Phil woke Rowan up at 2:30 am as there was a fishing trawler heading straight for us, Rowan tried to contact it but got no response. I think everyone was a little more anxious as we don’t have the detailed map on the Nav station, and have to use Rowan’s phone. I came up at 3am for my shift, I was very grateful as Rowan took it over, as the wind was in the 20’s, it was raining and we had some serious reefs and islands to avoid. A boat called Thursday’s Child was on our Pacific Rally, two weeks ago on it’s passage to Fiji it hit a reef and sunk. Everyone survived and no injuries, but they could not get the boat off the reef, it has now sunk in some deep water. 23 boats sunk last year in Fiji! I went back to sleep and was woken by Rowan just before 6am, it was the last straight 15 miles and nearly daylight so I was happy.
Sun rise
The endless little islands and reefs to be avoided
Happy to be nearly at our destination
Phil and Chris
By 10am we were in touch with the marina, they were expecting us, after a quick breakfast we were rounding the headland into SavuSavu. The land looked emerald green and distant hills were covered in rain, making them look grey, but very atmospheric. The marina dinghy led us to the quarantine dock where we had to hand over all our rubbish and our left over bacon and honey (two things we can’t bring in). The whole process took about 4 hours, we are so used to waiting and doing endless form filling, we thought it was all very easy and reasonable. Amazing to once again be roasting on the boat. Bio security had a brief look in our deep freeze and were happy with everything, which was a bit of a relief as I had loads of pumpkin, sunflower and chia seeds onboard which can be tricky. We have heard of some boats having everything taken, but we think it is an attitudinal thing, we sit the officials down to coffee and cold drinks, which I think pays off. Some people get so frustrated with the time it all takes, we are used to it. We were soon in our berth, and tied up in wonderful calm waters. It is a brand new marina and very nicely done, it is on it’s own little island so not right in the town.
The rainy hills were very atmospheric as we approached
The back of our marina island
The town
The marina entrance
We had a scrub down on the boat to get rid of salt and Rowan’s hair, which had blown everywhere during his dramatic hair cut yesterday. Once that was done we went and had a well deserved drink at the marina bar, PolePole is berthed right below. An Italian catamaran checked in with us, the owner is in a wheelchair, amazing watching him whizz around in his wheelchair, it looks like he has 4 crew.
Finally parked up, front row position, so many catamarans
PolePole in tropical vegetation
The crew enjoying some cold beers
We all enjoyed luxurious long hot showers and got into clean clothes to head for dinner. The marina runs a little shuttle ferry to town which takes about a minute or two. We ate at the Copra Shed restaurant, which belongs to the local sailing club. We all had delicious fish of various sorts. I had a local Fijian fish dish which was Spanish Mackerel poached in coconut milk with local fern (looked and tasted like Pak Choi to me). We were all so exhausted we had no appetite for pudding, we were back on board before 9pm and all headed to bed. Poor CJ was most probably up for a bit more celebrating but we were knackered. It was blissful jumping into bed and being absolutely stationary. We got rid of the duvet yesterday as it was getting so warm, today we got rid of our blanket, and went to sleep just under a sheet with our fans on. It is very humid and when the wind dies, it feels very hot.
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