Jim Marco (photo 1) made an offer too good to refuse - an opportunity for Nicky Greenlaw, Lee Fenten and me to escape the Australian winter and join him again on his yacht Intention (see photo 2). This trio had thoroughly enjoyed sailing with him 3 year's ago in Vanuatu.Jim has continued to spend most of his time cruising the Pacific on Intention interspersed with visits to his family in California. At present he is based at Savusavu in Fiji where he given the engine a major refit assisted by Bogi, a Fijian (photos 1 and 3). Jim has been joined aboard by Alice and he is clearly enjoying the company of his new companion.
We arrived on 4 July but Nicky and Lee could only stay for a couple of weeks but I stayed a month. After they left my friend Rae Wills flew over to join us for the rest of my stay. At times it was pretty tight quarters aboard when Jim, Alice, Bogi, Nicky, Lee and Pam were all aboard.
This is Little Dragon's (b)log not Intention's blog: http://sailvalis.com/wordpress/ Intention's blog has heaps of photos and much more information. I haven't learnt how to put more than 4 photos up on one post.
Savusavu and Musket Cove are Fiji's major ports for cruising yachts, but Savusavu, unlike Musket Cove, is a small town that has escaped the ravages of mass tourism. Despite that it does provide some of the little luxuries that I crave - notably excellent cappuccino at the Copra Shed Yacht Club. It is a picturesque anchorage and the first photo shows the view from Intention at what is grandly called "Savusavu Marina" - it consists of 1 pontoon and two yachts but has grand plans.
Nicky, Lee and I spent some of the time based at Savusavu Marina enjoying swimming off the pontoon, exploring, relaxing and provisioning Intention for cruising. Then the 6 of us headed off with the destination being Bogi's Village at Buca Bay. The first overnight stop was anchored off Cousteau's Resort where we snorkeled at Split Rock. The next day turned windy and wet (photo 3 of Nicky, Lee and Bogi). Luckily for the rest of this trip the weather was far kinder.
"Ratu" is the all-powerful Chief of each Fijian village and Bogi is the younger son of the Ratu of Buca Bay Village. We arrived at the village bearing a customary gift of kava and he gave us all a ceremonial welcome followed by permission to visit and anchor in his waters. After the ceremony Ratu and his family cooked us a traditional feast while we all headed to the local school where teachers' Nicky and Lee addressed several classes. We took with us a gift of childrens' books from Australia but found this school far better equipped than those we had seen in Vanuatu.
We enjoyed village hospitality for a couple of days, especially the swim down the freshwater river. Sadly it was time for Nicky and Lee to leave but not before they were serenaded by villagers. Bogi had arranged for the group to came aboard on their last evening to sing traditional Fijian farewell songs.
The best laid plans can go astray when the crew goes down with a serious dose of the runs (village water the prime suspect). As Alice and I had taken to our bunks Jim abandoned the planned cruise round Taveuni Island and we returned to Savusavu where antibiotics fixed us all up within a day.
A few days later Rae arrived and the weather turned wet and windy again and stayed that way pretty much until we left. Photo 4 shows Rae chatting to local school girls who came to check us out. The furthest she got under sail was to Cousteau's but never mind - the snorkeling was great. We attempted to sail out to Namena Marine Park (http://www.namena.org/about-2/) but it was blowing well over 25 knots and just too getting too rough for fun so we turned back.
Thanks Jim, Alice and Bogi for everything. I hesitate to say that I was "crewing" although we were all technically "find a crew". With Bogi aboard ,who insisted on it being a man's role to do all the heavy work, I felt much more like a guest than a crew. I wish you fair winds and great cruising in Fiji.
I
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