In memory of Erich Bruckmann

The source of the many hot springs surrounding Suva Suva

 The weather has finally co-operated, so after another week of overcast, windy and rainy weather, we are able to depart today.  This next week we will slowly make our way across the northern portion of Fiji to reach the Nadi side.  This is a lovely area and we have gone this way twice before, so we will search out some new anchorages and snorkeling areas to explore. We will be off the grid again, hence the reason for me doing the blog a day earlier than normal.

Hairy Tree on shore

 Although we have not been able to do too much exciting this week, it has been really interesting to listen to the two Ham radio nets each morning.  Last week we learned of an Air Canada flight enroute to Sydney, Australia when the pilot was alerted to an emergency beacon at sea.  He took the plane down and had the passengers keep an eye out.  One of them spotted a boat at sea and they were able to make contact.  The boat was in an emergency situation taking on water, so Air Canada was able to raise the coast guard who successfully rescued the crew.  

Mango forests are very common here in Fiji

 What is also interesting is for the past few weeks and for the next two weeks, there are a number of boats making their passages to either New Zealand or Australia since the cyclone season starts here on November 1^st.  We are following all of them as they report in each day.  This week the weather has been stormy and there is one single hander who left from right beside us here just two days ago.  He has been beaten up by squall after squall, but as he says “he will soldier on”.  Another boat reported a medical emergency due to a severe allergy to an anti-sea-sickness patch.  They still have four days to go till landfall, so hopefully things will go alright.  

The Canadian government assisting with school projects

 A number of boats were scheduled to leave this Monday, but another big front is moving in, so they are re-evaluating.  We are really looking forward to following them  as we have become friends with many of them that will be leaving.  In another part of the world, our good friend Scott from Beachhouse sent his position report today and I’m thrilled to announce that he has safely arrived in Madagascar.  He will spend a few days recovering from the 10 day passage and then will begin his next leg to South Africa.

Peter wanted me to include a photo of this Beaver aircraft.  This is for Bob Kobzey’s sake as he is a good friend in Canada who restores these aircraft.

Departing Suva Suva

Has to dodge sailboats for takeoff

 We were thrilled to finally have the time, energy and the weather to go for a long kayak yesterday.  

This week will be bittersweet…..after a bit of a hassle, we found a lawyer so that we could complete our statutory declaration for Kylie and Taylor, swearing that their relationship is authentic, so that Kylie can apply for her permanent Australian citizenship.  Pretty sad doing this, but very happy that they are so happy together.

 On October 28^th, it will be the first anniversary of Peter’s Dad’s death.  We are still so grateful we could be with him and the family  for so long last year to be able to say goodbye and thank him for the wonderful life he led and the legacy he left by being such a good example of a hard-working and loving family man.  In memory of Erich I’m including the lyrics of the song he picked for his memorial service.

A Tree and Me

Please no cold headstone for me    

I’d rather plant a sapling tree  

And lay my ashes ‘neath it’s foot      

 So through my body it takes root  

 Then as the seasons come and go    

 My monument and I will grow    

 Wave bright green flags at summer sky   

 And harbor birds that happen by  

 The bronze each autumn bloom would spring                           

 And wear the white coats winter’s bring 

 A tree I marry with my dust   

 Will husband me with rooted thrust 

 Our seed will scatter far and wide 

 ‘Cross God’s fertile countryside  

 So an arbor family will share our immortality  

 A tree and me.

In June of this year, we had a family ceremony planting a tree in his beloved Bronte, Ontario in sight of the sailboats and the lake he loved so much.

Erich’s urn (which he made as perfectly as he did everything else) & plaque

The family with the tree

Peter helping his Mom spread Erich’s ashes

 Erich had told us for the last six years that he loves that we are out here sailing and fulfilling a dream.   He always said “never wait – do it now”.  This always meant a lot to us. Sending you our love from Fiji.   May you rest in peace.

 

Until next week…… Don't be afraid to take a big step if needed. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps."

-- Anonymous

Rain, rain go away…

Beautiful flowers from the market ($3.00)

We were quite happy to return safely from our Futuna Visa run.  We are now able to keep the boat here in Fiji over the winter, as we did last year, when we return to Canada. 

Just finished checking back in to Fiji.  QuickStar in background.

We returned to Savu Savu, which has a nice mooring natural harbour.   Unfortunately, It has rained dogs and cats (and sometimes elephants and lions) this whole week, so we haven’t done anything exciting or noteworthy.  

View from the town of QuickStar ….in the rain

The Saturday morning market….in the rain

It has been a good week to get inside boat projects done, as well as lots of two-handed bridge and reading.  I just finished a great book called The Mulligan (which is a book we are reading in our book club back home).  Also, finished the four book series entitled Game of Thrones.  Really enjoyed reading about the medieval times and eternally grateful I wasn’t a woman back in those days!

The highlight of the week for the locals was the arrival of a Princess cruise ship.  It poured a couple of thousand tourists on the town for one day, all returning to the ship with lots of trinkets.

Princess Cruise Ship

 I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have been going wheat free and have eliminated carbs for the past 6 weeks now.   Can’t believe I haven’t had any junk food except for ONE chocolate bar, and surprisingly I’m not craving anything. I am going to go one step further with the Paleo diet (thanks for suggesting it Liz).  It is a pretty basic diet of meat, seafood, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds.  So no dairy, no gluten and no good stuff!  It is supposed to really help with autoimmune diseases such as Lupus and also is supposed to be a really good anti-inflammatory diet…so I’ll give it a good shot.  Not supposed to drink alcohol either…but I enjoy our gin and tonics and white wine too much to say goodbye to that while we are out cruising.  If anyone has any personal experience with the Paleo diet, I’d really appreciate your feedback and comments.  Just send me an email to svquickstar@shaw.ca. 

Coming back from grocery shopping….in the rain

 Peter a little drenched….in the rain

 We are unable to go anywhere at this point because the weather is just socked in and with so many reefs surrounding anchorages, we can’t risk trying to get in to them without proper sunlight to help us eyeball the entrances.  We hope to get out cruising again soon.  Hope you are enjoying beautiful Fall weather back home.  Loved seeing the photos from Lori from Cornation Park in Oakville with all the trees in full autumn colour (my old stomping ground).

The advantage of rainy weather – a double rainbow!

 

Until next week…..

"Life begins when you do."

                   -- Hugh Downs, American Broadcaster 

Back in Fiji safe and sound

 
We made it!  We are now safely moored in Savu Savu, here in beautiful Fiji.  We've already had the customs officials, the immigration officials and the bio-security agent come onboard and check us in to the country (and collect the approximate $150 fees).  The paperwork took two hours, but it is now all done and we are free to disembark.  Methinks it is time to chill and relax abit!

We will be spending the next two months exploring around Fiji...especially the more remote islands up in the Yasawa Islands.  Will post again this Friday as always.

Until next time....

"A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch."

                                                  -- Mary Kay Ash, cosmetics pioneer 

One day to go.....

This is a special day for me as it was my Mom’s birthday.  She has been gone 19 years but I still miss her and wish she was here to talk to everyday.

Thinking of you Mom….enjoy your birthday rainbow

We had a much nicer evening in Alofi than we would have if we’d stayed in the main anchorage.  We enjoyed the sunset, and a nice cold gin and tonic.

Sunset at Alofi

 We up anchored at 5:00 a.m. this morning just as it was starting to get light. We set up our self-steering monitor that we were able to use for the crossing for the past 24 hours as we were able to sail the whole way.

Our monitor on duty!

It was a much more comfortable tack coming back; however, there were still large swells of about 9 feet with waves topping them between 1 – 2 feet.  They were also very confused and came at us every 1 -3 seconds which made for another wild and wet ride with water crashing over the cockpit.  

One of many churches as we were heading out of Futuna

The worst part of the trip was just after sunset.  We saw a large fishing boat heading towards us but we couldn’t make out the navigation lights since it was lit up like a Christmas tree with wraparound red lights – making it impossible to see whether it was coming straight for us, going ahead of us or dropping below us.  We tried to hail them a number of times on the radio, but no luck.  The boat kept coming closer and closer until we were directly on a collision path.  Peter immediately tacked off, but this was really disorientating since it was pitch black and the lights of the boat were blaring at us.  After we tacked and made a run for it, we thought we were in the clear, but it seemed like the boat was playing chicken with us and starting heading towards us again on our new course.  We had to take evasive action again and finally we managed to put some distance between us. 

 Needless to say it was a very scary situation and the closest we have ever come to an at sea collision.  Then just 15 minutes later another fishing boat appeared and we thought we’d have to do more of the same.  It turned out to be two Taiwanese long lead fishing boats as they began talking to one another on the radio.  Very frustrating that they ignored us when we made repeated calls to them on the radio.  A very near miss!  It took us about an hour to calm down and settle in for another long, pitch black night stretching before us.

Peter finally relaxing while I’m on watch.

This morning greeted us with an amazing sunrise and a much more comfortable beam reach, rather than almost on the nose.  Most of the night it was over 20 knots with us clipping along between 6 – 7.5 knots.  We are now within the more protected waters along the channel and between the reefs, so I’m able to be below typing this while Peter is keeping a sharp eye out for reefs.   We expect to arrive back in Fiji to check in tomorrow morning. 

Morning sunrise….

I’ll just do a brief update tomorrow to let you know we arrived safe and sound and to catch up on our sleep.  Thanks for coming along on our passage.