Strange question, I know. We had recently had so many systems problems crop up in succession, we weren't sure just how many shoes could drop. We left Vuda Point two days ago thinking that at least five or six of these problem 'shoes' had been put back in their proper place. The next shoe dropped when we arrived at Mana - we discovered that our refrigeration had failed! It must be an octopus to have so many shoes.

What to do? I jumped on the electrical end of things while Judy raced ashore in hopes of finding freezer room for our food at the Mana Island Resort. There, she met Seru, the Duty Manager, who later met us at the dock in a golf cart and drove us to the resort's kitchen where we deposited the food in a freezer. Food saved, but what about the fridge? Damned if I don't love Fijians. Seru arranged for the resort's refrigeration technicians - Jack and Tewks - to come to the boat and repair the system on Saturday evening, returning Sunday afternoon and Monday to finish the job. Turns out it was not an electrical problem at all, but a ruptured refrigerant line. I could never have repaired this on my own, and I certainly did not ever expect to find expert technical help so close at hand (we did teach them something new about J-B Weld, however). And, they did not want to charge us for the their time and materials!

With good weather we'll collect our frozen food tomorrow morning and be on our way to Navadra Island for few days. Hopefully, the octopus will keep his shoes about him from now on.