We finally made it into Fiji!!! We rounded the south side of the island and had to "Heave to"--that's sailor talk for setting the sails in a special way so that there is little to no progress so that we would arrive at the entrance to the channel at the correct time. That time being after sun up. Of course with our normal way of doing things, that also happened the be the time that a big container ship decided to show up on horizon and they wanted to go through the same channel we wanted to go through. We tried calling them on the VHF radio with no success. They were headed right for us and started to slowly change course so that they would pass us on our starboard side. They zoomed right past us and went through the channel long before we got there.

We followed them through the channel and made our way north heading for Lautoka, the second largest city in Fiji and our destination for the night. We called the Harbor Master to let them know we were coming and to ask permission to enter their harbor plus to advise them that we needed to check in with Customs, Immigration, Health as well as Bio Security. It takes a while to get into countries now. The Harbor Master made all the arrangements so that we would first take the Health as well as Bio Security to our boat and then proceed with Customs and Immigration. Our appointment was for 1340 or 1:40. We arrived at the anchorage just North of town and dropped the anchor just before 1:00 and launched Puff. Dragon had stopped working while we were in Tonga but Tracy suggested giving it one more pull on the lanyard. Amazingly, she started right up!!! YEA!!! I didn't have to row to the dock! I showed up at the Bio Security office promptly at 1:40 only to be told that the office were closed till 2:00. Maybe what the Harbor Master said was 1400, not 1:40. Oh well. I cooled my heals and waited till 1400 when I was ushered into his office. We filled out lots of forms plus was advised that to bring our cats into Fiji required a bond of $1,600 Fijian dollars to be paid for each cat. We filled out more paperwork and then he said I should go to the Customs Office next. I hopped into Puff and headed out to get Tracy as checking into Immigrations requires all people on board to be there. With Tracy by my side, we entered the office only to find it packed with six other people trying to get exit papers to leave Tonga including some friends we had met along our travels. When we entered Immigrations, we were greeted by the head of the department. Nice guy. He placed a call to the Health Department so they could send an officer over to inspect our boat. The officer that arrived just happened to be his wife!! We filled out LOTS of paperwork, much of it in duplicate(they still use carbon paper out here). Lots of stamping and stapling and lots of information being entered into the computer. I'm just glad we had emailed them most of the info they needed before we left Tonga. By the time we finished the paperwork, it was to late to go to one of the banks to get US dollars exchanged for Fijian dollars so we made an appointment to meet again on Tuesday morning at 10:00. Tracy and I walked into town to find a bank so we would know where to go in the morning. We scoped out a small grocery store on the way. Strangely, Fijian banks don't open till 0930 so we were going to have to rush to get the money exchanged and make it to Bio Security on time.

At 0900, Tuesday morning, we headed to the bank using a small cove nearby so we wouldn't have to walk so far after getting the funds. Tracy stayed with Puff while I hiked the short distance to the bank. I got there at 0910 only to find 15 people already waiting outside for it to open. By 0930, there were about 40 people waiting!!! There was little chance we were going to make the 10:00 appointment. I struck up a conversation with a local woman and told here why I was there. She suggested I go a bit further into town and go to one of the "Money Exchanges". She said they had better rates and probably no waiting. Off I went and found them just a short distance down the road. She was right--no waiting and because I needed so much changed out, they gave me a better exchange rate! As I waited for the transaction to be completed, in walks the woman I had spoken to at the bank. She wanted to make sure I had gotten there. How's that for being friendly. Once I got the money, I walked briskly back to Puff and we headed to the main wharf and the Bio Security Office. I paid our fees and filled in more paperwork. The woman from the Health Department showed up and collected her fees also. More paperwork plus we needed a special receipt for the money since it was so much. For that, the head of Bio Security had to go to another office to get the receipt. It would take another 20 minutes or so. I'm glad I brought my book to read. Upon his return--more paperwork, it was finally time to head out to Zephyr so they could inspect the boat and see the cats. The Health Officer was no where in sight. Bio Security had decided that she didn't need to come out. He could handle it by himself. Fine by us. We both piled into Puff and headed out. He checked out the kids and took pictures of both. I'm sure he has never seen a cat like Snowshoe(white Persian) before. After looking in our freezer and checking out some cabinets and under a settee for more food, I took him back to the wharf. We'd discussed trash the day before and I'd brought in a bag to be incinerated(fee of $15.00). He told me to just bring him by the money when we both came ashore later.

Earlier in the day, when I was hiking up to the bank, I'd passed a small restaurant that was advertising Lamb, or Chicken Curry for lunch as a special. Both for only $5.50 Fijian--about $3.00US. Guess where we were headed for lunch! I went in and paid our $15.00 and headed for the restaurant. For the $5.50, you got a big pile of rice as well as a nice bowl of Curry(I had Lamb while Tracy had Chicken Stir Fry) a small bowl of a salad of some sort. The one drawback is that the meat was still attached to the bones!!! You have to be very careful when you eat out here and not just bite into what you are eating. You can loose a tooth that way. Let me tell you, even with the bones, it was some of the best Curry I have had in any restaurant in years. Just the right amount of spice to let my mouth know it had hit the jackpot. We each had a Coke with the meal and the bill ended up at $14.00 Fijian--about $8.00 US. What a deal!!. We headed into town to try and find the local veggie market as well as a bigger grocery store. We found the store by only bought a drink. As we headed out of the store, it had clouded up and looked like it was about to pour and I mean buckets, not some little sprinkle. We hopped into taxi and took off for the wharf. Into Puff and back to Zephyr getting there well ahead of the storm. Actually that storm passed us by. We upped the anchor and headed for Vuda Marina about 6 miles down the coast. We'd radioed ahead to let them know we were enroute. As we approached, the heavens let loose with a whole lot of rain. Perfect timing. Plus the wind piped up from the south just to make it more interesting. We finally turned to Port and headed in the last 1/4 mile toward the marina with wind on our starboard side, more rain threatening and a nice set of waves hitting us from the side. Add in that it was at low tide and it was a bit unnerving. We had been advised by the office(over the radio) to just pull into the marina and attach a line to the center buoy and one of the men would assist us backing up into a slot in the marina. There are no docks or fingers in the marina. You are attached to a line that goes to a center buoy and then back into a slot along the wall of the marina. Two lines are then led ashore and fastened to rings in the wall. There is a small "dock" that comes off the wall of the marina that comes just short of making it to your boat. Well, we pulled into the marina just after 1700 and as we pulled into the main basin of the marina(where all the boats were) we found no space available for us!!! It was full. The man that was supposed to assist us with pulling in told us to just pull up to the fuel dock and spend the night there. We would get assigned a dock space in the morning. Works for us. We spent our first night at a marina in over 6 and a half months tied to the fuel dock. Hey, any port in a storm. Within 15 minutes of us pulling in, the storm suddenly stopped and all was calm. We were tied up in a nice slice of heaven.

Once settled--Dock lines all secured-- we took a tour of the marina and finally found our selves at the "Yacht Club". It's more a restaurant that a "Club". We settled in for a nice dinner(I had Chicken Curry and Tracy had a huge hamburger). Much more expensive than lunch but the view out over the water was great. It may have cost more but mine still came with lots of bones. Try that in the US and get ready for a lawsuit. We walked around the marina later looking at all the boats and finally made it back to Zephyr where we crashed for the night. Ten hours of sleep!!.

We arose this morning and filled in the rest of the paperwork with the marina and waited for a boat to leave so we could take their place. About 0900, a boat pulled out and we were told to come on in. It was the last space just before you enter the marina basin. Nice but once in, we found that there was no way for us to get off Zephyr short of putting Puff in the water and rowing where ever we needed to go. What a pain that would be for 6 months. Once we discovered that we couldn't get ashore, they suggested we more over two slips as another boat had just left. Fine, over we went. Now please keep in mind that we have rarely backed Zephyr into any thing let alone any where. Her stern wouldn't go in a straight line with the prop moving for love no money. I made it into the first space with no trouble and amazingly, we made it into the second space trouble free. It took some doing but we did it with not a bit of yelling at each other. Lines were lead forward to the mooring ball and two lined were led ashore and tied to rings in the wall. We had one of those small "docks right behind Zephyrs stern so we could get off with just one big step. We were set. Home for the next 6 months.

I happened across the owner of the local yard that does most of the work at the marina and discussed with him getting an electrical converter box installed on our boat as we are wired for 120 colts and just about all the rest of the world is set on 240 volts. He sent over an electrician about an hour later who looked at our wiring and made some calls and should be back tomorrow with what we need so we can have shore power and won't need to run our Honda generator any more.

The heat was building as the Sun rose higher in the sky so out came two of our tarps and with lots of bungie cords, we had shade over most of Zephyrs decks. While not fully covered, it was much cooler. Once covered, we took off for a resort that is right next to the marina where we are allowed to swim in their pool. It had been free but they have decided to start charging $5.00 Fijian(about $3.00US)per person to use it. Nice pool and fresh water at that. After inspecting their pool, we headed for their restaurant. Hey-- what do you know-- they have chicken curry on special for lunch. It's only $15.50--three times what we paid the previous day in town. I ordered it any way while Tracy had the Fish and Chips. As always, the butcher took the day off and it came with lots of bones. Tasty but what we had the first day for $5.50 was much better and had more food on the plate. After lunch, we hiked back to the marina and made arrangements to have one of the dock lines from the boat next to ours moved a bit. With the tidal changes, the boat next to ours had a dock line that could have snagged our Hydrovane and ripped it off the stern. Not a good thing to have happen. The dock men suggested we move to another space. The heck with that. Where we were had no dust problem as much of the marina has plus the breezes that enter the marina come right through our boat keeping it a bit cooler than others in the marina. I figured it out that if we attached one of our lines to his, half way to his boat, we could pull his line far enough away form our stern that it would no longer cause us any concern. The dock men thought that was just fine and once the line was attached, off they went. For the rest of the afternoon, we sat on Zephyr and read and sweated like there was no tomorrow. It gets hot here and with the little wind we had today, it was miserably hot and humid. Once the electrician gets our power set up, I figure we will be heading for town to buy a small air conditioner for fit in the companionway. It's bad for us but far worse for the cats. We will have to adjust and get the boat cooled off some how. At least when I ran the generator this afternoon, I could run the big fan we have to stir up some air inside.

So that what has been going on. We're safe a sound and tucked away for a while making new friends around the marina. It's going to be a long Winter(Summer here)!