Having been away from "civilization"(city life) for the last 5 weeks or so, our trip into Lautoka today was an assault on the ears. Every where we went, there were loud speakers blaring out music or special announcements of a sale that some store out there was having. Why retailers think that putting a big pair of speakers right at their front door and blasting out music(normally music from India) will attract customers is beyond me and I was in the retail trade for 35 years in one capacity or another.

Horns honked and car alarms wailed down every street we walked. There didn't appear to be a quiet place in the city. We rushed past loud doorways just trying to escape and it wasn't just us. I saw several locals(Indian women in particular)wince as they passed doorways to store. Oh, our poor ears!!!

We spent the morning trying to get a navigation program we have from Nobeltec up and running. We've had it ever since we took off three years ago. When we were still in Mexico, I bought the unlock codes for the South Pacific. What the charts looked like on the computer screen could have been drawn by a child in third grade(no offense to you third graders out there that might be reading this blog). Charts they were not. Odd shaped blobs they were. I tried for hours and hours to get it fixed while we were still in Mexico all to no avail. Now that we are in the land of the killer reefs and knowing where you are at all times, in relationship to reefs becomes critically important, we wanted the program up and running the way it is supposed to. After over an hour and a half on the phone(thanks you Skype)with only about 25 minutes of it on hold(listening to the "don't worry, be happy" song over and over again), I was helped by a very nice knowledgeable support tech who worked me through several fixes. None of them made any difference(no fault of his). I downloaded and installed an update to the drivers for the program-- no good. It seems that the "dongle"(a USB plug in "key" that allows you to open the program)wasn't being recognized by the program. While in Mexico, they had suggested that I buy($150.00US please) another "dongle" and that would fix my problem. Once I got the dongle(yes, the mail actually worked for once in Mexico)and plugged it in, low and behold, nothing changed(except my bank account was out $150.00). Since we were leaving Mexico in a couple of days, I shelved the program(saying nice things about it to everyone I talked too of course) and got on with the voyage across the Pacific and life in general. To make this story shorter than I could, Kyle(tech rep) is going to log into my computer at 0800 Tuesday(1300 US time on Monday) and try and fix the problem. He did tell me, before he hung up, that I had even befuddled the more senior tech reps that had gathered around his station. With luck, we should have the problem fixed sometime on Tuesday(I know about this bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.)

We dingied into Lautokas main dock just about 1130 and hiked the 20 minutes onto town and headed for the towns central fruit and veggie market to find fresh veggies. Radishes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, onions, potatoes were easy to find. After the 8 months we have been here, we have favorite vendors we return to over and over. Most vendors price their goods either as singles or as bundles or in a pile or heap at about $2.00 for what ever you need. Bell Peppers were not to be had unless you were willing to pay a huge premium for them(not us). Most item we bought were either $1.00 or $2.00. Over to the "Hot Bread" store for a small loaf of "whole meal" bread($1.05 Fijian government subsidized) and were were just about done.

Fiji has no $1.00 bills, just $1.00 coins. Paper money starts at a $2.00 bill. Sorry, no pennies, just nickels, dimes, 20 cent pieces(no quarters), 50 cent pieces and $1.00 coins. Stores simply round up or down once a total is reached.

We had lunch at a new (three months old) restaurant that is thoroughly Western in it's look and appeal. Tracy had a chicken salad while I had a chicken burger with fries. More expensive by a bit but good quality food. Brings back a bit of memories of being back in the states.

Once done there and with arms loaded with food, we grabbed a cab and took off for Fiji meats to pick up a nice set of pork ribs. We ordered them a few days ago but since we wanted them frozen(less work for our dinky freezer) we had to wait an extra day to get them. Back to Zephyr to unload and work some more on our computers and run our generator to recharge our batteries(about three hours each day). Tomorrow, I expect that I'll be working on the computers installing some more Google Earth overlays for one of our nav programs. Sounds like fun doesn't it? It's just another day here in paradise.

We've been joined by several boats that are participating in the "World Arc" sail around the world as we sit here at anchor in Lautoka. These folks take about two years out of their life(and about $35,000 entry fee) to go around the world. They spend just a few days in each port they stop at all the time chaperoned and cared for by Arc management. They get a whole month to see Tonga and Fiji. a very tight knit group of cruisers that travel together and take care of each other should any boat get in trouble. They are even having a special rendezvous at Musket Cove over the July 4th weekend(I think I'll pass).