We've decided to take some time to chill, if that's possible in 85 degree weather, and catch our breath after a very busy month that has literally flown by. So we're back at Musket Cove on our favorite mooring, #16, alongside Steve and Trish on Curious. We're going to stay about a week and relax, as well as take some day trips out to dive and snorkel.

The weather has been spectacular, with a nice breeze most of the time, and even a little rain, which is so welcome in the drought Fiji has been enduring, and we like it because it washes the soot off the boat. One of the downsides of this area is the burning of the sugar cane fields, which seems to happen perpetually in some field or another. Big gray-brown plumes of thick smoke fill the air and catch on the breeze and end up littering boats and clogging up lungs. Luckily, it doesn't last too long and seems to clear quickly when there's a breeze.

Our few days in Vuda Point after our return from California were good, we reconnected with some friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks -- Steve and Trish on Curious, Brain on Further, and Melva and Steve on Mary Powell. A few dinners ashore, some shopping in town, a bunch of laundry, and it was time to head back out where we can breathe and swim.

Sunday Allan and I joined Steve and Trish on their gorgeous Oyster 56 and motored out to one of the places we discovered with Mark and Pam near Tavaroa and Namotu, the two surf islands southwest of Vuda Point. We dropped anchor near the busy islands and Steve, Allan and I went on a great dive while Trish stayed behind and caught up on correspondence. It was the first dive I've been on for awhile, and it was so great be to back in the water. I'd missed all my fish buddies, and we saw some great stuff on the dive. Allan was attacked by the 20-inch beauty pictured above, a female Titan Triggerfish. Apparently the females can be quite aggressive toward divers, we assume this is a protective trait. She was a fearless bully, rushing at Allan with her sharp teeth and chasing every fish in the area away, then taking him on again. She put on an enthusiastic show, and I wasted a bunch of air laughing into my regulator.

We enjoyed the dive so much, we went back today. This time it was Fly Aweigh's turn to be the host boat, and I took the opportunity to prepare my nut burger recipe for Steve and Trish, who were interested in trying it. Another terrific dive, although the current was pretty swift. We stayed shallow, hanging onto rocks to rest from the oncoming current, and enjoyed the gorgeous aquarium. Blue spotted sting ray, sleeping white-tipped reef shark, more Titan Triggerfish, and a delightful little Pixy Hawkfish, who let me get quite close so I could really look at his fringed front fins, tiny flower-like dorsal fins and beautiful markings.

Yesterday I spent a huge amount of time preparing for something that seems to be coming way too soon: the sale of this boat. I spent the better part of the day cleaning and staging for photos, clearing out all our "we live here" junk and making it look like a showplace, sort of. It was fun, really, but required moving huge piles of stuff from cabin to cabin, smoothing out the sheets or artfully tossing pillows, placing ridiculous props like flowers, bottles of wine, and plates of cheese and crackers (I've been to enough boat shows, I get the idea) all to enhance the milieu and entice a buyer. We've found a broker in Brisbane that we're excited to work with, and he suggests the sooner we get the boat on the market, the better. So we're working on putting together a package, and as we do, we realize, again, how lucky we've been to have this boat for our adventure.

After a lot of work in the stuffy cabin, the cool water beckoned, so we jumped off the stern with masks and snorkels and headed for the reef behind us here in the anchorage. The water was a bit murky, the flora was dull, and we thought it would be a rather boring snorkel, but I've discovered the most amazing things hiding in dull places (a metaphor for life at times?) and indeed -- it was a great swim. We saw some pipe fish, which look like a cross between a seahorse and a tiny snake. They have little square bodies (rather than cylindrical) and pink fan tails with adorable little seahorse faces. We saw a very shy sting ray, and a few juvenile Many Spotted Sweet Lips -- beautiful, lacy-looking tan fish with garish brown spots, like something Goldie Hawn might have worn on "Laugh-In."

We topped the day off with a trip to the resort nearby to catch the last of a series of events celebrating Fiji Day, the 40th anniversary of Fiji's independence from Britain.

We have a few more days here in Musket, and are planning a dive with the local dive company tomorrow to see some of the things we can't do on our boats, weather permitting (looking pretty stormy out there as I write.) Then back to Vuda Point Thursday, or Friday, or whatever. From there, we wait for the wind to invite us to New Caledonia. It could be a long wait -- right now they're forecast to be weak and floppy for at least the next week, and we aren't looking forward to a 4-day motor to New Caledonia -- too expensive and rather tiring. We're not really good motor boaters, as much as we love our Yanmar 75hp turbocharged engine; we prefer the quiet and exhilaration of a good sail. So put in some good words for us with the Wind Boss, and we'll hope to head out soon for our next-to-the-last South Pacific destination.