Altair Cruising Log

Bula Bula!!! Our time to Fiji is coming to a close and we are getting the boat ready to head back to New Zealand for cyclone season. Here are just a few high lights of the last three months. We checked into Savusavu the end of July and had a great time exploring the town and catching up with old friends. Things were very reasonably priced, we had slipcovers made for all our main saloon cushions for about US$25 (we had bought the fabric in NZ) and Paul got a hair cut for US$1.25. There are some good restaurants too, Indian, Chinese and Pizza!

In exploring the area we visited Laucala Island, owned by the estate of the late Malcom Forbes, which has seven beachfront bungalows and a whole village where the Fijian workers live. Malcolm Forbes loved Laucala so much he requested to be buried on the hilltop near his simple house. The island is for sale and looks to have great potential if any one has 10 million to invest. On the island of Taveuni we hiked to some great waterfalls and along a great coastal trek. We also took the opportunity to stand on the 180th meridian (the real dateline), which passes through the island and is one of the easiest places to do so. We got to stand with one foot in each day, in fact on the way past Taveuni we hooked a Mahi Mahi on one side of the meridian and didn't get it on board until the other side. We grilled some of that fish for lunch and then realized that we were eating the Mahi the day before we caught it!

In the local fresh markets here as in Tonga, veggies are in piles of a certain quantity with each pile a certain price generally F$1 or F$2 (US$0.50-$1.00). So you sometimes end up with a bit more than you really want such as getting eight Japanese eggplants instead of just 2-3 but we have found that they keep quite well in our fridge so it all works our in the end. There is a much greater abundance and variety of vegetables here than in Tonga, which has been a real treat.

Fiji has many great stores to explore, many owned by local Indians and with a wide variety of goods like small emporiums. Paul likes to walk in and see what they have and what kind of deal he can make. Bula Shirts (Hawaiian style shirts) for F$8-12, that's $4-6 US! He doesn't buy things often but every one seems to enjoy the negotiating and potential for making a deal.

Morris Hedstrom Hypermarche (referred to as MH here) is a bit like Fred Meyer with groceries, household goods, and various other things. This store chain has daily super specials where they tape a candy bar to a bottle of shampoo or a pack of curry to a bag of popcorn. Paul was hoping for pack of Oreo's taped to ice cream. We have been able to get excellent beef at a reasonable price at Fiji Meats. The steaks are often a bit tough but if we marinate with pawpaw (papaya) and they are great. So far we have avoided pork liver and pigs heads for the bargain price of about US$6. Not quite sure how we would prepare it to be truthful. While crossing the South Pacific we have always had the opportunity to buy tinned corned beef on every island with the widest range of brands and sizes being available in Tonga and Fiji. In Fiji there is also the other option of corned mutton. Yummy!

There are lots of interesting and different animals of which our favorite are the Barking Pigeons. They have a call that sounds exactly like a barking dog. Certainly sounds a bit strange as you are hiking through the woods. Pigs, pigs you ask? Lots of people say they will do something when "pigs fly" well here in Fiji they don't fly but they do swim! Especially when they want to get from one beach to another at high tide. Unfortunately we did not have the camera with us to capture the pod of pigs out for their daily swim. There are plenty of sea snakes too and they turn up in unusual places. A friend had one swim up and crawl into his inflatable, while he was in it! Had to take out the floorboards to get the snake out. We got to swim with manta rays, a very cool experience. They just glide through the water scooping up plankton and other microscopic sea life. They almost look like stealth fighter planes with strange baffles on their undersides where the excess water escapes.

The snorkeling in Fiji is Fantastic! The soft coral is spectacular and the reefs here have some of the most incredible colors, purple with lighter purple tips and day glow green are some of the favorites. The coral formations seem to be much larger than any we have previously seen, perhaps 10 feet across for sea fans and stag horn corals. At Makongi Island there were giant clam beds, complete with actual bedsprings and frames off shore from an old leper colony hospital. There are lobster on the reefs but we still can't seem convince any to come to dinner. There are lots of great seashells too, we collect them if they are uninhabited but never kill the creature for the home off it's back.

While anchored at the Blue Lagoon (Nanuya-Sewa in the Yasawas), we had three beach fires, which was great fun. The wind was blowing hard out in the anchorage but blowing off shore so it seemed so peaceful sitting on the beach watching the fire and letting it weave it's magic on us. We always stayed for at least a half hour more of beach fire after everyone else would leave for the night and were the only ones to be at all three beach fires. Does that make us pyromaniacs? Or a new term we have just picked up from friends is 'fire dragons.' At Sawa-i-lau we had quite the spectacular show one night when a small brush fire appeared to get out of control and started to race up the hill behind the village. With few other lights around it was an incredible sight when the whole hillside was ablaze, but also a bit scary. Fortunately the fire did not come into the village. Although it was an amazing sight, we much prefer our small quiet beach fires.

Coconut palms are the perfect plant in many ways as you can use all parts of the trees, fronds and fruit in it's various stages. It is really amazing the variety of different things you can make including clothing, shelter, eating bowls, food, drink, and baskets. Paul has started to make coconut lampshades for cockpits lights from the inner nuts and they make great presents to share with other cruising friends. The nuts are ready for use as bowls just by carefully taking out the meat and need no further finishing on the inside. We have discovered that Fijian nuts are bigger than others we have seen across the Pacific and they also have brows over two of the eyes, some quite pronounced. Makes them very different in appearance. At one of our bonfires we also learned a new trick for making roasted coconut. You put a husked coconut shell in the fire rolling it among the coals for about half an hour then roll it in the ocean for a few minutes before opening and eating. The coconut meat tastes like buttered popcorn. It's a bit wild.

Had a great time at Regatta Week at Musket Cove on Malolo Lailai in the Mamanuca Group off Nadi in western Fiji. The resort is very welcoming to yachties and any one who has sailed to Fiji can join the Musket Cove Yacht Club for F$1 for the skipper and F$5 for each crew member which works out to about US$3 for both of us. This gives you access to all the facilities at the resort, which includes numerous swimming pools, tennis courts, golf course etc. You can also rent Hobie Cats and wind surfers. With sand paths throughout much of the resort and no shoes required in any of the buildings, we went barefoot most of the time unless we were heading off on a hike. Gives you a great feeling of freedom.

One of the best things at Musket Cove is the $3 Bar out on a small island with a dock connecting it to the bigger island. All drinks are F$3 - beer, wine, rum and coke, coke etc. The best part is that they have lots of tables and they have barbecues that you can use every night to cook your food. They even supply the grilling tools plus plates and silverware, and they do the dishes! So all you bring is your meat and side dishes. An easy way to meet new people and great way to socialize with those you know. In our most recent stay there we only ate alone on the boat one night out of five.

During regatta Week we sailed on Morpheus, a new Schumacher 50 owned by a family from San Francisco. Great quick boat and she is the first boat built by Davie Norris as an independent boat builder, he was the foreman in charge of building Cassiopeia the Davidson 72 that we raced on for a number of years. Schumacher designed The Edge, the Sonoma 30 that Paul owned for years so it was a fun match up. There are only two serious sailboat races during Regatta Week and we did quite well taking a first for the Orams Trophy and a third for the Around Malolo Race. Not bad as we finished behind a new 80 foot boat also just launched in NZ and Kioala III, the race is not handicapped so first across the line is first to finish. It is a bit strange to be racing through the reef passes that we generally are so cautious about going through, but the resort had additional markers out and boats guarding reefs letting you know if you were getting too close. There were lots of fun shore activities as well and we raced in the Hobie Cat Challenge making it to the semi-finals. Hobie Cats are 16-foot beach catamarans sailed with a two man crew, Paul had sailed one before but Suzette had never been on one until the first day of racing. Lots of fun and a loose format that allowed for paddling when the wind was really light.

We always like to listen to the local radio stations and the Fijian stations play lots of older songs so you have to like the Carpenters, Tom Jones and John Denver among others. American Pie must be a real favorite as they play it at least a couple of times a day. It's all a bit of a time warp. We frequently find ourselves singing along to some song from our youth and then doing a double take when we realize how long it has been since we had last heard the song. But it gives us good variety from our CD collection and the commercials are great.

In the Mamanauca Group and exploring the Yasawa Islands in western Fiji we finally had a chance to do sevu sevu where you present a bundle of yaqona (kava) to the village chief when you ask permission to anchor in their bay and go ashore on their land. In the areas that get a lot of tourist's the ritual has become very casual, but at Waya Lailai we sat down with chief "Tom" for a half hour of ceremony and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We are presently anchored off the Sheraton Denarau watching the finishers of this year's Eco-Challenge. Teams from all over the world compete in an endurance run along a course that takes in hiking, kayaking, biking etc and they have to carry their own food and supplies and do all of their own orienteering. Last years course in New Zealand was evidently easier and the course here in Fiji is very difficult with over 50 of the original 81 teams having dropped out along the way many with jungle rot on their feet from hiking in wet shoes for days. The winning team from New Zealand finished in seven days and only was sleeping about 45 minutes per night. Not our idea of a fun time, but these folks all seem to enjoy it, even a couple on their honeymoon, and many say they are planning to do it again next year. Sheraton ambiance is a bit different with all of these people with bandaged feet hobbling around. Coverage will not be on your local cable station until next April, look for Altair anchored off the beach during most of the finishers and if the show footage of AirPacific, an Australian team finishing in third place look for us in the crowd on the beach as well as the finish of EarthLink from the USA.

Speaking of adventure television shows, one day we ducked into the Navadra island group to sit out some headwinds and found Survivors! We were asked not to go ashore as the New Zealand TV team was filming a survivor series with ex-special forces people. They had been without food and water for 2 weeks so we warned that they might be pretty rough. We did see plenty of goats walking around so they couldn't be too hungry and from the anchorage we think we got to see the third to last man voted off! We didn't feel very welcome so in the morning we put our best BBQ goat recipe in a bottle and tossed it toward shore and moved on.

Well about all for now, will write again when we arrive in New Zealand. Hope all is well with everyone, always love to get your emails and hear what you are up to. Take Care.

Cheers - The Altairians - Paul and Suzette