…by Ann.

Ever since the 2010 Baja Ha Ha where we caught and filleted tuna in the cockpit (thank you Geoff Byrne) I have been craving more fresh tuna. We have caught many mahi mahi since then, but … I LOVE tuna. I love tuna from the can even. But I really love fresh tuna. And we have been carrying three packages of seaweed wrappers just in case we catch a tuna.

I am not just fixated on tuna today without reason. Monday our friends from Lightspeed, Dave and Kathy, arrived in Fiji. We last saw them in the Marquesas and have followed their blog so we were delighted to reconnect with them. And like Wrigley’s used to say…double the fun…they caught three huge tuna on their way into Savusavu! Well done! So the other day they had us over to lunch to catch up and eat TUNA! Sushi and sashimi!

Wow, so fun to catch up and so great to get such a treat. And do you know why I love cruisers? They gave us some tuna to take home! Bob just made seared tuna for dinner. Did I tell you I LOVE tuna. It was delicious!

We are dropping our new fishing lines in the water as soon as we head to Fuluga tomorrow! Wish us luck!

We are leaving Savusavu after almost four weeks. We, mostly Bob, have repaired very important systems and we are ready to go. I, meanwhile have cleaned and polished and repaired sails. The ugly side of cruising. Payment for the fun to come!

But before we depart I want to send out two important thoughts to incoming cruisers.

Firstly, beware of where you buy carved souvenirs. Our friends had quite the problem getting some beautifully carved items into the US because the proper quarantine paperwork was not available. I even went back to the store where they purchased the items to see if I could get the necessary documentation. This is difficult to do after the purchase. So make sure you get actual quarantine cleared wood. The real quarantine stickers are about 2″ x 3″ and are yellow with official green writing on them. Other stickers are not good enough for customs.

Secondly, for cruisers still headed this way from New Zealand please don’t forget to provision with the three C’s- cheese, chocolate, and coffee. These can be found in Fiji but are very expensive. I was prepared for the coffee but am heart broken that I did not know about the chocolate and cheese. I thought cheese was expensive in New Zealand and so passed on paying $8 for a large brick of cheese; it is $22 FJ ($11 US) for half that size. Ouch. And our favorite candy bar is $18 FJ vs. $2 New Zealand. In US that would be $9 vs. $1.80.

Lesson learned.. Stock your “C” foods!