Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 55 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Thursday, 28th June 2018 - Musket Cove

We had a comfortable enough night on the mooring buoy, but I definitely needed my sleeping bag.

Dave called up the marina office on VHF to see if they had a berth available and if so the relative cost compared to the buoy. Turns out it was F$18 to stay on a buoy and F$44 a night to have a berth to include electricity and water - £14 a night! Given we are due to have some weather coming through here in the next few days it was a no-brainer, especially as we would steal a march on the other Arc boats getting here early July. It will save dinghying back and forth and getting a wet backside at the very least. Looks like an ideal spot!

I went for a run around the island, actually it's two islands joined by a sand bar, so I ran around our half of it at least and took me all of 35 minutes so not too big! There are a couple of bars; a swimming pool which although shaped has a lane of around 33m, so I shall have a swim in that I'm sure; plus a couple of bistro restaurants attached to the resort hotel; and a golf course. There is plenty to do seemingly here so as we are to be here a good few days we will not get bored!

I did indeed go for a swim then met the others in the beach bar for sundowners, then on to dinner in the resort hotel - Dick's Place. We had booked the beach feast for F$78, a pig roast and buffet meal - I was stuffed by the end of it, and the evening finished with local dancers which was very pleasant if not as energetic as some we have seen.

Friday, 29th June 2018 - Musket Cove marina

We were up really early this morning as England were playing Belgium in the World Cup, so Gary and I made our way over to the resort buildings at 5.30 would you believe, to find there was no-one about to turn the telly on. No surprise there then, although one of the attendants at dinner last night assured us he would be there by 6am. At 6.30 someone turned up who knew how to put it on, so we saw the last part of the first half and all the second and wish I hadn't - we lost 1:0. I was so tired and not just because the football was boring.

Gary went off for a wreck dive he had booked, the girls went for a spa treatment and I had an early swim in the pool in front of the hotel guests having breakfast, I don't think I splashed anybody at least. Then I took a beach kayak out for half an hour to have a look over the new marina they are in the process of building on the opposite side of our little beach - it is going to be some place I suspect. Then I helped wash down the boat and went for a walk over the causeway being very mindful that when the water comes back in it comes with a rush. The beach on the other side is strewn with plastic waste which is a real shame; the locals who live along the beach area don't seem to bother with it, but it is a mess.

Another Arc boat arrived this afternoon, Finnegan's Wake and we were asked to move one place along as some strong winds are forecast and a lot of boats would rather be in the marina than out - so we were lucky we came in when we did as there is little room left in here. Goodness only knows where all the Arc boats are going to go, on the mooring buoys I presume.

We barbequed some steak on board for tea; there are electric grills at the yacht club bar, but they don't get very hot and we had just seen a chap trying to clean one after use and he'd been there for ten minutes and it was still black. The little portable grill Dave has is remarkable in its effectiveness but we can't seem to get the little blue Gaz cartridges for it anywhere so inevitably it will run out, so long may it last!

I must have been tired as instead of going to the bar for a night cap I read my book for a bit, turned off the reading light and went unconscious - apparently, I was snoring a bit and couldn't wake me up! Oh well, I had watched England lose the football early this morning that would have caused it.

Saturday, 30th June 2018 - Musket Cove marina

Off for an early run again, about an hour around Paradise Island resort the other side of the island for a look around - it doesn't seem as posh as our resort here and obviously caters for a lot more children as there were lots of kiddy play areas etc. but at least they have water all the time at their beach whereas ours dries out 200m or so, a bit like Blackpool only with sun! I ran around the golf course which is over that side, a nine-hole course with no water other than the small irrigation lake and the sea to one side. I was checking it out as we are due to play later on.

On returning to the boat everyone was still in bed, so I went for a swim to pass the time. When I got back there was some movement, so we put on the nearest we had to golfing attire and set off to play a round which would have been Dave's first go on a golf course ever.

We hired four half sets of bats, bought three balls each and a few tees and set off for the first tee. We all drove off and surprisingly still could see all our golf balls, mostly because none of them were very far away admittedly but I won the nearest the tee competition as Dave's very first drive went a little further than mine! We all had good shots and bad, mostly bad, but there was no-one else on the course at all so we had time to look for and find all of our errant efforts, well all except Dave's drive on the 8th that found the only water on the course - the small irrigation lake. If I had known it was there mine would have gone in there too I suspect. We finished the game three balls to the good as we had found more than we'd lost. Bearing in mind it was a 34 par course I managed 52, Trevor and Gary tied on 67 and Dave with a creditable 74, each a decent score for 18 holes but maybe less so for 9! We did discover the reason that Dave wasn't hitting the ball too far on the first few holes - he had mistaken the 'S' on the sand wedge as a '5' for a five iron! Oh well, but he soon got the hang of the golfing language after the first few fluffed shots!!

We got chatting to a Kiwi chap whilst we were having a 'recovery' beer in the golf hut. He was from the motor yacht berthed next to us in the marina with his wife and he was at pains to point out that he was a 'Yachtie'rather than a motor sailor. He described his other boat to us, a TP52 with a canting keel capable of 30 knots plus which he campaigned all over the place, including Fiji. He said last time he was up here from Auckland he was doing something like 465 miles in a day, that's an average of nearly 20 knots! Yes, he was certainly a Yachtie!

We had sundowners at the yacht club beach bar again before dinner back at Dick's Place where we had pre-ordered the seafood platter, one between two. I could see this being a fight between me and Trevor especially as it turned out they had only booked two whilst there were six of us. So, we ordered two more bowls of chips! Actually, there was enough just for six even though it was difficult to see by the single candle.