They came, they saw, they drank too much Fiji Bitter!

Time with the boys!

The last week has been a bit of a blur. With Geoff's brothers Peter, then Bill coming to visit for 5 days each. It's been a great time, surfing, golf, drinking Fiji Bitter (urk) and generally catching up. So where did it all start?

Nadi airport, not a big place but while we waited for Pete we found the best coffee in Fiji at Esquires Cafe, where the small cups are like mugs!! Geoff was nervous as I was too close to the gift shop for his liking! But I restrained myself as we kept watch on the arrival status of Pete's plane. It's always great having family come visit you when you have been away from home for awhile. So when our beloved Petey arrived on Thursday afternoon, we were sitting eagerly awaiting him in the airport lounge.

Now we had organised a Taxi with Vuda Point Marina's own taxi service. You can choose from Abdul 1 or Abdul 2. Apparently it is very important that you get the right one, they are brothers and competitors. We had Abdul 2 and his enthusiasm for his job of getting yachties around shows itself in his booming voice. He was so keen to take us shopping before Pete's arrival, but then another yachtie called and he happily dropped us off to wait, so he could race back and grab the next passenger. He returned just after Pete's arrival and he then took us to the shops so we could get Beer (very important) and some fresh food from the markets. So Pete's first experience of Fiji was a trip to the local Produce market, then the hustle and bustle of a typical strip of Fiji shops. Oh actually I think the bumpy roads were his first real physical experience of Fiji!! Stocked up on Fiji Bitter and food we got Pete back to the Marina in one piece where we set him up comfortably in the V berth. Not long after the tour of Sea Otter, we were sitting on the waterfront in the shade of the Vuda Point Yacht Club's thatched hut bar. Drinking $3.50 fj ($2.50 aud) Fiji premiums. It was a great but windy afternoon catching up with family news and Pete listening to some of our stories, while the sun set into a orange haze. It wasn't hard to stay on and eat dinner here, the food is cheap and reasonable. Typical good value yachtie fare.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Cafe in the complex and paid our marina fees so we could get an early start. The forecast was from 15 – 20 knot SE'ers, so we wanted to make it over to Malolo lailai Island before the wind got up to full strength. With a little encouragement from Pete it wasn't hard to convince Geoff to stop at Namotu Island just to the SW of our destination. This happens to be the little sandy island where Geoff's favourite surf break is! We anchored in 15' sand but sadly the surf was chopped up as the wind was picking up. So we all went for a snorkel over a couple of coral bommies, then took the dinghy into the sandy spit to check it out. By now the wind was at it's full 20 knots so we headed back, picked up the anchor and motor sailed into the western reef entrance to Musket Cove Resort/Yacht Club. Picked up a mooring buoy and relaxed with a cold Fiji Bitter.

Musket Cove is on the smaller Malolo lailai island, it shares the island with Plantation Island Resort. Both very yachtie friendly. But Musket Cove the original and the home of the Yacht Club, prides itself on being Fiji's number one home for cruising yachts. It was here that we left for Brisbane 13 years ago! And just being here makes us feel like we are nearly home. We went ashore signed in as guests at the Resort, joined the Yacht Club and went for a wander. We found the airstrip ( a cut in the island from east to west) this is where Bill arrived on Saturday afternoon. Pete loved the place and informed us that the banana lounge on the beach is where we could find him the next day!! There was talk of coming back and bringing Lou for a romantic getaway!!!!! Hold him to that Lou, you'd love the place! Of course as yachtie's where do you end up to watch the sun go down at Musket Cove? Well at the sand Bar of course! Another thatched hut on the end of a sandy spit, where the yachts moor one side and the bay is on the other. It's a friendly, reasonably priced bar where yachtie's have left their memento's hanging from the roof. Such a perfect place to end the first full day of Pete on board. He seemed to be fitting in to the yachtie lifestyle perfectly....hmmm maybe too perfectly, there was talk of a bigger 50' yacht that he would be a shareholder of in two years time?!! Yes, well, we will see if we can sell this one first and if we still have any enthusiasm for doing it all again. After we get back to Brisbane!!!

Bill's arrival was the start of Pete's worrying. On the walk along the beach to the sand airstrip, we met some yachtie's who'd just got off a charter plane. They told us they chartered because Sun Pacific Fiji's domestic airline is very unreliable. Apparently they regularly don't fly because they can't afford the fuel!!!!! You should have seen the look on Pete's face. Bill's 20 seater plane arrived no problems, well that was a relief. Then began the next few days with all four on board. We took Sea Otter out to Wilkes Passage, a popular and free surf break. We anchored in the pass in 40' on a sandy strip between two big coral banks. It was rolly but safe. Then Bill was out in a flash surfing the 3-4' right hander. Being very careful not to hang on too long and end up on the reef. Bill was riding Geoff's board and came back half an hour later with a big smile on his face. Then Geoff went off for his turn. Pete and I had a swim, but the current through the pass was about 1-2 knots, so you had to hang on not to be swept off. Pete would jump in from the bow and drift back to the stern ladder. Geoff also caught a couple of good waves and returned with a big smile on his face.

The next day Bill caught a local boat out to the surf break and Geoff and Pete played a round of golf on the flat 9 hole course. Apparently it was a tie? Something about Pete giving Geoff 18 shots?? They had a great time and we all met back at the Cafe for lunch. And by the afternoon it was getting close to the time for Pete to go. It had gone so fast. Bets were being laid on whether the plane would turn up or not??? If it didn't poor Pete had no backup plan, the last boat for Nadi had already gone, the water taxi wanted $375 for the trip and we wouldn't be able to motor him back in time. He decided if it didn't turn up he'd stay and leave with Bill on Wednesday. So we sat at the Airport bar and waited. Pete did seem a tad nervous, Bill and Geoff however like typical brothers were enjoying it all. Would Pete be going or not?? Well.... about 10 minutes later, which allowed for a few beads of sweat it turned up. It, being a 6 seater!!!!!! It was tiny. Poor Pete. Many photo's were taken, but with a puff of sandy dust it took off safely and Pete was gone.

The next day Bill and Geoff took a local boat out to the surf break again, word was it was bigger today. I did some washing and chores and 4 hours later met them at the Cafe. It was bigger!!! 6 plus feet, and making a feast of other surfers boards and bodies. However incredibly the two oldest surfers out there returned unscathed!! Geoff was still abit crushed that the boat driver a local, seemed to think he was too old to be surfing. Geoff said he nearly agreed as he caught the biggest wave he has ever caught and scared the life out of himself!! I am sure it will go down as a favourite story to be told many times over within the family.

Time flies when your having fun and all of a sudden it was the day for Bill to leave. Bill had obviously been affected by Pete's flight to Nadi and decided it was a safer bet to catch the Malolo cat to Nadi! So there we were at 12.00 sitting in the shade of a thatched hut waving Billy goodbye. It was a great week, loads of laughs and stories. It made us regret we didn't have a bigger boat with three cabins, so we could have more family and friends on board. Two cabins really only suits two couples. Oh well maybe next time?????

Today we motored to Lautoka, so we could clear out for tomorrow. After going ashore we realised Lautoka is not the easiest place to get the final things done and we didn't seem to get any internet signal. So we opted to come back to our favourite marina, Vuda Point. We will have dinner at the yacht club tonight and discuss our plans for the next passage. Vanuatu or New Caledonia?? We'll let you know! Oh by the way.. our boat is full of Fiji Bitter Peter!! Someone needs to come and drink it?