Commodore
August 21, 2024

Thursday 22 August – back to Vuda marina

We went at high tide to look for Manta rays, picking up Catherine and Patrick on the way. I sat in the dinghy and Rowan held onto the dinghy as we roared through the pass with the tide. We were just after the peak of high tide, the water was crystal clear, the coral was amazing, they saw some big fish but sadly the Manta rays did not come out to play. They did the pass about 3 times, Catherine struggled with her mask, I’m not sure she has mastered snorkelling, so she spent most of the time in the dinghy with her bum in the air and her face in the water, she was thrilled with what she saw!

When we returned we invited them to a full English breakfast, which they readily accepted. I think bread and marmalade is their standard breakfast, she has made some marmalade with the local citrus. We said our goodbyes after breakfast and planned to sail south and see where we got to. We have to be back at the marina for my appointment with the ENT doc on Saturday. Sadly it appears my other ear is infected now, so I definitely want to see him. We had been going about half an hour when I got an email from the doc saying he has had to cancel his Saturday clinic and could I see him tomorrow (Friday) morning instead. That meant changing course, cranking up the engines a bit more as we need to make it into the marina before 5pm. The wind had died completely, so we could not sail anyway.

Half past 4 we made it to the entrance of the marina and found we were the 4th boat waiting to go in. It was later than 5pm and they still let us tie up to the fuel dock to get diesel before getting into a very tight berth. All the staff were very cheerful and helpful, and very appreciative of the beers for their effort at sorting us out so late. It all went incredibly smoothly thank goodness, so much easier with no wind. We went for a pizza at the ‘Boatshed’ restaurant which was pretty mediocre but we had a charming Fijian waitress which made up for it.