9/10/15 Thursday
It was a wild day of provisioning, filling the dingy gas cans, making arrangements for a fuel delivery and sending off our pre-visa application to Fiji so we meet their requirements and apply prior to arrival (to avoid substantial fines). It literally took all day. We planned to get to immigration to get our exit approved as people prior to getting our exit approved as a vessel at customs at 3pm. But we got bad advice; 3pm wasn't a good time to catch them before closing at 4pm because they close at 3pm. [You might think that this would be a good bit of information to double check--well we gave up double checking some time ago; we now triple check with only knowledgeable people AND still got it wrong]. Oh, well, there is always a list to add it to on the morrow.
On a lighter note, we finished the day with dinner with friends at a Tonga Feast. This is a loose term for a banquet style set of local dishes. It was great food and great company. Ed and Melinda from Lorien from Bellingham were there. We'd been seeing them on and off with their two boys, but never had a chance to spend much time with them. We are also known as the Bellingham Broken Boom Boys. Ed lost his in the crossing too. Sometime about Bellingham? Great fun anyway!