So I spent a few more hours today troubleshooting our electronics issue. As you might recall all the instruments up at the helm have quit! When I turn them on they run for a few minutes then the whole network shuts down. I have to unplug the helm instruments to bring the other one in the nav station back online. It’s inconvenient at the very least since Ann has to read the depth and other info from the cabin and then shout it up to me at the helm. (And sometimes he listens! LOL! -most times! But when he has visibility he overrides my calls!)

But…today, I took apart the network and tried each of the helm instruments, one at a time, by itself to see if one of the three was malfunctioning. Turned out each one tripped the network. Can’t be that all three have gone bad.

So…I have cleaned every single connection, I tried replacing the SealTalk NG “Tee” connector (damn lucky I had a spare waaayy out here as there’s probably not another one between here and Aukland!). Voila! Once I replaced that the network worked. It’s now been on for about four hours and no problem. I’m going to turn it off for the night and then light it up again tomorrow and hope it still works. I’m hoping it’s a defective connector because I have run out of any other possible idea.

Good timing if it really works since our next leg to Nairai will be the most challenging. There are zero waypoints into Nairai for the gps, the charts are almost non-existent. We found a chart of the general area today-it was based on a survey done in…1877!

So, good light to be able to see the reef and a functioning depth sounder visible at the helm will be a happy thing.

I don’t think I mentioned last night that I cooked our new specialty-fish in coconut milk in a pumpkin. The only issue is while it was in a Pyrex dish, the Pyrex exploded in the oven! Good thing I lined it with foil-our dinner wasn’t ruined nor was the oven-just scared the crap out of us! Luckily the clean up was not too hard, it only took Ann a few minutes to safely remove the remaining glass shards and clean the oven!

Tonight I used the leftovers and added more Mahi, some eggplant, the end of our heart of palm, some yellow curry and served it all over rice. Yuuummmmy!

From Ann- and to stay out of the captain’s way I took a hike to Cousteau. Actually, right up front I have to confess that I “snuck” onto the Cousteau property and touched their dock without going through the “Gestapo” at the front gate.( I sure hope that Rich from SV Legacy is reading this!) Yep, I walked all the way to Cousteau via the beach! It was a beautiful walk but my favorite part was as I returned on the road.

I saw a bus stop and unload some people but ignored it and tried to duck under the cloud of dust that resulted. A few yards down the road I noticed two young children making their way up into the hills. We all called out, “Bula!” and five steps farther down the road I hear, “I know you!” and they were right! I knew these two kids too! I retraced my steps….

And sure enough the two kids hiking up the hill in their school uniforms were the same cute kids who I had met at the marina dock on Sunday. They were trying to get their parents to come see the cool sea life they has found. I noticed and asked to be shown their special “finds”. Well, ends up that Sterie and Walther remembered me too! “I know you!” they shouted! Imagine that..I know people that I run into in the middle of Fiji! And so darling, Steri commented…”It is so nice to see you again!” No small deed goes undone. These people are really special. This made my day!