Sorry for the lapse in reporting, we'll try to keep up with things on a more current basis! When we last reported we still had a short way to go before reaching Fiji. We were able to arrive in Suva harbor by lunchtime on Friday, thus avoiding the possibility of not clearing customs before the officials left for the weekend. We were able to complete all of our quarantine, immigration and customs formalities by 3:00 but were unable to get our cruising permit until Monday morning and consequently had to stay in Suva for the weekend. Suva is a relatively large city and we stayed at the Royal Suva yacht Club. The Club itself does not quite live up to its grand-sounding name as far as its facilities, however everyone at the Club, staff and members alike, were very friendly and helpful. We had a dock with water and power so we were fairly happy overall. We dined ashore most of the time and enjoyed some very nice meals at the wide variety of restaurants available, also spent some time at the City's very modern urban shopping malls which had most everything one could want. The girls wanted to go zip-lining again after the great zip-lining experience in St Lucia so we all went to a nearby rain forest and zip-lined! It was quite expensive (unlike most things in Fiji) and the girls decided they liked the zip-lining in St Lucia better so we agreed to go once again after completing the World ARC next April.
After obtaining our cruising permit on Monday we were able to depart Suva late afternoon at high tide, we sailed overnight to Musket Cove where we planned to rejoin the Rally. Musket Cove is a very nice resort which covers its own small island about 90 miles from Suva. We arrived early Tuesday morning and were at our dock by around 8 am. Only three other Rally boats were there when we arrived, but virtually all 30 boats were there by late afternoon Wednesday! It was great to see everyone again after two months since Tahiti and we spent several days catching up on everyone's news, likewise telling everyone about our trip back to the States and our comparatively easy transit from Tahiti to Musket Cove via Bora Bora and Raiatea. If we had not stayed back in Tahiti we would have encountered the same nasty weather the fleet suffered several weeks earlier.
There were a couple of very nice Rally parties and dinners over the last few days, also getting ready for the next leg to Vanuatu. Kathryn and Audrey took their first scuba diving lesson, they both enjoyed the experience and look forward to becoming certified divers once they are old enough for more lessons.
The Fleet departed Musket Cove Saturday morning for the island of Tanna, we are currently 88 miles from Tanna and expect to arrive late afternoon Monday. The sailing conditions have been very favorable and everyone has had a fast passage. We will spend about a week in Vanuatu, visiting three islands altogether, then depart for Australia on 19 July.
Today is Corinne's birthday! Unfortunately she is starting off the day suffering from seasickness again, hopefully she will be completely recovered once we are anchored at Tanna and can enjoy birthday cake after dinner!