Saturday July 9
The regal flyer…the morons..came in last night, but thank goodness they were quiet…the bay is a bit rolly due to a fairly large swell, which was breaking over the reef this morning.
Anyway, we’re off to Mana Is today..there’s a good SE breeze which means we’ll be tacking. Motoring with the main up first to get out of the bay then we’re off in 15-18 knots hard on the wind, genoa in 3 tight tacks and we’re approaching the north side of Mana Is. Hannah is at the helm, we tack again and Hannah pinches up past the reef that extends to the NE of the island, round the corner, sails down, motor on and by 1300 we’re negotiating the dogleg entrance to the lagoon through the coral.
Anchored just inside the fairway quite close to the coral, but the holding is good here, so no worries.
In to the backpackers to get the internet (update the blog) and have a few beers and dinner…we each have a
fish dish and its really good..
There’s not so many guests here tonight. The local entertainment crew arrives…a young man with a ukulele introduces himself and offers me his uke to play…I can’t play it..the tuning is weird… he gives me his guitar, saying he’s not good on guitar, and I have a little play before giving it back to him..he then proceeds to play Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight….beautifully !!
Three girls at the table behind us are talking ..we can’t understand what they are saying… Gunilla thinks they might be Swiss and turns and asks them..turns out they are Norwegian !...embarrassing! Seems they are from a part of Norway that has a special dialect that sounds more German than Norwegian, but Gunilla
knows it and they are soon chatting in Swedish / Norwegian…
Now its entertainment time and the chief entertainer and our ukulele player get up front to do the “BULA” song…everyone that’s arriving or leaving then has to stand up and say something …including “the guys from the yacht” (that’s us)..there’s 3 Japanese girls who clearly hardly speak any engrish, #1 says she like the beach, #2, swimming, then #3 opens her mouth and sings really loudly, a wordless sort of soul tune…she is
amazing !!..everyone cheers and George the entertainer carries on with more songs, getting everyone to clap and sing along…its all good fun.
Now, its Limbo Dancing time…..hmm…time to go…so we say good bye and off we go…its dead low tide and I break the propeller pin on the outboard AGAIN…so I’m rowing back to the boat !
Sunday July 10
Church is going on onshore, speedboats zooming in and out. The ferry comes to drop off new punters and collect the used ones.
Hannah makes pancakes for breakfast…mmmmm…. We decided to head for Musket Cove…The breeze is 10-12 SE and of course that’s exactly the direction we need to go, inside the reef, so its motoring…no sailing
today.
1400 and we’re anchored in Musket Cove ..there’s about 30 boats in here including the 144ft long superyacht Thalia (which we last saw in New Zealand, after it ran aground just off Waitangi !) and a giant motor launch
Kokomo II from Sydney. Tusitala from Gulf Harbour, Prospero from Whangarei and a lot of ugly American catamarans….they say people tend to look like their dogs…I think maybe the same thing applies to boats !
Two guys from Soubrette II come dinghying over and thank us for relaying their radio calls to Russell Radio last week when they couldn’t be heard. They came from Bluff in New Zealand !
Chicken with Grand Marnier cream sauce and mushrooms for dinner ….!!
Monday July 11
Very quiet night, calm morning…0700 and the workers on Kokomo II are already cleaning the condensation off all the ships windows with giant squeegees on poles. A whale boat comes past taking children to school….the
generators on Kokomo humming in the background, a cat behind us lifts her anchor and quietly motors off. Folk on other boats are starting to wake up as the sun begins to shine through their hatches.
Tide is about 3pm today so to get into Vuda Pt we can’t arrive until at least 1200.
We weigh anchor and motor off…no wind…arrive at Vuda Pt about 1300…there’s no spaces so we are directed to tie up at the pontoon..its quite good ..bar and toilets within 50 metres ! We have BBQ walu for dinner and have a quiet night.
Tuesday July 12
They want us to move from the pontoon, Adam directs us to a space that was empty yesterday…some plan change, dunno….we’re jammed in between Freestyle…and old style American double ender and a giant 50 something Benetau…spend the day tidying up, reorganising, Hannah packing her stuff to be ready for an early start tomorrow.
I go to the marina office to find my batten that Bushy has sent up. Nope, nothing….do you know which courier…ok I find out and come back…back at the office with my tracking number..the accounts girl phones UOPS..they don’t know this number..its not correct they say…OK…back to the boat…get on the internet, put in the number and bingo, there it is ..delivered it says 29 June……back to the office…show the girl..OK can you send it to me…I email it…she sends it to UPS…..we wait…you come back 2 o’clock…OK, back at 2…no nothing…”the UPS guy has gone out and not come back”…I will phone you when I know. Back to the boat…phone rings..it will be delivered this afternoon or tomorrow morning….ten minutes later…it will be delivered this afternoon… well, predictably it wasn’t !
Dinner at the First landing resort;
Hannah and I share a seafood platter which is huge…lobster, calamari, oysters, prawns, fish, shell fish, chips…all for F$43 !!
Wednesday July 13
Up at 0545, Abdul the taxi comes at 0630…he arrives at 0620 and calls out “Diva!”…0630 and we’re off. As we’re driving out the gate a man approaches carrying my batten shipment….he’ll leave it on the deck for when I get back. Hannah checked in and through immigration by 0720 and we’re on our way back to Vuda Pt. Its low tide at 1100 so we need to be out by 0900….pay the bill at the office…try to ensure there will be a space on July 21 when we come back..yes, yes, no problem…but I’m sure it won’t be that simple.
Mo comes in the dinghy to pull us out past the mooring buoys…it would be disaster to get the prop entangled in the spiderweb of lines and buoys in this place,… over to the fuel dock , take on 100 litres of diesel and out in
the channel by 0915…..motoring slowly watching the depth sounder….min 0.9 today….not bad…..out in the bay, we head for Dennarau Island..I owe Tupou from Yacht Help F$8 and while I did think this is stupid and I wouldn’t pay it…I may need their help in the future so I’m going there to pay it.
Arrive in the channel at Port Denerau and motor in…not much depth here either…call up on Ch16..the girl says go to the fuel dock if you’re only going to be 20 minutes…..once in side its impossible to see where the fuel dock is…I see a small pontoon with a fuel pump and head for that. A man in a dinghy comes zooming out and says…no no…you come over here to the big floating dock it costs $30….what ? $30 for 20 minutes, I’m not paying that !...OK..you talk to the office…so we follow him and tie up at the fuel dock, which is a big floating pier with fuel delivery built in..you don’t see any pumps. We tie up..I go up to the land to give Tupou the $8..then go to the marina office to see the woman in charge…I say, I’ve only been here 10 minutes and all is done and now I’m going, OK….she says, the fee is $30 whether you are there for 5 minutes or 3 hours, but
I didn’t tell you that before you came so this time we won’t charge you..but you know now for next time…well there won’t be a next time I think to myself…that’s a rort.
Back on the boat untie and we’re off…out of here !..motoring off to Musket Cove.
Thursday July 14
Beautiful morning in musket cove..decide to go to Mana Is or Navadra…..we set off after kneading the dough for bread….baked on the way it turns out beautifully….the last few bread making efforts have been disasters..the bread mix is out of date and something has happened to it..the bread turns out flat and grey ! So, back to basics, I tried Susan Hiscock’s recipe last week when Hannah was here and it turned out quite well..so I’ve done it again and this one is wonderful !
Susan Hiscock's Bread recipe
400g standard flour, 200ml warm water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tblspn sugar, 1 tblspn canola oil, 5g dry yeast . Add yeast to water and let stand for 10 mins. mix dry ingredients in a bowl..add oil and mix in, make a dent in the middle of the mixture, pour in yeast water combo. Mix with a knife until well combined, tip out onto floured
board, knead for 5-8 minutes, put back in bowl with clingwrap over and wait until it doubles in size (about 45mins), tip out onto floured board, knead for 2-3 minutes, rollout into suitable shape and put in oiled bread tin to rise. Bake 30 mins at 200°C, turn out onto bread rack and let cool. Cut slice off end and smother with butter ….yum !!
There’s no wind and we’re motoring so decide to call it quits and stop at Mana Is. The tide is still going out and it the channel through the reef the current is running at 3.5 knots ! (Boat speed through the water is 5.5 and SOG is 2 !) it’s clear where the deep water is by the turbulence on the surface, so we follow that between the various buoys and stakes…min depth 1.4m so not too bad.
We’re in and anchored and its hot hot hot…..swimming is cool and inside the boat is not too bad, what a difference it makes not having those teak decks !! tomorrow we’ll go to Navadra
17°
40.63’S, 177°
06.48’E
The regal flyer…the morons..came in last night, but thank goodness they were quiet…the bay is a bit rolly due to a fairly large swell, which was breaking over the reef this morning.
Anyway, we’re off to Mana Is today..there’s a good SE breeze which means we’ll be tacking. Motoring with the main up first to get out of the bay then we’re off in 15-18 knots hard on the wind, genoa in 3 tight tacks and we’re approaching the north side of Mana Is. Hannah is at the helm, we tack again and Hannah pinches up past the reef that extends to the NE of the island, round the corner, sails down, motor on and by 1300 we’re negotiating the dogleg entrance to the lagoon through the coral.
Anchored just inside the fairway quite close to the coral, but the holding is good here, so no worries.
In to the backpackers to get the internet (update the blog) and have a few beers and dinner…we each have a
fish dish and its really good..
There’s not so many guests here tonight. The local entertainment crew arrives…a young man with a ukulele introduces himself and offers me his uke to play…I can’t play it..the tuning is weird… he gives me his guitar, saying he’s not good on guitar, and I have a little play before giving it back to him..he then proceeds to play Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight….beautifully !!
Three girls at the table behind us are talking ..we can’t understand what they are saying… Gunilla thinks they might be Swiss and turns and asks them..turns out they are Norwegian !...embarrassing! Seems they are from a part of Norway that has a special dialect that sounds more German than Norwegian, but Gunilla
knows it and they are soon chatting in Swedish / Norwegian…
Now its entertainment time and the chief entertainer and our ukulele player get up front to do the “BULA” song…everyone that’s arriving or leaving then has to stand up and say something …including “the guys from the yacht” (that’s us)..there’s 3 Japanese girls who clearly hardly speak any engrish, #1 says she like the beach, #2, swimming, then #3 opens her mouth and sings really loudly, a wordless sort of soul tune…she is
amazing !!..everyone cheers and George the entertainer carries on with more songs, getting everyone to clap and sing along…its all good fun.
Now, its Limbo Dancing time…..hmm…time to go…so we say good bye and off we go…its dead low tide and I break the propeller pin on the outboard AGAIN…so I’m rowing back to the boat !
Sunday July 10
Church is going on onshore, speedboats zooming in and out. The ferry comes to drop off new punters and collect the used ones.
Hannah makes pancakes for breakfast…mmmmm…. We decided to head for Musket Cove…The breeze is 10-12 SE and of course that’s exactly the direction we need to go, inside the reef, so its motoring…no sailing
today.
1400 and we’re anchored in Musket Cove ..there’s about 30 boats in here including the 144ft long superyacht Thalia (which we last saw in New Zealand, after it ran aground just off Waitangi !) and a giant motor launch
Kokomo II from Sydney. Tusitala from Gulf Harbour, Prospero from Whangarei and a lot of ugly American catamarans….they say people tend to look like their dogs…I think maybe the same thing applies to boats !
Two guys from Soubrette II come dinghying over and thank us for relaying their radio calls to Russell Radio last week when they couldn’t be heard. They came from Bluff in New Zealand !
Chicken with Grand Marnier cream sauce and mushrooms for dinner ….!!
Monday July 11
Very quiet night, calm morning…0700 and the workers on Kokomo II are already cleaning the condensation off all the ships windows with giant squeegees on poles. A whale boat comes past taking children to school….the
generators on Kokomo humming in the background, a cat behind us lifts her anchor and quietly motors off. Folk on other boats are starting to wake up as the sun begins to shine through their hatches.
Tide is about 3pm today so to get into Vuda Pt we can’t arrive until at least 1200.
We weigh anchor and motor off…no wind…arrive at Vuda Pt about 1300…there’s no spaces so we are directed to tie up at the pontoon..its quite good ..bar and toilets within 50 metres ! We have BBQ walu for dinner and have a quiet night.
Tuesday July 12
They want us to move from the pontoon, Adam directs us to a space that was empty yesterday…some plan change, dunno….we’re jammed in between Freestyle…and old style American double ender and a giant 50 something Benetau…spend the day tidying up, reorganising, Hannah packing her stuff to be ready for an early start tomorrow.
I go to the marina office to find my batten that Bushy has sent up. Nope, nothing….do you know which courier…ok I find out and come back…back at the office with my tracking number..the accounts girl phones UOPS..they don’t know this number..its not correct they say…OK…back to the boat…get on the internet, put in the number and bingo, there it is ..delivered it says 29 June……back to the office…show the girl..OK can you send it to me…I email it…she sends it to UPS…..we wait…you come back 2 o’clock…OK, back at 2…no nothing…”the UPS guy has gone out and not come back”…I will phone you when I know. Back to the boat…phone rings..it will be delivered this afternoon or tomorrow morning….ten minutes later…it will be delivered this afternoon… well, predictably it wasn’t !
Dinner at the First landing resort;
Hannah and I share a seafood platter which is huge…lobster, calamari, oysters, prawns, fish, shell fish, chips…all for F$43 !!
Wednesday July 13
Up at 0545, Abdul the taxi comes at 0630…he arrives at 0620 and calls out “Diva!”…0630 and we’re off. As we’re driving out the gate a man approaches carrying my batten shipment….he’ll leave it on the deck for when I get back. Hannah checked in and through immigration by 0720 and we’re on our way back to Vuda Pt. Its low tide at 1100 so we need to be out by 0900….pay the bill at the office…try to ensure there will be a space on July 21 when we come back..yes, yes, no problem…but I’m sure it won’t be that simple.
Mo comes in the dinghy to pull us out past the mooring buoys…it would be disaster to get the prop entangled in the spiderweb of lines and buoys in this place,… over to the fuel dock , take on 100 litres of diesel and out in
the channel by 0915…..motoring slowly watching the depth sounder….min 0.9 today….not bad…..out in the bay, we head for Dennarau Island..I owe Tupou from Yacht Help F$8 and while I did think this is stupid and I wouldn’t pay it…I may need their help in the future so I’m going there to pay it.
Arrive in the channel at Port Denerau and motor in…not much depth here either…call up on Ch16..the girl says go to the fuel dock if you’re only going to be 20 minutes…..once in side its impossible to see where the fuel dock is…I see a small pontoon with a fuel pump and head for that. A man in a dinghy comes zooming out and says…no no…you come over here to the big floating dock it costs $30….what ? $30 for 20 minutes, I’m not paying that !...OK..you talk to the office…so we follow him and tie up at the fuel dock, which is a big floating pier with fuel delivery built in..you don’t see any pumps. We tie up..I go up to the land to give Tupou the $8..then go to the marina office to see the woman in charge…I say, I’ve only been here 10 minutes and all is done and now I’m going, OK….she says, the fee is $30 whether you are there for 5 minutes or 3 hours, but
I didn’t tell you that before you came so this time we won’t charge you..but you know now for next time…well there won’t be a next time I think to myself…that’s a rort.
Back on the boat untie and we’re off…out of here !..motoring off to Musket Cove.
Thursday July 14
Beautiful morning in musket cove..decide to go to Mana Is or Navadra…..we set off after kneading the dough for bread….baked on the way it turns out beautifully….the last few bread making efforts have been disasters..the bread mix is out of date and something has happened to it..the bread turns out flat and grey ! So, back to basics, I tried Susan Hiscock’s recipe last week when Hannah was here and it turned out quite well..so I’ve done it again and this one is wonderful !
Susan Hiscock's Bread recipe
400g standard flour, 200ml warm water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tblspn sugar, 1 tblspn canola oil, 5g dry yeast . Add yeast to water and let stand for 10 mins. mix dry ingredients in a bowl..add oil and mix in, make a dent in the middle of the mixture, pour in yeast water combo. Mix with a knife until well combined, tip out onto floured
board, knead for 5-8 minutes, put back in bowl with clingwrap over and wait until it doubles in size (about 45mins), tip out onto floured board, knead for 2-3 minutes, rollout into suitable shape and put in oiled bread tin to rise. Bake 30 mins at 200°C, turn out onto bread rack and let cool. Cut slice off end and smother with butter ….yum !!
There’s no wind and we’re motoring so decide to call it quits and stop at Mana Is. The tide is still going out and it the channel through the reef the current is running at 3.5 knots ! (Boat speed through the water is 5.5 and SOG is 2 !) it’s clear where the deep water is by the turbulence on the surface, so we follow that between the various buoys and stakes…min depth 1.4m so not too bad.
We’re in and anchored and its hot hot hot…..swimming is cool and inside the boat is not too bad, what a difference it makes not having those teak decks !! tomorrow we’ll go to Navadra
17°
40.63’S, 177°
06.48’E