01 March 2020
Back at Vuda Marina & TabuSoro

The flight check-in was nerve racking as the five checked bags were just at weight capacity and we knew we would have to pay extra for three of the bags. What we did learn was that if we had pre-checked and paid online for the additional bags it would have been half as costly. We had tried to do it at check-in the night before but that was not an option. As we were four hours early we had a drink and settled in to read and observe others at our gate. Best ever were the couple that had five days in Fiji to decide if they wanted to live here and had never visited before. They were only going to stay in Denerau and do some real estate day trips!!! Denerau is so NOT typical of Fiji as it is the cruise ship central touristy port.

Flight was fairly easy except for the guy in front of me who leaned his seat all the way back to my lap. John pushed his seat forward when it was time to eat or get out of my seat. We filled out our Immigrations forms honestly and checked we had some goods and food items for fear of the hefty fines. All went well through the first stations where she laughed when we told her the name of the boat was TabuSoro. She said like the Fijian she asked ?? We ended up not needing the "Return Trip Authorization" stamped letter stating we were returning to a boat/home port. She stamped us for four more months of visa time. Next comes the Customs and Bio check and the bags all went on the conveyor and came out with no alarms. Until she asked for the checked customs forms I thought we were clear. When she saw the back side boxes checked for goods and food items we were detoured over to the "inspection room". Inside were about ten stainless tables with peoples suitcases laid open and searched. We explained the goods were boat parts for a yacht in transit and they wanted to see receipts and our vessel rotation number into Fiji. Once he saw they were all small spare parts, he signaled to the Bio guy to inspect the food items. The hardest part was all the officials had on N95 masks and it was very difficult to hear or understand them so John kept looking to me to interpret. All the spices and herbs were in sealed store containers and they let us keep it all!! John once again loaded all the bags onto a cart and we headed out to find Veeru our Vuda Marina taxi driver waiting with a very welcome sign reading "Vuda Marina". We were headed down the Kings Highway before the sun rose in a big orange welcoming glow.

Veeru helped us lug the bags down to the sidewalk by the boat and Hank on Nok helped us transfer the very heavy bags over water to the adjacent boat until we could get the gang plank placed between the sidewalk and the stern of TabuSoro. There has been several boaters with dengue fever and Hank was about two weeks out and was exhausted by the time he helped us transfer the bags. He didn't tell us until it was done and told us to be very careful dawn and dusk. We left the bags topside until we could get out the shade and canvas set up and out of the interior. Thankfully the vinegar wipe down of the interior had worked and there was no mold at all just a bit musty smelling. Opening up the ports helped immediately.

The rest of the day was sheer chaos as we unpacked with piles of things everywhere in our small space. John had purposely spread out items hoping they would not look in all the baggage. Fishing gear, diving gear and a camera from Mom's stash, food stuffs, personal hygiene items, parts, paperwork and clothing, computers and electronics all had to be stashed somewhere so we could make the bed before nightfall. By lunch time I just wanted to nap but we walked over to the BoatHouse and had a late lunch and visited with all our expat friends who filled us in on local gossip. We forced ourselves to stay up and watch the stars and talk a bit before crashing for the night.

Sunday here now and John continues to install or stash parts and I cleaned down surfaces so we could do food prep again soon. It's very slow like starting over again to remember where we stored items, how to turn on the propane and start the stove and now where is the pasta and blender for pesto? As it got warm early, John started on updating our fishing gear with the braided line and wire leaders which soon became a two person job with a bit of a tangle on one of the hand lines. I'm now ignoring him and looking very busy writing this blog.

Weather looks benign for the next ten days, now that we got the Vodaphone sim cards up and have data running again, looks like we may be able to get out sailing mid-week after some provisioning now that the refrigeration, freezer and solar are up and running.