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Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 54 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Monday, 25th June 2018 - Port Denarau marina

Headache this morning! So, I went for an early morning run, the first in several weeks, around the golf course as it was a beautiful day and had a long shower afterwards - luxury! I bumped into Paul on the way back to the boat also looking worse for wear and he apologised for his 'loud and brash behaviour' last night, but he just seemed to be his normal self to me.

Dave and Wendy are returning from the UK this evening so that means Gary and Marian needed to move out of the master cabin and back into one of the aft cabins. Guess which one? Yes, mine as I seem to be the more gullible/flexible but there was no offer to move from Trevor so that would be taken for granted thenÂ…..anyway, I have less stuff to move I suppose. I don't mind the saloon berth when we are at sea but it is not ideal when spending long periods day sailing and in marinas, surrounded by everyone's excess baggage.

They arrived back at just gone 8pm and seemed pleased to be back and to find the boat still floating. They did look completely knackered though after 30 hours travel so we went out for a quick bite to eat (no alcohol for me as still recovering from yesterday!). When back on board Dave presented a new A5 asymmetric spinnaker he had had delivered home which took up most of his luggage allowance - I thought he looked to be loaded down!

Tuesday, 26th June 2018 - Port Denarau marina

I was up at first light this morning as it's not particularly comfortable in the saloon surrounded by everyone's excess baggage so I went for a run around the golf course again this time without a hangover and did the same distance 20 minutes quicker - it just goes to show!

Dave and I went to the marina office to see if we were able to book the space for another day as we needed to re-provision and do a few bits but unfortunately it was all fully booked, even the mooring balls so we were given our marching orders for noon. Dave had however ordered a new dinghy from the chandlers and we went to see it and pay - they then delivered it to the boat pumped up and (nearly) ready to go which was a great service. The cost of it probably doubled their sales for the month!

Gary and Marian needed to be checked off the boat from the 4th July and as we had seen a Customs official in the marina office earlier we collared him to do it this morning. We had to trip him up as he walked passed the boat as he didn't seem too keen but after another load of paperwork the job was done and we were then free to go.

We took the boat around to the anchorage just outside the marina channel where we stayed a couple of nights ago and dropped anchor in the same spot. We dropped 20 m of chain and asked Dave to give the engine a real blast astern - the boat didn't budge, so we all set off in the new dinghy for its maiden voyage back to the marina, so we could go and do the shopping.

Having spent two hours in town in the supermarket and the fresh food market Dave and I brought the loaded dinghy back to the boat as there was literally no room for anyone or anything else; the poor thing was down to its gunwhales. We rounded the corner of the channel and to our horror, no boat!! We then saw it off in the distance with a couple of people on deck trying to set the anchor. It turned out to be the crew from Pinta that were at anchor there and did us a massive favour as there was a reef quite close by and the boat may well have drifted onto it should they not have intervened. We put the boat back where we had been earlier and re-set the anchor this time with 30 m chain in 6 m water and that time it seemed to be holding. Talk about famous last words: both Gary and I when we had encouraged Dave to give it that blast astern earlier had quipped that "nothing would move that!". How wrong you can be. To be honest we still can't work out why it didn't hold but it shows that you really need to stay with the boat a while once you drop anchor just to be sure - lesson learnt for today. We certainly 'dodged a bullet' as Dave reflected on the incident.

So, as it was Gary's birthday and he and Marian's 42nd wedding anniversary we celebrated with a cup of tea and an early night - it's an age thing!!

Wednesday, 27th June 2018 - Musket Cove, Fiji

We are looking to maybe go to look around the coast of the main island of Viti Levu as we are told there are some lovely spots to visit and the off-lying islands to the south are well worth a visit. Wendy particularly wants to go to the island of Beqa which lies just off to the south. However, we are due quite a lot of wind over the next few days from the SE which puts everything upwind and up tide from us, so we will have to see. At least we have managed to get hold of some paper charts for the area.

We set off early at 7.15 and motored out into deeper water in the lagoon and put the sails up and hey presto, we were blasting along on a close reach 18 knots of wind which was rising, so we put in two reefs. We soon decided though if this was the sea state inside of the reef then once outside it was going to be a lot worse once outside and it was going to be too much to motor against given the distance we needed to go, some 75 miles. Accordingly, we bore off and headed for Musket Cove, a few miles downwind on the opposite side of the lagoon and picked up a Yacht Club buoy in sheltered water.

We tidied up the boat then I put up the hammock and lay in it blowing around in the breeze reading a book and couldn't believe my eyes when a small fishing boat turned in front of our mooring and, in the fresh breeze completely messed up his turn away from us and left it far too late. I shouted at them in alarm as his stern swung round and clumped us on the starboard bow. It sounded much worse down below as it is a bit like being inside a drum down there and Dave came running up to see what was happening as the fishing boat motored slowly away offering apologies. Luckily, there was no damage, only a dirty smudge where we connected. He did make several more sweeps passed us dragging a net of some description but at least he kept a reasonable distance.

This is quite a busy anchorage with some twenty or so boats either on buoys or at anchor. It is a tourist resort with a small marina and Yacht Club so plenty to do ashore. The problem we have is that we are due to meet here on 4th July with the Arc fleet when we re-convene before setting off for Vanauatu, so we are very early here. Given the wind direction and strength - it is due to get stronger still by 29th, it is sensible to sit it out here rather than at anchor somewhere. Not too bad a place to sit out a blow!!

Everyone went ashore in the dinghy to sign us in and got a bit damp as it was quite choppy, whilst I stayed aboard as the water maker was running. Also, the fishing boat was still around so I was keeping an eye on that. I made a vegetable chilli and fiddled around feeling like Cinderella as the hours went past - how long does it take to sign in to a marina? At least Cinderella got to go to the Ball.

The evening turned chilly even though we had chilli for tea. The wind was noticeably colder so for the first time in months I had to put a jumper on!! Also, I slept in my sleeping bag for the first time in months too. Lets hope it warms up again.

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