We are now in a marina that is close to Lautoka on the Western side of Viti Levu. Our time in Fiji, so far, has been very effected by our change of plans to go to Australia instead of New Zealand. We did not think we were going to be in Fiji until after New Zealand so we did not get any guide books: trying to save space on the boat. So some of our guide books include Fiji but we do not have a very good guide to the area and are fumbling around a bit. And of course there is the matter of the dinghy. When we were in Tonga we were able to borrow a dinghy and motor from friends but they were headed to New Zealand so we had to give it back before we left for Fiji. So we have been getting by, staying in marinas and bumming rides off of other cruisers. This usually works well but since we are at the end of the cruising season there are not as many boats out here. We have found ourselves in remote anchorages looking in at the mangroves and smelling the green scent of jungle but only able to watch from a distance. It gives our cruising a certain degree of loneliness and separation from the villages.

There is a custom here where you take a kava root and present it to the chief of the village that you are visiting or anchored near. It is very quaint but it is also an assurance that the chief will look after you if anything happens while you are in his village. Its a good idea to get on good terms since he is the acting law out here. But we have not had an opportunity to do this as we have been stranded on our boat.

So that is why Fearless ended up on a dock with hundred foot mega yachts on either side. One of the boats is Lochiel, a boat that we have been seeing around since Bora Bora. We were fifteen miles from Beachcomber Island and Adrien decided to take his twelve foot dinghy out there for the day. Since we had no navigation equipment on board we followed another boat that had told us they were also going to Beachcomber. We were really blessed to be able to follow in their wake since the waves were up and we were motoring in a really small vessel to be out in the open vessel. I felt like I was on Miami Vice speeding along in this giant inflatable. Hanging out with friends that have big yachts does not suck, I will tell you that much. And when we got to Beachcomber we arrived in the Fiji of our dreams: there were hoby cats lolling around in the light breeze off the white sand beach, a volleyball rope (There was no net, but how can you complain when you have such an excellent view?), a nice bar with a grass roof and crystal clear water. The island could be circumnavigated on foot in about fifteen minutes if you took your time. The day went by too fast and one of the members of our little party met a girl who was going home on the ferry. We ended up following the ferry back to the marina; the dinghy was at max speed to keep up with the sixty foot catamaran motor boat but it was laying down the water nicely for us or we would not have been able to go so fast. He did eventually catch her on the dock though I don’t know if his efforts ended in victory or defeat.

We heard that Candine had come into Suva, this was big news as they were carrying my mail. We had some stuff shipped to us in American Samoa (in August…) and while some packages arrived in three or four days other packages did not arrive before we had to leave. We had waited for three weeks there and it was a very stinky harbor. We had a friend who was coming to Tonga one week after us so we had asked them to carry our mail if it ever arrived in American Samoa before they left. It did arrive and they had it in hand, so we were pretty sure that our mail was one week behind us. They were taking a one week detour in Western Samoa that turned into a three and a half detour so when they finally arrived in Vava’u we had already left. Again we had missed our mail. But we knew that Don Pedro and Candine were both coming our way shortly so we told Argonaut to hand the package off to them when they got to Vava’u. Candine got the mail but of course we found out that they were on their way to Suva the day we had already left and so we contemplated what to do and it ended up that I would take a bus from Deanarau to Suva. It is a four hour bus ride but only marginally more expensive for a three hour shared cab so I went for the cab.

I was feeling pretty good about my decision as I sat in the front seat of the taxi and waited for him to gather the other three passengers that would fill the cab. Then we could leave. Unfortunately there was a mix up and I was hustled onto another taxi where I was the last one seated and therefore had to sit on the hump in the back seat. Three hours later when we arrived in Suva my back was in a rare state and I was cursing the taxi driver who had shoved me in the middle. I arranged to go back in the same taxi on one condition: front seat. He was cool with that and was happy to have the return fair, now he had to go into Suva and gather up three more passengers: he would be back to pick me up in an hour.

I got my mail and was waiting for the taxi in fifty five minutes. When will I ever learn? I was waiting for the taxi to return for three hours. On the up side I got into a lively conversation with some local men who taught me some bad words, told me about drinking kava and what it meant to them and told me about their island lives. We had a really nice conversation. The ride back home in the taxi was about five million times better from the front seat. I watched the landscape slip by: a parade of resorts interspersed with villages that had little craft shops for the tourists. The cars on the road have such bad emissions that there was black smoke pouring out of more than a few of them and I would hold my breath until we had a pocket of fresh air to breath. As the sun set and the headlights started coming at me in the dark I had a feeling of vertigo: they drive on the wrong side of the road here and no matter that you know it there is an instinct to put the cars on my left and I kept feeling like we were headed for a head on collision. It was nice to get back to Fearless after such a dirty city day.

After such a brutal day I decided that tomorrow was a fun day. I invited Renee, a girl who works on one of the mega yachts that we are moored up next to, to come out and we had a nice girls day together. We window shopped and had a mocha and walked around talking about girlie things. Besides the subject of yachts she had a bunion and was considering surgery. I know all about that surgery so we had lots to discuss. Mark from Myah is back from his vacation back home to see his granddaughter and his new grandson and we had wonderful potluck with our old and new friends.

We had to get the packing glad fixed on our prop shaft and we have to be lifted from the water for that so then we had to leave our mega yacht friends behind and are now in a smaller marina that also has a cradle to lift the boat and some skilled labor here as well. We are starting to think about our voyage to Australia and worrying over the details of visas and boat repair. We may be here for one more day getting the boat in order and then we off to see the Yasawa Islands. These are the most spectacular beaches in Fiji and I can’t wait.