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Free & BrEasy - Passage to Fiji



We have arrived on the west coast of Fiji but due to new quarantine regulations we cannot berth at Vuda Marina near Lautoka until we have been fumigated! The 500 mile passage from Tonga was uneventful apart from the constant motoring which gave us all headaches. We went up the mast in Tonga to attach a new type of rope that's reported to be stronger than steel (Dynema), as added security for our damaged shroud, but decided against hoisting the sails, just in case! It worked because here we are in one piece. Hopefully next week we will be able to get both shrouds replaced and be back to sailing fit.

Our last job in Neiafu, Tonga was a visit to the vegetable and fruit market. We were greeted with the sight of huge water melons and casavas too big to carry so we concentrated on buying little pyramids of tomatoes, peppers, apples, passion fruit etc. Everything was sold by numbers in a little pyramid and not by weight. After looking at all the wonderful hand carved bone jewellery, we met our old friend Tofi. He had appeared out of nowhere in a little wooden dinghy when we first moored up in the harbour and came every day to the boat to sell his bread. When we told him we were going the next day he immediately offered to bring extra loaves for our voyage, the next morning, which he did at 7am. A boat to boat delivery service!

Before leaving for the Pacific we motored down the Tonga coast to Mariners Cave. The cave cannot be seen from the water and can only be reached by diving below the submerged cave entrance and coming up inside the cave. Needless to say the first problem was finding the cave! Alejandro snorkelled up and down the rocks looking for the cave and eventually disappeared which we presumed meant he had found it. Neither Roger nor Michael liked the look of the whole thing and a developing cold bug which was going to produce sneezing and a slight fever, gave us the excuse we needed. Off we went to Fiji.

The 5 day passage to Fiji allowed us to catch up on our reading and one book, Sixty Six Days Adrift by Bill Butler, has been captivating our attention. Bill and his wife survived 66 days in a life raft drifting 1200 miles across the Pacific after their yacht was sunk by whales. It's a remarkable story and has concentrated our minds about what we would do in similar circumstances. We have started to review the contents of our "grab bags" which we would take with us into the life raft but were so depressed by the idea that we have eaten all the emergency ration biscuits. They were going out of date - honest!

It's a challenge when writing logs to keep the flow going even after a week when very little has happened. Never so for the enterprising crew of Free & BrEasy. A great deal could be said of the exploits of the two intrepid fishermen, Alejandro and Roger who managed to up their fishing game by catching a freezer load of MahiMahi. Pages could be written on their devious and cunning use of different lures to hook these wonderful fish. Sonnets could be penned on their sorrow at the loss of fish particularly if the lure went with it. Arias might be sung of their joy at landing a "nice fish" and canvasses daubed of the beautiful blues and greens of the MahiMahi. This does not even touch on the mouthwatering recipes afforded by the plentiful supply of fresh fish. In other sailing arenas, a romantic novel should be written about Roger's conversations on the Single Side Band radio which flowered into life after help from Peter from Adela who pointed out that the radio was set on low instead of high output. A full Shakespearean tragedy would do little justice to the search and recovery at night of Peter's dinghy which somehow detached itself from the back of Free & BrEasy when Peter was conducting a Guinness-fuelled celebration of his success with our SSB. When there is so much to communicate perhaps brevity is the better part of verbosity!


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