Well, we're back at Vuda Point Marina after finishing our ten day trek back to the islands. We spent several days at Mana Island having a good time doing a bit of diving though we're not sure we were in the right spot. We had heard lots of great reports on a place called "Supermarket"(no idea why it's called that). We got the Lat/Long from a dive site called wannadive.net that gives lots of info on sights all around the word. I'd plugged the coordinates into our portable GPS and once Puff was loaded with all our gear(including an anchor), we took off around the west side of the island only to be greeted by a big thunderstorm with lots of lightening and thunder. Seeing what was coming, we reversed course and returned to Zephyr. Better safe than fried by lightening. It poured shortly after we got back to the boat.

The next day, we reloaded Puff in the morning(before the storms came) and took off again. We worked our way around the west side of the island and out over the reef through a narrow passage that's marked with a big stick coming out of the water. Buoys aren't big out here. Once past the stick, we turned left and worked our way around the outside of the reef that protects the island. We found the GPS position and carefully dropped the anchor in about 8 feet of water. I strapped on a mask and went down and repositioned it in a coral free crevasse on the bottom. The last thing we want to do is damage coral when we are out diving. We put on the rest of our gear and plunged into the 84 degree water(yippee!). We worked ourselves down the side of the reef. This was a "Wall" dive since the reef drops off where we went in. While it was pretty, and had some fish, it was no where near what we had seen at Pinnacle Reef back in December. It was fun getting back in the water with our tanks and gear but no where near as beautiful. After an hours dive(8 to 65 feet deep)we climbed back into Puff(glad we have a ladder) and went back to Zephyr and in to get our tanks filled and have some lunch.

The previous evening, we had a group of three brothers come out to see us in a small very old, beaten up kayak to see our boat and ask questions about us and our boat. We were the only boat in the cove. While we may be out in the out islands, they still teach english to all the Fijians. The eldest(about 12) spoke more than his brothers did so he acted as an interpreter. I told him all about our boat and where we had come from. We took their picture(at the top of the post) and we promised them I'd bring them a copy the next day. After about 30 minutes, off they paddled to shore. We later printed some copies of their picture and I took them into shore the next morning. With the help of one of the native women they led me right to their house(a small primitive shack built of corrugated metal roofing. About 10 kids came running over, including the eldest child. It was like I was Santa and had just come to town. I handed him the pictures and he said "You are a true friend"(wow). As primitive as this half of the island is, I'm sure they don't get many pictures of themselves.

Here's the scoop on Mana Island. The West section of the island is a resort owned and operated by a Japanese company. There was apparently some conflict with the native Fijians when the resort was built so the company put up a high chain link fence down the middle of the island with a small gate as the only easy way to get across the island. One side is all resort(not the nicest)and the other side are all native people living in a state of poverty making what money they can from tourists that venture onto their side of the island as well as "back packer" hostels. Other than lunch the first day we came in(a can of coke(330ml) was $5.50($3.00US), we spent the rest of our time on the native side of the island. There, at least, a bottle(600ml) of coke as only $4.00 Fijian and the food was better. We even got our dive tanks refilled there for 25% less than at the resort. Not a way to encourage cruisers to come their side of the island.

After a couple of days at Mana, we had planned on heading over to Treasure Island(not it's real Fijian name) for a couple of days before returning to Vuda. We'd emailed them and they were expecting us. There's even a charge of $10.00 Fijian to come ashore. Not sure what you get for your $10.00 but figured we'd find out. When we got up in the morning, it was totally overcast. Not a good thing since there are numerous uncharted reefs between Mana and Treasure Island. We decided it was a smarter move to simply go back to Musket Cove since we knew the route and would not have any chance of hitting one of the reefs. I emailed Treasure Island of our change of plans. When you are cruising between islands out here, you rely on sunshine to see the reefs as they stand out in sunshine as a lighter color of water(light green-bad versus a dark blue-good). With no sunshine to assist us in seeing the reefs, we upped the anchor(full of mud and sand) and headed back to Musket for a couple of days of relaxation and showers and good food.

Yesterday, we upped the anchor again and headed back to Vuda as we knew we would need help getting into our slot. Our bow lines have to be attached to the spiders web of lines that all the boats are attached to out near the middle of the circular marina. When we arrived back at the marina, we found that the boat Tequila had vacated the spot we had wanted to go into back in December. With the help of one of the yard men in a dingy and two on shore, we backed into the space with little problems. Each time I back up Zephyr, I get better at it. Three years ago, I would have hit what ever was behind us as I backed down. This time, I placed Zephyr right where she was supposed to be not hitting anyone. Our 50 foot bow lines are to short so I'll be looking for some new lines this next week. I had no idea that the rope I brought back from the US would end up being no where near long enough. We had to tie several lines together to make up the difference. Once in and tied up, we hooked up the electrical and turned on the air conditioner and every fan we could find in the boat. It was 99 degrees inside Zephyr and with about 80% humidity, both of us were sweating like stuck pigs making our clothes soaked with sweat(yuck). We slowly cooled down and headed off later for the showers and something to drink to replenish what we had sweated away.

So now we are in the spot we have wanted for quite a while as it has some shade in the late afternoon which will help cool off Zephyr's decks. We have a slight electrical problem as while the slot has two boats in it, there is only one outlet! We'll be trying to work that out with the office on Monday. Luckily, the boat next door is unoccupied at the moment though he normally runs an air conditioner to keep the moisture down inside while he's gone.

We gathered with friends later in the afternoon for drinks and dinner at the marinas restaurant well into the evening. It's nice being back in the marina again. Blue and Snowshoe are really enjoying being back in air conditioned comfort. The last ten days have been tough on them.

Tomorrow, we head back to Lautoka to pay our Vodefone internet bill. It's the big reason we came back. Out here, it's your biggest source of entertainment. I'd planned on going up the mast this morning to get a couple of jobs done but we woke up to rain so it may have to wait for a while. With luck, it might clear up this afternoon.

Stay tuned. More coming.