Saturday 24 November 2012

RIP John – svRaj




Peter’s “postcard” photo of the beach



Our plan for this week was to head out to the remote Yasawa Islands for the final three weeks of our cruising season – however, the weather is the master out here – and we needed to high-tail it back to Vuda Point Marina.  The second Tropical Depression (which is the step before it is declared a cyclone) of the season was fast approaching. 
We only had two nights out at Musket Cove, but we made the most of our time there.

These “Christmas trees” only bloom red in late November and December.


Another cool tree on the Island.



When we arrived at Vuda Point, we had to stern tie because of the possible cyclone.  With the large low and high tide variances, it makes it a little challenging to get on and off the boat.

High tide


Low tide

The exciting “event” of the week was the potential cyclone.  The marina took it very seriously and we all had to have our boats fully prepared.  We were all watching the weather very closely.
 

Our friends Dave and Suzie from Sidewinder sent us this photo of how funny we look in the high winds - Einstein move over!






Luckily, the cyclone passed 360 miles south of Fiji, so we didn’t have any serious effects, other than occasional driving rain and high gusts in short bursts for two days.  The weather now is clear, sunny and warm.
Trying not to get sun-burnt
Because we are unable to sail through the Yasawa’s we rebooked our flight home for November 29th.  We will spend this final week putting QuickStar to bed for the winter.  That means removing all sails and everything from the deck, etc.




Folding up the genny

We had already provisioned for our final three weeks, so we’ll be giving away a fair amount of food.  We also bought enough beer/wine/alcohol – but Peter says we’ll just have to “suck it up” and finish it off.  So our schedule has actually been to work in the morning and early afternoon and then play a few hands of 2-handed bridge, while working hard on finishing off the liquor cabinet in to the evening hours.  Truly though, we appreciate that life can be gone in the blink of an eye, and we try to live each day to the fullest.

This week, we had some more very upsetting news.  One of our fellow cruisers – John from Raj – who we participated with in the Musket Cove Rally week - was making the passage from Fiji to New Zealand.  Tragically he died at sea only two hours outside of arriving in New Zealand.  He was healthy and fit, but had a sudden heart attack at only 64 years old.  His wife was the only other person on board, so the navy sent out a helicopter and offloaded some sailors.  They sailed Raj home and Sue was picked up by the helicopter.  Although this is tragic, Sue was fortunate that it happened so close to land-fall.  It is one of the main reasons, I won’t do a major passage (over 5 days) with just the two of us aboard. 
These sunset pictures from Musket Cove are in memory of John.  R.I.P.


 Until next week….. 
"When you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them."
-- Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker


Saturday 17 November 2012

And we are off.....



We’ve been stranded at Vuda Point Marina for another week, as our batteries did not arrive as expected.   (Fiji time) The good news is they came yesterday afternoon and if all goes according to plan we’ll be able to cast off later today.  Peter is at the market and liquor store for our final provisioning, while I’ve cleaned up the boat, done the laundry (and last minute email/blog, etc.)

We did have fun again with the cruisers here, especially Dave and Suzie who left for California on Thursday.  We celebrated their last night with them at the First Landing Resort next door.
  
Saying goodbye at the cottage they got for the last two nights so they could tuck their boat all up to leave it for 3 months.


 David & Peter (with his broken glasses)



 Appetizer - I cut off the flower on top of the green stalk though


 The waiters and band singing the “Fiji farewell” song to David & Suzie.  


Our New Zealand neighbour here in the Marina is Denny on Ocean Pearl.  This is the boat that got severe lightning damage and destroyed all his electronics.   He has been waiting on getting the insurance claim worked out (which isn’t going well) and waiting on parts and repairs.  He now has only a very limited window to sail back to New Zealand, if he can this year.  The good news about the boats that went to New Zealand just this past week – they had an easy, breezy crossing.  Amazing what the difference one week makes.

While Peter was giving Denny a hand with some repairs, Denny told me a cruising horror story about a couple on the same kind of boat that he has – an Amel.  The woman was hefting her husband up the mast with the electric winch but it jammed open.  She panicked and ended up getting her arm jammed in the winch and her entire arm up to the elbow was sheared off.  A neighbouring boat jumped to her rescue and while assisting he lost his hand in the same winch!  This is a true story.  Needless to say I had Peter show me how to prevent that on our boat (which he had already done, but I wanted to be sure I would do it correctly and not panic in case it ever jammed open on us).  

Peter giving Denny a hand


Denny, up, up and away 


Just another war story to add to the one that ranks up there as number 1.  This is a true account of a couple who were sailing to Hawaii.  Four days out from landfall the husband had to go up the mast to fix something.  He clipped himself on at the top (which is the correct safety protocol).  He then had a heart attack and died!  So, his poor wife was now a single handed sailor who had to make her way in to Hawaii on her own and for four days had to watch as her dead husband swung from the mast!  I can’t even imagine!!!!

Because we were boat-bound for this second week – without batteries we couldn’t leave the marina with QuickStar – we did non-cruising related things such as going for long walks, getting a couple of massages, (purely medicinal as I’ve been having severe back pain), participating in online seminars, getting all my Christmas cards ready to send, and lots of two-handed bridge in the early evening.  We both have cabin fever though and are quite anxious to get out to the islands.

Our plan is to leave later this afternoon and head over to the Yasawas – which are the beautiful and remote outer islands.  There is no internet or cell phone reception, so I will be in heaven for the next three weeks.  We can be contacted via Ham Radio in the event of an emergency and I can update our blog weekly, again via Ham Radio, but it will be blissful to be unplugged for that long.  

We are looking forward to just being one with nature and doing lots of  sailing, hikes, swimming, snorkeling, reading, kitchen dancing and just enjoying t being together here in magical Fiji. 

Until next week…..”Eat the frog first thing in the morning and everything else is a piece of cake” Anonymous

Mr. Fiji Frog




Saturday 10 November 2012

Sailboat Windego lost at sea



 Sunset off Vuda Point













We are still at Vuda Point Marina, impatiently awaiting the shipment of our new batteries.  We can’t leave until they arrive, and at this point it is still at least 5 or more days away.  We are getting cabin fever and itchy feet to get back sailing, however, we are making the most of our time here in the marina, getting lots of projects done and lots of socializing!

The marina features an outdoor movie night each Wednesday & Saturday night


A barbeque and live band Sunday afternoon/evening, which we shared with friends.


The resort adjacent to the marina which is  under the same ownership features live music each night. Our friends Dave & Suzie often join them after hours.


 Dinner on QuickStar


Last week was pretty busy with news and events …it was kick started with the great news that our son Danny and daughter-in-law Ashley sold their house, which means that they aren’t carrying two houses at the same time anymore.  Danny took this week off work and they are moving everything out to the Ranch.  We also threw a little birthday party for their daughter, our 2 year old grandchild Addy.  Of course, she was back in Canada, but that didn’t stop us from pretending we weren’t on the other side of the world.  We sent her a video from us which is not quite the same as being there ,but we will see her again in just over a month.

Birthday celebrations


The annual Melbourne Cup (major horse race) was celebrated; complete with lots of Aussies and lots of dressed up folks with fancy hats.  We had a blast, and even came out $6.00 ahead!


The bar that hosted the Melbourne Cup and the U.S. Elections


The next evening was the U.S. election and we were all at the bar to watch the close race.  Very interesting to share this with all the Americans.  Of course, most of the cruisers  support Obama and marijuana legislation (a major election item in many states), so they were all very happy with the results.

Our friends Dave and Suzie from Sidewinder have finished touching up their keel and rudder (from a few fights with reefs) and waited patiently to be able to be moved into their cyclone hole.  They are leaving next weeks to return to California for three months.

Waiting in Fiji time for their boat to be moved.


Finally….action

Dave & Suzie beside their boat


 The lucky Tequila bottle to go in the hole with the boat


This is what a cyclone hole looks like before the boat goes in.


Almost there













Oops…..David, don’t forget to move before the boat comes all the way down!


The cyclone season has officially arrived.  This was our first storm while in the marina.  We were as snug as a bug though.

Note the coconut trees in the background.


View from the stern of the boat.


We consider ourselves very lucky and grateful that we made the decision to stay in Fiji over the winter, rather than head off to New Zealand.  Just over a week ago a fleet of about 10 boats left from Fiji with another group of about 5 leaving from Tonga.  This is the fleet we would have been with if we had decided to go to New Zealand. 
 
It was a brutal crossing (and still not over yet). The boats got caught in a tropical depression.  Winds were in excess of 30 knots, with gusts up to 50 and 60 knots and seas up to 6 metres!  Every boat got beat up to some degree and all of them had to hove-to at least one night.  That means the conditions are so bad and uncomfortable that you basically stall the boat so it just bobs up and down.  You batten down all the hatches and retire below and let nature take its course.  A very scary situation.  We have bee n following the situation closely listening to the ham radio nets twice a day and all the cruisers are sounding increasingly exhausted.

In addition to these rough sea conditions, here is a list of some of the situations for different boats that still remain at sea with an arrival date expected later today or tomorrow:
-lost propane, which means no cooking/coffee and the temperatures are getting colder.

-lost the auto-pilot, which means that this couple has to hand steer in these conditions for the rest of the 4 days they had left from the time it stopped working.

-got hit by a rogue wave which slopped lots of saltwater below into the salon and cabins.  Their bilge pump is working overtime to try to clear out the water and they have been able to keep on top of it – although everything is drenched.

-a single hander broke his ribs during a sail change.  This morning on the radio he says he is in lots of pain and will be grateful to get in. No kidding!

The worst situation of all was the sailboat Windigo which rolled.  Yes, went completely over and wrecked the boat.  They called an SOS and a rescue was coordinated, including one sailboat turning back for 15 hours in this storm to go to their assistance.  The New Zealand and French navy also sent ships and planes.  A commercial ferry (which we think has our shipment of batteries) stood off the Windigo for over a day for moral support but were unable to get them aboard because of the huge seas.  

The navy dropped a life raft from an aircraft and the couple got in it and secured it to the stern of their boat.  They waited until their boat sank competely before cutting the tether.  I can’t imagine going through this ordeal.  The good news is they were rescued.  They have sustained head injuries and were hungry and thirsty, but they are okay.

Yesterday morning there was another emergency call from a sailboat leaving from Tonga, but we have not heard the update on that rescue, which is in progress.

As mentioned, we are very happy that we didn’t make the decision to head to New Zealand this year.  We are glad that our cruising friends, although many limping in, will make it safely.  The marina in New Zealand has organized a large dinner in a couple of days for the whole fleet so that they can celebrate their arrival.

On another sad note, friends of ours from Canada lost their Father this week after a tough battle with ALS.  Our hearts go out to them at this difficult time. 
                      RIP Ron Oldenburger.

Until next week…..Enjoy your Remembrance Day long weekend.  



QuickStar

QuickStar
46 foot Beneteau

The journey begins.....

I update this blog every Friday, so that you can share in our adventure and learn about new places and cultures.

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Thanks for dropping in to visit. Hugs from Diana and Peter.