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

Visa Day

02 June 2015 | Port of Suva - Royal Suva Yacht Club
John

Wow what a delight. Although it didn't start out that way. Will try to make it sensible but Malo the young charge forgot his Sulu at his families house from his sister's wedding. Ok so the guys have matched "uniforms". Plan 'B' Tevita (David, Malo's bro is going to take a Taxi I am paying for from where his family lives to the Royal Suva Yacht Club where we are anchored) is to bring Malo's Sulu over to the YC so Malo can look uniform with Moses. This morning we wait and wait and wait. Fiji time we are only 5 minutes away and 15 minutes goes bye and another call we are only 10 minutes out. We have made a decision to hail another taxi so Malo, Moses and Lisa can head for the US Embassy. Plan "B" now is in motion. Get a call from Lisa after dropping off the guys at the US Embassy saying she is coming back from the Embassy in the taxi.

I am waiting for Tevita (David) to show up in the taxi I first hired to get him from his house to the Yacht Club and he finally shows up. This taxi driver is a local Fijian who we hired back in October when we were here to take us around. Another Tevita and this one is a gentle giant whose wife is going to school to be a school teacher so I hired him for the day. Ok he was late bringing the Sulu but what the hey it is Fiji, and Malo looked quite dapper in his new plaid shorts and ORCINIUS shirt. Lisa shows up with the other taxi because the guy doesn't have change for a $50 Fijian. Yep he drove all the way back from the Embassy to the YC because he didn't have $40 FJ as change.

Ok next Tevita the taxi driver runs us back up to the Embassy and to a coffee shop to wait for the boys to come out of the Embassy. We have our coffee and soda and move over to where we can see the guys coming down the road. About 0900 they were walking down the street towards the car. No sign of exhuberance or elation and in fact pretty expressionless. Now Lisa and I have been through many interrogations with the US Gov through the military so before they went for the interview I told both that there was a possibility that they might not be granted their visas. So on their return it looked like my warning might have come through. Moses jumps into the taxi next to Lisa and then Malo. Moses puts his arm around Lisa and says "we got our visas they gave us bot the D Crew visa and then they gave us a 12 month visitor Class B2 visa. Lisa and I were surprised. It was a very jovial trip back to the boat with the full explanation on the whole process.

Lisa and I had done substantial research along with sending emails, formal letters and a lot of followup with the Consular Staff. Like any government agency, we could not correspond directly, either through email or phone with the agent in charge of handling our requests. So I thought it best to identify the owner and master of SY ORCINIUS as Lisa Danger. Don't know how much it helped but we did send a couple emails so to speak in the blind and got the typical auto response (DO NOT REPLY). However the real kicker was they had all the emails and could refer to them when Malo was in his interview. They knew we were requesting visas for two Fijians not just one so after Malo finished his interview and they called Moses in they really didn't ask Moses a real question. The young lady doing the interviews, discussed a few things with Malo and then said, she would grant him a Class D Crew Visa and then she said she understood our concern with the short period and granted Malo a Class B2 Visitors visa that starts when we reach HI and lasts for 12 months. SH as they say. Moses was next and as I said she asked him few questions and again gave him a Class D crew visa and then the Class B2 Visitor for 12 month.

Ok so what a thrill. We get back to the boat and they have not stopped talking about how many other people were outside the Embassy from Tonga, Kiribati and the other three island nations represented by this embassy that said they were denied and wanted to know what the emblem on their shirt represented. Why we are crew on SY ORCINIUS.

At the boat they change their shirts and we head back to the YC for a trip provision shopping. Went to a big box store like Costco then to the New Worlds. All the stuff we bought at the big box we left there and said we would have the taxi come back for it and we carried the New World stuff with us. Back at the boat we leave Lisa and the New World stuff and head back to town so Moses and Tevita (Taxi Driver) can go get the big box load.

Now the second most exciting thing was to get Malo fitted with some contacts. He has a distance vision problem and it is standard in both eye with a -3.00. I tried to order some contacts from a couple on-line stores out of the US but they were anal about how we were paying for them..... duh MONEY through a card. So they P'd me off so much I gave up. Suva is the only place in Fiji you can get contacts so that is what we did. When we got back to the boat Lisa helped him put them in. As usual it was a bit rough even though he could touch his eyeball with his fingers without difficulty. Anyway got them in and then Lisa needed us out of her hair for a bit so we made a rendezvous at the RSYC for a beer celebration. By the end of the night he was reading everything he could just to prove to himself how good his new present was. Ok so some might ask why contacts and not glasses (specks)? Simple these guys spend a lot of time under water, fishing and scavaging for clams, muscles and octopus for their dinner. Well glasses don't work too well in a mask and to buy a mask with the prescription in it would cost them $500+ FJ so contacts are really better. Locally they are $27FJ a pair for 30 day lenses but if he buys them on line from the US he should be able to get about 6 months for just double that.

Back at the boat around 8pm to cook up some spaghetti sauce and noodles. All done by 9pm and the boys really need some sleep as well as I do.

The day before yesterday started out very tumultuous with whatever we hit in the water and then I lost a not so inexpensive hearing aide overboard but today made up for everything. Happy smiling crew ready to head out. Now it is up to the weather.

All for now.

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