Well, We've now got our crew of 7 and all slept relatively well (a little cool, Kathleen & Marg needed not one but two sarong/lavalava blankets).
The birthday surprise for Tony went amazingly well, though in the lead up to it he was getting pretty annoyed that Mum & Lisa were trying to have them hang around Savusavu on Sunday all day while he wanted to rent a car and drive across the island. In the end they had to say they had there was a mystery guest coming for lunch - to which he asked if they couldn't just come for breakfast, or if they had to come for lunch could they get rid of them after an hour so they could head off?? Mum in the end had to say 'just trust me', so he grumpily complied.
Mum & Lisa collected me from the tiny shack of an airport (unfortunately a cloudy flight so didn't see much) and we then proceeded to wait with anticipation for Dad & Rob to come in from the boat and join us for lunch. I sat with my back to the door, my rainjacket on with hood up and a handwritten message on a scrap of paper taped on my jacket with the luggage tag tape which said "Happy birthday, Tony. Surprise from Marg, Jan, Kath, Kris, Roger, Marsha, Chris, Yvonne, Gildo and Wylie". He still didn't get who it was until I turned around and he melted. We've captured in on video. He was overcome with emotion and kept saying "I couldn't have had a better present!". So well-done team, thanks for keeping it a secret and for helping to make it possible.
Meanwhile we sit in the rain and listen to the winds buffeting the boat and think about the German man who was at dinner who said outside the reef was like Cape Horn. Our plan to go to an island about a 3 hour sail away has been shelved as the seas would be too uncomfortable. So, hopefully, Tony's coupling will arrive today. He'll pull the boat apart and we'll go to a nearby rain forest/nature reserve. We'll drop off another couple of bags of laundry to the magic fairy, Siteni, who will wash and dry (dry? a pretty unknown concept in our boat world, we do clammy really well, but not dry) them.
So unfortunately my tan is not getting any better yet, and despite having been here for over 3 days I haven't had a swim!! (jumping into this harbour is not too tempting, and there's enough wetness coming from above...) But great to see & catch up with everyone, and I'm sure the sun is just around the corner - I am the daughter of an eternal optimist after all!