| Date: | July 28, 2014, 10:48 p.m. |
| Position: | 16 46.37 S, 179 19.44 E |
At anchor: Savusavu, Fiji
We are in Fiji and loving it!! The people are super friendly and the mix of Fijians and Indians is fascinating. Crazy how we can sail just 400 miles over the horizon and meet a completely different people & culture! We are getting ready to go full native this week, and are stocking up on sulus, trading items, and yangona (kava) which we must present to each village chief. We'll be visiting many island areas that are just newly opened last year to contact with the outside world. Fortunate political timing!
Prices in Fiji are by far the best yet. We had a delicious South Indian lunch for just $2.50 USD today. Indians make up 50% of Fiji's population and it is wonderful to be in contact with the culture. Makes me miss India! The landscape here is awesome and we're looking forward to some of the best snorkeling and Scuba in the world. Fiji gets "the Cat's Pajamas" rating in our book, as Kathy B would say. We can't wait to explore.
| Date: | July 27, 2014, 10:47 p.m. |
| SOG (kts): | 6.7 |
| Position: | 16 55.00 S, 179 38.00 W |
Had our lowest mileage noon-to-noon yesterday: only 107 miles made good! Winds went light on us through the night, but we ghosted along refusing to succumb to diesel fumes. We want to try and make it to NZ on less than one tank!
Sighted our first Fijian atoll near sunset, and sailed through an area of squalls as we entered the Nanuku passage. We took advantage of the driving rain to take "extreme showers" with the boat plunging through the seas at 10 knots in 8 foot seas as we lathered up in Dr. Bronner's. It was wonderful!
Finally got our speed back up with the squalls, and we're charging toward Savusavu.
| Date: | July 26, 2014, 10:45 p.m. |
| SOG (kts): | 5.4 |
| Position: | 17 20.00 S, 177 25.00 W |
We're halfway from Vava'u to Savusavu now... winds have shifted to the ESE and are holding well at 15 knots. Uneventful day today--boat is rolling a bit with the wind being directly behind us, but we can't complain about having the hatches open! Monitor vane faithfully steering on her battered control lines, and I'm amazed we still have full fuel tanks since leaving the coast of North America. It's the only way to go! We are excited for Fiji & we should start seeing her outlying islands on the horizon sometime tomorrow afternoon...
| Date: | July 25, 2014, 10:43 p.m. |
| SOG (kts): | 6.8 |
| Position: | 18 16.00 S, 175 3.00 W |
We are en route sailing from Tonga to Fiji! Strong high pressure system building over NZ which is giving us a nice southerly quadrant to the wind & seas. We're beam reaching in 18-20 knots for the northern Lau Islands to avoid the reef-infested seas there, and will then head SE to Savusavu, as the winds are predicted to shift more easterly with the passage of the high.
We were a bit sad to leave Tonga, but we must keep sailing... We've got our weather window and with an El Nino weather pattern beginning to establish itself, we're making all of our Easting now while the SE trades are here.
Looking forward to Indian food in Fiji! All well here at sea. We are about 60 miles into a 422 mile passage, a three-day hop, skip, & a jump. Day after tomorrow we should see ourselves sailing into the Eastern hemisphere!
p.s. wind generator back on-line, making 12 amps in the night breeze...
| Date: | July 24, 2014, 9:42 p.m. |
| Position: | 18 41.58 S, 174 1.47 W |
Departing tomorrow for Fiji. Anchored Port Maurelle.