TABU SORO - Never Give Up
21 October 2020 | Savusavu
06 October 2020
06 October 2020
20 September 2020
20 September 2020
20 September 2020
15 September 2020 | Viani Bay
01 September 2020 | Savusavu
24 August 2020
18 August 2020
18 August 2020
18 August 2020 | Savusavu Fiji
02 August 2020
26 July 2020 | Vanua Levu
26 July 2020
17 July 2020 | Northern Yasawa Islands
06 July 2020
28 June 2020 | Yasawa Islands
25 June 2020 | Port Denarau, Fiji
18 June 2020 | Near Navula Reef/ Cloud Break
A Log: Fiji to the Golden Gate
06 September 2023 | Home with Mom
Diane Brown
LOG Fiji to Hawaii hopefully
11 July 2023
Upon leaving Fiji.
Almost four full years we have lived and thrived in Fiji. Today as the Immigration official stamped our passports with the exit stamp I felt lost. We've rushed around for three weeks to make this day possible with all the marina teams making it feasible to leave before a big storm arrives and would delay us another full week. Am I not ready to leave?
Gillian tells a great story about their family boat that wouldn't leave Fiji after four tries they are still here. Tabu Soro definitely found a home here with her Fijian name; we have been welcomed with many exuberant Bulas and much hand waving from many a fiber boat. Staff at Vuda Marina (many who greeted us at arrival four years ago) sing us our Goodbye song and attach the flower wreath to bow for safe travels and we are on our way mid morning.
Winds are stiff ahead of the heavy weather but we set a good course to take advantage of wind direction to exit the outer reef system of Fiji prior to nightfall. We are both exhausted. Emotionally and physically. It's critical to set a good watch and sleep patterns to get us settled for the next six to eight weeks offshore.
12-14 July 2023
Not a good start The heavy weather caught us the second day out with squalls and winds in the 40's and 20 foot swells for almost two days. The boat is wet inside and out. John is sitting in a jacuzzi of cold saltwater in the cockpit and I've alternated sleeping off the nausea and cleaning up salt water from every orifice in this boat. It is spurting through the hatches and ports with every bash to the hull. Floors are wet and slippery and head overflows like a geyser with each hobby-horse of a swell; so we now shut down the salt water intake between each use. Not sure how many meals of ramen noodles John had over these three days. We haven't even reached the latitude of Rotuma at 12 degrees yet. But turning back would be even a worse situation.
15 July 2023
Sunshine and still stiff but calmer winds and seas! During the night we made enough North to escape the effects of the extreme winds hitting Fiji this week up from the Roaring 40's of New Zealand. During the first night watch we had a mystery ship sound on the AIS collision alarm. There was no AIS identity but radar and AIS showed them incoming at less than a mile away.. Not able to make radio contact so turned on deck lights and tried to see over the 16 ft.swells to find the boat. It passed to port of us within half a mile and we never caught a glimpse. Priority is drying out the boat and wiping down interior of salt water with vinegar to avoid mold and checking over rigging and tied down fuel jerries. My bout with sea sickness is much improved. John announces that I have now seen worse weather than most sailors ever endure. I suppose he is trying to make me feel better??
16 July 2023
Flat seas, like you could water ski. And sunshine; so wash day, mostly to get the salt water out of all the towels used to clean up the interior. We are still focused on getting North due to all the small islands, shallow banks and atolls that are part of the Phoenix Group / Kiribati, Baker, Canton and Howland Islands. I had no idea how many small bits of land were out here between Fiji and Hawaii. Many of the names I recognize now from WWII history. Once we clear North of these little islands we can go to the wind vane (named Gary) for steering which will conserve a lot of battery and solar.
17 July 2023
This I can do! Mild winds 12-15 knots with some South in it so we are getting some East heading finally.and cross the dateline. I'm feeling hopeful as we finish our first week out. I message via Garmin family members to announce we are now on the same calendar day as them after four years. Dolphins come for a brief visit just before the first night watch filled with sightings of shooting starts. John even caught the green flash at sunset.
19 July 2023
Getting closer to the equator in the 5 degree zone so expect some current confusion which does not materialize. We are getting lots of mixed overcast with mostly afternoon and evening squalls. Adrenalin drill as a dark fishing ship set off the collision alarm-again no AIS signal from ship. We turned on more deck lights and they turned on a lboat oad of lights and their AIS but didn't change course. John turned on the engine as AIS showed the were slowing down, likely as they were pulling miles of nets so they wanted us to cross in front. Still no radio contact. Just about clear when John sighted a beacon buoy that the ship we assume was following or to mark their nets.
20 July 2023
The day started out with a gorgeous sunrise then stiff winds 20-25 but a good North heading most of the morning. During the night Gary had frayed the port side steering line so we are back on the Wendell the auto-pilot while John figures out why the line frayed that fast. The last night watch I noticed we had lost the GPS signal to the RayMarine instrument but didn't wake John as I determined we still had GPS readings on our tablets, AIS, Garmin and HF Radio. When I started coffee just before I was to go off watch at 6 am found that the propane flame very weak despite a nearly full bottle. Switching to the secondary tank did not improve the flame so coffee water took a very long time. By the time John came fully awake with first cup of coffee he had prioritized his to-do list for the day. We had another collision alarm but that vessel was lit and had AIS on and never got closer than 10 miles. Oh, did I mention that ice cubes for sunset drinks were not fully frozen? We initially wrote it off to having shut down the freez
er overnight to conserve power to run the auto-pilot. Thankfully after I went down for my first off-watch, John checked and found the controller had rusted out contacts and replaced it with our last spare controller. Gratefully we didn't loose five weeks of frozen food.
21 July 2023
Overcast and mild swell and wind. Yep, John spent the day trouble shooting and fixing everything but the GPS signal on Ray Marine instruments. It appears to be a loose connection as spontaneously it will show a signal then loose it again. Best to leave it alone than risk pulling down the rest of the RayMarine system plus getting to it means pulling out tons of spare parts. We are both tired but well adjusted to the 3 hour on / off sleep schedule with daytime naps.
22 July 2023
We crossed the equator at 1215 on a sunny breezy perfect sailing day. I did a video of the instruments passing from South Pacific to North Pacific. Yes, the GPS signal started working consistently again all on its own?! We celebrated with a shot of tequilla with shrimp pasta lunch.
23 July 2023
The doldrums hit. The only good part was opening up and airing out the boat. We speculated if we could swim beside the boat and for how long. It is a very frustrating experience to try to make any kind of progress with no wind. Just happy to stop the awful sound of sails and booms flogging away all day, The current actually took our fishing line and lure under the boat for a bit. We pulled it in to avoid getting it tangled.
24-26 July 2023
Finally getting some easterly but seems like we lose it as we get headed by the northerly. Back and forth. Its now been two full weeks and we have made about 1,500 nautical miles or about half way to Hawaii as the crow flies. At this rate we may have to do some tacking to reach Hawaii or decide to miss and go above the islands. Night watches have alternated between heavenly star shows and moonlit waters to drop your drawers squalls with sudden winds from 8 knots to 30 knots in minutes.
27 July 2023
Very little headway the entire evening. We had talked about tacking over once a good ways past the equator and had more stable winds in the next day or so. John decided to give it a try out of frustration this morning. So we are headed South East 100 degreesS at about 5 knots on a starboard tack now w see if it can be held for the night watch.
28 July 2023
Lots of frustration today over lack of easterly progress. Back on original port tack heading vaguely East by about 10-15 degrees. I'm re-portioning the fresh food portions in case we don't get to stop Hawaii and have to head North toward Alaska to catch the high to make California/Oregon coast drop then down to SF Bay. Our daily petryl entertainer didn't show up for the nightly attempts to land on the bow. The fishing filament John had me weave between the spreaders appears to be keeping the birds off the spreaders and white guano off the brown main sail.
29 July 2023
Lots of wind and good progress last night- mostly North John had the worst of the squalls on his watches. Kind of hard to sleep when bouncing about in the quarter berth but if your tired enough...
Winds in the low 20's but swell is beating the boat up so reduced sail and changed direction to soften the ride. The brisk winds continued through out the day which meant frequent sail adjustments when gusts get to the 30's : in and out grinds the jib with the stay sail a constant.
Tabu Soro speaks to us. Especially at night. The night of the mystery ship within a half mile I was headed to galley to make a cup of tea and heard a big Fijian "BULA"! I jumped up to look around to find nothing and the VHF radio was off. Later in that watch I heard it again but fainter. It was Gary the wind vane creaking from lack of use these last four years. The most obvious ones are the wind generator spins out and brakes when gusts get to 30 knots or Wendell the auto pilot groans when our heading needs to be adjusted. Some nights the rigging sings a melody that stays in my mind. If its really windy I sometimes hear the static of like a tv show in the backgound. The prophets of old said they heard God speak. Now I wonder how that sounded. You never know where the mind will wander on a three hour night shift at sea.
30 July2023
Almost a full moon which made for some easy night watches. Still large 15' swells mixed with wind chop and 20 plus knots of wind so we reefed down to a double in the main, the full stay sail and a tiny hank of a jib. A hobby-horse night. At one point the Garmin broke free of its velcro at the charger and went flying across the cabin. At this point we sleep on our off watch no matter what the conditions.
31 July 2023
Garmin not transmitting well and so frustrating as we know Mom watches it faithfully. Seems to get a signal with it located outside but needs to be on charger. Having to re-link the blue tooth to see any positions or trip data. Ugly sea state but we managed to make 100 miles with some east. So many salt baths came into the cockpit there is a layer of salt on everything and everyone. Thankful for the cockpit shower.
01 August 2023
Better sailing conditions today and was able to do some cooking and laundry. The petrels are our only visitors and play king-of-the-hill on the bow pulpit.
02 August 2023
Did a full re-boot of the Garmin and seems to be tracking more consistently. We lost the current track data so will have to add the stats up manually. Made sourdough crumpets as we are out of bread, roti and tortilla shells now.
03 August 2023
Gary broke his lines again. John is getting real quick at dismantling the teak box to get access to splice in new spectra lines. Garmin still has to be reconnected periodically. Hurricane Dana still coming towards Hawii on same timeline as us.
04 August 2023
Off / on rain squalls most of day made for a lot of sail adjustments. We really need to look at the jib furler as it is brutal to pull in especially under pressure. It would be easy to think just ease the jib and get away but some of the gusts today were in the 30's and would have laid us over. Building muscles. It takes two of us to furl if jib all the way out so naps were minimal. Need to try to beat the hurricane towards Hawaii.
05 August 2023
Wind vane steering lines broke at a new spot at the rear of the boat this time. That was quite a trick to hook John's safety harness up to the aft rail then thread his long legs through the stainless to stand outside the boat and use the boat hook to catch the chaffed line, splice in a piece. I was all set for a man overboard exercise if he lost his footing.
Better sailing conditions today and was able to do some cooking and laundry. The petrels are our only visitors and play king-of-the-hill on the bow pulpit.
02 August 2023
Did a full re-boot of the Garmin and seems to be tracking more consistently. We lost the current track data so will have to add the stats up manually. Made sourdough crumpets as we are out of bread, roti and tortilla shells now.
03 August 2023
Gary broke his lines again. John is getting real quick at dismantling the teak box to get access to splice in new spectra lines. Garmin still has to be reconnected periodically. Hurricane Dana still coming towards Hawii on same timeline as us.
ackstay and watch him thread himself overboard and hang off Gary's stainless while he fished the broken end up with the boat hook. We realize now we should have re-run all the lines prior to leaving as Gary has been exposed to UV for over five years now. It is really nice letting him steer 24/7 as he faithfully goes to wind in rough conditions much faster than we do on the auto-pilot.
06 August 2023
Garmin is working much better. I found a larger window / port near my computer charging station and hooked him up! Mom is much happier. Steering wheel very difficult to move suddenly. Both wind vane and auto-pilot having a difficult time. John had me hold the compass as he tore apart the binnacle to grease and loosen the innards.
07 August 2023
We have decided to by-pass Hawaii as it is still over 400 miles to the east of us and Hurricane Dana is due to hit before we could even motor over there. Disappointing as we looked forward to a break and some fresh veggies and fruit. We must be the craziest people alive to consider sailing possibly two months off shore. Had our first ship sighting in 3 weeks. A small container ship, call sign Singapore, went across our bow towards Honolulu early this morning. No radio contact was made.
08 August 2023
Goal is to get North asap to avoid the hind end of Dana. I had no idea there was a whole entire chain of outer islands above Hawaii. Chart says a no-go area if commercial or large amounts of fuel are carried as the area is all nature preserves and no stopping or anchoring allowed. Gorgeous sunrise. John took the binnacle apart again to trouble shoot as wheel still very hard to turn.
Thirty days at sea now and still have 2,500 nm to go to San Francisco--as the crow flies. We are currently getting a good east push from the strong storm from the south but it looks like that may all fall apart in the next day or so. May be best to go North more to catch the Pacific High to spin us clockwise toward the coast. Either way there is a chance we may hit patches of doldrums and need to motor a bit. We have plenty of fuel left; only used about 12 hours of engine time out of the 200 in the tanks but hesitate to use it up with this far to travel yet.
09 August 2023
Rough seas and high swells are back. I took a tumble on the first watch of the night and saw stars for a bit. Fortunately nothing damaged and back and shoulder a bit sore. Glad I was wearing the life jacket and safety harness as the padding in back likely saved me from some cracked ribs. Tabu Soro is basically steering herself with the sails trimmed and the wheel so stiff she just stays on a nice beam reach. A petrel came and kept me company for hours during the sunrise watch cleaning and balancing on the bow. A lot less birds now that we are above the island preserves.
11 August 2023
well shoot; still heading north not much east. John had to tear apart the binnacle today as neither Gary or Wendell can rotate the wheel this morning on the last watch of the night. I tried to steer manually and very very hard to move wheel. There was very light wind so John took off the wheel, the compass, and tried to spin the drive out of the housing. Lots of big then bigger wrenches and lubrication and swearing. Meanwhile Wendell was steering just fine. John decided to adjust the gear shift while in there as well. The cockpit looked like a metal/wood shop. "Power tools at Sea" maybe should be a safety course for sailing offshore. He took a grinder to the wood base under the compass to allow the gear shift position to have room to move. When asked why he decided to do this modification now he responded "because I can". Thanks to Dick Horn this has become a very popular way for us to say "just leave me alone for now will ya" I decided to exit the cockpit for the duration with wood bits raining everywhere. It spins much better.
12/13 August 2023
Doldrums and spinnakers; anything to keep forward motion. It takes more concentration and exertion to go slow than speed along. Jib furler kept getting tangled and we were thinking the furler was corroded or bearings bad. When morning came we found the fulring line had cuts and chafe in over a dozen places which would then hang up on the guides. The metal housing on the furler was cutting through the line with all the flogging of sails in light wind and when only partially in or out. John was hesitant to adjust at sea so he used one of Easom's spectra loops to guide it away. The list of to-do when we get home gets longer each day out. High point of the day was a very nice sized Mahi so a fish fry for dinner.
14/15 August 2023
Just reached the 4,000 nm mark for the trip. Thankfully the winds picked up to mid teens and we are making some headway East. While John was out replacing the furling line with our old backup he found that the metal bracket under the bow pulpit for the stay sail is cracked. Hopefully we don't need it for any more upwind sailing. I also went digging for some warmer clothes for nigh watch and broke the hinge on the closet door. John went digging for his box of brass hardware but no luck so it is latched permanently for the duration. We had lost track of any petrel or any type of birds once we got beyond the Hawaii which is their breeding grounds. Today we had a visit from a very large wing spanned bird which may be an albatross but according to my book they would be rare to have sighting.
16-18 August 2023
Pleasant sailing these last few days and still warm enough during the day to do laundry and enjoy the coffee at sunrise and sunsets. The Albatross is so graceful and sweeps along the long low swells. Some days we get some easterly by pinching and the next we only get North to Alaska. Tried gybing but ended up headed to Mexico so we zig and we zag hoping for this Pacific High which I begin to doubt exists. Every couple days John has to take a wrench to the wheel bearing and loosen it but then if works freely for a while. We spend a lot of time talking about food and boat repair priorities; oh and what food we will order at our favorite places once we get back.
19 August 2023
Predict Wind report says we should start to hit the Pacific High swirl later today or tomorrow. Still 1,800 miles to go to the Golden Gate as the crow flies. We passed latitude 38 and will likely go to at least latitude 42 before we can gybe and head downwind to SF. The wind has picked up to mid teens again so Gary can do the driving and he stays on it in a stiff breeze. Today we saw two large container ships so will have to be diligent on night watches as we are definitely in a shipping lane area. Caught another Mahi so freezing some in case this trip gets any longer.
20 August 2023
Well, no Pacific High or wins from behind us as PW predicted but later in the day a major change from the south took us towards the coast on a course of 105 degrees! We are about at 42 latitude or the California Oregon border in order to avoid having the go upwind again. Two more ships and another Mahi which we didn't bring up.
21 August 2023
Mom and Aunt Gwen gave us a heads up on Hurricane Hilary headed toward So California after hitting Baja. Likely why the Predict Wind models are not very accurate the last couple days. We continue to make good East progress at 105 degrees and have not run into the doldrums that PW had shown; so will run with this as mid day the winds are in the mid teens and so are making good speed at about six knots and then it lulls just a bit to 5.5 during the night. We pulled out the quilt that was put away five years ago and had to air it out despite being in the vacuum seal bag. Lovely after night watch to put my cold feet and hands under the bedding and fall off to sleep.
22 August 2023
Continue with same course and conditions excellent. Only have 1,460 nm to Golden Gate Bridge. Thus far we have come 4,800 miles from Fiji. As Alison said "headed for the barn" feeling sets in. Must be careful not to slack on safety and sleep so we get there uneventfully. We lost another Mahi this morning. John really wants to get a tuna. Water temperature is now down in the mid 70's. Helm had to be taken apart and loosened up again so that Gary the wind vane had a chance at working which save on power. John has put all but two jerry cans of the surplus diesel into the tanks while things are calm and swapped out to our third propane tank.
23 August 2023
Wow, Hurricane Hilary really did a number on Lahina; totally wiped it out. That was one place we were told would be good to re-provision and fuel easily. So many dead and missing. Guess just as well we skipped Hawaii. We have a couple carrots, onions/garlic/ginger and some cabbage left along with mung bean sprouts every three days. Weird clouds and sunrise was iffy as to visibility but I waited at the top of the companionway before heading down to sleep for my first off-watch. Between cloud patches, the sun set on the horizon with a small flash of green, then as a swell hid the view, the whole sky behind the clouds lit up in green flash. Pretty awesome way to end the day.
24 August 2023
Had missed seeing birds this last week so very excited to see about 30 petrels floating on something in the water port side. Turned out to be a bloated whale carcass unfortunately. Been steadily eating away at the longitude number making east by about 2 degrees every 24 hours. Now at 148 degrees and SF Gate is at 122 degrees. Have made enough north to 42 degrees to compensate for the final run downhill to 38 degrees at the gate.
25 August 2023
Well, our luck ran out. Hit the doldrums despite trying to stay above the predicted spot. Had to motor overnight so wasted about 12 hours of fuel so made water and charged up the house batteries. Starter battery been reading weird and hesitating so this will give it a good charge. Still have enough fuel should we have an emergency plus the jerry cans we've added.
26 August 2023
So now we have wind; LOTS OF WIND! Crazy wild night under reduced sail then (almost) wave surfing day under a single reefed main. My body aches in all the joints with the overcast. Wearing more layers of clothing which means I need a sunny day to do some laundry.
27 August 2023
Another crazy day. Wind is down 15-20 knots but the swells are 25 feet at least. Pitch poling from side to side makes cooking gnarly. Gary the wind vane is all over the place. John switched it out to the short storm blade which helped some. We are on a course that seems to be part of the SF shipping lanes as we had 4 container ship sightings in 24 hours. No contact made but I'm getting real good at switching the AIS collision alarm off temporarily so the off-watch person can sleep until we pass out of the zone.
28 August 2023
we did a gybe and now headed South a ways downwind looking to get closer to the coast but it's either Alaska or Hawaii right now. It is making Mom nuts and she was about to tell Ruthie in Portland to be ready to see us. Definitely under 900 miles to go as the crow flies but we are not crows.
29 August 2023
Gorgeous orange balls of fire both at sunrise and sunset through maybe a smoke haze? Feels weird to not have access to news and conditions but I am very grateful to those who have kept in contact on Garmin despite its 160 character text limit. Susan and David said they might come outside the gate to greet us coming home. From what I see of conditions it looks hella windy over labor day weekend so not sure that will be feasible.
30 August 2023
Still downwind in a minor doldrums with about 5-8 knots of wind behind us. John rigged the spinnaker pole out to jib for a wing in wing ride but so much flogging of sails we gave up. Kinda sunny so I did a risky laundry of our storm and under gear plus flannel sheets to at least get the salt out. John's long johns dried just in time for his first watch. We are able to get a heading of about 85-90 towards the coast so feeling hopeful. Hard to believe we are now under about 666 miles from the Golden Gate. I will miss the huge sunsets/sunrises and now an almost full moon. Just not as majestic when seen from land.
30 August 2023
Groundhog Day
We have been operating on Fiji time (-12 hours UT) so doing a double day to get on Pacific Coast time again. I switched my phone and watch but all the navigational instruments and our watch schedule is still on Fiji time which is five hours and a day different.
So forgot to mention we lost our refrigerator cooling last week. What a cluster. Did a shuffle of what little was left into the freezer. John says it is still getting power despite the corrosion on the contacts. Hopefully the freezer controller stays up for one more week. A friend at Vuda Marina, Anders added refrigerant to the freezer unit just before we left. John did a food inventory yesterday of the canned and dry goods. We won't starve and have lots of Mahi left. Thank goodness for Judy's sourdough starter, it's been making crumpets, crackers, pancakes, focaccia and pizza dough non-stop. Had one disaster when the container with starter tumbled to the floor but had enough to start over. Judy some of your starter is onboard "Sailing NV", a converted Volvo boat, on it's way home to Italy an adorable young family with a toddler and dog with a very good VLOG. Jo fed and saved my starter for me when I went home last year for several months.
31 August 2023
Under 500 miles left to GG! Too cold for cockpit showers and the heater is back in use after five years. So lovely to sit with my legs down the companionway on watch and read. Got tossed out of the quarter berth at 2 a.m. by a gust to 30 knots. Landed on my butt with head out the cabin. John was on his way up to check conditions and witnessed the entire thing. Not sure how to get out of this position so I rolled over and popped up like had just completed a burpee. May have traumatized John a bit. Looks like winds will be high 20's to 30s for 48 hours or so. Time to buckle in and sit it out as safely as possible. Put a double reef in main and just a slip of a jib and still making 7-8 knots down the back of a good swell. Water is again coming into the port side lockers and the quarter berth in spurts. Put out pans and bowls to catch some but things are moving around so much and making noise; yikes. Sure glad we made a big pot of chili and rice in advance of this weather.
01 September 2023
Still blowing stink and we are getting short on sleep. The radar uses a lot of power which is needed by Wendell the auto pilot; so we check radar every half hour as visibility is less that 4 miles with the 30 ft swell and dense clouds that obscure any light from the full moon. The ship traffic appears to be going behind us for the most part. Barometer did a serious dump so this is not over yet. Settee is the only dry spot at this point. Good news is the speed is taking us down to about 300 miles to go and last 24 hours was a new record for Tabu Soro of 142 nm in 24 hours. Swells are now less extreme and more predictably spaced with big ones in sets of three. Bedding put out being dried out a bit. This means I have to babysit them out in the windy cold cockpit to be sure they don't get a salt water splash or go overboard. Seven plus weeks out here and my balance still seems wonky so making sure if have good handholds in the swell.
02 September 2023
Barometer started to go up about midnight and wind dropped off less than 4 knots which is not enough to fill the sails with the swell dumping them every 15 seconds. Under 200 miles to go so we started motor and motor sailed for about eight hours. Sunrise we had a visit from a very large pod of dolphins who pumped along with the bow of the boat for a long time while we enjoyed our coffee. Making our last batch of sourdough crumpets and rosemary crackers to celebrate an amazing journey of endurance and love . We did a Jimmy Buffet music day in honor of our fellow sailor and inspiration to us all to be pearls in the journey of life. THE FISHING REEL started spinning out about sunset and I couldn't get it to stop. John took over and hauled in a very nice tuna! Took over an hour to clean and vacuum seal it all up.
03 September 2023
I'm on the 3 am watch alone thinking back. What a fantastic space in time we have enjoyed. Not just these last two months offshore but the entire five years since December 2018. Five years of an Eco Adventure Vacation.
Morning brought more dolphins, otters and sea lions; tons of birds including pelicans and one huge whale just at sunrise! Fog is dense but breaks up off an on over a flat gray sea. Lots of fishing boats headed out for tuna. The Golden Gate is 25 miles away. Should arrive club by evening. Friends may come out to welcome us home at the Gate if not too late.
This will be the last Iridium transmission. Grateful to Sailblogs, SailMail, Garmin and Iridium for the ability to communicate some. Star Link is under serious consideration but time without internet is not all bad. I have a long list of items to look up once we do have internet again.
Crazy trip, 6,500 miles, but we managed it safely thank you God.
11 July 2023
Upon leaving Fiji.
Almost four full years we have lived and thrived in Fiji. Today as the Immigration official stamped our passports with the exit stamp I felt lost. We've rushed around for three weeks to make this day possible with all the marina teams making it feasible to leave before a big storm arrives and would delay us another full week. Am I not ready to leave?
Gillian tells a great story about their family boat that wouldn't leave Fiji after four tries they are still here. Tabu Soro definitely found a home here with her Fijian name; we have been welcomed with many exuberant Bulas and much hand waving from many a fiber boat. Staff at Vuda Marina (many who greeted us at arrival four years ago) sing us our Goodbye song and attach the flower wreath to bow for safe travels and we are on our way mid morning.
Winds are stiff ahead of the heavy weather but we set a good course to take advantage of wind direction to exit the outer reef system of Fiji prior to nightfall. We are both exhausted. Emotionally and physically. It's critical to set a good watch and sleep patterns to get us settled for the next six to eight weeks offshore.
12-14 July 2023
Not a good start The heavy weather caught us the second day out with squalls and winds in the 40's and 20 foot swells for almost two days. The boat is wet inside and out. John is sitting in a jacuzzi of cold saltwater in the cockpit and I've alternated sleeping off the nausea and cleaning up salt water from every orifice in this boat. It is spurting through the hatches and ports with every bash to the hull. Floors are wet and slippery and head overflows like a geyser with each hobby-horse of a swell; so we now shut down the salt water intake between each use. Not sure how many meals of ramen noodles John had over these three days. We haven't even reached the latitude of Rotuma at 12 degrees yet. But turning back would be even a worse situation.
15 July 2023
Sunshine and still stiff but calmer winds and seas! During the night we made enough North to escape the effects of the extreme winds hitting Fiji this week up from the Roaring 40's of New Zealand. During the first night watch we had a mystery ship sound on the AIS collision alarm. There was no AIS identity but radar and AIS showed them incoming at less than a mile away.. Not able to make radio contact so turned on deck lights and tried to see over the 16 ft.swells to find the boat. It passed to port of us within half a mile and we never caught a glimpse. Priority is drying out the boat and wiping down interior of salt water with vinegar to avoid mold and checking over rigging and tied down fuel jerries. My bout with sea sickness is much improved. John announces that I have now seen worse weather than most sailors ever endure. I suppose he is trying to make me feel better??
16 July 2023
Flat seas, like you could water ski. And sunshine; so wash day, mostly to get the salt water out of all the towels used to clean up the interior. We are still focused on getting North due to all the small islands, shallow banks and atolls that are part of the Phoenix Group / Kiribati, Baker, Canton and Howland Islands. I had no idea how many small bits of land were out here between Fiji and Hawaii. Many of the names I recognize now from WWII history. Once we clear North of these little islands we can go to the wind vane (named Gary) for steering which will conserve a lot of battery and solar.
17 July 2023
This I can do! Mild winds 12-15 knots with some South in it so we are getting some East heading finally.and cross the dateline. I'm feeling hopeful as we finish our first week out. I message via Garmin family members to announce we are now on the same calendar day as them after four years. Dolphins come for a brief visit just before the first night watch filled with sightings of shooting starts. John even caught the green flash at sunset.
19 July 2023
Getting closer to the equator in the 5 degree zone so expect some current confusion which does not materialize. We are getting lots of mixed overcast with mostly afternoon and evening squalls. Adrenalin drill as a dark fishing ship set off the collision alarm-again no AIS signal from ship. We turned on more deck lights and they turned on a lboat oad of lights and their AIS but didn't change course. John turned on the engine as AIS showed the were slowing down, likely as they were pulling miles of nets so they wanted us to cross in front. Still no radio contact. Just about clear when John sighted a beacon buoy that the ship we assume was following or to mark their nets.
20 July 2023
The day started out with a gorgeous sunrise then stiff winds 20-25 but a good North heading most of the morning. During the night Gary had frayed the port side steering line so we are back on the Wendell the auto-pilot while John figures out why the line frayed that fast. The last night watch I noticed we had lost the GPS signal to the RayMarine instrument but didn't wake John as I determined we still had GPS readings on our tablets, AIS, Garmin and HF Radio. When I started coffee just before I was to go off watch at 6 am found that the propane flame very weak despite a nearly full bottle. Switching to the secondary tank did not improve the flame so coffee water took a very long time. By the time John came fully awake with first cup of coffee he had prioritized his to-do list for the day. We had another collision alarm but that vessel was lit and had AIS on and never got closer than 10 miles. Oh, did I mention that ice cubes for sunset drinks were not fully frozen? We initially wrote it off to having shut down the freez
er overnight to conserve power to run the auto-pilot. Thankfully after I went down for my first off-watch, John checked and found the controller had rusted out contacts and replaced it with our last spare controller. Gratefully we didn't loose five weeks of frozen food.
21 July 2023
Overcast and mild swell and wind. Yep, John spent the day trouble shooting and fixing everything but the GPS signal on Ray Marine instruments. It appears to be a loose connection as spontaneously it will show a signal then loose it again. Best to leave it alone than risk pulling down the rest of the RayMarine system plus getting to it means pulling out tons of spare parts. We are both tired but well adjusted to the 3 hour on / off sleep schedule with daytime naps.
22 July 2023
We crossed the equator at 1215 on a sunny breezy perfect sailing day. I did a video of the instruments passing from South Pacific to North Pacific. Yes, the GPS signal started working consistently again all on its own?! We celebrated with a shot of tequilla with shrimp pasta lunch.
23 July 2023
The doldrums hit. The only good part was opening up and airing out the boat. We speculated if we could swim beside the boat and for how long. It is a very frustrating experience to try to make any kind of progress with no wind. Just happy to stop the awful sound of sails and booms flogging away all day, The current actually took our fishing line and lure under the boat for a bit. We pulled it in to avoid getting it tangled.
24-26 July 2023
Finally getting some easterly but seems like we lose it as we get headed by the northerly. Back and forth. Its now been two full weeks and we have made about 1,500 nautical miles or about half way to Hawaii as the crow flies. At this rate we may have to do some tacking to reach Hawaii or decide to miss and go above the islands. Night watches have alternated between heavenly star shows and moonlit waters to drop your drawers squalls with sudden winds from 8 knots to 30 knots in minutes.
27 July 2023
Very little headway the entire evening. We had talked about tacking over once a good ways past the equator and had more stable winds in the next day or so. John decided to give it a try out of frustration this morning. So we are headed South East 100 degreesS at about 5 knots on a starboard tack now w see if it can be held for the night watch.
28 July 2023
Lots of frustration today over lack of easterly progress. Back on original port tack heading vaguely East by about 10-15 degrees. I'm re-portioning the fresh food portions in case we don't get to stop Hawaii and have to head North toward Alaska to catch the high to make California/Oregon coast drop then down to SF Bay. Our daily petryl entertainer didn't show up for the nightly attempts to land on the bow. The fishing filament John had me weave between the spreaders appears to be keeping the birds off the spreaders and white guano off the brown main sail.
29 July 2023
Lots of wind and good progress last night- mostly North John had the worst of the squalls on his watches. Kind of hard to sleep when bouncing about in the quarter berth but if your tired enough...
Winds in the low 20's but swell is beating the boat up so reduced sail and changed direction to soften the ride. The brisk winds continued through out the day which meant frequent sail adjustments when gusts get to the 30's : in and out grinds the jib with the stay sail a constant.
Tabu Soro speaks to us. Especially at night. The night of the mystery ship within a half mile I was headed to galley to make a cup of tea and heard a big Fijian "BULA"! I jumped up to look around to find nothing and the VHF radio was off. Later in that watch I heard it again but fainter. It was Gary the wind vane creaking from lack of use these last four years. The most obvious ones are the wind generator spins out and brakes when gusts get to 30 knots or Wendell the auto pilot groans when our heading needs to be adjusted. Some nights the rigging sings a melody that stays in my mind. If its really windy I sometimes hear the static of like a tv show in the backgound. The prophets of old said they heard God speak. Now I wonder how that sounded. You never know where the mind will wander on a three hour night shift at sea.
30 July2023
Almost a full moon which made for some easy night watches. Still large 15' swells mixed with wind chop and 20 plus knots of wind so we reefed down to a double in the main, the full stay sail and a tiny hank of a jib. A hobby-horse night. At one point the Garmin broke free of its velcro at the charger and went flying across the cabin. At this point we sleep on our off watch no matter what the conditions.
31 July 2023
Garmin not transmitting well and so frustrating as we know Mom watches it faithfully. Seems to get a signal with it located outside but needs to be on charger. Having to re-link the blue tooth to see any positions or trip data. Ugly sea state but we managed to make 100 miles with some east. So many salt baths came into the cockpit there is a layer of salt on everything and everyone. Thankful for the cockpit shower.
01 August 2023
Better sailing conditions today and was able to do some cooking and laundry. The petrels are our only visitors and play king-of-the-hill on the bow pulpit.
02 August 2023
Did a full re-boot of the Garmin and seems to be tracking more consistently. We lost the current track data so will have to add the stats up manually. Made sourdough crumpets as we are out of bread, roti and tortilla shells now.
03 August 2023
Gary broke his lines again. John is getting real quick at dismantling the teak box to get access to splice in new spectra lines. Garmin still has to be reconnected periodically. Hurricane Dana still coming towards Hawii on same timeline as us.
04 August 2023
Off / on rain squalls most of day made for a lot of sail adjustments. We really need to look at the jib furler as it is brutal to pull in especially under pressure. It would be easy to think just ease the jib and get away but some of the gusts today were in the 30's and would have laid us over. Building muscles. It takes two of us to furl if jib all the way out so naps were minimal. Need to try to beat the hurricane towards Hawaii.
05 August 2023
Wind vane steering lines broke at a new spot at the rear of the boat this time. That was quite a trick to hook John's safety harness up to the aft rail then thread his long legs through the stainless to stand outside the boat and use the boat hook to catch the chaffed line, splice in a piece. I was all set for a man overboard exercise if he lost his footing.
Better sailing conditions today and was able to do some cooking and laundry. The petrels are our only visitors and play king-of-the-hill on the bow pulpit.
02 August 2023
Did a full re-boot of the Garmin and seems to be tracking more consistently. We lost the current track data so will have to add the stats up manually. Made sourdough crumpets as we are out of bread, roti and tortilla shells now.
03 August 2023
Gary broke his lines again. John is getting real quick at dismantling the teak box to get access to splice in new spectra lines. Garmin still has to be reconnected periodically. Hurricane Dana still coming towards Hawii on same timeline as us.
ackstay and watch him thread himself overboard and hang off Gary's stainless while he fished the broken end up with the boat hook. We realize now we should have re-run all the lines prior to leaving as Gary has been exposed to UV for over five years now. It is really nice letting him steer 24/7 as he faithfully goes to wind in rough conditions much faster than we do on the auto-pilot.
06 August 2023
Garmin is working much better. I found a larger window / port near my computer charging station and hooked him up! Mom is much happier. Steering wheel very difficult to move suddenly. Both wind vane and auto-pilot having a difficult time. John had me hold the compass as he tore apart the binnacle to grease and loosen the innards.
07 August 2023
We have decided to by-pass Hawaii as it is still over 400 miles to the east of us and Hurricane Dana is due to hit before we could even motor over there. Disappointing as we looked forward to a break and some fresh veggies and fruit. We must be the craziest people alive to consider sailing possibly two months off shore. Had our first ship sighting in 3 weeks. A small container ship, call sign Singapore, went across our bow towards Honolulu early this morning. No radio contact was made.
08 August 2023
Goal is to get North asap to avoid the hind end of Dana. I had no idea there was a whole entire chain of outer islands above Hawaii. Chart says a no-go area if commercial or large amounts of fuel are carried as the area is all nature preserves and no stopping or anchoring allowed. Gorgeous sunrise. John took the binnacle apart again to trouble shoot as wheel still very hard to turn.
Thirty days at sea now and still have 2,500 nm to go to San Francisco--as the crow flies. We are currently getting a good east push from the strong storm from the south but it looks like that may all fall apart in the next day or so. May be best to go North more to catch the Pacific High to spin us clockwise toward the coast. Either way there is a chance we may hit patches of doldrums and need to motor a bit. We have plenty of fuel left; only used about 12 hours of engine time out of the 200 in the tanks but hesitate to use it up with this far to travel yet.
09 August 2023
Rough seas and high swells are back. I took a tumble on the first watch of the night and saw stars for a bit. Fortunately nothing damaged and back and shoulder a bit sore. Glad I was wearing the life jacket and safety harness as the padding in back likely saved me from some cracked ribs. Tabu Soro is basically steering herself with the sails trimmed and the wheel so stiff she just stays on a nice beam reach. A petrel came and kept me company for hours during the sunrise watch cleaning and balancing on the bow. A lot less birds now that we are above the island preserves.
11 August 2023
well shoot; still heading north not much east. John had to tear apart the binnacle today as neither Gary or Wendell can rotate the wheel this morning on the last watch of the night. I tried to steer manually and very very hard to move wheel. There was very light wind so John took off the wheel, the compass, and tried to spin the drive out of the housing. Lots of big then bigger wrenches and lubrication and swearing. Meanwhile Wendell was steering just fine. John decided to adjust the gear shift while in there as well. The cockpit looked like a metal/wood shop. "Power tools at Sea" maybe should be a safety course for sailing offshore. He took a grinder to the wood base under the compass to allow the gear shift position to have room to move. When asked why he decided to do this modification now he responded "because I can". Thanks to Dick Horn this has become a very popular way for us to say "just leave me alone for now will ya" I decided to exit the cockpit for the duration with wood bits raining everywhere. It spins much better.
12/13 August 2023
Doldrums and spinnakers; anything to keep forward motion. It takes more concentration and exertion to go slow than speed along. Jib furler kept getting tangled and we were thinking the furler was corroded or bearings bad. When morning came we found the fulring line had cuts and chafe in over a dozen places which would then hang up on the guides. The metal housing on the furler was cutting through the line with all the flogging of sails in light wind and when only partially in or out. John was hesitant to adjust at sea so he used one of Easom's spectra loops to guide it away. The list of to-do when we get home gets longer each day out. High point of the day was a very nice sized Mahi so a fish fry for dinner.
14/15 August 2023
Just reached the 4,000 nm mark for the trip. Thankfully the winds picked up to mid teens and we are making some headway East. While John was out replacing the furling line with our old backup he found that the metal bracket under the bow pulpit for the stay sail is cracked. Hopefully we don't need it for any more upwind sailing. I also went digging for some warmer clothes for nigh watch and broke the hinge on the closet door. John went digging for his box of brass hardware but no luck so it is latched permanently for the duration. We had lost track of any petrel or any type of birds once we got beyond the Hawaii which is their breeding grounds. Today we had a visit from a very large wing spanned bird which may be an albatross but according to my book they would be rare to have sighting.
16-18 August 2023
Pleasant sailing these last few days and still warm enough during the day to do laundry and enjoy the coffee at sunrise and sunsets. The Albatross is so graceful and sweeps along the long low swells. Some days we get some easterly by pinching and the next we only get North to Alaska. Tried gybing but ended up headed to Mexico so we zig and we zag hoping for this Pacific High which I begin to doubt exists. Every couple days John has to take a wrench to the wheel bearing and loosen it but then if works freely for a while. We spend a lot of time talking about food and boat repair priorities; oh and what food we will order at our favorite places once we get back.
19 August 2023
Predict Wind report says we should start to hit the Pacific High swirl later today or tomorrow. Still 1,800 miles to go to the Golden Gate as the crow flies. We passed latitude 38 and will likely go to at least latitude 42 before we can gybe and head downwind to SF. The wind has picked up to mid teens again so Gary can do the driving and he stays on it in a stiff breeze. Today we saw two large container ships so will have to be diligent on night watches as we are definitely in a shipping lane area. Caught another Mahi so freezing some in case this trip gets any longer.
20 August 2023
Well, no Pacific High or wins from behind us as PW predicted but later in the day a major change from the south took us towards the coast on a course of 105 degrees! We are about at 42 latitude or the California Oregon border in order to avoid having the go upwind again. Two more ships and another Mahi which we didn't bring up.
21 August 2023
Mom and Aunt Gwen gave us a heads up on Hurricane Hilary headed toward So California after hitting Baja. Likely why the Predict Wind models are not very accurate the last couple days. We continue to make good East progress at 105 degrees and have not run into the doldrums that PW had shown; so will run with this as mid day the winds are in the mid teens and so are making good speed at about six knots and then it lulls just a bit to 5.5 during the night. We pulled out the quilt that was put away five years ago and had to air it out despite being in the vacuum seal bag. Lovely after night watch to put my cold feet and hands under the bedding and fall off to sleep.
22 August 2023
Continue with same course and conditions excellent. Only have 1,460 nm to Golden Gate Bridge. Thus far we have come 4,800 miles from Fiji. As Alison said "headed for the barn" feeling sets in. Must be careful not to slack on safety and sleep so we get there uneventfully. We lost another Mahi this morning. John really wants to get a tuna. Water temperature is now down in the mid 70's. Helm had to be taken apart and loosened up again so that Gary the wind vane had a chance at working which save on power. John has put all but two jerry cans of the surplus diesel into the tanks while things are calm and swapped out to our third propane tank.
23 August 2023
Wow, Hurricane Hilary really did a number on Lahina; totally wiped it out. That was one place we were told would be good to re-provision and fuel easily. So many dead and missing. Guess just as well we skipped Hawaii. We have a couple carrots, onions/garlic/ginger and some cabbage left along with mung bean sprouts every three days. Weird clouds and sunrise was iffy as to visibility but I waited at the top of the companionway before heading down to sleep for my first off-watch. Between cloud patches, the sun set on the horizon with a small flash of green, then as a swell hid the view, the whole sky behind the clouds lit up in green flash. Pretty awesome way to end the day.
24 August 2023
Had missed seeing birds this last week so very excited to see about 30 petrels floating on something in the water port side. Turned out to be a bloated whale carcass unfortunately. Been steadily eating away at the longitude number making east by about 2 degrees every 24 hours. Now at 148 degrees and SF Gate is at 122 degrees. Have made enough north to 42 degrees to compensate for the final run downhill to 38 degrees at the gate.
25 August 2023
Well, our luck ran out. Hit the doldrums despite trying to stay above the predicted spot. Had to motor overnight so wasted about 12 hours of fuel so made water and charged up the house batteries. Starter battery been reading weird and hesitating so this will give it a good charge. Still have enough fuel should we have an emergency plus the jerry cans we've added.
26 August 2023
So now we have wind; LOTS OF WIND! Crazy wild night under reduced sail then (almost) wave surfing day under a single reefed main. My body aches in all the joints with the overcast. Wearing more layers of clothing which means I need a sunny day to do some laundry.
27 August 2023
Another crazy day. Wind is down 15-20 knots but the swells are 25 feet at least. Pitch poling from side to side makes cooking gnarly. Gary the wind vane is all over the place. John switched it out to the short storm blade which helped some. We are on a course that seems to be part of the SF shipping lanes as we had 4 container ship sightings in 24 hours. No contact made but I'm getting real good at switching the AIS collision alarm off temporarily so the off-watch person can sleep until we pass out of the zone.
28 August 2023
we did a gybe and now headed South a ways downwind looking to get closer to the coast but it's either Alaska or Hawaii right now. It is making Mom nuts and she was about to tell Ruthie in Portland to be ready to see us. Definitely under 900 miles to go as the crow flies but we are not crows.
29 August 2023
Gorgeous orange balls of fire both at sunrise and sunset through maybe a smoke haze? Feels weird to not have access to news and conditions but I am very grateful to those who have kept in contact on Garmin despite its 160 character text limit. Susan and David said they might come outside the gate to greet us coming home. From what I see of conditions it looks hella windy over labor day weekend so not sure that will be feasible.
30 August 2023
Still downwind in a minor doldrums with about 5-8 knots of wind behind us. John rigged the spinnaker pole out to jib for a wing in wing ride but so much flogging of sails we gave up. Kinda sunny so I did a risky laundry of our storm and under gear plus flannel sheets to at least get the salt out. John's long johns dried just in time for his first watch. We are able to get a heading of about 85-90 towards the coast so feeling hopeful. Hard to believe we are now under about 666 miles from the Golden Gate. I will miss the huge sunsets/sunrises and now an almost full moon. Just not as majestic when seen from land.
30 August 2023
Groundhog Day
We have been operating on Fiji time (-12 hours UT) so doing a double day to get on Pacific Coast time again. I switched my phone and watch but all the navigational instruments and our watch schedule is still on Fiji time which is five hours and a day different.
So forgot to mention we lost our refrigerator cooling last week. What a cluster. Did a shuffle of what little was left into the freezer. John says it is still getting power despite the corrosion on the contacts. Hopefully the freezer controller stays up for one more week. A friend at Vuda Marina, Anders added refrigerant to the freezer unit just before we left. John did a food inventory yesterday of the canned and dry goods. We won't starve and have lots of Mahi left. Thank goodness for Judy's sourdough starter, it's been making crumpets, crackers, pancakes, focaccia and pizza dough non-stop. Had one disaster when the container with starter tumbled to the floor but had enough to start over. Judy some of your starter is onboard "Sailing NV", a converted Volvo boat, on it's way home to Italy an adorable young family with a toddler and dog with a very good VLOG. Jo fed and saved my starter for me when I went home last year for several months.
31 August 2023
Under 500 miles left to GG! Too cold for cockpit showers and the heater is back in use after five years. So lovely to sit with my legs down the companionway on watch and read. Got tossed out of the quarter berth at 2 a.m. by a gust to 30 knots. Landed on my butt with head out the cabin. John was on his way up to check conditions and witnessed the entire thing. Not sure how to get out of this position so I rolled over and popped up like had just completed a burpee. May have traumatized John a bit. Looks like winds will be high 20's to 30s for 48 hours or so. Time to buckle in and sit it out as safely as possible. Put a double reef in main and just a slip of a jib and still making 7-8 knots down the back of a good swell. Water is again coming into the port side lockers and the quarter berth in spurts. Put out pans and bowls to catch some but things are moving around so much and making noise; yikes. Sure glad we made a big pot of chili and rice in advance of this weather.
01 September 2023
Still blowing stink and we are getting short on sleep. The radar uses a lot of power which is needed by Wendell the auto pilot; so we check radar every half hour as visibility is less that 4 miles with the 30 ft swell and dense clouds that obscure any light from the full moon. The ship traffic appears to be going behind us for the most part. Barometer did a serious dump so this is not over yet. Settee is the only dry spot at this point. Good news is the speed is taking us down to about 300 miles to go and last 24 hours was a new record for Tabu Soro of 142 nm in 24 hours. Swells are now less extreme and more predictably spaced with big ones in sets of three. Bedding put out being dried out a bit. This means I have to babysit them out in the windy cold cockpit to be sure they don't get a salt water splash or go overboard. Seven plus weeks out here and my balance still seems wonky so making sure if have good handholds in the swell.
02 September 2023
Barometer started to go up about midnight and wind dropped off less than 4 knots which is not enough to fill the sails with the swell dumping them every 15 seconds. Under 200 miles to go so we started motor and motor sailed for about eight hours. Sunrise we had a visit from a very large pod of dolphins who pumped along with the bow of the boat for a long time while we enjoyed our coffee. Making our last batch of sourdough crumpets and rosemary crackers to celebrate an amazing journey of endurance and love . We did a Jimmy Buffet music day in honor of our fellow sailor and inspiration to us all to be pearls in the journey of life. THE FISHING REEL started spinning out about sunset and I couldn't get it to stop. John took over and hauled in a very nice tuna! Took over an hour to clean and vacuum seal it all up.
03 September 2023
I'm on the 3 am watch alone thinking back. What a fantastic space in time we have enjoyed. Not just these last two months offshore but the entire five years since December 2018. Five years of an Eco Adventure Vacation.
Morning brought more dolphins, otters and sea lions; tons of birds including pelicans and one huge whale just at sunrise! Fog is dense but breaks up off an on over a flat gray sea. Lots of fishing boats headed out for tuna. The Golden Gate is 25 miles away. Should arrive club by evening. Friends may come out to welcome us home at the Gate if not too late.
This will be the last Iridium transmission. Grateful to Sailblogs, SailMail, Garmin and Iridium for the ability to communicate some. Star Link is under serious consideration but time without internet is not all bad. I have a long list of items to look up once we do have internet again.
Crazy trip, 6,500 miles, but we managed it safely thank you God.
Oh Rotuma
19 September 2022 | Rotuma Island, Fiji
Diane Brown | Breezy
August/September 2022
Oh Rotuma
Keith and Cheryl and Karen at Vuda had told us stories of Rotuma, a Fijian island over 300 miles north, with terrific beaches and resourceful folks. We decided we needed an adventure so provisioned with extra everything as they only get a supply / Ferry boat once a month out there. And then we ended up sitting at Yasawa I-ra for almost two weeks due to very high winds gusting 30-35.
It took about 50 hours of sailing as we had great 25 knot winds (:but huge swells). It is so much bigger and taller than I had imagined! Heads up there are a couple small and one large island not even on the chart so approach during daylight.
We came around the West side of the island through a pass that Navionics showed as narrow and very shallow but turned out to be very very deep and wide. It reminded me of Tuamotus with steep volcanic cliffs straight into the sea. Make Bay looked so inviting we put down anchor and slept. By afternoon it was low tide and we realised it was good we hadn't gone in any closer as the shallows came out within 100 yards of Tabu Soro. In fact it was so shallow there was no way into shore even with the dinghy except once the tide came up.
We waited until the next day and wound thru a tricky little channel running along some really sweet little houses above lots of black lava rocks. Plan was to hook up with the Albert family but we had no idea where to find them on this large an island. Prophetically John said well we will just have to hitch hike.
We had a text message from Keith saying that he heard from Rotuma a boat had arrived and assumed it was us. Turned out we had anchored at the only cell tower on the island and had just a bit of Digicel service as it was close to the airport and Government Station.
It is so very shallow and we were hesitant so once we saw a little house with a pier and a Hobie anchored off we stopped to ask directions. A great couple, John and Hareta Bennett, assured us it was navigable and told us they knew Ratu Albert and gave us directions to the school where he worked in this exact bay and village of Matusa. The school day was nearly done so we walked around the area until Master Albert, as the kids call him, was done for the day and walked us home.
What an amazing family of ten with both parents so patient and tons of other children showing up to play volleyball in their front yard until too dark to play any longer. We immediately felt at home and made plans to return for an official Rotuman welcome ceremony. Meanwhile we had to get back to Tabu Soro before the tide went out even further. Thank goodness for the torch (flashlight).
Meanwhile next morning BioSecurity and Police/Immigrations phoned Ratu and Salote asking about our visit and protocols about arrivals. Salote is very good at communicating with common sense and gave them enough information to calm them down. All John and I saw was a police boat loaded with folks coming into Maka Bay directly to us at speed. They asked permission to board and seemed very friendly but official. In the swell and wind, loading everyone up to our deck was quite tricky for everyone involved. Turns out we should have reported in at the wharf on the NW side of the bay even though the Government Station was in this bay and no cell service on that side of the island. All was well once they confirmed after review of our documents from 2019 we had already checked into Fiji and had no prohibited items aboard. Relief!
We spent a wonderful week getting to know the children and family, as much as tides allowed. The Rotuman welcome ceremony was very moving. After dinner they gave us the place of honour on a handmade mat and silk cover. One of the girls put wreaths symbolising the seven districts of Rotuma on us and the littlest one annointed our heads with oil drops to show thankfulness for a safe trip across the waters and sprayed with fragrance. Ratu was explaining and narrating the ceremony while Salote videoed the entire thing. Very emotional evening all around.
Next day Salote walked us up to the Government Station to allow BioSecurity to scan in our documents to complete our check-in. It seems that some point a yacht brought in the Samoan fruit fly which has turned into an infestation with no natural enemies like bats to control it. They want to check the boat before we leave over at the wharf. Apparently we don't have to check back in at Viti Levu. Lote introduced us every one we met along the way and took us to the Post Office which is also the food market, bank and school supply store. The monthly supply ship had been delayed but was to arrive mid-weeks so the shelves were pretty empty.
They are nearly complete on a new hospital up on the hill across from the old clinic. There is cable pulled for internet to stumps at various spots by the high school and the school Ratu's teaches; but has not been terminated to any locations yet as a single person is on-site and has that job for about 3,000 population. It was weird that chickens roamed free with no fear but we couldn't find eggs until the supply ship arrived.
Saturday they invited us to church and we spent a fun day meeting people, sang songs in Rotuman and English, then borrowed Elizabeth's truck to go around the island with stops along at special beaches, pools, French built churches from the 1800's, and to see pineapples growing like air-plants on volcanic rock net to the ocean. It is a lush verdant peaceful land and Salote said if you throw out a bit of vegetable scrap it will grow.
The second week we moved over to the wharf where the water is more protected and over gorgeous white sand in ten meters. The yearly Government Services ship had arrived the same day so we anchored a bit away from the wharf. Teams of government and bank employees went out daily to each village to sign up for any needed services and bank debit cards set-up and home health walkers and devices delivered.
Hitch hiking works really well here. We needed to contact BioSecurity to check out and clear that we had no fruits that could carry the fruit fly back to the main island so got the dinghy into the beach and picked up a ride on the yellow school bus that was shuttling around the Government Ship folks. We rode with a guy from Mistry of Education that was headed to the high school who talked a bit about the lack of internet and computers putting these students at a disadvantage. Here is an article that was in the local newspaper the following week about donating a touch screen computer-- one to the high school and primary schools.
Ministry of Education link https://fijisun.com>2022/09>page
On our way back from BioSecurity we hiked a ways enjoying the cool overcast afternoon with the feel of rain and so many unusual bird sounds. Myzomela is a striking red headed bird endemic with a small habitat of only Rotuma was what I was hoping to see but heard some crazy bird calls. About the time it started to rain we were picked up by a work flatbed with about a dozen guys who had just finished a mission project clearing with huge chain saws around a home for an older couple.
We had an easy sail back 300 miles to Manta Pass then into Vuda to deal with more visa paperwork. Once we had internet again I found out my daughter had been worried when we didn't check in and had called our beacon provider to be sure they had her updated contact phone. They contacted the Coast Guard who contacted Fiji Navy and within 10 hours they had responded with pictures of our passports and the boarding in Rotuma by police to be sure we really were her parents. Now I'm not sure if the Police came out because of us not checking in correctly or because of the search....
Tabu Soro is certainly getting well known in Fiji.
Oh Rotuma
Keith and Cheryl and Karen at Vuda had told us stories of Rotuma, a Fijian island over 300 miles north, with terrific beaches and resourceful folks. We decided we needed an adventure so provisioned with extra everything as they only get a supply / Ferry boat once a month out there. And then we ended up sitting at Yasawa I-ra for almost two weeks due to very high winds gusting 30-35.
It took about 50 hours of sailing as we had great 25 knot winds (:but huge swells). It is so much bigger and taller than I had imagined! Heads up there are a couple small and one large island not even on the chart so approach during daylight.
We came around the West side of the island through a pass that Navionics showed as narrow and very shallow but turned out to be very very deep and wide. It reminded me of Tuamotus with steep volcanic cliffs straight into the sea. Make Bay looked so inviting we put down anchor and slept. By afternoon it was low tide and we realised it was good we hadn't gone in any closer as the shallows came out within 100 yards of Tabu Soro. In fact it was so shallow there was no way into shore even with the dinghy except once the tide came up.
We waited until the next day and wound thru a tricky little channel running along some really sweet little houses above lots of black lava rocks. Plan was to hook up with the Albert family but we had no idea where to find them on this large an island. Prophetically John said well we will just have to hitch hike.
We had a text message from Keith saying that he heard from Rotuma a boat had arrived and assumed it was us. Turned out we had anchored at the only cell tower on the island and had just a bit of Digicel service as it was close to the airport and Government Station.
It is so very shallow and we were hesitant so once we saw a little house with a pier and a Hobie anchored off we stopped to ask directions. A great couple, John and Hareta Bennett, assured us it was navigable and told us they knew Ratu Albert and gave us directions to the school where he worked in this exact bay and village of Matusa. The school day was nearly done so we walked around the area until Master Albert, as the kids call him, was done for the day and walked us home.
What an amazing family of ten with both parents so patient and tons of other children showing up to play volleyball in their front yard until too dark to play any longer. We immediately felt at home and made plans to return for an official Rotuman welcome ceremony. Meanwhile we had to get back to Tabu Soro before the tide went out even further. Thank goodness for the torch (flashlight).
Meanwhile next morning BioSecurity and Police/Immigrations phoned Ratu and Salote asking about our visit and protocols about arrivals. Salote is very good at communicating with common sense and gave them enough information to calm them down. All John and I saw was a police boat loaded with folks coming into Maka Bay directly to us at speed. They asked permission to board and seemed very friendly but official. In the swell and wind, loading everyone up to our deck was quite tricky for everyone involved. Turns out we should have reported in at the wharf on the NW side of the bay even though the Government Station was in this bay and no cell service on that side of the island. All was well once they confirmed after review of our documents from 2019 we had already checked into Fiji and had no prohibited items aboard. Relief!
We spent a wonderful week getting to know the children and family, as much as tides allowed. The Rotuman welcome ceremony was very moving. After dinner they gave us the place of honour on a handmade mat and silk cover. One of the girls put wreaths symbolising the seven districts of Rotuma on us and the littlest one annointed our heads with oil drops to show thankfulness for a safe trip across the waters and sprayed with fragrance. Ratu was explaining and narrating the ceremony while Salote videoed the entire thing. Very emotional evening all around.
Next day Salote walked us up to the Government Station to allow BioSecurity to scan in our documents to complete our check-in. It seems that some point a yacht brought in the Samoan fruit fly which has turned into an infestation with no natural enemies like bats to control it. They want to check the boat before we leave over at the wharf. Apparently we don't have to check back in at Viti Levu. Lote introduced us every one we met along the way and took us to the Post Office which is also the food market, bank and school supply store. The monthly supply ship had been delayed but was to arrive mid-weeks so the shelves were pretty empty.
They are nearly complete on a new hospital up on the hill across from the old clinic. There is cable pulled for internet to stumps at various spots by the high school and the school Ratu's teaches; but has not been terminated to any locations yet as a single person is on-site and has that job for about 3,000 population. It was weird that chickens roamed free with no fear but we couldn't find eggs until the supply ship arrived.
Saturday they invited us to church and we spent a fun day meeting people, sang songs in Rotuman and English, then borrowed Elizabeth's truck to go around the island with stops along at special beaches, pools, French built churches from the 1800's, and to see pineapples growing like air-plants on volcanic rock net to the ocean. It is a lush verdant peaceful land and Salote said if you throw out a bit of vegetable scrap it will grow.
The second week we moved over to the wharf where the water is more protected and over gorgeous white sand in ten meters. The yearly Government Services ship had arrived the same day so we anchored a bit away from the wharf. Teams of government and bank employees went out daily to each village to sign up for any needed services and bank debit cards set-up and home health walkers and devices delivered.
Hitch hiking works really well here. We needed to contact BioSecurity to check out and clear that we had no fruits that could carry the fruit fly back to the main island so got the dinghy into the beach and picked up a ride on the yellow school bus that was shuttling around the Government Ship folks. We rode with a guy from Mistry of Education that was headed to the high school who talked a bit about the lack of internet and computers putting these students at a disadvantage. Here is an article that was in the local newspaper the following week about donating a touch screen computer-- one to the high school and primary schools.
Ministry of Education link https://fijisun.com>2022/09>page
On our way back from BioSecurity we hiked a ways enjoying the cool overcast afternoon with the feel of rain and so many unusual bird sounds. Myzomela is a striking red headed bird endemic with a small habitat of only Rotuma was what I was hoping to see but heard some crazy bird calls. About the time it started to rain we were picked up by a work flatbed with about a dozen guys who had just finished a mission project clearing with huge chain saws around a home for an older couple.
We had an easy sail back 300 miles to Manta Pass then into Vuda to deal with more visa paperwork. Once we had internet again I found out my daughter had been worried when we didn't check in and had called our beacon provider to be sure they had her updated contact phone. They contacted the Coast Guard who contacted Fiji Navy and within 10 hours they had responded with pictures of our passports and the boarding in Rotuma by police to be sure we really were her parents. Now I'm not sure if the Police came out because of us not checking in correctly or because of the search....
Tabu Soro is certainly getting well known in Fiji.
Our First Guest!
19 September 2022
Diane Brown | Perfect for snorkelling!
Our First Guest!
July 2022
Sailor's rule says if you have a schedule, be ready for trouble. Sure enough we had pushed it staying in Natewa Bay because of the gorgeous reefs and people so had to push by with a short visit to George and into Savusavu. We had a hint it was busy when six boats anchored outside at Cousteau resort but maybe just prep to leave once wind warnings rescinded. Rain and short down pours hid the town moorings until upon them and we realised the entire bay was full-up. One ball remained but when I tried to catch the loop it was so full of barnacle crud I lost the boat hook and we had to do an abort and leave without provisions. We joined the group out at the point by Cousteau and pulled up weather conditions.
There is one narrow pass with recent and past sunken ships on one side that we have been taking regularly when the tide was in our favour but the current through is maybe 3-4 knots so you have to play or fight to keep steerage either direction. We decided to double reef the main for stability and back up and went for it a bit early current wise-after an amazing view of a whale breaching in front of the entrance. We must have been at slack as this was the calmest easiest passage ever! Normally we would anchor and pause to recover on the other side but decided to push on as it was still only mid-morning. While threading through familiar reefs with sails full up and down wind to our stop near the wharf we were shocked to be in 20ft/7 m of water instead of the 100/30 meters on the charts. A total cluster trying to pull down sail and start motor to retreat. We did a huge loop to the outside of the reefs, adding hours, but ended up safely at the nights' intended anchorage.
We ended up crossing Bligh Waters with huge lovely following winds the next day and into Nadi airport area and /Vuda to pick up parts and provision and deep clean Tabu Soro ready for Deirdre's arrival 5 a.m. next morning. Beru ,our taxi driver, advised we did not need to leave until we heard the flight arriving overhead. There is almost no traffic and we arrived about 6 am only to wait another hour as Dee had to clear through along with the other flight from LAX. She had a suitcase full of parts and camera gear and we just hoped they had not stopped to examine her bag. So excited to see her come through those doors!
She had to do a covid test within 72 hours and was amused to find it done by the marina office staff. So off we went to town to town to show her Lautoka and the fresh farm market and buy some kava. The next morning we where out of there and headed to Yasawas.
John had agonised for a month over Plans A, B and C; each with varying degrees of sailing since Dee is a great sailor. Finally he asked Deirdre what she wanted from her first holiday in a while and she went with sail some, swim every day! Which was plan A which did not require overnight sailing. We had a delightful time showing her some of our favourite Yasawa Island spots, including and abbreviated sevusevu and village tour, Manta Ray pass, Fijian night and buffet at Octopus resort and making new friends wherever she went. I still have the young engineer at Blue Lagoon asking if she is coming back. We wrapped up with a visit to Musket Cove as many friends said she had to go there then into Port Denarau to catch her flight at Nadi Airport.
I learned a new game called 'Hive' with the tiles she brought and can now play her online when we have internet service. Thank you Deirdre for sharing with us. John is sure he gave you some bad cruising habits but you were terrific!
July 2022
Sailor's rule says if you have a schedule, be ready for trouble. Sure enough we had pushed it staying in Natewa Bay because of the gorgeous reefs and people so had to push by with a short visit to George and into Savusavu. We had a hint it was busy when six boats anchored outside at Cousteau resort but maybe just prep to leave once wind warnings rescinded. Rain and short down pours hid the town moorings until upon them and we realised the entire bay was full-up. One ball remained but when I tried to catch the loop it was so full of barnacle crud I lost the boat hook and we had to do an abort and leave without provisions. We joined the group out at the point by Cousteau and pulled up weather conditions.
There is one narrow pass with recent and past sunken ships on one side that we have been taking regularly when the tide was in our favour but the current through is maybe 3-4 knots so you have to play or fight to keep steerage either direction. We decided to double reef the main for stability and back up and went for it a bit early current wise-after an amazing view of a whale breaching in front of the entrance. We must have been at slack as this was the calmest easiest passage ever! Normally we would anchor and pause to recover on the other side but decided to push on as it was still only mid-morning. While threading through familiar reefs with sails full up and down wind to our stop near the wharf we were shocked to be in 20ft/7 m of water instead of the 100/30 meters on the charts. A total cluster trying to pull down sail and start motor to retreat. We did a huge loop to the outside of the reefs, adding hours, but ended up safely at the nights' intended anchorage.
We ended up crossing Bligh Waters with huge lovely following winds the next day and into Nadi airport area and /Vuda to pick up parts and provision and deep clean Tabu Soro ready for Deirdre's arrival 5 a.m. next morning. Beru ,our taxi driver, advised we did not need to leave until we heard the flight arriving overhead. There is almost no traffic and we arrived about 6 am only to wait another hour as Dee had to clear through along with the other flight from LAX. She had a suitcase full of parts and camera gear and we just hoped they had not stopped to examine her bag. So excited to see her come through those doors!
She had to do a covid test within 72 hours and was amused to find it done by the marina office staff. So off we went to town to town to show her Lautoka and the fresh farm market and buy some kava. The next morning we where out of there and headed to Yasawas.
John had agonised for a month over Plans A, B and C; each with varying degrees of sailing since Dee is a great sailor. Finally he asked Deirdre what she wanted from her first holiday in a while and she went with sail some, swim every day! Which was plan A which did not require overnight sailing. We had a delightful time showing her some of our favourite Yasawa Island spots, including and abbreviated sevusevu and village tour, Manta Ray pass, Fijian night and buffet at Octopus resort and making new friends wherever she went. I still have the young engineer at Blue Lagoon asking if she is coming back. We wrapped up with a visit to Musket Cove as many friends said she had to go there then into Port Denarau to catch her flight at Nadi Airport.
I learned a new game called 'Hive' with the tiles she brought and can now play her online when we have internet service. Thank you Deirdre for sharing with us. John is sure he gave you some bad cruising habits but you were terrific!
The Biggest Bay in Fiji
19 September 2022
Diane Brown | Windy and Wild
July 2022
Natewa Bay, Vanua Levu
It's so good to be able to move around freely again. We spent some time diving and swimming with mantas with Viani Bay Dive Academy, visited with George at Naqaiqai Creek and sailed up to Rabi to see if the little family was still there at the fish camp at Albert Bay. They had returned to the village for school unfortunately; but we enjoyed a good anchorage and excellent snorkelling.
The past two years we have sailed past and considered visiting Natewa Bay, the largest bay in Fiji. David and Susan spent some at the tip of the bay and loved it. Charts show massive amounts of reef at the Savusavu end and super deep at the north entry. We could find no information in the guides and online so John called the dive shop on the Savusavu side to ask for anchorage options. They said yachts did not come there since it is pretty far and had no suggestions. With a severe wind advisory due any day we decided to use the deep bay as a hideout. It was a trick getting around the semicircle of reef protecting the entry then worked our way back up to the east side for wind protection. The only anchorage noted on Navionics by the entry turned out to be too deep so we spent about four more hours deeper inspecting any coves or creeks for shallow space sufficient to anchor for a night. The intense deep blue of this massive bay indicated the depth but it was too deep for our instruments to register; just the three dashes.
The second day some young men on a bamboo raft came over to tell us about the village ahead but very politely advised me I would need to cover up more to visit the village. I thought I was pretty respectable wearing a huge coverup over my swimsuit.
We headed deeper into Natewa Bay toward a village which showed a road that had bus service to Savusavu. A fibreglass local boat hailed us asking what we were looking for and I told him we wanted to get close to the reefs. His father and Headman Luke said they would show us the closest anchorage to the reef and by their Lea Village. As they ran alongside the depth meter suddenly went to less that 12 feet and John freaked out but the water was still deep dark blue??? In an instant we were surrounded by a huge pod of pilot whales playing alongside the boat. They stayed with us for almost an hour. Ran came aboard Tabu Soro to give anchorage directions and we towed the fibre boat to save them fuel as recent price hikes have hit hard.
The anchorage by Lea Village is probably only big enough for two to three mid size boats but the water clarity was almost frightening as it seemed like we could see the bottom too well in 10 plus meters. We went ashore with kava and met the most friendly folks ever and everyone in the village came down to see us. Headman Luke said the pilot whales were a sign or blessing on us. We ended up spending a week with them getting shown around the sights of the bay and trying to answer their questions as to why the yachts did not come to visit this place. Mere and I set up a FaceBook group page for Lea Village so they can share some of their love and very special bay.
Sadly, we had to get moving back towards Nadi to pick up Deirdre and said our farewells for now. Totally intend to return and explore some more of the reefs.
Natewa Bay, Vanua Levu
It's so good to be able to move around freely again. We spent some time diving and swimming with mantas with Viani Bay Dive Academy, visited with George at Naqaiqai Creek and sailed up to Rabi to see if the little family was still there at the fish camp at Albert Bay. They had returned to the village for school unfortunately; but we enjoyed a good anchorage and excellent snorkelling.
The past two years we have sailed past and considered visiting Natewa Bay, the largest bay in Fiji. David and Susan spent some at the tip of the bay and loved it. Charts show massive amounts of reef at the Savusavu end and super deep at the north entry. We could find no information in the guides and online so John called the dive shop on the Savusavu side to ask for anchorage options. They said yachts did not come there since it is pretty far and had no suggestions. With a severe wind advisory due any day we decided to use the deep bay as a hideout. It was a trick getting around the semicircle of reef protecting the entry then worked our way back up to the east side for wind protection. The only anchorage noted on Navionics by the entry turned out to be too deep so we spent about four more hours deeper inspecting any coves or creeks for shallow space sufficient to anchor for a night. The intense deep blue of this massive bay indicated the depth but it was too deep for our instruments to register; just the three dashes.
The second day some young men on a bamboo raft came over to tell us about the village ahead but very politely advised me I would need to cover up more to visit the village. I thought I was pretty respectable wearing a huge coverup over my swimsuit.
We headed deeper into Natewa Bay toward a village which showed a road that had bus service to Savusavu. A fibreglass local boat hailed us asking what we were looking for and I told him we wanted to get close to the reefs. His father and Headman Luke said they would show us the closest anchorage to the reef and by their Lea Village. As they ran alongside the depth meter suddenly went to less that 12 feet and John freaked out but the water was still deep dark blue??? In an instant we were surrounded by a huge pod of pilot whales playing alongside the boat. They stayed with us for almost an hour. Ran came aboard Tabu Soro to give anchorage directions and we towed the fibre boat to save them fuel as recent price hikes have hit hard.
The anchorage by Lea Village is probably only big enough for two to three mid size boats but the water clarity was almost frightening as it seemed like we could see the bottom too well in 10 plus meters. We went ashore with kava and met the most friendly folks ever and everyone in the village came down to see us. Headman Luke said the pilot whales were a sign or blessing on us. We ended up spending a week with them getting shown around the sights of the bay and trying to answer their questions as to why the yachts did not come to visit this place. Mere and I set up a FaceBook group page for Lea Village so they can share some of their love and very special bay.
Sadly, we had to get moving back towards Nadi to pick up Deirdre and said our farewells for now. Totally intend to return and explore some more of the reefs.
Kioa Island
07 July 2022 | Currently in Savusavu with internet
Diane Brown | Windy 35-45
Kioa Island - at last!
June 2022
Some of John's favourite memories of Fiji come from Kioa and his families' visit there twenty years ago. These last two years we have been reluctant and unable to visit due to covid exposure potential. Kioa itself requested no visitors during the worst of the epidemic despite cruising permits still being issued for cruisers.
Kioa Island is unusual. It is part of Fiji now; but the residents here all originated in the British colony of Tuvalu in the early 50's. The money to purchase the island in Fiji was earned working for American soldiers during WW2. Then Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati & Tuvalu) had an over-population and environmental problems with rising ocean levels and sandy soil. Thirty-seven brave souls settled in the fertile, uninhabited Kioa Island approximately 75 years ago in a boat with 30 days of supplies paid for by their home community.
John remembers the small village hall, weavings and most of all the fire roasted coconut Kioa syrup. I was in awe of the dozens of wood hand-hewn outriggers still used daily for fishing and transport. As we approached the reef surrounding Kioa, we thought there must be a kayak tourist group paddling the area. Once anchored in the steep bay, dozens of men of all ages began coming in from their day fishing with greetings and welcome to come ashore.
The Headman was not available to welcome us until later that afternoon due to an all day council meeting. Once we had checked in and signed their visitor's book we walked the village watching the very social and industrious life here in a large village. The school used the traditional Lali slit log drum to call students in, and release for lunch, breaks and end of school day. The rest of the village was timed to a bell at the top of the slope that rung in the morning for wake-up, again for a.m and p.m. rugby and yoga practice, playtime for the children on the shore ended with yet another bell for dinner and evening lights out. It is a very civilised close village community despite being on a huge island with plenty of room to spread out if they wanted. Kioa has remained very careful of it's resources and land. No developers have been encouraged. The only business (other than canoe making, two stores and weaving) we saw was pearl farming at the north end of the island.
The anchoring is deep in front of the village and challenging - very close into shore so we sadly had to leave this bit of Polynesia in Fiji before we ended up on-shore ourselves.
June 2022
Some of John's favourite memories of Fiji come from Kioa and his families' visit there twenty years ago. These last two years we have been reluctant and unable to visit due to covid exposure potential. Kioa itself requested no visitors during the worst of the epidemic despite cruising permits still being issued for cruisers.
Kioa Island is unusual. It is part of Fiji now; but the residents here all originated in the British colony of Tuvalu in the early 50's. The money to purchase the island in Fiji was earned working for American soldiers during WW2. Then Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati & Tuvalu) had an over-population and environmental problems with rising ocean levels and sandy soil. Thirty-seven brave souls settled in the fertile, uninhabited Kioa Island approximately 75 years ago in a boat with 30 days of supplies paid for by their home community.
John remembers the small village hall, weavings and most of all the fire roasted coconut Kioa syrup. I was in awe of the dozens of wood hand-hewn outriggers still used daily for fishing and transport. As we approached the reef surrounding Kioa, we thought there must be a kayak tourist group paddling the area. Once anchored in the steep bay, dozens of men of all ages began coming in from their day fishing with greetings and welcome to come ashore.
The Headman was not available to welcome us until later that afternoon due to an all day council meeting. Once we had checked in and signed their visitor's book we walked the village watching the very social and industrious life here in a large village. The school used the traditional Lali slit log drum to call students in, and release for lunch, breaks and end of school day. The rest of the village was timed to a bell at the top of the slope that rung in the morning for wake-up, again for a.m and p.m. rugby and yoga practice, playtime for the children on the shore ended with yet another bell for dinner and evening lights out. It is a very civilised close village community despite being on a huge island with plenty of room to spread out if they wanted. Kioa has remained very careful of it's resources and land. No developers have been encouraged. The only business (other than canoe making, two stores and weaving) we saw was pearl farming at the north end of the island.
The anchoring is deep in front of the village and challenging - very close into shore so we sadly had to leave this bit of Polynesia in Fiji before we ended up on-shore ourselves.
Fiji Is OPEN!
02 June 2022 | Vuda Marina
Diane Brown | Wonderful
31 May 2022
Fiji is Open Again
Yes, I did return to the Tabu Soro after four plus months being stateside. The cataract replacement makes a technicolor improvement to distance vision. However, I realised it made my close-up much worse the first time I tried to dive and use the camera underwater. John thinks he is so funny asking "can you see that" on and off all day.
John had spent the last couple months doing finish carpentry, chasing leaks and adding a small winch and upgrading systems. He re-rigged a 6:1 pulley system so I can use it on the new winch on the outboard hoist. I need the exercise but some days it is nice -if a bit slower. John made a present for my return but held it until Mothers' Day. A spare piece of pylwood left over from the repairs turned into a reef snorkel/boogie board! It took me a couple weeks to do the canvas repairs and fixes John had lined up for me. The dual windlass cover was like a puzzle but finally came together looking quite a bit like a trussed turkey. That will take care of water entering there when cover is in use at least.
We did a shake down cruise North to the Yasawa's and got as far as Blue Lagoon stopping first at Malolo or Musket Cove which is booming again. Not nearly as quiet and lazy an anchorage with jet skis and local boats and ferries buzzing around constantly. Filming of "Survivor " series has closed off all the Mamanuca islands above Malolo so we skipped up to shark cove, Octopus Resort and then Manta Ray Pass to re-visit some of our favourite spots. So fun to visit some of these resorts that are now open again. Some interesting use of local materials for decor. Winter/Fall has come on with a vengeance of wind and rain so we moved every couple days to get to a calmer lee side. The flopper-stopper was in constant use for two weeks and the local fibre boats come by to see what the heck it is. Mostly they ask if it catches fish.
Back at Vuda Marina to do some more maintenance, enjoy the social and get me the booster for Shingles ordered. It is not kept in stock here so the Pharmacist orders it then I pick it up in a cooler and take it to a clinic to be administered. Lots of cruisers arriving from the New Zealand rally even some old friends like Burmese Breeze, Colin of the big walu story in 2019/2020. Also lots of good-byes to people we hung out with these last two years in our Fiji bubble. Many are headed to New Caledonia which just re-opened to yachts. The yoga class expanded there for a bit: still doing David's TaiChi/yoga customised by Cheryl over the last couple years depending on our abilities/injuries.
So happy to see the Fijians celebrating the return to tourism and jobs.
Fiji is Open Again
Yes, I did return to the Tabu Soro after four plus months being stateside. The cataract replacement makes a technicolor improvement to distance vision. However, I realised it made my close-up much worse the first time I tried to dive and use the camera underwater. John thinks he is so funny asking "can you see that" on and off all day.
John had spent the last couple months doing finish carpentry, chasing leaks and adding a small winch and upgrading systems. He re-rigged a 6:1 pulley system so I can use it on the new winch on the outboard hoist. I need the exercise but some days it is nice -if a bit slower. John made a present for my return but held it until Mothers' Day. A spare piece of pylwood left over from the repairs turned into a reef snorkel/boogie board! It took me a couple weeks to do the canvas repairs and fixes John had lined up for me. The dual windlass cover was like a puzzle but finally came together looking quite a bit like a trussed turkey. That will take care of water entering there when cover is in use at least.
We did a shake down cruise North to the Yasawa's and got as far as Blue Lagoon stopping first at Malolo or Musket Cove which is booming again. Not nearly as quiet and lazy an anchorage with jet skis and local boats and ferries buzzing around constantly. Filming of "Survivor " series has closed off all the Mamanuca islands above Malolo so we skipped up to shark cove, Octopus Resort and then Manta Ray Pass to re-visit some of our favourite spots. So fun to visit some of these resorts that are now open again. Some interesting use of local materials for decor. Winter/Fall has come on with a vengeance of wind and rain so we moved every couple days to get to a calmer lee side. The flopper-stopper was in constant use for two weeks and the local fibre boats come by to see what the heck it is. Mostly they ask if it catches fish.
Back at Vuda Marina to do some more maintenance, enjoy the social and get me the booster for Shingles ordered. It is not kept in stock here so the Pharmacist orders it then I pick it up in a cooler and take it to a clinic to be administered. Lots of cruisers arriving from the New Zealand rally even some old friends like Burmese Breeze, Colin of the big walu story in 2019/2020. Also lots of good-byes to people we hung out with these last two years in our Fiji bubble. Many are headed to New Caledonia which just re-opened to yachts. The yoga class expanded there for a bit: still doing David's TaiChi/yoga customised by Cheryl over the last couple years depending on our abilities/injuries.
So happy to see the Fijians celebrating the return to tourism and jobs.
| Vessel Name: | Tabu Soro |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Hans Christian 38T |
| Hailing Port: | San Francisco |
| Crew: | John Dinwiddie &. Diane Brown Dinwiddie |
| About: | John has been in the marine industry and before that construction for 30 years. Diane has been in hospital facility construction. We joined forces about 10 years ago and focused on the refit of Tabu Soro. |
| Extra: | We both belonged to jeep clubs in the Bay Area and did many of the same runs. Diane was warned to stay away from the Santa Rosa 4x4's as they were a little crazy. |
Tabu Soro's Photos - Main
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2019 Cruising Upload from Nuku Hiva
41 Photos
Created 20 May 2019
|
 |
January- March on the outside of Baha and Puerto Vallarta
No Photos
Created 23 February 2019
|
 |
|
Preparation. Leading up to actual transit
11 Photos
Created 17 September 2018
|
Never Give Up
Who: John Dinwiddie &. Diane Brown Dinwiddie
Port: San Francisco
