Suva is the largest city and the capitol of Fiji. It is a city of contrasts. The people are friendly and helpful, but the city is also rife with crime. We are constantly on guard for petty thieves and pick-pockets. We have to be also on guard for less than honest taxi drivers and store clerks. It appears that tourists are a target for much of this crime. It is frustrating when the shop keepers tend to double the price or more unless it is clearly marked. This has become my least favorite place since starting on this adventure. We are looking forward to finishing up our fuel tank repairs and leaving. The Royal Suva Yacht club has become a "has been" item. The cruising guides speak highly of it, but it is basically a place for an inexpensive drink at the bar or a meal. The atmosphere is lacking, repairs about impossible to perform. The marina has no transient moorage. We are charged daily to anchor in Suva Harbor by the Yacht Club in return for use of their facilities. The dinghy dock is definitely handy and fairly secure. There is no laundry facilities, but a local lady will do it for you for a price. The showers, well, even the guys won't use them!!! It is clear why many cruisers avoid this area for reasons beyond the rainfall. I will say though that checking into customs and all the officials has greatly improved over what has been previously reported. It was simple, and the officials professional. It is such a shame that Suva has these problems because it could easily be a favorite location for cruisers because of the easy entrance into the harbor and the sight seeing possibilities. My Sister arrives at the end of the month so as soon as she gets of little taste of the big city, we will start exploring the outer islands and reefs. I am really looking forward to some time under the water snorkeling and beach walking!

We arrived at the mouth of the bay last night, just after dark so decided to heave to until daylight. We had the anchor down by 8AM This morning. It sure good to be in port once again! The officials will be out to the boat today sometime. We are just happy to look around at this congested commercial port. It is definitely busy. We were sandwiched in between a freighter and a cruise ship as we came through the narrow reef this morning. As you can imagine, all is very well this morning on board!

Ah the sweet sound of the Yanmar coming to life! Yes, the fuel by-pass system works! The wind finally laid down enough to unlash a jerry can and connect our new system. We sure whooped for joy when the engine started, and continued to run! So, we are motor sailing in very light, SE winds, about 3 knots. We have enough fuel to motor sail into the bay so we are a very happy ship this morning!! We have about 60 miles to go to reach the entrance of Suva Bay. I doubt we can make it before nightfall, so we will wait until morning. We sure will be happy to have the anchor dug into Fijian sand!

The wind finely laid down a bit and we were on our way again about midnight. Light wind this morning, but we are moving in the right direction. We have about 130 miles to go. Since the wind has settled down, we can start experimenting with Chucks fuel bypass line. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us for the remainder of this passage. We could be anchored in the next 48 hours!!

Well, we are about 160 miles out. The wind is blowing like snot again in the 35knot range. We are hove to. all is well on board. The good news is that the batteries are finally charged!! We sure will be glad to see the end of this passage!

We are making progress. we have 250 miles to go. We continue to have light 5-8 knot winds from the SW. The sky continues to be overcast, With these conditions we are cutting way back on power consumption. Everything is off now except the plotter, and this radio transmission. If you don't hear from us tomorrow, it could just be that we are trying to conserve power. We are thinking that maybe Monday we will make landfall. We are going to try to avoid Sunday, because of all the overtime fees. So things are looking up!

We are slowly making progress in these light SW winds. At least it has been in the right direction. We have about 325 miles to go. The great news is that the Monitor windvane steering is now fixed so we aren't having to hand steer now. Chuck was finally able to find the problem. That sure improves the frame of mind! Without having one of us always at the wheel, we can now concentrate on seeing if our fuel bypass is going to work. Little by little we are getting things up an working again. Once we had the windvane fixed,we both kicked back and relaxed for the afternoon.