April 23, 2010 – Suva Harbor, Fiji

Bula and welcome to Fiji!  The 1288 miles from Opua to Suva, proved to be one of our best passages so far.   We judge our passages by wind direction, sea size and direction, boat speed, boat repairs underway, and seasickness…..

We, sailors are very picky about our wind.  We like it strong enough for a consistent sail but not too strong which is ideally between 10 – 20 knots.  We also like it somewhere close to the beam (on the side) or even slightly behind us.  What we don’t like is wind on the nose (in front of us) or close to being on the nose.  For Imagine, we tend to sail comfortably with the wind anywhere between 60 to 120 degrees off the bow.  We can sail closer hauled but the crew tends to get a little grumpy.  We can also sail nicely, wing and wing (one sail one each side of the boat) with the wind dead behind us. But on that tack, we do need to be more on guard on watch that we don’t back wind any sails.  But the key to a good sail is to have wind and not to have to run the engine to get somewhere.  With this 8 day passage, we only motored for speed 12 hours which is pretty amazing.  So we were very happy with that, especially the Captain!!!!  The kids were a little bummed, though, because the engine also charges the batteries and allows for more movie viewing on a passage…..so with the good wind Cinema Imagine was closed often.
 

Another important component to any passage is the size, state, and direction and direction of the waves.  The worst sailing condition is to have large, choppy, inconsistent seas on the nose.  Imagine is a strong, sound boat and she can sail through some pretty nasty seas but again the crew gets grumpy.  This passage provided us with mostly following seas or just aft of beam which was a fairly smooth ride.  We had a couple of days when the chop picked up, but nothing too significant. 

Imagine showed us that she loved her makeover with the go fast paint and prop job.  With the excellent wind and wave direction, we made record speed, averaging almost 7 knots and arriving into Suva almost 12 hours earlier than the other boats that we left Opua with.  Now Imagine is a comfortable, sturdy cruising boat…..we are NOT a racer but I have to say we were all excited about her speed and performance on this passage.
 

If you’ve been reading our blog long, you know that the old saying, “Cruising is doing boat repairs and maintenance in exotic places,” is a very true statement.  This statement also holds true on the high seas.  We have had passages where we have (or I should say Marc) has had to repair a fuel leak, change a water pump at 3:00 AM, change a fuel filter, replace impellers, fix the water maker, etc. etc.  This is pretty par for the course of cruising and Imagine is no different than other boats.  When you have so many systems, things need maintained and things will break.  But one of the beautiful things about this passage is nothing failed……which provided a stress free passage and  kept the Captain out of the engine room.

Well the last key component to a comfortable passage is the crew’s tolerance to seasickness.  Unfortunately, the kids have all inherited Jane’s seasick gene (although thank goodness not as bad).  Many passages are plagued with the question, “Who barfed?” and usually it’s Mom.  But after traveling 15K miles and trying about every over the counter, prescription, and holistic remedy, Jane finally found a remedy that works for her, the “Pahia Bombs”.  This is two stage pill treatment that is made by a pharmacist in a small tourist town in NZ.  Although, I’m not exactly sure what is in it, it works like a charm and this was the most comfortable passage that Jane has ever had.  Unfortunately, the kids are too young to take it, but the OTC remedies work pretty well for them.

So after one of our best passages so far, we arrived in Suva at 3:00 AM on Friday morning.  We had looked at the charts and it seemed like a straight forward, well lit entrance and we made the decision to enter and anchor in the dark.  The charts and guide books were right and the harbor entrance was a breeze but what we didn’t expect were the half dozen rusted out, unlit shipwrecks, anchored throughout the anchorage.  Luckily, Jane was on the bow with a spotlight and we were able to dodge the rust buckets, to find a safe, calm place to anchor and to rest before the morning’s customs procedures.   Now the shipwrecks indicate that this is probably not the most beautiful anchorage that we will be in but we are still happy to get back to the tropics.

April 27, 2010 – Suva, Fiji

Well we have to admit that the first impressions of Fiji were not the beautiful beaches, sparkling turquoise water, and uninhabited islands that we all envision.  We awoke on Saturday morning to a large city, smelly city and a harbor with dirty brown water littered with rusted out ships.  Suva, the capital of Fiji, is a city of approximately 160,000 people which is 1/5^th of the population of Fiji.  Although, we knew that Suva would not be a picturesque island town, we chose to check in here so that we could have easy access to explore the islands of the Great Astrolobe Reef, just 30 miles south of Suva. 

Although we had heard rumors that the check in process here was difficult, we had a relatively easy time of it.  For a fee of US $20, The Suva Yacht Club coordinated shuttling the three representatives from Customs, Immigration, and Health to Imagine.  They arrived by 10:00 and within an hour we were ready to get off Imagine and start exploring the city.

Although, it wasn’t the most beautiful area that we’ve seen, the people of Suva were warm and friendly.  As we walked the 20 minutes from the YC to the downtown area, we were greeted with “Bula” (Hello) from almost everyone we saw.  There are very few tourists who go to Suva and with a population that consists of almost 50% Fijian and 50% Indian with a few Polynesians mixed in the very blond crew of Imagine stuck out in the crowds.  But we could not have felt more welcome.  Although, Fijian is the official language of Fiji, language is the second language and most people know some English and many speak English fluently so there was always someone to give us directions or even walk with us to show us the way. 

After walking through a shipping yard, literally, to finalize our customs paperwork, we explored the HUGE fruit and veggie market.  It was the largest that we have ever seen and upstairs we were even able to purchase our Kava.  Kava, a tranquilizing, nonalcoholic drink which numbs the tongue and lips, comes from the waka (dried root) of the pepper plant.  Although tempting (who wouldn’t want to drink dried roots), we didn’t buy it for the enjoyment on Imagine.  We purchased small bundles of the root, to present (sevu sevu) to the chiefs in the small villages on the outer islands.  This ceremonial presentation allows us, cruisers, to be accepted into their communities and allowed to visit their islands and beaches. 

May 27, 2010 – Lautoka, Fiji – Back from the USA

After a whirlwind two and a half weeks in the good old USA, Jane and the kids arrived back to Imagine exhausted, excited to see Marc, and ready to tell lots of stories.  Although, we were busy every minute we had a rewarding, emotional, and just plain fun trip back “home”.  We were able to combine a trip back to Indiana for my Dad’s wedding with a few days in our hometown of Chicago.  Thanks to all of our friends and family who coordinated with our schedules to host many gatherings so we could catch up with so many of our friends.  And also, a huge thank you to Philippe and Michele, The Lynch’s, The Paczosa’s, and my Dad and Michele for providing real houses for us to sleep in!  It was really nice to sleep in a bed that doesn’t rock, take hot showers for as long as we wanted, use a dishwasher, and just wander around a home.

The primary reason for our visit was to attend my Dad and Michele’s wedding.  It was a very special day and a beautiful ceremony.  All of the family was involved with Grant and Noah standing up with Grandpa and Caroline walking down the aisle with the little flower girls and standing up with Michele.  It was wonderful to see my Dad so happy and to be there to share the day with him. 

We loved seeing all of our family – especially spending time with my 94 year old Grandma (or affectionately known to the kids as Old Grandma).  It was also so fun to catch up with my great niece and little nephews.  They had changed so much since we left and the kids had a blast playing with them all. 

Of course, while we were in the US we just had to enjoy some of our favorite foods that we hadn’t eaten in quite some time.  Some of our favorites were pizza, Pot Belly Subs, Subway, Lasagna (that I didn’t have to make from scratch), real hot dogs (if there is such a thing), McDonalds, KFC, BBQ, Kraft Mac and Cheese (we haven’t found anywhere since Panama) turkey sandwiches (turkey is sooo expensive everywhere), Gallons of ice cream, fresh milk (no UHT or powdered) and eating breakfast out at a restaurant (we always did that in Chicago and hadn’t done since we left there).  We also had some delicious home cooked meals made by family and friends, which for me was the best food that we had because I didn’t have to cook it.

OK, so not only did we eat a lot, we also enjoyed some good old US activities like Putt Putt golfing, going to the movies, playing at Grandpa’s lake, riding scooters and bikes, shopping, shopping, and more shopping, watching way too much Disney channel and just hanging out having fun with our family and friends.

The kids had so much fun connecting with their friends from their old school and neighborhood.  They had play dates and sleepovers and even attended school. They had a great day visiting St. Clement and also going to school in the suburbs with the Paczosa kids. 

So after a wonderful trip “back home”, we loaded up our 8 bags with almost 50 pounds each which is the absolute most luggage that we could check.  We were filled to the top with books, boat parts, shampoos, electronics, zip lock bags, sunscreen, school supplies and you name it.  Although, we can buy many of these items in other countries, they usually are so much more expensive.  So we loaded up the bags with our stash from the good old US and took off from O’Hare. 

Now we are happy to be back to our home on Imagine and ready to enjoy the beauty of Fiji for a couple more weeks after we rest up from a VERY long flight.