After five days on the hard, we slipped a gleaming Whippersnapper back into the water with a huge sigh of relief. While everything went exactly to plan and we were really happy with the quality of work (a big thank you to the guys at Yacht Help for a great job), it is still a little daunting when wind gets up during the night and the boat starts to sway knowing you are only being held upright by six posts. In fact one night we felt the boat swaying a lot more than usual and found out the next morning that one of the posts had moved a foot leaving Whippersnapper hanging on by the minimum of margins – scary!

Once back in the water we were keen to get going again so headed straight to the Malolo islands and the famous Musket Cove. We heard it was a nice place but were overwhelmed by just how good it was, so much so we ended up spending the next five nights there. Musket Cove is a resort built by a cruiser with cruisers in mind. It has everything from a marina, to mooring field, swimming pools, bars, cafes, restaurants, golf course, supermarket, dive shops and an airstrip. Upon arrival the captain pays $1 and each crew $5 for lifetime membership, which gives you access to all the facilities. Being a resort you can open an account and pay for everything at the end of your stay. A typical day would be spent snorkelling in the outer reefs, relaxing in the pool during the afternoon and then onto the sunset bar for a bbq. They had huge open fire bbq’s that they lit at 4pm every evening and welcomed cruisers to bring their own food to cook there. A simple but brilliant idea that so many other places should take up. The supermarket even provided bbq packs with meat, roast potatoes, yummy garlic bread and juicy salads.

There was little wind during the week but on Friday it started to blow for a few hours so lots of kite boards appeared out of nowhere. We grabbed ours and headed to a tiny sand bank with ten other kites. It was a wonderful sight to see and Hugh had a great time on ours. Unfortunately the wind got up too much and the sand bank disappeared with the tide so I didn’t make it out. I’m way behind Hugh in experience now so have a lot of catching up to do! Hugh still has a big smile on his face from the day.

Yesterday we headed back to Port Denarau to meet our friend Elizabeth (Liz) who along with her friend Nicole flew in from Auckland to spend the weekend at the Hilton resort. We had a great evening catching up on old times with a few too many drinks. Great fun was had. We're actually lying by their hotel pool now as we urge Liz and Nicole to join in on the pool aerobics. Fiji has been one of our favourite countries since leaving the Med last year but time has come to check out tomorrow and sail to Vanuatu. It’s a four-day passage to the island of Tanna, where we hope to climb the active volcano and then onto Port Vila to meet our friend Rick on the 10th - very exciting.