to work on that boat.