Family, friends and a few more of Suva.

Some of these pictures where left out when I posted the first pictures and they are not in order but please enjoy anyway,

Our daughter Misty and their dogs Miles and Bailey.

Our grandson Parker with Christmas toys. 

Fijian school girls. 

Flowers seen and sold at the open market on Saturdays. 

More beautiful flowers. 

and more 

Beautiful mackerel sky. 

Chinese fishing boats all rafted together.

What looks like a small volcano seen from our yacht in Suva. 

My painted fabric of sea life. 

What Don and I eat for breakfast, papaya, watermelon and pineapple, yummy. 

Our good friends Deloris and Scott. 

Our grand daughter at Christmas. 

STATES, OPUA,NZ AND FIJI.

WE WENT BACK TO THE STATES TO VISIT FAMILY AND FRIENDS. IT WAS A WONDERFUL TRIP AND WE GOT TO SEE OUR GOOD FRIENDS DELORIS AND SCOTT  AND LISA AND ANDY FROM OCEAN SPRINGS, MS WHERE WE USED TO LIVE. WE DID A ROAD TRIP FROM SHREVEPORT, LA TO THE EAST COAST, CROSSED OVER TO CANADA FROM VERMONT, TO MICHIGAN, CHICAGO AND BACK TO SHREVEPORT, LA TO OUR DAUGHTER AND GRANDCHILDREN. A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TRIP. WHEW THAT WAS A LOT OF DRIVING.

VISITING MY BROTHER VAL IN NEW YORK CITY WITH MY TWO SISTERS FROM CT.

OUR FRIEND DON FERGUSON IN BLACKS BURG, VA

CATHY &

JIM NEE WHO WHERE OUR BERTH MATES IN DOUGLAS,MI WHOM ARE ALSO WAITING TO START THEIR VOYAGE VERY SOON.

KELLY , ROBBIE  AND  HEIR BABIES IN MI. DON'T YOU LOVE THE BOOTS?

SNOW ON CANADIAN SIDE ON OUR WAY TO MI. 

KEN, SUSAN AND GRANDCHILD IN  VERMONT

LOTS OF SNOW IN VERMONT 

OUR GRANDCHILD PARKER CELEBRATING HIS THIRD BIRTHDAY APRIL 3RD. 

THIS PAYTON OUR 8 YEAR OLD GRAND-DAUGHTER

3 YEAR OLD PARKER

BACK IN OPUA NZ 

A BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE TAKEN FROM THE BALCONY OF THE WATERVIEW B&B WHERE WE STAYED WHILE THE BOAT WAS ON THE HARD WHEN WE GOT BACK TO NZ.




 

A VISIT TO  AN OLD ANGLICAN CHURCH IN RUSSELL, THE PEW CUSHIONS  WHERE ALL EMBROIDERED DEPICTING VARIOUS SCENES.

CHURCH ALTAR .

SOLSTICE ON THE HARD LOOKING VERY PRETTY.

MY FRIEND FRANNY AND I 

ED AND FRANNY LOOKED AFTER OUR YACHT WHILE WE WERE IN THE STATES, WONDERFUL FRIENDS. 

DOUG AND ZULEIKA WITH THEIR NEW  YACHT.

SOLSTICE GETTING READY FOR THE BIG PLUNGE AFTER 6 MONTHS OUR THE WATER. VERY EXCITING

. .

THIS BIRD IS CALLED TUI AND THERE IS A BEER NAMED AFTER THIS BIRD. 

THE FIRST WAVE OF YACHTS TO LEAVE NZ  FOR TONGA AND FIJI.

A NEW ADDITION TO SOLSTICE WHICH IS CALLED A TRI SAIL WHICH WE HOPE WE NEVER HAVE TO USE IT.IT IS USED IN VERY VERY HEAVY WEATHER. 

OUR FIRST STOP AFTER LEAVING OPUA, NZ. THIS IS MINERVA REEF WHICH DON MENTION IN THE BLOG AND YOU CAN SEE WHERE ARE ANCHORED BY LITTLE RED BOAT ON THE CHART. 

SUNSET AT MINERVA REEF. 

WE ARE NOW IN SUVA, FIJI AT THE MUSEUM AND THIS DRESS IS CALLED A TAPA DRESS, IT COMES FROM  INNER BARK OF THE MULBERRY TREE AND ALSO THE BREAD FRUIT TREE. VERY AMAZING.

A TAPESTRY FROM INDIA 

A WAR CANOE. 

THE BEAUTIFUL SUVA MUNICIPAL MARKET, NEVER SEEN SUCH A BIG MARKET AND ON SATURDAYS IT IS DOUBLE IT'S SIZE. 

IT IS HARD TO DO IT JUSTICE. 

PIN APPLE ALL CUT UP, DON'S FAVORITE 

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 

ALL KINDS OF FISH.

FRESH OCTOPUS , LOBSTER AND COOKED OCTOPUS.

OUTSIDE THE MARKET. 

MORE OF THE OUTSIDE MARKET. 

SUVA, FIJI

June 18-24, 2013

We arrived in Suva, Fiji at 1200 hrs on June 18th and anchored in front of the Royal Suva Yacht Club.  This Yacht Club arranges all of the transportation for the Health, Customs, Immigration and Bio-security officials.  We were boarded at 1630 hrs, granted "free practique" and clearance at 1700 hrs.  Entry procedures were very easy with no complications.  No food or meat products were confiscated as is done in New Zealand.  Since it was late in the afternoon,Phyllis and I stayed onboard for the evening just relaxing and enjoying the relative tranquility of the harbor.

Suva harbor is fairly busy with the comings and goings of freighters, car carriers, petroleum tankers and fishing trawlers.  There are a lot of Chinese fishing vessels rafted up in the harbor that come and go.  As far as visiting yachts go, there are about 15 in the harbor at the moment.  The harbor is protected by a fringing reef but open to Sw'ly winds and swells.  If this should happen there are other anchorages within the harbor to find safe refuge.  So far we haven't had any problems.

On Wednesday, June 19th we made out first excursion out into Suva which is the capital of Fiji with about 190,000 inhabitants.  Since then we have gone out everyday looking around.  The city is  absolutely fantastic in the sense that it has all the modern amenities that one could find anywhere else in the world.  The Indians, Chinese and other world powers have brought their wares into Suva.  There seems to be nothing that can't be had with a few inquires or just looking around.  Additionally, it has one of the largest Municipal Farmer's Markets in the South Pacific.  Acres and acres of stalls with fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, etc., etc.  The amount and quantity is staggering.  We have seen nothing like since we left Panama.  Wonderful color with very friendly locals calling out "bula" which means "hello" in Fijian.  The place is a paradise and quite cheap next to New Zealand and French Polynesia.  The Fijians are a wonderful happy friendly people that welcome visitors to their country.  We are totally and completely impressed with the quality of life here in Suva.  It is a joy to be here in this fabulous country!

As we venture out into the island group of Fiji, there is a custom called the "sevusevu".  This is an important custom which requires all visitors to a village or island to make a prsentation of "Kava" to the village Chief.  In return the Chief will welcome the visitors to his village offering his protection and all reasonable assistance and allow free access to adjacent beaches, waters and reefs, which are considered village property.  Kava or Yaquona is the dried root of the Kava plant.  It is mildly narcotic and causes some numbing of the lips, tongue and throat.  If enough is consumed, the whole body follows suit!  Phyllis and I have had it once in Tonga and it tastes like muddy water but is not unpleasant.  Other than some numbing of the lips and tongue, I felt no other effects.  Anyway, it is the national drink here in the Fijian islands.  The roots are dried and pounded out into powder and residue, then infused in water and strained through a cloth or coconut fibers and served in a coconut bowl.  It's the equivalent of having a beer with someone.  When I've tried more of the stuff, I'll be able to describe it better.  As a matter of fact, one of the yachties told us that there is a Kava Bar very near the yacht club so I thing I'll wander down there and get a bucket full.

We went to the Municipal Marrket today and on the second floor are all of the Kava Dealers with their dried roots from all over Fiji.  We bought three kilos (6.5 lbs) divided up into twelve bundles for making the "sevusevu" to the local chiefs.  Each bundle looks like a bouquet of flowers wrapped up in a newspaper with colored string holding it all together.

There are about one million inhabitants living in Fiji of which 200,000 are in Suva.  There are two main islands: Viti Levu and Vanua Levu  and 300+ other islands of varying size.  Fijians make up about 52 percent of the population and Indians 44 percent with the remainder being Chinese and other Pacific Islanders.  The cuisine is runs the gamut from Chinese, Indian curry, seafood, American (MacDonalds) and European.  It's all here and delicious.  Great quality and cheap.  It's no wonder that Fiji is becoming the preferred country for travel.  There's something here for everyone at affordable prices.

Most of the yachts leaving New Zealand made Savusavu their destination.  It is a beautiful town on the North Island of Vanua Levu.  Eventually, we will get there but I'm happy with the choice of making Suva our first stop in Fiji.

I found a sail maker here in Suva and he can repair the genoa and return it to us on Friday.  I think we'll plan on leaving next Monday for Gau, which is an island about 50 nm to the Northeast of Suva.  There we will make our fist "sevusevu" to the local Chief.  In the meantime, we'll suck up all the wonders that are here in Suva.

Went to  the Fiji Museum on Wednesday and was surprised just how many artifacts they had dating back 3500 years.  It has a full size war canoe and several others that are interesting.  I was told that it is the oldest museum in South Pacific.  Since all these South Pacific islands practiced cannibalism, some of the utensils used for human flesh are rather unique.  The four pronged wooden fork was ornately carved and of varying sizes.  The prongs are in a circular pattern rather laid out flat like ours. Some of the wood forks were large enough to bring out huge chunks of flesh from the ovens.  Thankfully, the missionaries were able to end cannibalism in the islands but a few ended up in the stew pot before it was accomplished.

OPUA, NZ TO SUVA, FIJI VIA NORTH MINERVA REEF

June 6- 18, 2013

We departed Opua, NZ (35-19' S ; 174-07' E) at 1300 hrs bound for North Minerva Reef (23-37 S; 178-56' W).  The distance is about 759 nm once outside the bay at Nine Pin Rock.  From Minerva Reef to Suva, Fiji it is another 358 nm: total trip distance = 1117 nm.  Since no sailing vessel keeps a straight course rhumb line, the distance is somewhat longer.  New Zealand is on the Eastern side of the international date line therefore it is one day ahead of the USA at most times of the day.  Time can be confusing so I generally use GMT and then make all the conversions. NZ  would be +12 on GMT.  This means that when it is midnight in Greenwich, it's noon time in Opua and 2000 hrs on the East Coast - one day earlier.

The Wx window for approaching and leaving NZ has to be given careful consideration.  The systems are complex and fast moving.  In general, Highs and Lows approach NZ from the Great Southern Ocean south of Australia via the Tasman Sea.  In order to have the best sailing Wx, a yacht has to time it so as not to find itself in heavy Wx with too much wind and big seas.  One way of departing is to leave on the back of a Low.  Lows circulate clockwise in the Southern hemisphere which means they are moving E-SE.  Also, Lows are forming over Fiji and have to looked at very carefully as they can develop into Tropical Depressions.  The best way to negotiate all this is to hire a professional weather planner and router that will advise the best times for departing.  One of the most renowned in New Zealand is the Weather Guru, Bob McDavitt, known as the Weather Ambassodor of New Zealand.  His fees are modest and he does a good job of making sure that you can make the best use of, or avoid, any forming depressions.

So, we left on the back of a Low and had a great sail from the Bay of Islands to North Minerva Reef.  We started off with winds around 20 kts with big ocean swells coming from the South   but they gradually came down and the rest of the trip was with 12-18 kts ESE Trade Winds and a 6' swell.  We arrived off North Minerva at 0100 hrs in the morning and lay ahull until daylight.  We made really good time with an average of 6.2 kts under double reefed mainsail and genoa.  The Valiant 40 is a great boat: seaworthy and seakindly.  It doesn't take much wind to move her along and she can move out once the winds get to 15 kts.

There are two Minervas: North and South.  The southern one is about 20 nm SSW (23-56' S; 179-08' W) of North Minerva and is less frequented because it presents more challenges for entering and anchoring.  Additionally, it's reef structure is less developed and lower than North Minerva which means there is less protection from the ocean swells.  The Minervas are claimed by Tonga and navigational lights are maintained on both by the Tongan Navy.  In the past, Fiji has claimed the Minervas and at one time came in and chased out all the yachts and blew up the navigational lights.  Tonga submitted a claim to the World Court and it was decided in their favor so there seems to be no ongoing conflict between the two countries.   Back in the 1970's, a crazy Aussie tried to set up what he called "The Republic of Minerva" and brought in some sand barges and minted coins with Minerva's head on it.  I believe he wanted to set up some kind of independent country with a resort.  Anyway, once the Tongan's got wind of it, they sent out a warship and chased him out.  I don't see how anything could survive on North Minerva in the long run.  The reef looks like and amoeba.  It is fairly round and three miles in diameter with a single entrance on the Northwestern side.  The reef is wide enough to break the big ocean swells of the South Pacific Trade Winds but not sufficient to weather a storm.  One can tell when it's High tide because enough water comes across the reef to cause a little rolling.  When it's Low tide, the lagoon is quite comfortable.  There are fish, lobster and sharks within the lagoon structure.  The reef is over a quarter mile wide and can be walked on at low tide.  There really isn't much on the reef other than a few shells and odd shaped stones.  The current at High water keeps it scrubbed out.  Up in the Northeastern corner, one can see the remains of an old wreck and a big anchor.  I had wanted to dive for lobsters but, unfortunately, I had a small infection on my right hand and was taking antibiotics so I didn't dare to do it.

The beauty of the Minervas is that they are 300nm from the nearest point of land and provide a good stop-over to rest and wait for a favorable weather window to sail on to Tonga or Fiji.  We stayed in North Minerva for three days and then left for Suva, Fiji some 358 nm distant.  We would have stayed longer but our weather guru indicated that the winds would fall light in a few days so we picked up anchor on June 15th at 1200 hours and headed out for Suva, Fiji.  We had ESE Trade winds 15-20 kts with a 6' sea almost the whole way.  There was one frontal passage with strong ENE'ly winds to 40 kts during the evening of June 16-17.  I had dropped the mainsail and put a deep reef in the genoa but due to mismanagement on my part, I ended up doing some damage to the leech and foot of the sail.  Not big damage and can be resewn by a sail-maker.

We entered Suva harbor (18-07' S; 178-25 E) and dropped anchor in front of the Royal Suva Yacht Club on June 18th at 1200 hrs.  This Yacht Club makes all the arrangements for Cusotm's officials and provides showers and facilities for visiting yachts.  The harbor is fairly well protected but open to the SW.  Fortunately, they don't get winds from that direction very often.  If that should happen, we can run up to another bay within the harbor with good protection.

Our first impressions of Suva and Fiji are very very positive.  I'll update this once we have had a chance to get out and around.

BACK IN OPUA, NEW ZEALAND

May 15, 2013

We flew back to Opua, NZ from Shreveport, La on April 8th.  We were carrying lots of spare parts and one of the staysails that we had left behind at Robbie and Kelly's home in Oscota, MI on out outbound trip.  The plane trip was long but comfortable   We arrived in Auckland and had friends waiting for us to bring us to Opua which is about four hours to the North.

Solstice was not ready to be lived in so we arranged a room at the Waterview Lodge where Phyllis had stayed when she broke her hip in November.  The hip is all healed up and she is no longer broken.  We stayed at the Waterview from April 8-19 while we prepared the yacht for living on.

Solstice has had a lot of work done while we were away and returned: new rigging, a trysail track added to the mast, some electrical work, reconditioned thru-hulls, engine work on the Volvo Penta 2003T, new trysail, portholes removed and resealed, new system for Lazy Jacks, reefing hooks, new SSB antenna, Jordan Series Drogue, refrigeration repaired, new membranes for the Katadyn Pur 80 watermaker, new ballasts for the Alpenglow cabin lights, reefing lines reconfigured, pole topper added for spinnaker pole, spare genoa and main halyard added, dedicated trysail halyard, Monitor Wind Vane rigged up for service, mast was unstepped and all internal wires renewed and rewired to ABYC specs, new control panel added to the D400 Wind Generator, battery bank reconfigured for safety, new bilge pump, safety line on the sole floorboards.  Lots of work!!

We did many of the items in the above list but professionals were required for the technical stuff.  All of this is with a view to sailing around the Cape of Good Hope after Thailand.  If the Red Sea opens up we will consider that as an alternative plan.  Right now, not one sailing vessel, that we know of, made the voyage via the Red Sea last year.

The yacht is now nearing readiness for the sail from Opua, NZ to Suva, Fiji.  My guess is that sometime next week we will get a Wx window to sail.  There are still tropical Lows forming in Vanuatu/Fiji and moving to the SE.  Highs are forming in the Southern Ocean and moving across the Australian Bight and Tasman Sea.  Where these two systems meet forms a "squash zone" of strong compressed winds - avoid!  This is what we had on our trip down to NZ from Tonga.

New Zealand is a beautiful place and the people are very friendly.  It is a county of boats: most people own one or have friends that do.  Consequently, it is a great place to have work done and most things can be had either here or brought in from the States.  The workmanship is first class but not cheap.  Food liquor and consumables are more expensive here that in the States.

There are two distinct cultures in NZ: Maori and White with a smattering of Asians and Polynesians.  Due to a peace treaty (Treaty of Watangi) signed in 1835 between the Maori chiefs and the ruling British administrator, the Maoris enjoy all the privileges accorded to them in addition to all rights of the New Zealanders in general.  Although there are no longer any "pure blooded  Maoris left, the language and customs continue.  Signs in NZ are in English and Maori.  The county has a socialized medical system so all are cared for at no cost including medicine.  The health services are excellent.  Phyllis had her hip surgery done here and it could not have been done any better in the States.  In fact, when we went to Shreveport, La, for a follow up X-Ray, the doctor recommended by her surgeon in NZ had been a student of the Orthopedist in the States.  His comment: "An excellent job! I taught him well".  New Zealand is a vibrant modern county with all the amenities we enjoy in the States and they have HOBBITS!

The plans for this season are as follows:  Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caldonia and return to New Zealand for the Cyclone Season which begins on November 1st and ends in May.  We would have liked to sail on to Indonesia but can't make it in the time frame allotted to us.  In May of next year, we will sail directly from New Zealand to Indonesia, Bali, Sumatra, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.  The final preparations for the South African trip will be done in Phuket, Thailand.  This will include the installation of a new Beta Marine 43 engine.

Greetings to all!