Adventures of Orcinius

11 September 2015 | HOME - Vancouver WA
24 August 2015 | 46 11.4'N:123 51.4'W, Port of Astoria Marina
22 August 2015 | 46 42.0'N:132 09,4'W, 330 West of CR Bouy, Astoria
21 August 2015 | 46 41.8'N:136 13.8'W, 500 West of Astoria
20 August 2015 | 46 22.82'N:140 28.00'W, East end of High
20 August 2015 | 46 22.80'N:140 28.32'W, Middle of High Same as Fish
20 August 2015 | 46 22.79'N:140 28.57'W, Middle of High
20 August 2015 | 46 22.7'N:140 30.2'W, 675 Miles West of CR
20 August 2015 | 45 57.6'N:144 54.0'W, East End of the High
18 August 2015 | 44 38.2'N:147 57.0'W, 1000 NM to Astoria
18 August 2015 | 43 31.0'N:150 28.0'W, 1126 NM to Astoria
17 August 2015 | 41 40.1'N:153 00.1'W, 1200 miles West of Astoria
16 August 2015 | 39 30.1'N:154 53.1'W, West end of the North Pacific High
15 August 2015 | 37 34.5'N:156 00.0'W, 1011 North of Oahu
15 August 2015 | 37 04.5'N:156 23.0'W, 983 North of Oahu
14 August 2015 | 34 12.3'N:157 26.1'W, 800 North of Oahu
13 August 2015 | 31 50.0'N:158 06.5'W, 650 North of Oahu
12 August 2015 | 29 02.0'N:158 51.0'W, 330 North of Oahu
11 August 2015 | 26 32.0'N:158 59.0'W, 330 North of Oahu
09 August 2015 | 23 44.1'N:158 49.4'W, 140 N of Oahu

A Boa Day

26 July 2014 | 17 46.22'S:177 22.92'E, Kula Eco Park
John
Today was a land journey day. We decided to take a road trip south of Nadi to a park they call the Kula Eco Park. It is 45 killometers south of Nadi and took us about 1.5 hours by car.

We had breakfast of Bacon, Egg and Cheese pies. These pies are to die for but they are very filling and rich. The bacon is more like a ham. So they have these personal pies a little larger in diameter than a large muffin with a short pastry bottom and a cap on the top. Inside is a cream filling with grated cheese sprinkled with bacon pieces and a raw egg dropped in the center before the top is applied. Then in the oven it goes and when it is finished it is about the best little pie you can find. They also make them in a steak and mushroom, a chicken and mutton and mushroom. All of them are excellent.

The Eco Park has several endangered species that the staff are trying to add to their population by assisting in the reproduction process. One species is the Sea Turtle. They hatch and raise the baby turtles in a small pen area and then when they are near maturity and able to be sent back to the wild they are put into another pen with three or four live fish. As the further mature and to indicate to the staff the turtles are ready for the big ocean, they monitor the progress by the fact that the live fish are being consumed by the turtles one at a time. The staff indicate they know the turtles are ready when they pull off a little trick on the fish by eating their tail fin so it can't swim away. Then the Turtles take their sweet time at eating the handicapped fish.

Another endangered species is the iguana. They have about three or four different species and again they have been helping raise the young until they feel confident they can survive in the wild. In the eighteenth or nineteenth century someone introduced the mongoose to the islands and these critiers just love smakes and iguana. They have done a number on the baby iguanas so the park tries to raise sufficient numbers and to a size the Mongoose can't harm. The other reptile the Mongoose eats are snakes.

So Fiji has no poisenous land reptiles or animals nor any predatory animals harmful to humans. They do have a couple of water snakes but they are so small that the only way they can harm a human is if they bite you in the flesh web between your toes or fingers. Then they can be seriously deadly. What they do have is Boa Constricters. A couple different species. The park personnel took two out of their cage and let Abby and Caitlin hold them. They were both baby snakes that were quite docile. Caitlin let one crawl around her neck and in her hair. We all touched or held the snakes and iguanas before moving onto some exotic flying creatures.

Parrots, several that are not on the endangered species list but have been deminishing in numbers. They were all in cages that we could walk through from one cage to another. Again they are trying to improve the reproduction of these birds. The one area that really got to Lisa was the Flying Fox cage. They had about 6 of these mamals in all their glory. We have watched their big brothers and sisters flying overhead just before dark going from their daytime habitat to their nightime hunting areas. The Flying Fox is a large species of the Bat. The ones we have seen in the wild have a wing span of about 2 feet. The ones in the cage were young and maybe had a wing span of one foot.

The park was well designed and maintained with bush walks made from local timbers cut and laid out into walkways or stairs that took you through the entire park. I think this is a must see if you are in Fiji. The cost today was $30.00FJ per person but was well worth it because it take alot to keep this park at it's peak.

Our next thing after lunch at the park was to go up to Tavuni Hill Fort. This was a fort built by a Tongan who traveled to Fiji and tried to set up a village but was being attacked by the local Fijian Canabals... Thus he needed to set up a fort on the top of a hill to keep the canabals away. This is one of those venues that we have a hard time paying fo. After paying we would have to still make a thirty minute (Fijian time) walk up the hill. So we decided to read the data on who, why and how this came about and then head onto the next site.

We drove to a place called the Kutukutu surfing site. We spoke to a gentleman near there who said it was too windy today and there were no surfers out but maybe tomorrow. That was a bust so we headed back to Denarau and stopped by the store to buy a few things to finish out our Taco Dinner fixens.

All for the day and tomorrow we are going to a local church in Nadi then in the afternoon we will have to get the girls ready for their long plane ride back home.

Oh! One more thing, after dinner, the girls and Lisa took the dinghy into the dock and headed for the ice cream parlor. Now they are back, its past my bedtime so closing the blog for now.

Cheers

John
Comments
Vessel Name: ORCINIUS
Vessel Make/Model: Lagoon 440
Hailing Port: Vancouver, Washington
Crew: John LeDoux & Lisa Danger
About:
Sailing since the mid 90's. Prior to this trip, 4 sailing adventures from Vancouver WA to the San Juan and Gulf Islands in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Bought ORCINIUS in West Palm Beach Fl in April 2010. Sailed her South through the Panama Canal and back up the West coast to home port. [...]
Extra: Lisa is the real captain. I have never been at the helm when docking or anchoring, she has a great touch to docking.
Home Page: www.orcinius.com

Who: John LeDoux & Lisa Danger
Port: Vancouver, Washington