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Fiji was
fantastic. It is really cheap, great food, fine weather, and the
most friendly people that we have ever met. We spent 6 weeks or so
there and had a ball. Met up with another boat with two kids.
They are from UK and we met them back in Bora Bora last year. We
click really well, lots of fun. Spent Douglas's birthday and then
one of their boy's birthday in lovely anchorages. Douglas's was in
paradise. A great sheltered bay with clear water, the best
snorkeling in ages, and no other boats. Kneeboarding and boy games
all day. He was on top of the world. We managed to leave some of
Margarita's keel on two different reefs in Fiji. The place is
notorious for poorly charted hazards. They try hard, sort of, but
lose markers each year in the cyclone season. And then the charts
are off from our fancy GPS navigation tools. Anyway we learned a lot about
removing ourselves, and others, from reefs and were never stuck, thanks to
Perko.
The trip to Vanuatu started with a bang,
literally. The first night out I was working on the wind vane steering
gear. It was tangled with a pile of fishing line. I wasn't paying
attention (there is normally a reason that these things happen. . . ) and
we gybed. 25 kts, single reefed main with new full battens, crash. Big
crash. We had the boom prevented (tied off to leeward to keep it there in
just this situation) and that part of the 16 foot boom did stay on that
side. The rest of it flew across the cabin top with most of the sail.
Except for the way things look, it isn't really that bad once the crash is
over. The boat is still moving nicely. But the sail is folded around the
rigging and flapping around a bit. So here we go again, I called Sarah
out of her fitful first night's off watch sleep and then we were joined by
Bronwen. We brought the sail down (not easy with the two pieces of jagged
ended metal ready to flail about) and then tied off the pieces to deal
with in the morning. We hove-to (sort of like parking at sea) while we
considered what to do. Back to Fiji, up wind, to have it repaired; on to
Vanuatu to try and find someone to repair it; or on to Aus and forget
about Vanuatu. Douglas appeared for the decision making process. We
decided to go on to Vanuatu with just the jib. It was a good decision.
The wind was fine, we made good time with the one sail, and found a
fantastic boat yard in Port Vila, run by two nice French brothers (Sarah
says really nice) who did a first rate job.
Port Vila was fun. A pretty dirty city with a
fascinating past of rule by a joint French-British condominium (also
referred to as the pandemonium.) Very expensive. We met another boat from
Seattle there, Hoptoad. They have two boys, first met them in Mexico.
Lots of laughs. Sarah and I were invited to a kava bar in Vila. I sampled
quite a bit of kava in Fiji and grw to like it. It is actually a nasty
tasting drink, made from ground roots, that leaves you with a slightly
numbed mouth and a relaxed feeling. They say with enough of it your mind
gets numb as well. So we went to the bar. A fun cultural experience.
The bar is very dark and quiet. Quiet except for the constant sound of
people hacking and spitting. Everyone is hacking and spitting, men and
women. Some quite violently. You might think that would give us reason
for caution. Nope. We bellied on up to the bar and ordered a round of
shells (fake coconut shells). There is some protocol to follow. You drink
it standing up, all at once. Stand over this sand pit, in the middle of
the room, and make a little toast and knock it back. It is much stronger
in taste than Fijian kava. The ni Vanuatu laugh at Fijian kava. "It's
just water. It gives you diarrhea!" After you finish the shell full, you
spit into the sand. Hack and spit. Anyway we had way too much. Actually,
Sarah did fine. I went a bit over the top, all in the interest of
science. We had lots of laughs. Our guide book says that you need to be
very calm and quiet in a kava bar. The locals go there after work to
relax and think about life. Sarah and I, however, got quite talkative.
Approaching a quiet group of locals, I try to make eye contact. Failing
that I say "Boy, we sure are quiet tonight aren't we?" They are another
very friendly people, thankfully. Pity that silly American. It is an
interesting drink. It numbs your mouth and then your legs and even your
eyes, like lots of novocaine. But your thinking is still much clearer
than it would be if you had enough alcohol to make your legs wobble. We
had a very interesting taxi ride one night, lots of weaving. I told the
driver he made me feel like I had lots of kava to drink. He then announced
that he had just had two shells. "We get off just up there, next corner.
Before the intersection."
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