Sailing Gromit

18 February 2015 | Namibia
18 February 2015 | Cape Agulhas, South Africa
29 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | Simon's Town, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Simon's Town, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Boulders Beach, Simon's Town
28 January 2015 | Simon's Town, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Cape Point, South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | South Africa
28 January 2015 | Western Cape, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Western Cape, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Western Cape, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Western Cape, South Africa
28 January 2015 | Western Cape, South Africa
21 January 2015 | Simon's Town, South Africa

Winter Wonderland in Canada

26 March 2016
Yes, it's winter in Canada and we are in the thick of it.

There has been a hint of spring, but mother nature can be fickle at this time of year. Two weeks ago we had temperatures in the mid teens (mid 70s for you Fahrenheit folks), then a huge snow storm that gave the kids two days off of school and now heavy freezing rain that coated everything to the point of tree branches bending to the ground and snapping like toothpicks.

Where are the palm trees and beaches?

This is the house we are currently living in. We'll be here until our house is rebuilt....we don't know when. We'd hoped to start rebuilding in spring....which is now....but progress is slow, because the process is slow.
We can't complain because this house is spacious and comfortable, though quite dark. We've talked about lightening it up with some brighter paint. Just haven't gotten there yet. Still too much to do regarding the fire.

Winter in Canada

26 March 2016
Maia, Liam, Zoe, Jaya

Loving the snow.
Building snow buddies.
Make snow angels.

But.....also looking forward to spring!!!

Snow Buddies

26 March 2016
.

Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Patterns in nature.

Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Freezing rain.

Winter Wonderland

26 March 2016
Geometry
Vessel Name: Gromit
Vessel Make/Model: Olympic Adventure
Hailing Port: Toronto
Crew: Michael, Cornelia, Zoe, Maia, Liam. Photo: At Tilloo Bank, Elbow Cay, Bahamas (photo by Frank Taylor)
About: Michael: The technical/mechanical/all about the boat and systems guy. Cornelia: The lists/house and land details gal. Zoe, Maia and Liam: Gromit's Skippers in Training!
Extra: Departure date: Summer 2008 email us at: sailinggromit@gmail.com
Gromit's Photos - Fiji: Savusavu, Makogai and Levuka
Photos 1 to 88 of 88 | Main
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Arriving in Fiji.
The entrance into the harbour.
We hiked up behind the town and could see Gromit in the bay.
Savusavu Bay.
Gromit can just be seen almost tucked in behind the trees - centre right with a little splotch of blue visible.
When we walked around the hot spring, if we got too close, the heat was almost unbearable.
The water is much too hot to touch. We were told that the people here come to cook their food on these hot springs.
A loose tooth!
Waiting for the bus to leave to take us to Labasa. We went with the crew of s/v Rhythm. Here we can see Olivia beside Zoe, Peggy and Joey. They took the bus back at the end of the day and we stayed a couple of days.
A view of Savusavu Bay on our way to the town of Labasa on the north side of the island.
The bus trip took just short of 3 hours. It was about 90 kilometres. There were lots of steep hills! Going up some of the hills, we could have walked faster than the bus, but the maniac bus driver tried to make up for time on the way down the hills and blasted along at top speed!
Joey and David from s/v Rhythm.
The bus stopped at a small town in the mountains on the way from Savusavu to Labasa. We thought we might NOT do our provisioning here!!!!
A number of Fijian ladies came by the bus offering sandwiches and various other treats.
Peggy bought and shared some roti with curried potato inside. It was so delicious!
We were walking down the main street of Labasa, enjoying the Indian sights, sounds and smells of curry, when......
.......along came this truck filled with sugar cane. It was on its way to the mill.
Then came a tractor and another and another and another. About every 20 minutes or half hour, another trailer of sugar cane would pass by.
The spice isle in the grocery store was incredible. There was no doubt that this was an Indian town.
The saris were breathtaking!
Life on Pacific islands centres around the ocean, of course. Fishing is crucial to the way of life here. We loved this picture of a cell phone advertisement.
The market. We love markets. The prices were better than any we
Kava.
Beside market we found a nice little cafe that offered scones and muffins, tea and coffee. We thought the sign on the door was a hoot!
This is where all those vehicles were heading that we
Almost the whole kilometre, there were trucks lined up along the road.
I asked these gentlemen why the trucks were lined up and they told me that there something was broken down in the mill.
So, why not have a picnic!
We had hoped to have a tour of the mill, but because of the break-down, we weren
The other thing we had wanted to do was see the suspension bridge.
The old and the new.

We hired a taxi to take us to there and then we took a bus back to town from the village on the other side of the bridge.
Checking out the structure.
Ever the engineer!
After the bridge, on our way to the bus stop, through this little village, we passed a house and heard the voice of a woman saying
Her husband had just retired from the mill, so I asked him to tell us how sugar cane is processed. It was fascinating.
This visit with Marcus and Marilyn, was the highlight of our time in Fiji so far. Their hospitality, kindness and openness towards us was really special. The bus came and even though we
At a bus stop en route back to town, in front of a school, this lady was waiting for the school bell to ring. A few hundred kids would be soon passing by her goodies!
After our three days in Labasa we took the bus back to Savusavu and found our friends on Solara had arrived. We
We decided to do a day trip to the Rain Forest Park. The bus we were going to take left early so we hired a truck to take us.
After two weeks in Savusavu, we left and anchored in front of the Jacques Cousteau Resort for an early morning departure to Makogai Island. The wind was so mellow, that we let the kids swing while were motoring along.
Makogai Island.
The chief of the town accepted our offering of kava root (this is called doing
A cure for leprosy was found in 1948, so the colony was phased out over the next two decades.
Now they cultivate giant clams.
These are called runways and it is where the baby clams are raised.
When they get to a certain size, they are moved to these cement tiles and then introduced into the coral reefs.
We were able to see many of them as we snorkelled around the reefs. They are unbelievable and truly magnificent.
I
Michael and Liam did a bit of spear fishing on the outer reefs. Liam caught this parrot fish. We cooked in and all had a little nibble.
On our way out of the reef at Makogai on our way to Levuka, I stayed on the bow to watch for uncharted reefs. Our chart plotter, a Furuno, has been spot on so far, but Fiji has so many reefs that we thought we
 Maia and I shared bow-reef-watch duty.
Levuka. We spent two days exploring this little town that used to be the capital of Fiji.
How tempting!
Naigini Island.
Zoe making kumquat juice.
Our juicer didn
Lunch on our way to the next anchorage.
The north sides of both of Fiji
s/v Solara.
Daren, Robin, Rhett and Dharma
s/v Riada II.
Carolyn and Dave.
We
 
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Sailinggromit

Who: Michael, Cornelia, Zoe, Maia, Liam. Photo: At Tilloo Bank, Elbow Cay, Bahamas (photo by Frank Taylor)
Port: Toronto