Getting Some Check Marks on Our List!
31 May 2009 | Vuda Point Marina
Sally
Will try to finish off our "Tale of Woe" so we can eventually get on with sharing Fiji. We haven't seen much of it yet, outside of the marina, but we know we're going to love exploring! The temperature here has been in the 80's, the water temp is 78, and the humidity is around 75% (making my short hair VERY curly!). It is so nice to be back in shorts and sleeveless tops. The only down side has been the mosquitos - back to looking like a "Survivor" contestant!
The picture is of Glen on the maiden voyage of our new dinghy! Check mark number one on our "things to take care of" list. We bought Steve and Wendy's dinghy from Elusive. It was a win/win - they needed to sell it and we needed to solve our dinghy dilemma. We had almost bought a new rigid bottom dinghy while in New Zealand, but couldn't quite make our budget stretch that far. This worked out perfectly! (By the way, anyone reading this that is going to take off on their own cruise... we highly recommend a hard bottom dinghy instead of the roll up type we had. Ours was great for storing, but not so great for the coral beaches, etc...) Anyhow, we are excited to have a new "ride!" We have named her "Little Dot!" (Glen said his mom didn't like being called Dot, but it sounds too cute to go along with The Dorothy Marie! Like Scarlett O'Hara calls their dinghy Rhett!) Little Dot is a ten foot Apex rigid bottom inflatable. We need to check into getting a new seat and wheels for her (unfortunately, the originals didn't make it off Elusive), but she's in great shape and will be lots of fun. (Another big thank you to Steve and Wendy for the great price as well! :) By the way... notice Glen's clean shaven look didn't last too long!
I had mentioned our generator fixes are under way. We hope to get the injectors and pump back later today or tomorrow, then we cross our fingers and try it out! George is a story all his own. We are still hoping he can be resurrected. At first it was thought that a gear had stripped inside the motor part of him, but when he was opened up, all of his "teeth" were fine. On closer inspection, it is now thought a clutch that engages the drive gear may have a problem. Hopefully we can find a clutch donor with a matching blood type, otherwise, we may have to have George Jr. flown in from the states! We'll keep you posted on George's progress as soon as we hear anything new.
When trying to raise the anchor in Momi Bay and Lautoka, we realized our chain stripper on the anchor windless (that had broken and had to be replaced in NZ) had stripped the screws holding it down out of the wood on the bow pulpit. Glen was able to jury-rig a fix so we could get the anchor up, but we are now having a stainless plate installed on the bow pulpit so it will be much more secure and won't pull back out again. Our wind direction indicator on the top of the mast had blown off on the crossing (did we mention we were in some strong winds?!!), so we still need to locate a replacement for it, but that's not a major issue like all the rest. Life is feeling much more manageable again with some of our problems fixed or on the mend.
We're really liking the marina (by the way I added a picture of it to the last entry) - the people are all very friendly, there is a restaurant at the "yacht club" that has daily specials that make eating out affordable (yeah!!!), and there is a swimming pool at the neighboring First Landing "Resort" that we can use for $5. FD per day. I have taken a bus ride to Lautoka for fresh fruit and veggies, and a cab ride to Nadi with some girl friends to check out the shopping. Glen and I took a cab to Lautoka on Saturday to check out the town and market. Had our first curry and palua (sp?) for lunch. The population in Fiji is about 40% native Fijians, 40% Indian, and 20% others. We kept hearing how good the Indian food was, and yum, it really is! Glen can't wait to get to one of the places in our guidebook that says the curry is so hot even the cab drivers are afraid of it! Yikes!!! He is very happy that I was able to buy a great assortment of chilies for him at the market, though. That will have to do for now.
Well, we sure hope this can be the last entry dealing with all our problems - bet you do too!!! Love to everyone at home and our special thoughts are being sent to Andy and Arlene. Buster, their dog and Penny's boyfriend, is not doing well at all and might not last too much longer. When the time comes, we hope he goes peacefully.