days 139-141
Bula vinaka ! Naomi here Well we made it to vuda point, we sailed all night from Kadavu, made it in to cloudbreak by daybreak…. Exhausted from our night of sailing Jamie and I surveyed the crowds and wondered if we could possibly elbow our way in to the shoulder to head high waves… we figured we may as well have a paddle round. Fortunately a couple boat loads just got out as we jumped in and we left robin and Miriam to stand off… we ended up getting a bunch of waves, in comparison to French Polynesia it was a much easier wave, and super fun. We were very sad to drop robin off at the airport, in fact that’s why we haven’t been writing lately, to properly grieve the loss of our chef and Skipper. She will be sorely missed even tho she threw my mug overboard in that gybe. But! Now we have the addition of Matt with his foraging skills who also brought us a new starter motor. We were able to gift our old burned out starter motor to Abel, our friend on pania who is three years old and is currently fixing it with a lot of electrical tape and paint. He is pretty cool even tho he won’t shut up about how I am a kid and keeps asking if I am a baby and telling me that I am tiny. We have been thoroughly enjoying our freshwater showers here and even got burgers today!
Miriam here, A couple days away from the blog and I feel the disorientation of what to say about the time that has passed. The passage from Kadavu was lovely sailing; I took on the crepuscular watch of 3-6 so I got to be with both sunset and sunrise which is entirely worth the compromised sleep. Sailing west into the setting sun all golden on the shrouds was glorious. And again, glorious to emerge into the darkness of a star filled night, the moon already set so that Jupiter was the brightest body in the sky, lighting a wan silver path across the waves to the NW. The wind died to a trickle just before dawn allowing me to witness sunrise with little distraction, just nudging the helm from time to time as Bluebird quietly glided into the brightening day.
Then the swirl of arriving to Vuda Point Marina, anchoring out and taking the dingy in to meet Matt and have beers and pizza at the fancy tropical chic rather characterless bar. Then came the whirlwind of trying to souvenir shop and being overwhelmed by hustlers in Nadi before a last meal together with Robin and seeing her off to the airport. We miss you, Robin! We haven’t actually cooked since you left. Today we thought we would do errands but only managed to take the trash out, download books, music, and podcasts, shower, and eat out some more. The showers are likely only for folks actually paying for marina slips but the staff doesn’t seem to mind as long as we sit around and drink and eat for a meal a day. The seafood special was delicious, the cover band mediocre, and the Fijian dancer that danced a few traditional and contemporary numbers in between sets grace personified. The sunset tonight was pretty spectacular too. Playing hide and seek with Abel today was also really fun.
Jamie here: we tend to slip off the blog wagon when we change locations but we are now back on the wagon and charging forwards with zealous vigour! Today we lost maururu dinghy. Again. She quietly slipped off the back of bluebird and floated towards another boat. Miriam was luckily out and about and saw her drifting off. We yelled to our friend jella (pronounced yella) (ironic?) who was anchored next to us if he could boost over in his dinghy and retrieve our precious little boat. He did exactly that and we got it back before it was too late. We then rallied into the marina to catch a bus which being Sunday was non existent. So we spent a luxurious day at the marina having hot showers, perusing the internet and buying lunch. I had a beef burger and it was glorious. I am beginning the process of respooling our faithful fishing rod with heavy line. The next marlin to bite our lure will not be so lucky. It will find its way to our gaff and onto the deck of bluebird. It was sad to say goodbye to robin we had a great time having her on board. Matt has found us and we are in the process of restocking the boat for the next couple of weeks of cruising around the islands! Now the fun and integral segment we’ve all been waiting for.. (wod by robin - shot robin for the epic wods) WOD: miasma. Miasma - an air or vapour of unpleasantness. Used in a senny! I had to stop running halfway through the school cross country because of miasma attack.
Matt: Gone down the narrow gauge sugar cane railroad track a few times now, and perfected/refreshed my green coconut bashing skills. Third time proved the charm, popped the top and drank it down without having to battle all the fibrous elements to reach the core. Took a few loose bits of the sugar cane along with a papaya - no real plans for the sugar cane but either it ferments or the ants get it. Maybe the hermit crabs. It’s unclear if they also enjoy sugar cane. Oh, got super lucky day one(thirty nine) at the Nadi airport bus stop running into Paul who works at vuda point marina. Got the bus with him and his cousin-brother, hopping into the back of a truck for a “Fijian ride” from the turn off as the buses don’t really go to vuda point from Nadi. Had to wait a few hours for bluebird but that meant time to head down the track for coconuts, bashing at that first one(thankfully no scramble up the tree as someone left a very helpful long forked stick by the trunk), wondering why I remembered it being so easy