Friday 28 October
During my 4 day stay at Vuda Pt Marina, I was moored next to“Vuda Bob”…I don’t know that anyone knows what his last name is…he has been here for about 15 years. His boat is an old wooden double ender..
Serenity-Honolulu Apparently he bought her in Fiji, tax paid, a long time ago and he and her have been here ever since….he talks about going to the Philippines to get his teak decks redone, he talks about getting a new motor (from China)…wants to go to Hawaii but is having trouble getting a visa because of old drug convictions he’s a panel beater by trade…made huge money in the ‘80s but blew it all on cocaine (maybe that’s why they call it blow ?), spent most of this week trying to get his starter motor back from Suva (it arrived this morning), so he can take it with him to Australia next week …. And on and on it goes…nice fella tho…
The bar at the First Landing Resort is a very happy place. Masi, one of the barmen has a great sense of humour and is always acting the fool. He’s very entertaining and the food is good and the beer cold.
Saturday 29 October
Left Vuda Pt marina at 1000…motored out to a calm sea, heading for Musket Cove.
Almost in Musket Cove and the engine temperature starts going up…uh oh…..
Switch everything off and take a look…I can hear hissing and see liquid bubbling and dripping off the top of the oil filter…and the sump tray is awash….Oh No ! the oil filter is leaking and all the oil is dumped !..hell !!
Anyway, engine is far too hot to do anything about, so drop the anchor in the passage and set to cleaning the mooring lines while I wait for the motor to cool down…yuk, what a job.
After an hour of more or less successful rope cleaning I have a closer look at the motor..ah ha, I can see liquid dripping from a hose above the oil filter ..it’s water !...so it’s not the filter after all. .it’s a burst hose on the outlet of the freshwater pump…and the liquid in the sump tray is water with a thin coating of oil on top, not oil !....whew that’s a relief. I’ll have to take the fresh water pump off to get this leaking hose off…I have some hose of that size, so as soon as everything cools down it should be a quick repair, providing of course that the fresh water pump comes off easily !
Well it didn’t look like it would, but it did…and 3 hrs later we’re up and running again….burnt fingers/elbows..par for the course..
AND THEN..I discover there’s 6” of water in the bilge…and its fresh water !!!...oh no..you mean that last hour and a half of running the water maker has just filled the bilge ?!...yup that’s what’s happened…the feed line to
the tank came disconnected…oh well…that’s the way of it…..
Celebrate the days accomplishments with steak for dinner.
Sunday 30 October
Calm morning, no wind, cloudy but hot. Start making bread, run the engine for the fridge and the watermaker. Will probably get the dinghy out later and go ashore.
Woman and child from another boat come by passing out invitations to a potluck dinner for Halloween tomorrow night…I never did understand what Halloween was all about..I wonder if anyone really does
Made bread and yoghurt… got the dink out and went ashore to the Musket Cove Yacht Club Bar… Interesting chat with an American guy who is a consultant to the UN.. he specialises in “post war rebuilding” and “disaster
management “!! He’s a solo sailor who’s been all over the place and has a nice little ketch anchored in front of me..
Then a strange group turned up…seemed like they were as high as kites … the guy..all smiles and kissing everyone, proceeds to tell the bar girl that his friend is still in jail in Suva, but he has his shit organised so he doesn’t need anymore !!...hmmm, looking at the rest of the troupe, I’d say they’re either stoned or cocaine users …one guy keeps touching his nose in a strange way !!...Oh dear ..time to go, I don’t fit with this gang.
Back on the boat, made a Thai Red Curry with chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes…beautiful, thanks to.. Asian Gourmet… the best packaged Asian sauces you can buy !
Monday 31 October
Another hot day, but a breeze builds in the afternoon which takes the impact away slightly. Running the engine to cool the fridge, the electric one is struggling in this heat to keep the freezer below -10. The solar panels
are doing a great job of keeping the batteries up.
Just been listening to Radio Australia...and the big news is the Qantas "lockdown"...everything stopped...Gillard embarrassed ( was that the reason for the timing?) with the Chogm in Perth…. Seems CEO Joyce has just received a massive pay rise and refuses to negotiate with the workers..he wants to get rid of them ….Nett profit $553m ...hmm not enough.. got to get rid of these workers !!
Union fella said Jetstar Aisa cabin attendants get paid $800 / mth .Makes you wonder...Joyce thinks he's
king...can do anything ! and f..k 'em all ... money..the root of all evil, my grandmother used to say..she never had any, so I suppose she could say that, but even so..
Dum de doo as Pete would say....
Anyway...shouldn't listen to the radio, its just depressing !!
The Americans turned up at the bar this evening for their potluck dinner...accompanied by carved pumpkins
with candles in them... the bar girls were dressed in black with witches hats ..one of them with fake blood on her face "oh my god look at that, she's got blood coming out !" said one american woman
What on earth is it all about ??
My UN American totally ignored me...he's found some more interesting people talk to !
Never mind...back to boat, stirfry for dinner...wind is still up...may not go tomorrow..we'll see...
Tuesday 1 November
Still here.. Really blowy today, hopefully it might calm down a bit tomorrow and I’ll head off. Still hot as well of
course
No serious accomplishments today…finished reading Moitessier’s Cape Horn (I thought it used to be called
Tahiti-Alicante, The Logical Route – maybe I made that up). Started reading a book I bought in Beaune, “Les Vins de Bourgogne” all about le terroir, les raisins et les vins of the Burgundy region where Judith and I spent a lovely week last month.
A few other boats have come in, mostly catamarans..there’s about 20 boats here now and nearly half are
catamarans of one sort or the other.
I think I’ll go for a swim.
Later I dinghy in to the bar for a cold beer and meet a New Zealand couple in their 50/60s Lloyd and Ngaire
from Whangamata with a Leopard 46 catamaran called Te Haranui (or something like that). They’ve been everywhere…earlier this year they were in Guam heading for Japan when the tsunami struck and that changed their plans a bit ! Their plan was to go to Japan for a while then Alaska and down the west coast of north
America and back across the Pacific…but they went to the Solomon Islands instead and have just now made their way against the trade winds to Fiji…and next week they’re heading to New Zealand….nice folk
There are a lot of people out there in catamarans these days…they certainly have advantages in terms of
space, comfort, inherent stability……but disadvantages in mooring costs (double a monohull) and inherent stability (if they tip over they stay over – but they don’t sink).
Wednesday 2 November
0900 anchor’s weighed (45lbs) and we're off, motoring, breeze is 4 knots ! Heading up to Castaway a bit more puff, let out the genoa and we get another knot out of it…easy going…and then…the autopilot’s not working…keeps giving drive stop alarms and it doesn’t turn the wheel..oh dear, don’t tell me the seals have gone again ! Quick look, no the tank is full of oil, it’s the pump that’s not working….hmm…well , wait ‘til we get to Mana and have a proper look.
Motoring slowly through the cut in the reef negotiating the dog leg into the lagoon is easy now that we have
the track on the chartplotter to follow from last time…and especially since I’m on my own, it’s a bit difficult to be helmsman and lookout at the same time.
Safely at anchor inside the lagoon…let’s have a look at this pilot thing…well everything is connected, there’s no oil leaks, but the pump doesn’t run..yes it does..no it doesn’t…hang on , when it does go it’s going backwards !! hmmm sounds like a computer issue…..I’ll give the tried and true master reset procedure (turn it off and then back on again)…its working….hmm….
Later I have a thought…I wonder if it’s the SSB radio that upset the computer ? It certainly upsets the
alternator voltage regulator when transmitting with the engine running, and the wind instruments sometimes go
crazy….
I check the autopilot periodically to be sure that its still working and it is….I think that must be it..I’ve never had this problem before but then I’ve never been able to use Sailmail on frequencies higher than 12meg and now I’m most often using 16meg after modifying the radio for all band transmit.
There’s a little speedboat running around towing an inflatable thing with Japanese people on it.
It comes to a halt nearby…the skipper tries to get the engine started…no luck…he whistles and waves trying to catch the attention of his onshore compatriots but no-one is looking.
I ask him if he is OK..I’ve run out of fuel, he says, could you call Awesome Mana on Ch 16 and tell them..sure,
no problem.. in the meantime, the skipper is telling the Japanese to just stay there and wait (as if they could do anything else)
In 5 minutes there’s another little boat zooming out with replacement fuel and they’re on their way with many Vinakas (thankyous)
This is a beautiful spot. The big picture on the homepage was taken there earlier this year. I’m anchored
in the same spot - the hairy stick is still there.
Later I’ll go in to the Backpackers for the best value cold beer in Fiji (Fand use their internet to post
this.
Cheers from Mana Island 17° 40.6’S, 177° 06.4’E
During my 4 day stay at Vuda Pt Marina, I was moored next to“Vuda Bob”…I don’t know that anyone knows what his last name is…he has been here for about 15 years. His boat is an old wooden double ender..
Serenity-Honolulu Apparently he bought her in Fiji, tax paid, a long time ago and he and her have been here ever since….he talks about going to the Philippines to get his teak decks redone, he talks about getting a new motor (from China)…wants to go to Hawaii but is having trouble getting a visa because of old drug convictions he’s a panel beater by trade…made huge money in the ‘80s but blew it all on cocaine (maybe that’s why they call it blow ?), spent most of this week trying to get his starter motor back from Suva (it arrived this morning), so he can take it with him to Australia next week …. And on and on it goes…nice fella tho…
The bar at the First Landing Resort is a very happy place. Masi, one of the barmen has a great sense of humour and is always acting the fool. He’s very entertaining and the food is good and the beer cold.
Saturday 29 October
Left Vuda Pt marina at 1000…motored out to a calm sea, heading for Musket Cove.
Almost in Musket Cove and the engine temperature starts going up…uh oh…..
Switch everything off and take a look…I can hear hissing and see liquid bubbling and dripping off the top of the oil filter…and the sump tray is awash….Oh No ! the oil filter is leaking and all the oil is dumped !..hell !!
Anyway, engine is far too hot to do anything about, so drop the anchor in the passage and set to cleaning the mooring lines while I wait for the motor to cool down…yuk, what a job.
After an hour of more or less successful rope cleaning I have a closer look at the motor..ah ha, I can see liquid dripping from a hose above the oil filter ..it’s water !...so it’s not the filter after all. .it’s a burst hose on the outlet of the freshwater pump…and the liquid in the sump tray is water with a thin coating of oil on top, not oil !....whew that’s a relief. I’ll have to take the fresh water pump off to get this leaking hose off…I have some hose of that size, so as soon as everything cools down it should be a quick repair, providing of course that the fresh water pump comes off easily !
Well it didn’t look like it would, but it did…and 3 hrs later we’re up and running again….burnt fingers/elbows..par for the course..
AND THEN..I discover there’s 6” of water in the bilge…and its fresh water !!!...oh no..you mean that last hour and a half of running the water maker has just filled the bilge ?!...yup that’s what’s happened…the feed line to
the tank came disconnected…oh well…that’s the way of it…..
Celebrate the days accomplishments with steak for dinner.
Sunday 30 October
Calm morning, no wind, cloudy but hot. Start making bread, run the engine for the fridge and the watermaker. Will probably get the dinghy out later and go ashore.
Woman and child from another boat come by passing out invitations to a potluck dinner for Halloween tomorrow night…I never did understand what Halloween was all about..I wonder if anyone really does
Made bread and yoghurt… got the dink out and went ashore to the Musket Cove Yacht Club Bar… Interesting chat with an American guy who is a consultant to the UN.. he specialises in “post war rebuilding” and “disaster
management “!! He’s a solo sailor who’s been all over the place and has a nice little ketch anchored in front of me..
Then a strange group turned up…seemed like they were as high as kites … the guy..all smiles and kissing everyone, proceeds to tell the bar girl that his friend is still in jail in Suva, but he has his shit organised so he doesn’t need anymore !!...hmmm, looking at the rest of the troupe, I’d say they’re either stoned or cocaine users …one guy keeps touching his nose in a strange way !!...Oh dear ..time to go, I don’t fit with this gang.
Back on the boat, made a Thai Red Curry with chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes…beautiful, thanks to.. Asian Gourmet… the best packaged Asian sauces you can buy !
Monday 31 October
Another hot day, but a breeze builds in the afternoon which takes the impact away slightly. Running the engine to cool the fridge, the electric one is struggling in this heat to keep the freezer below -10. The solar panels
are doing a great job of keeping the batteries up.
Just been listening to Radio Australia...and the big news is the Qantas "lockdown"...everything stopped...Gillard embarrassed ( was that the reason for the timing?) with the Chogm in Perth…. Seems CEO Joyce has just received a massive pay rise and refuses to negotiate with the workers..he wants to get rid of them ….Nett profit $553m ...hmm not enough.. got to get rid of these workers !!
Union fella said Jetstar Aisa cabin attendants get paid $800 / mth .Makes you wonder...Joyce thinks he's
king...can do anything ! and f..k 'em all ... money..the root of all evil, my grandmother used to say..she never had any, so I suppose she could say that, but even so..
Dum de doo as Pete would say....
Anyway...shouldn't listen to the radio, its just depressing !!
The Americans turned up at the bar this evening for their potluck dinner...accompanied by carved pumpkins
with candles in them... the bar girls were dressed in black with witches hats ..one of them with fake blood on her face "oh my god look at that, she's got blood coming out !" said one american woman
What on earth is it all about ??
My UN American totally ignored me...he's found some more interesting people talk to !
Never mind...back to boat, stirfry for dinner...wind is still up...may not go tomorrow..we'll see...
Tuesday 1 November
Still here.. Really blowy today, hopefully it might calm down a bit tomorrow and I’ll head off. Still hot as well of
course
No serious accomplishments today…finished reading Moitessier’s Cape Horn (I thought it used to be called
Tahiti-Alicante, The Logical Route – maybe I made that up). Started reading a book I bought in Beaune, “Les Vins de Bourgogne” all about le terroir, les raisins et les vins of the Burgundy region where Judith and I spent a lovely week last month.
A few other boats have come in, mostly catamarans..there’s about 20 boats here now and nearly half are
catamarans of one sort or the other.
I think I’ll go for a swim.
Later I dinghy in to the bar for a cold beer and meet a New Zealand couple in their 50/60s Lloyd and Ngaire
from Whangamata with a Leopard 46 catamaran called Te Haranui (or something like that). They’ve been everywhere…earlier this year they were in Guam heading for Japan when the tsunami struck and that changed their plans a bit ! Their plan was to go to Japan for a while then Alaska and down the west coast of north
America and back across the Pacific…but they went to the Solomon Islands instead and have just now made their way against the trade winds to Fiji…and next week they’re heading to New Zealand….nice folk
There are a lot of people out there in catamarans these days…they certainly have advantages in terms of
space, comfort, inherent stability……but disadvantages in mooring costs (double a monohull) and inherent stability (if they tip over they stay over – but they don’t sink).
Wednesday 2 November
0900 anchor’s weighed (45lbs) and we're off, motoring, breeze is 4 knots ! Heading up to Castaway a bit more puff, let out the genoa and we get another knot out of it…easy going…and then…the autopilot’s not working…keeps giving drive stop alarms and it doesn’t turn the wheel..oh dear, don’t tell me the seals have gone again ! Quick look, no the tank is full of oil, it’s the pump that’s not working….hmm…well , wait ‘til we get to Mana and have a proper look.
Motoring slowly through the cut in the reef negotiating the dog leg into the lagoon is easy now that we have
the track on the chartplotter to follow from last time…and especially since I’m on my own, it’s a bit difficult to be helmsman and lookout at the same time.
Safely at anchor inside the lagoon…let’s have a look at this pilot thing…well everything is connected, there’s no oil leaks, but the pump doesn’t run..yes it does..no it doesn’t…hang on , when it does go it’s going backwards !! hmmm sounds like a computer issue…..I’ll give the tried and true master reset procedure (turn it off and then back on again)…its working….hmm….
Later I have a thought…I wonder if it’s the SSB radio that upset the computer ? It certainly upsets the
alternator voltage regulator when transmitting with the engine running, and the wind instruments sometimes go
crazy….
I check the autopilot periodically to be sure that its still working and it is….I think that must be it..I’ve never had this problem before but then I’ve never been able to use Sailmail on frequencies higher than 12meg and now I’m most often using 16meg after modifying the radio for all band transmit.
There’s a little speedboat running around towing an inflatable thing with Japanese people on it.
It comes to a halt nearby…the skipper tries to get the engine started…no luck…he whistles and waves trying to catch the attention of his onshore compatriots but no-one is looking.
I ask him if he is OK..I’ve run out of fuel, he says, could you call Awesome Mana on Ch 16 and tell them..sure,
no problem.. in the meantime, the skipper is telling the Japanese to just stay there and wait (as if they could do anything else)
In 5 minutes there’s another little boat zooming out with replacement fuel and they’re on their way with many Vinakas (thankyous)
This is a beautiful spot. The big picture on the homepage was taken there earlier this year. I’m anchored
in the same spot - the hairy stick is still there.
Later I’ll go in to the Backpackers for the best value cold beer in Fiji (Fand use their internet to post
this.
Cheers from Mana Island 17° 40.6’S, 177° 06.4’E