SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

We have returned from a very relaxing trip to the Yasawa Island group. The activities included snorkeling, eating and drinking at local lodges, and socializing with local villagers and other yachties. Mostly, the weather was good. The vexing thing about Fiji is the ubiquitous uncharted reefs. Many yachts come to grief. You can see the reefs if the sun is high in the sky (basically travelling between 10 am and 3 pm) and provided that the water is clear. That condition is only satisfied a small part of the time. Trade winds blow and weather systems move through most the time. You find yourself in compromised situations. For example, one night we were returning to the boat after a night ashore with villagers. The wind was blowing 30 knots and it was very very dark. In these conditions we were going to dinghy to our mostly dark anchored boat quite some distance away. This involves quite a high pucker factor but it turned out ok.

We are about ready for the next stage of the adventure, the one where we return to Opua NZ. The weather looks good, but of course it looked good for the last two trips between Fiji (or Tonga) and NZ and it didn't quite work out that way. So we are preparing for the worst and will report on what actually happens as we can.

The picture shows a pretty fish that our friend Sandy Hollis photographed while snorkeling with us in Blue Lagoon.