Well we got out of Suva in one piece! We hit the town and Customs early and were back on board by 10am. For awhile there it looked like Geoff would have to wait till 2pm for the Customs agent with the stamp to return. But somehow he managed to get it sorted when a second agent arrived. Phew!
When we got out of the harbour, the winds would you believe it were from the SW!! What is going on with the weather this year??? Luckily they were very light 5 - 10 knots and at times from the South. So we were able to sail along the bottom of Fiji, through the Mbengga pass around 4pm. From there we could get clear ocean away from reef's to head north towards the west coast. It was a lovely (though slow) night, very flat seas, hardly any swell so very comfortable sailing. We had to tweak the sails a bit to adjust to the fluky light winds but by dawn we were off the reef entrance to Navula Pass and we sailed through. The wind got lighter and lighter and once inside the protection of the western reef the water was a millpond. We ended up motoring the last 12 miles into Vuda Point Marina. Just south of Lautoka and north of Nadi. It was very tempting to stop at Malolo but the requirement to clear into Lautoka kept us heading north. Poor Geoff I could see him looking longingly towards the little atoll with the surf break, sigh....
Vuda Marina is a little keyhole marina with about 40 yachts inside. You go in and a Marina hand in a dinghy takes your stern line and picks up a buoy for you, then you motor bow in towards the wall, where you tie off, then you get given a second line to the stern. So you end up rafted up side by side other yachts, bow in. It will be interesting for me as you have to climb over the pulpit to get onto the dock? It looks a very calm and protected marina and they offer cyclone hole up. There is free wifi!!!! Hence this efficient Blog entry. A cafe, corner store, restaurant and a yacht club, plus hard stand and repair facilities. All for only .38c per foot per night, including water. So I think this is where we will sit and wait for Pete to arrive on Thursday and it's just a short taxi ride to Nadi Airport.
Geoff has just caught a taxi into Lautoka to clear Sea Otter in. The office gave him advice to contact Customs by phone since we had not made it into Lautoka. But it means we are lucky to not have to take the boat to Lautoka. So that's it from me for now.
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