Today was not a good day on the boat. The very incompetent Savu Savu Marina folks failed to inform us that our mooring would not be usable after the barge came in. In fact they gave us a very slick letter the day before and verbally told us we would need to vacate our ball for a few MINUTES, as the barge passed by! It was scheduled to happen at 07:00. We were up, dressed in the appropriate long ridiculous hot clothing dictated by local prudish custom, and ready to slip the mooring lines for a few minutes...a bit of a bother,,,but oh well...FOUR hours late the stupid barge shows up. FIVE AND ONE HALF HOURS after that we were STILL drifting around in 20 knot winds and strong outgoing current waiting for our ball, when were informed that we would not be able to use our mooring until the barge left. Oy vey!! Where was the fine print on that letter??? No where!! In the interim, four more WARC boats came in to the creek and occupied every available mooring. We ended up five miles away in a nominal anchorage. But many thanks to Curly, a Kiwi local transplant who appeared to be the only person concerned that we were put out. He had heard our repeated calls to ALL three Savu Savu Marinas and no response except that we had “been given a letter” no compensation for our payment....nothing...nada! He graciously directed us to the bay to the northwest of Savu Savu and explained the best part to drop the hook in. Wish we could buy him a beer!! After we were securely hooked, Savu Savu Marina at the head of the creek offered us a mooring via radio for just one night. Ha! No thanks....we had spent three hours trying to get them to let us have a mooring earlier in the day when we were so miserably banging around in the creek! We were OVER IT by half six when they radioed. We will not be returning to Savu Savu now or EVER! This stupid barge comes in on a regular basis. THEY KNEW WE’D BE PUT OFF OUR MOORING AND DID NOT TELL US, OR EVEN OFFER TO COMPENSATE US IN ANY WAY!! We are the ONLY BOAT that was unable to go back to our mooring, and the ONLY BOAT that had to go anchor five miles away from everything. Copra Shed Marina is the WORST MARINA the Most incompetent people we have EVER dealt with and we refuse to EVER have anything to do with them or their affiliates; Savu Savu Marina ! Nuff said!
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