Day 70, Year 2: Arrival in Savusavu
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Weather: No Wind, Sunny, Rainy, Cloudy and Foggy, Then Sunny Again
Latitude: 16 degrees 47 minutes S
Longitude: 179 degrees 70 minutes E
Location: Savusavu, Vanua Levu
The passage from the Lau Group to Savusavu was another great passage for us. We were able to sail most of the way wing and wing, with the headsail poled out to port and the mainsail vanged to starboard. We did have to reef both sails to slow down, and finally we had to roll in the headsail and go on with just the double-reefed main. It was a beautiful night with a just less than full moon. When it rose it looked like the sun rising, backlighting the clouds. It was big and orange like a harvest
moon on a totally clear night; and then in the early morning the clouds came and the moon had rings of light around it. The 20 knots and greater winds continued until midnight and then they started to die down a bit. We still had to keep doing everything we could to slow down so our arrival would be after sunrise. When I got up at 4 AM for my second night watch, however, the engine was running. Mark said that the winds had died down so much that we were having to motor. With the winds directly
behind us, we have to have 10-12 knots to keep moving or use the iron genny. The winds had dropped to 8-10 knots, so the engine brought us in.
There was a low fog over the Savusavu area as we approached our destination. It was certainly clear enough to see, but there was an eerie feeling to the approach. We entered Nakama Creek and called one of the marinas. Mark called Bosun’s Locker first, and they answered, so we are currently on one of their moorings. These moorings are owned by Curly. He is a New Zealander who has been here in Fiji for 37 years–quite a character, by the way. We will probably move to a Copra Shed Marina mooring
in the next day or so, however, only because showers are much more convenient. once Steve arrives and there are three of us to shower, convenience will matter.
As soon as we arrived, we went into town to check-in with Customs and then to walk through the town and discover what is here. Savusavu is a small town, there there are at last three supermarkets and a number of shops, mostly run by Indo-Fijians. We went to the Post Office to pick up some mail, and before we knew it, we were back on Windbird. We did check out the supermarkets and the fresh food market. I will definitely go shopping there again Once back on the boat, I fixed lunch–lobster sandwiches.
Mark went back to town to the internet cafe, but I stayed on Windbird and named photos. We are hoping to post all of our pictures from the past month tomorrow, but that will only happen if the internet is working better than it did today. Mark had a frustrating experience, with off and on connections. Evidently there was some work being done on underground cables today, and that was the reason for the disruption. We are really hoping to be able to make a few Skype calls tomorrow and are so looking
forward to seeing little Sam on the web cam. Hope with us that tomorrow is a better day.
We both went in for Happy Hour tonight and we met so many new cruisers that we have not met previously. We also met the infamous Curly. We actually ate dinner at a small restaurant at the Copra Shed and Mark is already in bed. I’m fading fast, so I’ll close for now. I know I’m not doing justice to the town and the people here, but I’ll write more about them tomorrow.
 |
| 070703 Day 70 Vanua Levu, Fiji–Arrival in Savusavu |
