Kylie and Taylor have arrived

Our final day of sailing before we got to Port Denereau we spent in celebration of Dave and Lindsay’s wedding and also in memory of Barry. The whole gang went to SunDance Guest Ranch, Barry’s favourite place in the world, to share stories and collectively remember a very special man. Danny, Ashley and Addison were able to go visit Lynn and Megan after the wedding weekend and stay there with them on Sunday night and even get a ride in together on Monday morning. We sure wished we could have been there, but we did have everyone in our thoughts.

Another awesome sunset



Port Denereau was a pleasant surprise. It is a wonderful marina surrounded by shops, restaurants and every kind of service you could want. This was really handy as we spent two days getting ready for Taylor and Kylie to arrive – provisioning, fueling up, getting the spare cabin ready, etc. On Monday morning Peter had the cab experience from hell as he took a cab to the Latoka to get checked in (In Fiji you have to check in and check out of each and every domestic area). The cab ran out of fuel and then it got called back for an inspection, so Peter ended up on a couple of public buses, and basically made it back in time for us to turn around and head out to the airport. Of course, the highlight this week has been having them on board. We spent the first night at the marina and went out for dinner. We left around noon the next day and had a great sail over to Musket Cove.

Shopping at the market in Nadi



We have spent the past three nights here, a little longer than planned, but there were high wind warnings and Kylie isn’t the most comfortable sailor. It is an awesome place here though, totally catering to the visiting boats. Of course, in keeping with tradition, Calamity Kylie has an accident on Day Two getting off the dinghy and on to the boat. She sprained her “good” knee and was in quite a bit of pain. Luckily the next day, she felt better and was able to limp along on a walk on land.

Kylie and Taylor on the beach



Last night, at dusk, we went to the island bar where we made our own barbeque dinner. While we were heading over, a snake crawled across Kylie’s foot. She almost lost it in the boat as the only kind of snake that could be in the dinghy was a poisonous sea snake. She freaked out BIG TIME and almost jumped off the dinghy . We managed to get to the dinghy dock (Taylor and Peter were killing themselves laughing). Fortunately we had “tongs” in our bag for our barbeque, so Peter was able to track it down as it slithered underneath the canvas cover and then he threw it back to the sea. Once back on the boat, we had a humungous flying cockroach in the cabin. We have never seen one before and wasn’t able to catch it…so Kylie had a sleepless night between that and her pained leg. Hopefully the rest of the trip for them will be a little less adventurous.

Out for a “limp” with Kylie



Yesterday, I went for my 50th scuba dive with Peter and Taylor. How cool is that to be able to dive with my future son-in-law. We did a pinnacle dive which meant diving down 75 feet and then swimming through the bottom of the pinnacle and then we ascended by circling the inside of the pinnacle. There were literally thousands of fish and we felt like we were swimming in a very crowded aquarium. So much fun. While we were diving, Kylie had a massage, and then as mentioned earlier we all went for dinner to the bar where Taylor made us a great steak dinner, Aussie-style.

Dad supervising Taylor making us a wonderful steak dinner



We are heading out shortly to other out islands. We have decided to stay at the closer islands in this group so that we can spend a couple of nights at each place and do snorkeling and hopefully kayaking if Kylie’s knee is up for it.

Dinner is served



Until next week…..enjoy the last days of July.

In memory of Barry Rimmer - Happy Trails!

This week’s blog is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend, Barry Rimmer who died suddenly on Sunday in Vancouver from a heart attack.

In tribute to Barry:
We have been family friends with the Rimmers for over 20 years. We have spent many memorable weekends with them at SunDance Guest Ranch. Words cannot express how very sad we are. Barry was a legend and he touched the lives of everyone who knew and loved him. It is really remarkable that both our son Danny and Peter - two different generations - thought of him as such a close friend (as did our daughter Kylie and I). He was bigger than life and a man of real integrity and heart. He will live on in our memories as well as the four organ donor recipients that he saved the lives of. (Generous in life – generous in death – no surprise there). We now have a new angel in heaven watching over us...and you can bet he'll be kicking our ass if we don't live every day with love, humour and boundless enthusiasm as he did. He leaves behind a loving wife, Lynn and an amazing daughter Megan (Kylie's age - 23) and a huge number of friends. R.I.P. dear friend. We will miss you.
Peter & Barry spend many, many wonderful Friday nights together around “Pokey’s Post”. They were the dynamic duo and best of buddies. Sadly this was the last Friday night they shared at SunDance a few months ago in May 2011.



Needless to say, Barry’s sudden death overshadowed everything this week. Prior to this terrible news, we had a wonderful continuing visit in Jack’s Bay. We had gone out for dives again Friday and Saturday and I’m thrilled that I seem to have my buoyancy issues figured out (thanks to Scott, who is a certified dive instructor).

In between dives with Scott on Beachhouse



On Monday night, (which is Canada’s Sunday, we went out diving again with Scott in the morning. The dives were amazing – going through swim through caves, swimming with turtles, admiring the amazing White Wall, etc. I am so glad that the diving went so well. Things change in just a moment though, as we all know (but sometimes fail to appreciate).

The island church



After Danny called to say that Barry was in the hospital, I organized for some gals from the other boats in the bay to go in to church on Sunday – first time I’ve actually gone to a church and really prayed. I arranged to meet a local family who walked us to their church. It was a lovely service – all in Fijian. We had a chance to visit the local schoolhouse and to talk to many locals as we passed their homes walking to and from the church. The local family invited us in for tea and cookies, so we ended up with a wonderful day-long experience.

Adorable little 3-year old Stephanie, who came to church with us.



When we got back to the boat, Danny called with the terrible news. I had already organized with Jack to have the village put on a local dinner for the yachties that night. This is one way they can make some money off the boats coming through. We didn’t think we could still go as we were both inconsolable, but we felt committed to following through on the dinner that I set in motion.



Peter & Di with our host Chief Jack, after presenting the traditional Sevu Sevu which is given by the Captain to the Chief (shown above) This is a required custom to be welcomed on land. Upon acceptance of the gift (Kava) this is followed by a blessing for our boat and people aboard by the Chief on behalf of all the villagers. A sacred ceremony that is required on each island. (check out the rainbow in the rear of the photo shown below)



Our female hostess Eleanor wearing the Canada t-shirt we gave her.



We managed to get through this (as Barry would have wanted us to anyway) and then we decided to head out to sea for a few days of quiet reflection and to mourn Barry in our own way. We set sail before dawn and have been cruising towards the mainland ever since.

What was really bizarre is that we haven’t seen a whale since last year in Tonga. They are very rare here, however, as we were sailing out of the pass, as the sun was coming up, we saw a whale right in front of us, frolicking and breeching. I’m not sure I believe in any of this, but I really felt it was Barry’s spirit paying us a final visit in his wild and crazy way. If nothing else, it made us smile and we said our final farewell to a true friend.

Thinking of you Barry



We should arrive in our final destination tomorrow night close to Nadi airport. On the bright side, Kylie and her fiancé Taylor are arriving on Monday night for 10 days and we can’t wait.

On another bright note, our young friends (and surrogate kids) Dave and Lindsay are getting married this weekend at Silver Star. We wish we could be there to celebrate with them. Danny is in the wedding party and being a typical Bruckmann, he managed to cut his lip wide open yesterday on a screwdriver, so is sporting stitches in his lips. I’m sure Lindsay will really love that for the wedding photos. Wishing you both a life full of love, adventure and abundance in everything.

Until next week…..Consider signing up to donate your organs if you haven’t already. I’ve had two friends this year that have given the gift of life to a total of 8 people. Barry being the most recent, and our friend Cindy, late wife of Scott on Beachouse, who died in March of this year.

Barry – at his wild and craziest best! Thanks for being such a special part of our lives. Happy Trails!

Jac'k's Bay Fiji

Okay, I’m in love with Fiji – maybe even more than Tonga. I’m not sure how it is possible to keep loving every place we sail to even more than the one before, but it seems to be the case.

As in each Polynesian country we’ve gone to the Saturday market brings together the community. We went early in the morning to stock up for the week.


Peter busy picking just the right produce




Later that morning, the gals from Beachhouse (Anja and Sandrine) joined me for a day long excursion by bus to the “big” city of Labasa. It was a 3 hour bus ride there and a 3 hour bus ride back. The scenery was amazing as we went up and down the hills and stopped in all the little villages in the countryside to pick up and drop off people.

At times the bus was jammed full with people and food filling the aisles. What was really funny was that Anja had to go to the bathroom REALLY badly (the bumpy roads and lack of shocks didn’t help any) and so when we stopped to drop off a passenger she asked the bus driver if she could run in to the woods. She ended up in a mud bog, lost one sandal temporarily and got covered in mud up to her knees. Fortunately a very nice young man helped her outside the bus by pouring his water bottle on her legs. I had napkins so that she could finish her clean-up. The entire bus was staring out at her and laughing like mad. I’m sure the crazy “palangi woman” made their day.

Anja making her way over everything in the aisles, to get back on the bus after her nature stop.



Sunday morning, Peter, Anja and Scott went on a hammerhead shark dive. I decided to pass because of the buoyancy issues I had in Tonga. I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of maintaining at 60 feet in water that was 1,000 feet deep with no point of reference – not yet, anyway. They actually swam around for 45 minutes without seeing ANYTHING…then they got lucky when about 20 – 30 hammerhead sharks made an appearance.

As I had a wonderful day to myself, I went walking to find a church. I don’t really have a plan when I do this, I simply walk for a couple of hours until it is church time and then I wander in to one. The one I found was at the top of the hill, deep in the woods. It looked just perfect, and the little sign said “Everyone welcome – English service”. I was a little early for the service so I sat under a tree outside and the pastor came out and welcomed me personally. He explained that they have a prayer session first then the service, but I was welcome to come in and join everything. Always ready to step outside my comfort zone, I followed him in, but was totally unprepared for this “hell and brimstone” type of church. It was a humble church filled with the local villagers, many of whom offered their prayers peppered with “Hallelujah Jesus”, “Praise be to God”, etc.

A different kind of church



On the plus side, they had an amazing full band with three women that were belting it out like a southern Baptist church and I was truly mesmerized by the music. I’ve never heard anything like that up close and personal. On the flip side, I not only heard one sermon, but another by a visiting evangelist who ran up and down on the stage, full of enthusiasm and the “power of the lord speaking through him”. The two pastors then proceeded to do a “hands-on healing” with an old lady, complete with all the screaming and moaning.

I really felt like I was in the twilight zone, but the real kicker came when the pastor moved me to the front row and then called me up to the pulpit. Can you believe it??? He said “God has brought sister Diana, all the way from Canada to bear witness with all of us….come on Sister Diana speak to the good people here and bring the word of God”. Somehow I made it up the stairs to the pulpit and felt like a total fraud. I somehow managed to speak about their lovely country and their wonderful people and may God keep them all safe…blah,blah,blah. At the end of this ordeal, they all stood up and raised their hands, clapped and did a lot more “thank you sister”, “praise be to God”, etc., etc. Finally after two hours we all started leaving the church, where I was hugged and praised by each and every one of the congregation. I did manage to pass on the kind offer of lunch with the church family. Certainly something for the old memory bank.

Kids on the way to school.



On Tuesday morning, we set sail at the crack of dawn (buddy boating with Beachhouse) for a 9 hour motor boat bash against the wind and waves to an amazing bay that I call Jack’s bay. The bay is surrounded by a little village, well-tucked in to the trees and hills so you can only see a couple of homes. This village has no roads, no power or anything. The kids go to school each morning at 7:30 via boat right past QuickStar. I’ll talk more about this magical place next week after I’ve been to the church, the school, gone on a hike with Jack’s wife, etc.

Jack, his niece Eleanor and great-niece Stephanie, who they call the rose of the bay. Eleanor came to our boat to do some sewing for us. One of the few ways the locals can make some money here.



The main reason for coming here was the world-renowned diving. The local head honcho is Jack who is considered the chief of the yachties. He will come along on your boat and take you to the dive sites where he will keep an eye on things on your boat and on your bubbles. He only charges the equivalent of $5 Canadian for each person. We went out for two days with Scott (hence the reason I didn’t get the blog done yesterday). It was awesome, as Anja is a dive master, Peter has years of diving experience and Scott is an instructor. Plus, of course, Scott has all the gear and a compressor on board.

Let’s go diving



I learned a lot and experienced my first ever heavy current dive. When we were ascending the current was ripping through at about 4 knots against us, so for the 3 minute 15 foot safety stop we were hanging on for dear life to the anchor chain. When we were ready to get on the boat, we switched from the anchor line to a floating line that Scott had secured to the bow of the boat and then all we did was hold loosely to that and we literally were “shot” to the back of the boat. It was like a ride at Disneyland. Anyway, I now have a few more dives under my belt, all successful, all challenging but comfortable. I actually got to enjoy seeing the thousands of fish, the colourful coral, small sharks and my all-time favourite – a couple of turtles.

QuickStar in Jack’s Bay with our dinghy on Beachhouse’s mooring while we were out diving.



Sorry this blog is so long – but we had a packed full week including a Skype video call with Oma and Opa – which was their first time ever. Technology is wonderful! Drop me an email when you get a chance…we want to hear what you are up to and how the summer is going for you.

Until next week…..counting down the days until Taylor and Kylie get here…only 9 more sleeps!!!!!

P.S. This blog is dedicated to the memory of Trisha Carlson who died in a car accident July 11, 2010 in her early fifties and to Diane Andersen who should have turned 55 on July 12th but was taken by cancer at 50 years old. Also to my late Father who has been gone for almost 10 years whose birthday was July 11th. R.I.P.


Beachouse here at Jack’s Bay under the full moon last night ending a 10/10 week.

We've arrived in Fiji!

Bula from Fiji!

As mentioned in my crossing blog, the last day in Tonga was bittersweet. We really loved it there and with all the time I spent on my own I got to know lots of the people. The final day saying goodbye was really tough. Each time I went to say goodbye, they insisted on giving me a gift. Anja was with me so was able to get pictures – not that I would forget any of them anyway.

My favourite market lady was Mary, who I asked to make me a special salt and pepper holder. The great thing is that she made up a whole bunch and was selling them like hotcakes, especially after I bought a salt and pepper shaker and set it up for her in one of the baskets so that people could see what they were used for. (Yes, I love marketing!)

I’m holding Mary’s newest “hot” item – a salt and pepper basket holder (on the right)


We celebrated Canada’s Day one day early because we knew we would be at sea. Had a lovely Chinese themed dinner at the Aquarium, with our hosts Lori and Mike – who have been fabulous to us and our boat while it moored here over the winter.

Crazy Canucks with Lori and Mike - hosts "extra-ordinaire"


The good thing about the long delay getting checked out from Tonga was that we were able to participate in the weekly race again and even managed to move up a spot.

Just check out that there are some boats behind us!


After the race we celebrated with Mike and Lori again and their gang at the Aquarium Cafe. They even picked up the tab, which was much appreciated, but not necessary.

Peter saying his final farewells at the Aquarium Café.


We are now safe and sound in Fiji after a four-day crossing (you can see the day to day sailing log below). We even managed to fly the gennaker on the first day but then the wind turned against us so we motored and beat in to the weather and the winds for the next three days.

Flying the gennaker



It was wonderful having Anja aboard. She was a great sailor and a good companion. On our final day we enjoyed a celebration dinner while we were waiting to come in to the harbor.

Well-done team!


We motored in to Savu Savu, a northern Fiji island just after sunset.



We had been in touch with Scott on BeachHouse all season and during this crossing. He came out to meet us in his dinghy to guide our way in the dark to the mooring ball. It was wonderful to reconnect with him and meet his crew member Sandrine. We spent a lovely evening with them all the next night on BeachHouse, but I must admit it was hard for me, since my dear friend Cindy (Scott's late wife) is no longer with us. I also picked up a bit of an infection on the crossing, so I had that as a valid excuse to go home early and cherish my “Cindy” memories by myself.

Scott and Peter doing dinghy errands



For the last couple of days we have gotten organized for our Fiji stay and done some boat repairs, maintenance, etc. I'm also recovering well from my infection, so should be back to normal in a day or two.

We are thrilled with the low prices of everything here. For a new battery, it was only $85 Canadian – fuel is 70 cents a litre and food prices are approximately half what they are in Canada.

Today, Anja transferred to Scott’s boat Beachhouse where she will become another crew member. She says that she feels so very lucky to have met us and then connected with Scott, because he has all the scuba gear on board, including a compressor, so she will be able to do lots of diving and will also learn lots regarding sailing a larger boat and maintenance, as her dream is to one day have a boat of her own. I’m sure it will work out really well for everyone. Anja couldn’t stop “thanking me” for letting her catch a ride with us here and then hooking her up with Scott – but I did remind her that she “saved” me when we went scuba diving – so I think I actually got the better end of the deal. We both feel lucky that we have all become friends (and also got to sample her awesome German style pancakes).

Saying goodbye to Anja as she transfers to BeachHouse (with Scott and Sandrine)



We will be with them “buddy boating” for the next 10 days or so, doing lots of diving and exploring the northern anchorages.

Until next Friday…Happy Birthday to my older sister Dorothy. Make it a great day!

Day Four - Fiji bound

Hooray...we are in Fiji waters. We've had a rough crossing, however, last night the wind goddess was in our favour as she turned the winds to a more favourable south west (instead of just west which was dead on our nose). It rained quite a bit last night, but there was enough wind to carry our sails (reefed). When I got up for the 4:00 a.m. shift the wind had died and the rain had subsisted. I did a 4-hour shift hand-steering in the pitch black. A little disorientating, but I came to trust the instruments.

Peter didn't get much sleep as he was on high alert for a reef in the middle of our path. Once we passed it just before I came on shift, he was able to rest easy and get some shut-eye.

If all goes well, we should have a calm day of motoring, under totally overcast skies. It might well rain, but we are only 10 hours from our destination, so even if it does our spirits will remain high.

Our very good friend Scott (from Beachouse) is currently in Sava Sava and we will hail him when we arrive, since it will be after dark. He will assist us coming in through the reef and he has already arranged for us to have a mooring ball, so that prevents us from having to stay offshore floating around for the night.

Anja has been a wonderful addition and it has been great getting to know her and learn about all her many travels around the world. We will all go diving together once we get organized in Fiji.

Thanks for following along with us on this crossing. I'll next update the blog, as always, commencing again this Friday.
Until then....enjoy the beginning of the summer months - laugh, play and build sandcastles.

Day Three

This will be short and sweet as the conditions are very bumpy and uncomfortable to be below. We made it through the night with just a little excitement when our wind vane broke. Peter managed to fix it hanging off the swim platform, but it took 25 minutes in the pitch dark.

We are currently not in a good position. We only managed less than 4 knots all night...with the motor going. Puts us in to the dangerous reef-laden Lau group AFTER dark tonight. We will maintain an increased vigilance as we draw near to the island group. We are not able to stop there as it is not an official check in point - plus we can't enter it for an anchorage after dark.

We have about 3 metre swells with wind currently 20- 25 knots North West - the Fiji weather report which we just downloaded is showing thunder storms ahead and a change to West winds...which will be dead on the nose. So it may take us two more nights to get there of beating in to the waves and weather.

Should be an interesting 24 hours. Stay tuned tomorrow.

Day Two

I'm just about finished my 4:00 - 8:00 a.m. shift. No real sunrise this morning as it is 95% overcast. The wind was strong yesterday during the day (up to 25 knots), but at about 1:00 this morning it died off. We started motorsailing just after 4:00. The night watches were totally black, with the cloud cover eliminating any light from the stars or the moon.
We have covered about 100 miles with 300ish left to go. The weather is expected to continue with heavy rain and unpredictable winds.

Anja has proven to be a valuable crew member. We were able to fly the jenneker with her assistance all day yesterday. It also sure helps to have someone else to share the three night watches with, although Peter was up most of the night adjusting sails. We are happy that we put up all the waterproof screens around the cockpit, however, the roof of the bimini is no longer waterproof, so we got a little drenching there.
We haven't seen any boats or wildlife, except for a breeching Hump Back whale just as we left the sheltered islands of Tonga. I, of course, took this as a farewell sign. Peter is just about to go on the Ham radio for another weather update and to say hello.
Until tomorrow....cherish your weekend.

Day One - Tonga to Fiji

6:00 - Saturday, July 2nd
(Happy Canada Day today to our Canadian family and Friends)

Just a quick update...we didn't leave the harbour yesterday as it took all day to clear customs, immigration, get fuel, etc.

Our new crew member Anja did not have her clearance papers on her. It was the responsibility of her Captain (the Captain from the boat she sailed in on) to turn in her release papers, so that we could take responsibility for her to Fiji. We managed to track him down and get him to customs. Long story short, we got it all worked out, but not until close to 4:00.

We then decided to enter the Friday night race so had Mike and Inky join us with Anja as well. It was a fun race, lots of wind and we managed to move up a position from last week. Not bad with a rookie crew.

It was sad to go around yesterday and say goodbye to everyone. The locals are so
unbelievably generous that they kept giving me gifts of food and weaved goods. For our final night Mike and Lori hosted our group at the Aquarium for dinner, drinks and lots of tequila shots! I almost cried when we said our final farewells. It was just like leaving home. Just love it here and will be back for sure!

In the race, Anja was excellent, so I feel so much more secure on this crossing with the three of us, instead of just the two of us. I think I already mentioned she is both a dive master and a sailing instructor. She is a little worried about sea sickness because on her dreadful crossing over she was sick for the whole 15 days. We'll see how it goes, but both of us have already started with our medication because the seas are moderate to rough, with high swells.

I will update this blog each morning, assuming we are able to get a Ham connection.

Take care and enjoy a wonderful Canada Day long weekend.
Peter, Diana and Anja