Monday, no, Tuesday. No, no, wait, Wednesday is going to perfect. ARRGGHH!

The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) has moved down on top of Fiji which means the weather forecasting is all but out the door. One day, it looks like there’s going to be a tropical depression (no Bueno), the next day looks good to go, then the next shows torrential rain and headwinds.

Bottom line: I don’t want to head out on an over 1200 mile voyage with such uncertainty. Weather is enough of a crap shoot without the added uncertainty of the SPCZ. So we sit…and wait. This is all exacerbated by the fact that there are probably a dozen other boats around here all ready to head back and literally everyone has an opinion and it’s usually; “Ah, you should have left yesterday”. Well my response; “I’ll leave when I think it’s safe and we’ll have a good ride. YOU can leave when you want”.

The next possible window by my calculation looks to be Monday. Not to jinx it, but this one looks pretty decent, so we’re going to plan for it.

In the mean time Murphy has come aboard. We were running the engine today to charge the batteries a bit given the paucity of sun to power the solar panels, and I heard a gurgle, burp and the raw water exhaust quit flowing. This is the main cooling system for the engine, so I shut the engine down immediately. It was after my shower around 5PM, so I’m not going to start digging around until tomorrow, but suffice to say, this is a major issue. It may be simple like a plastic bag sucked into the intake, or something in the strainer. Or, it it might be a bigger deal like a broken impeller. I replaced the impeller in NZ in March, so if it’s that it’s likely due to the pumice fields we have occasionally seen. There are active volcanos in these waters and you run through floating pumice from time to time. It’s possible for the bits of abrasive pumice to get through the strainer and into the raw water system and wear down the impeller prematurely (they are supposed to last at least 500 engine hours).

Oh well. At least we won’t be bored sitting here waiting.

By Ann…
So Ann says to Bob, ” Are you going to mention the picture update in the blog tonight?”
Bob says, “What blog? Nothing is happening.”

How can that be? As I sip my evening Charisma I feel the exhaustion melting into my soul! So what did we do today? More preparations!

Specifically we have another batch of Ginger Beer, fresh baked cookies (hidden from Bob), and some more hard-boiled eggs ready. And more important to you, our favorite readers…pictures uploaded to the blogs from Lautoka forward. Everything takes time and everything is important.

But not too important for parades! This afternoon we heard a band playing on the dock opposite us. It was a good band so must be the Suva Police Band. I stuck my head out the companionway and confirmed my suspicions…it was the Police Band. I have missed them before and did not want to miss them again so off I went.

Fiji Band.

The Minister of Tourism, I think, was “christening” a new route for one of the large Captain Cook Cruise Ships. And the band was there to celebrate. I asked around and unfortunately the new route is through the Lau Group. We checked out their website and for about $8500 FJ per person, you can get a stateroom for the eleven night cruise through the Lau Group! The Lau Group is where Fuluga is. Fortunately this ship can not truly get into the narrow passes necessary to see the pristine Lau that we have seen. But they will be fortunate enough to see it from the bow of the big ship, a few miles off shore.

This is where cruising tops those big cruise ships, the up close and personal touch. Just sad to us to imagine coming out of the pass at Fuluga and seeing one of these monsters. But for some people it is as close as they will get. We count our blessings…cruising the Lau on Charisma…priceless.

But the Suva Police Band was wonderful. I ran over to take pictures and was personally greeted by the Minister of Tourism as well as at least half of the band members. After they left the dock they set up in the terminal and continued to play with such joy I could not leave. Good thing because then I would have missed the invite to dance with one of the band members! Yep, I was invited to shake a leg with the police! No witnesses unless the TV news camera got us, but the locals enjoyed my efforts!

It was a fun break to preparations. We are expecting to go into the Nadi Market tomorrow for the balance of fresh provisions, return to Charisma to do laundry and complete our ever dwindling list (it started covering seven -three inch post-it notes and is down to one and a half). The remaining items are just last minute reminders to stow the dinghy, plug the anchor chain hole, put away the BBQ…last minute stuff. Then off to Vuda Point, just a skip to the next bay, and check out on Thursday!

NZ, are you ready for Charisma?!

Last night I was just laying in the cockpit staring at the stars and moon when I looked at our flag fluttering in the rigging and noticed-really took note-that it was the flag of the Kingdom of Fiji! “Holy crap!” thought I. Are we really here in Fiji!

It was just one of those wonderful moments when you realize a life long dream isn’t a really a dream-you’re living it. Sometimes I fall into a complacency about being on Charisma. This is after all our home. When you’re down below, it feels and looks the same as it was back in Berkeley. Accordingly, it doesn’t always feel like we’re in a exotic tropical location. Then (fortunately) something like the Fiji flag suddenly reminds me how amazingly lucky we are. We are here. In Fiji. Living the dream.

OK, enough introspection-I know you all just want to know: “What did you do today?”. Well, our days right now are not as exotic as our location.

We did boat work.

We’re getting her ready for the 1200 or so mile long ocean crossing back to New Zealand. As we have found from our two previous trips along this sometimes treacherous ocean, this is a serious passage with the potential for some “memorable” conditions. We have to make sure that all systems are ready. Here’s a few of the things we’ve been doing to get ready. Some don’t sound too exciting, but attention to detail means when things get ugly, we can concentrate on sailing the boat not fixing stuff that’s breaking due to lapsed maintenance.

-Replaced a broken bilge pump switch. We’ve been turning it on manually, but when conditions are bad is when you forget to do it and then next thing you know the water is up to the floorboards.
-Checked all the nav lights. Deck lights, tri-color, steaming light, compass light, deck light and the mast mounted strobe.
-Checked engine oil level
-Drained engine fuel filter. Checked for sludge/water.
-Sealed port side anchor chain. Will do same for starboard after we leave. We put modeling clay in the hole where the chain goes through the deck. In tough conditions when we’re burying the bow in the big waves, a frightening amount of water makes its way through these spots if they are not plugged.
-Cleaned all porthole and hatch gaskets, replaced one and put silicone grease on all the seals for water tightness. These things are famous for leaking when big waves hit the cabin sides or wash over the cabin top. It’s not the end of the world if they leak, but it’s one of those things that start to wear you down. Your clothes get wet, the bed gets wet, etc. You get the picture.
-Went up and down boat at deck level looking at all fittings, cotter pins, screws, swages-anything that looks loose or worn gets replaced.
-Checked battery on emergency Radio in ditch bag and repacked bag to ensure all contents still present.
-Changed water maker filter
-Greased winches on mast and windlass. Cleaned salt accumulation off winch pawls (they were sticking) and oiled same.
-Rigged storm sail sheets
-Rigged storm trys’l and secured to mast.
-Checked storm jib and prepared for deployment
-Repacked bow storage to ensure necessary emergency gear is accessible and not “buried” under non-essential gear after a season of cruising.
-Greased and adjusted steering cables under deck. Tightened steering quadrant bolts (some were loose after many thousands of miles of our passage from Berkeley)
-Updated Spreadsheet identifying and locating all equipment, spares and ships stores
-Filled out and emailed our “pre-entry” forms to NZ Customs. They require at least 48 hours advance notice. We send these via email and then update our ETA via short wave radio when we’re under way and close enough to give an accurate estimate.
-Started cooking projects that will eventually include: hard boiled eggs and pasta salad for snacks (especially good at 2AM when sugary snacks put you to sleep), cookies (for morale), pre-made tuna salad for sandwiches, egg, bacon, vegetable muffins for breakfast and snacks. Next to come will be the “day before” cooking. We make a big stew in the pressure cooker that serves as the first night dinner and second day lunch. This way we don’t have to cook for the first two days which is when you are most prone to seasickness. Ann also just finished a big, yummy, banana bread.

Preparing "Charismuffins"...

...easy to heat, portable, mini-omelettes for the passage.

Anyway, there’s actually a bunch of other random stuff that we’re doing (not the least of which is checking the weather about three times/day for the route to see when the window will open), but it would get too tedious to read much less write. 😉

So, we’re counting down the days. It’s raining right now and projected to potentially really pour tomorrow. We’re thinking maybe Thursday will be a good window to leave. In the mean time in between the rain squalls we’ll catch the bus into town and pick up our final, final supplies. The fresh stuff. Fruits and veggies for the planned 8-10 day voyage.

Nothing to it.

We arrived in the Denarau Marina yesterday. We feel like we have been transported back to Cabo San Lucas, almost. This marina is full of large party boats that go out to the islands daily, ferries from Musket Cove, huge Captain Cook Cruise Ships, and us cruisers. We look very small next Elvis. Yes, it is true, Elvis is in Fiji and he is watching over Charisma. He is a huge power boat on the dock next to us. At least he is quiet.

The local restaurants, including Hard Rock Cafe, along the water front are in full swing with live music as I sit in the cockpit writing this. We think
Adele is in Fiji and perhaps she brought Alannah Miles, she sings Black
velvet, with her. It is Saturday night here and there are even fireworks being launched all around us.

Fiji is preparing for Diwali, the five day Festival of Lights for the Hindus and apparently light of all kinds, including fireworks, are expected. So I think people are practicing and we are entertained. The actual festival begins on November 4th…maybe to celebrate Bob’s daughter, Christine’s birthday?

Today we went to Nadi, pronounced Nandi, with Jan and Rich from Slip Away. It was so nice to have someone show us the ropes in an unknown area. they were even in their dinghy as we arrived and helped us to our slip and got us settled in! great folks! thanks!

Classic sign at the butcher store.

but back to today’s adventure! We took the little yellow bus. It is called the Bula Bus and only cost $1.35 FJ, about 70 cents. It provided a scenic tour through the upscale resorts in Nadi and made us feel like we were on a Disneyland ride. When was the last time we saw a five star resort let alone five or six of them? The west side if Fiji is very developed.

But I digress…the Bula Bus took us to the Nadi vegetable and fruit market. Joy! I never tire of stalls and stalls of lovely fresh vegetables and fruits. And mangoes are in season! Yahoo!

We also went to the best and newest grocery store, The New World. Shopping for those last few items for our passage, like pitted black olives and good crackers, was easy!

After a quick trip for shopping we returned to Charisma and got going on “the list”. You know, the final list of things to do before we go. Bob topped off the fuel and repaired a few shackles. I got busy on another batch of ginger beer and repacking the refrigerator for the incoming passage meals and cleaning some hatch seals. Nothing like a “To Do” list to take up the rest of the afternoon.

Tonight we are relaxing, we had a wonderful Italian meal at a restaurant watching the moon rise; very romantic. Bob is snoring now, in the cock pit, and I am enjoying the full moon and anticipating our upcoming trip to New Zealand. It looks like we will have a good opening next Wednesday or Thursday so stay tuned!

From Ann
From Saweni Bay, where we are anchored you can see the activity in Lautoka Harbor. We figured it would be a good idea to go get a lay of the land (or harbor) in advance of eventually checking out of Fiji from Lautoka. So we rallied the troops, Bob and Linda from Bright Angel who are anchored very near us, to join us.

The plan was to meet them on the beach in our dinghies at 10 am and “walk” to Lautoka. Linda has often expressed her hesitancy to go for a “walk” with me and this day she was spot on. Bob and I arrived on the beach first because we put on our outboard. Proved to be a good idea.

Bob and Linda rowing in (wasn't as calm heading back out-see below)

While waiting for Bob and Linda to row to the beach we met a young Russian girl coming from the direction we thought would lead to a road. After a brief but entertaining conversation we found out that yes, you could walk just down the beach, out to the bigger road and in to Lautoka. A fifteen minute walk. Perfect!

We got the dinghies pulled way up on the beach and tied to a tree knowing that the tide would be in by the time we got back. And it was a nice 15 minute walk to the highway. A local man cleaning up the side of the road assured us that it was only another mile to town. So we continued.

It was about a mile on this road out to the main road. We had no idea of where we were going, but it was a nice day.

As we walked, large trucks overloaded with cut sugar cane buzzed by taking up at least their lane and half of the oncoming lane. At least they didn’t take up the shoulder that we were walking on.

The cane trucks were loaded to the absolute width of the road.

It is always fun to investigate on land. We found beer for sale at a small store near the gas station. It was offered at two different prices: one price for warm bottles and a higher price for cold product!

Want your beer "cold" or "warm"?

At one point a beautiful young Indian woman in an exquisite sari crossed the highway to our side. We all gawked as we passed her. What a beautiful sari. I had to get a picture so I turned around and went back and asked permission. She blushed and got flustered but did let me take a picture. I told her we were all thought she looked so lovely. She excitedly explained that today was her engagement and she was on the way to the event, taking the bus. I wished her years of happiness and thanked her for allowing me to take her picture on such a special day.

Indo-Fijian woman on her engagement day.

As we got to the next bus stop, which I was willing to bypass and continue our short walk to Lautoka, we were warmly greeted by a young woman named Ana. We learned her name because as we were passing and telling her we were walking to Lautoka she laughed. Oops. She obviously knew more than we did so the forced march was halted in lieu of a $1 Fijian bus ride. Good thing…it was another 20 minutes by bus!

Ana was delighted to meet us and happily showed us the farmer’s market and a good place to have lunch. On a mid-week day the market still was overflowing with bounty of every color and shape. And here they had mangoes! They are just coming into season and we love them.

We just love the markets here. This is how veggies should always be displayed.

Finding the harbor after lunch had the forced march back in action. But we found it and we found our friends Rita and Ulli from Anni Nad who were anchored in the harbor. So we got a guided tour of the dinghy dock and the customs office. It really helps to know where you are going at time of check out.

We ended the trip to Lautoka with some quick provisioning (yes, we found beer, wine, and fruits and veggies!) and a taxi ride back to Saweni. Good thing because the rainy weather was moving in!

Back at the beach we saw that our plan to tie up the dinghies was necessary as our dinghies were now floating in the high tide. Oh, and the wind had picked up and there was a 3 foot chop in the bay. Not good if you are rowing back to your boat. We devised a plan to tow Bright Angel’s dinghy behind ours and it worked. We kept Linda in our dinghy and had Bob from Bright Angel ride in his to keep an eye on their provisions. As Linda so accurately said, “He looks like a cocker spaniel with his head out the car window!” Poor Bob, it was a splashy, wet ride but we all arrived safely.

Bob's ride out.

Our impressions of Lautoka? Lovely people, wonderful market. Nice road trip! Oh, and yes, our feet were sore the next day!

OK, despite the fact that we’re getting ready to “hunker” down in advance of a possible storm, we had a great day today.  A 20 mile run from Musket Cove to Saweni Bay (just south of Lautoka).  Blue sky, turquoise water and 10 knots of wind on a broad reach meant 4 plus knots and five hours of glorious sailing.  One of the great days of sailing!

The wind is going to be building now over the next four or five days until the storm event predicted for early next week.  That’s why we moved over to the mainland for a little protection.

Stay tuned to this one.  It could just go away or get very bad.  We’re watching this very closely.

The "blue dot" is us. The red, yellow, purple is a tropical depression heading our way.

This is a screen shot of the GRIB forecast for early next week (Tuesday).  What you really don’t ever want to see, ever, is a “flag” on these things.  Flags equal over 50 knots of wind.  If you look closely you’ll see a flag in the NE quadrant in the “purple” area of the low.  We’re hoping this dissipates before getting to Fiji.  We’re currently anchored in Saweni Bay, but as of Friday we’re moving about 6 miles south to Denarau where (hopefully) we have a spot in the marina.  We’re watching this closely and hope it will veer off or dissipate.  Stay tuned though, it could be a wild ride!

To New Zealand that is.  Yup, it’s about that time.  The seasons are changing and the weather between here and NZ is changing from a winter (down here) of constant storms spawning from Australia across north of NZ.   Now as we move into the southern hemisphere’s Spring, there is a high pressure zone filling in that is pushing the storms south of New Zealand, leaving better weather between here and there.  We would go right now but there’s a low just north of us that’s floating around between Fiji and Vanuatu. These lows in the warm climate of the tropics have a way of picking up steam and turning into tropical storms.  It’s what we call “no bueno”.

So, we wait and work and enjoy all the other cruisers who are doing the same thing.

In the meantime, it’s boat work time to get everything ready for the 1000 plus mile passage.

I spent the better part of the day down in "the hole" (better known as the lazarette) on the left..

Project number one was under the cockpit in the lazarette.  The steering has been making some funny noises.  I spent over three hours down there and not sure I fixed the noise.  But the time was very well spent as many of the bolts holding the steering gear together were loose.  We’ve had some very tough, long ocean miles and I haven’t gone over them since leaving the US.  Time definitely well spent.  The lesson:  boats talk to you.  Some of the creaks are just happy noises, but some say “fix me”.  Always assume the latter until you’ve checked.

Yesterday Ann got the sewing machine out and sewed some more reinforcing patches on the stays’l that got so beat up in the passage north earlier this year.  The stays’l is our “go to” sail (along with a second or third reef in the main) in winds over 30 knots, so we want to make sure it won’t blow apart when we need it most.

And today while trapped down below because of my mess in the cockpit she made a new batch of ginger beer and a double batch of hummus. Stocking up for the jump!

We’re probably leaving this nice spot at Musket Cove in the next day or so to go over to Saweni Bay just south of Lautoka.  It’s going to get windy later this week-probably at least in the high twenties, maybe more and I would rather be in the better shelter of the bay and on our anchor than here on a mooring.  You never know what condition the mooring is under the water and it’s over 50 feet deep here, so we can’t dive it to see.

Anyway, that also puts us very close to Lautoka where we check out of the country.  So when a weather window comes available we can jump on it.

And to end our day we will join our friends at the BBQ and celebrate our six month anniversary! (Newlyweds get to count monthly for the first year!)

Not much to talk about today.

It was windy. White caps in the anchorage with the threat of rain all day. We pretty much just hung around due to weather.

Ann did boat projects, I took the dinghy in to get some food (we’re pretty much out of fresh stuff) and we read books.

I made Bok Choy and eggplant over rice. We’re getting pretty good at the vegetarian dishes since most of the meat out here looks pretty marginal. We’ll do some fishing on the next leg and see if we can add some protein to our meal plan.

The wind should subside in a day or so and then we’re likely to head out to another island about 20 miles north of here for a while before starting to prepare for the trip back to NZ.

Today…It’s been two years that we have been gone.

Seems amazing and per the cliche it seems like forever and yet it also seems like only yesterday.

Just for the heck of it, or for the two years of it, we decided we would do a retrospective of “Bob and Ann” over the last two years.

So, with full apologies that this post is simply “about us”, here are Bob and Ann over the last two years:

The Baja HaHa. Here we are on the hill above Bahia Santa Maria.

Ahhh. Dock Three, La Paz. A magical place where we made many lasting friendships (and had not a few Charismas at sunset).

Fast forward to April, 2012 and The Crossing. Here we are leaving Mexico, heading to the Marquesas (23 days later).

Daniel's Bay, Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. Tattoos now commemorate the voyage.

Into the Society Islands (Moorea, Tahitii). How much better can life get? (A lot we found-as you go west, it just gets better).

By the time we got to Bora Bora we found out it's all about the friends you meet along the way. We have been blessed to have sooo many great friends that we've met and shared adventures with.

Aitutaki (in the Cook Islands). A little island where we ran aground going in and out, but had a great time while we were there.

Rarotonga (once you've been here you can call it "Raro"), in the Cook Islands. We perfected our Med Mooring here (well, as much as you can call it "perfected")

Nuie. The biggest little island kingdom. One island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that was its own kingdom.

Tonga. Wonderful people, beautiful islands.

Drinking a toast after 'surviving' the passage (and storm) from Tonga to New Zealand.

We eloped in New Zealand. What a wonderful wedding with great friends in a fantastic location. Just magical.

At first, after a tough passage up to Fiji we thought this was going to be a tough year. Were we ever wrong. Here enjoying some sunshine in Vianni Bay (Summer 2013).

This whole season has been about amazing adventures such as here in Nagelelevu (which I can only spell with my eyes closed).

If you've been following this blog, you'll know we were "adopted" at Nairai (shown here in September, 2013).

...and this morning in Musket Cove on Malolo Island, exactly two years after leaving Berkeley, California, USA

So, have we changed from two years at sea in the South Pacific.  I can say that “inside” we’ve changed a lot.  The people we’ve met-cruisers and locals alike-have made a huge impression on us.  Seeing how simply yet happily people live “out here” has made us very optimistic. Seeing how little people can live with and yet be exceedingly satisfied gives us happiness for today and hope for the future.