Fiji: Day 97 & 98 - Halloween in Suva

Thursday, October 31 & Friday, November 1, 2013

We got up early to weigh anchor and leave Suva for Robinson Crusoe Island. Unfortunately, we could not get our engine to start. The starter was turning the engine over, but it was weak and did not have the power to start it.

We spent the morning stripping the boat down and examining all the connection on the wires to and from the starting batteries, startin motor, and switches and found no significant corrosion. We concluded that it must be the batteries themselves (they are 4 years old and due for a replacement). So it was back into Suva for yet another set of new batteries from our friends at Clay's Energy Shop.

Unfortunately, when we went to put the outboard motor on the dinghy, we noticed it was leaking oil from its tattletale hole. So we had to spend even more time dissecting that before heading to shore.

Turns out they had batteries (720 CCA) that closely matched the ones we had before (870 CCA), so we picked those up and had some lunch at the Yacht Club before heading back.

We all crossed our fingers as we installed the new batteries and tried starting the engine again, and we were relieved to hear that wonderful sound of the diesel engine running again.

We will attempt to leave again tomorrow!

Fiji: Day 96 - Ashore Suva

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What isn't there to love about the Suva Yacht Club? If the noise, smell, or dirty brown water don't do it for you, then the prison across the street sure will!

We hauled out our dead batteries and took a dinghy trip to shore today. We were warned that Suva has a really high crime rate, and that there are famous scam artists that corner you when you go ashore and try to forcibly sell you wooden swords (after they presumptuously carve your name in them).

Here is a shot of the Yacht Club.

We took a cab into the city to get some provisioning and to check out some handicraft market. The traffic reminded me of Hamilton, Ontario.

The handicraft market was full of really agressive salespeople and a giant cruise ship just came in, so they all thought we were suckers from it. But we are suckers from a much smaller boat.

They had this shark jaw hanging out front.

It's amazing how their teeth slope back to trap their prey (or human legs).

We didn't make it to the chandlery for replacements parts, but we did get our batteries. So we will be staying here for another night still.

Fiji: Day 95 - Suva

Tuesday, October 28, 2013

We woke up this morning to the captivating pitter patter of an early spring rain and the scent of freshly slaughtered tuna in the air. That is the tuna factory lit up in the distance.

It was a 50 mile journey to Suva. The forecasted weather stated light winds on our bow all day, but boy were they wrong. The morning started out that way, but within an hour or two we had 20+ knots of wind and 10+ foot waves. We maxed out our engine RPMs and were only able to make 2-3 knots of speed. After about six hours of hammering into the waves, we were finally able to turn west and make use of the wind, but the massive waves were still crashing over the rails and blasting us in the cockpit.

It was a long and rough ride, but we made it to Suva before sunset and we able to drop anchor for the night.

Suva is a huge shipping port for the South Pacific, so it is a really dirty harbour and there are big cargo ships and fishing vessels everywhere.

When we dropped anchor the first time, we immediately noticed a better place to set (that wasn't downwind of some sketchy work boats). When I pulled the anchor up to move to the new spot, I wasn't surprised to find some old wire and other garbage wrapped around our anchor. That was after only a few minutes on the ground. I can't wait to see what treasures are attached to the anchor when we pull it up two nights from now!

We were hoping to get here before the battery shop closed so we would only have to stay one night before heading to Robinson Crusoe, but we didn't drop anchor until nearly 6:00 and so it looks like we'll be here for at least two nights.

Fiji: Day 94 - Ashore Ovalau

Monday, Oct. 28, 2013

As I said in yesterday's post, Levuka was the main city of Fiji in the late 19th and early 20th century. There were 52 hotels operating here and the harbour would have been full of boats. Now, there is just a shadow of that former life. A metropolis of closed and rundown shops/buildings and a big empty harbour with the remains of resources that once supported hundreds of boats/ships. We are one of three sailboats anchored here now. It has that same depressing feeling of a struggling economy that we saw much of in French Polynesia. 

The dinghy dock was a bit rough, but nothing like Niue's or Panama's. At high tide, it was really rolly, so make sure you secure your dinghy away from the wharf if you come here.

Ah, so that explains the smell that I was reluctant to mention. There is a tuna factory here.

We vistied the little museum that they had in the library.

There was just a $2 donation for visitors.

Bowls from the leper colony at Makogai! (See older blog entries)

I felt the town had a bit of an 'old western' feel to it, but no one else agreed with me.

A fruit market where we bought a papaya.

The yellow triangle on top of the church that you can see is a range marker for entering the harbour (and avoiding the reefs). You get out your binoculars and line it up with the matching yellow triangle marker in the mountains behind it, and you know you are on a safe line to enter the harbour!

Here is Wakaya anchored out in the harbour.

We ate at this Chinese/Fijian restaurant (the only restaurant still in business).

Business is booming, as you can see.

We have seen pretty much all the Levuka has to offer, so we are going to weigh anchor tomorrow and head to Suva to get some new batteries (and possibly fix our struggling head).

Fiji: Day 93 - Ovalau

Sunday, October 27, 2013

We departed at first light this morning, 5:30am. It was the shortest time between waking and leaving yet (half-hour) and everything went really smoothly. However, it is supposedly daylight savings time here today, so we actually left at 6:30am.

Goodbye Savusavu for the last time!

Winds were calm all day at just a few knots on the stern all day. We just threw up the whisker pole to salvage any wind we could and motor-sailed the whole way. It was a 65 mile trip and we did it in 11 hours.

We saw some dolphins on the way, but they just gave us the finger and passed on (they were travelling in the opposite direction).

Hello Ovalau!

We dropped anchor just in time for cocktails!

Levuka is the name of the town here (Ovalau is the island). This used to be the capital city of Fiji many years ago, but now it is Suva on Viti Levu. It's not the nicest spot, seems rather dirty and abandoned, but that may be because it is Sunday.

This is what 9 months of sun and salt will do to your shirts.

Fiji: Days 81 - 92: Leaving Savusavu

Wednesday Oct. 16 - Saturday Oct. 26, 2013

Again, days disappear in Savusavu.

We were saddened by the death of this old man who would sit in the same chair everyday on the path from the docks and greet every cruiser who walked by. I didn't know his name, but he was always really kind to everyone and an icon of Copra Shed Marina. There was a small funeral for him the other day.

On another sad note, we discovered the batteries that powered our windlasses and electric furling were wet cell. That means they have not been topped up with water in the four years since they acquired this boat. The cells were bone dry, not a drop of water in them. It took five bottles of water to fill them back up. They recovered enough of a charge to get us to Viti Levu, but we are going to have to make an extra stop in Suva to replace them.

We are looking to leave Savusavu early tomorrow morning for the last time to make our final departure for New Zealand. The plan is to make a few stops on the way: a few nights in Ovalau, a stop at Suva for batteries, a stop at some resort to see 'fire walkers', a few nights on Robinson Crusoe Island, and then finally Denerau. We estimate ten days until we leave, if weather permits.

Fiji: Day 81 - Sailing back to Savusavu

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

We weighed anchor at 5:00am today to head back to Savusavu.

We are waiting on one last package to arrive and are going to finish doing all our preparations for the trip to New Zealand.

Fiji: Day 80 - Leper Colony

Monday, October 14, 2013

We went back to the village again today and met up with Suli. 

I have been reminded many times on this trip how cruising is by far the best way to travel, for so many reasons. Over the years, cruisers have established a rather favourable reputation with locals and as a result they view you with a higher level of respect and trust than they do with other tourists. The island of Makogai is strictly prohibited to everyone other than cruisers and the supply ship that comes in every once in awhile. Even local Fijians are not allowed here.

The island is now a reservation for turtles and giant clams. Both of these creatures are illegal to kill, but they still have a big problem of pirates stealing them and selling them to others as an exotic food.

They had a few tanks with hundreds of little baby clams. The few that survive and grow to a reasonable size are moved to the other tank that I took photos of yesterday. When these ones grow even bigger (as big as your arm span), it takes almost the whole village to carry them down and release them in the bay here.

We also got to see the turtle tank. They would all swim up to you when you approached because they thought you were bringing food.

Suli took us on a short tour of the old French leper colony that was here from 1911 - 1969. There is only one reported case of lepracy currently in Fiji (not in Makogai), but this island once housed 5,000 lepers and staff.

They had a church, a court house, barracks, a jail, and even the very first movie theatre in the South Pacific.

There are around a thousand remains on the island of patients and staff from the old leper colony.

The gate from a memorial monument they used to have here.

At the front of the village, right by the water, they have the gravesite/memorial of the first guy in the world who discovered a cure for lepracy. The hospital in Suva is named after him.

Suli's grandparents lived on the island in the time of the leper colony. The island was split into two parts with a border between that separated the lepers from the healthy local Fijian people. The lepers were strictly banned from crossing to the healthy side of the island, and if you were healthy and crossed to the diseased part of the island, you were not allowed back to the healthy side. People were very paranoid of this disease (for good reason). He told us a story of a time when a couple lepers chased a goat over to the healthy side. When a group of women fishing (one being Suli's grandmother) saw them, everyone abandoned their fishing gear and ran away. The lepers were caught and had to spend a month in the jail as punishment.

On our way back to our dinghy, Suli pointed out a few released giant clams under the jetty. I climbed down a rickety ladder to try and grab a shot of them.

The picture does little to show their true size though.

We did some snorkelling in the afternoon and found an incredible bomee that had a huge variety of colourful reef fish.

I think this next fish here is called a 'clown fish'. If not, then it should be, because it sure looks like a clown.

There was also the biggest giant clam I have ever seen at this bomee. This thing was easily my full arm span. I tried to instigate it to close by putting my hand near it and pushing water at it, but it didn't move. The sucking hole you see was the size of my fist.

Here are a few dead ones too. They definitely did not move.

Fiji: Day 79 - Sacred Sunday

Sunday, October 13, 2013

We made a trip to the village today to offer our gift of Kava.

We met up with someone named Suli, who took our Kava and told us to come back tomorrow. Sundays are a sacred day of rest for Fijians, and they take it pretty seriously.

I snapped a few photos before heading back to the boat.

This island is a reservation now and used to be a leper colony supposedly. I poked my head in the giant clam tanks on our way out. The clam suddenly slammed shut as I approached.

There was some good daylight still, so we decided to do a little snorkelling. The water was a little cloudy, but we still got to see some fish.

Fiji: Day 78 - Makogai

Saturday, October 12, 2013

We made the 50 mile trip to Makogai today. You have to appreciate day trips, it's much better sleeping on a steady boat at anchor than on one rocking about at sea.

We left at 6:30am and It took us about 8 hours to get there with 12 knot winds on the beam all day.

We could see Wakaya Island off in the distance. Our boat is named after this island, but they wouldn't allow us to come visit.

It took two tries to get a set anchor and the bay is rather deep. It is a beautiful spot though.

There is this big whiteish-yellow turtle that keeps swimming around our boat. He hasn't been close enough for a photo yet.