I know, I know it's been far to long since my last blog post but we've been busy and the internet in the outer islands wasn't great. Mark may be willing to sit and wait while stuff takes an hour to load but I am not!

To give you an little update Eli left a few days ago. We spent the month with him out in the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands. I was a bit disappointed with the islands but we did find a few good places. The problem here is that no ones charts are correct so you have to constantly be on the lookout for reefs which can be a little nerve wrecking. We know of at least five or six boats that have hit reefs this season and at least two that are totaled. It's always scary to anchor because you are always close to a reef. There isn't much to do on most of these islands so it's been really disappointing that the snorkeling hasn't really been any good. The visibility has been poor and in many places there just haven't been any fish. We tried to see the Man-a-ray but they apparently have disappeared for a few weeks (probably because a shark took a bite out of one a couple weeks ago). But the reef did provide for one of the better snorkeling places we have found. We also visited a neat cave that the boys swam into an inner cave. I wasn't to happy when we got there because we were told it was $2-5 dollars to get in and then they charged us $10 each. A little much for 15 minutes of swimming but it was a cool experience, especially for Eli who had never been in a cave like that. We've also found that the resorts aren't as welcoming of cruisers as we were led to believe. We went into one anchorage that had signs to keep of the beach. One of the resorts wouldn't take a dinner reservation unless it was made early in the day (they said they only feed there guests and people who make early reservations), they wouldn't even add us to a friends existing reservation. We talked to a couple other people who were told to move their boat and then got chased down by the owner telling them to move it again. So it's no wonder that you will find a good many cruisers hanging out a Musket Cove on Malolo Island. They are so cruiser friendly. We can use all the facilities including the pool. There is a golf course and a couple of restaurants. They have a separate bar and they light the fire-pit grills every night so you can bring your own food and cook it up and eat with friends. It really is a great place and where most everyone has been hanging out. It was also the one place the boys were really successful spear-fishing which meant they were off the boat a lot and I got some quilting done (I even finished the front of one!) We are back in Port Denarau now. We had to drop off Eli last week and get a few parts taken care of. We are waiting on our new sails and a package from the states (one that I am starting to debate will even arrive). We may head back out to Malolo for a bit and return when the stuff gets here but it has been nice being a short walk from a handful of good restaurants, a proper market, and some shops.