Happy New Year LuckIt was hot and muggy in the cabin last night. We had reluctantly disconnected from shore power in anticipation of the first gale of the season and Simmons, our trusty air conditioner is reduced to being a rather ugly appendage on the settee. Dois was a flurry of activity, taking down sails, tying down kayaks and dealing with the 6 lines and chain meant to hold Ashika in place and kibitzing with staff and neighbors about storm strategies while I had discovered new things to do below, (while the AC was still on). We are uncomfortably close (12 inches?) to the neighboring boats and Dois has been working to get us a little room. But when it is all said and done, we will have to pull our boat out in front of the pile to ride any storm to avoid smashing up against them. It seems apropos to publish a long over-due blog update on this first day of 2019. Dois, Ginger and I have been in Fiji since last August and decided to stay for the cyclone season. Ginger is doing surprisingly well and we are working with bio-security to hopefully get her imported to Fiji soon. Long walks probably aren't on her agenda, but a walk on around the marina would be a complete joy to behold. It wasn't supposed to be an El Nino year...but Fiji weather announced it when it was too late to make another decision. It was a gamble we made and Fiji weather has since predicted 7 to 11 cyclones in the South Pacific during the season. That's about 2-3 per month. Today, a storm passed us to the north as it formed into a stage 1 Cyclone. There are 2 more threatening us in the next 10 days. It appears it will be an exciting year and as Ashika and her community were lucky on the first one of the year, we hope it is a sign of luck to come in 2019. It took us about a week to sail from Savusavu on Vanua Levu to the marina at Vuda Point on Viti Levu. The weather was almost perfect except for a lack of wind and we motored the entire way. We stopped at several small islands and they were mostly temporarily abandoned, the locals having left the smaller islands for Thanksgiving feasts with family. Yes, they celebrate Thanksgiving, but they have it for almost a week. We took this time to commune in strikingly gorgeous places with strikingly beautiful fish. This bay is at an uninhabited island and completely pristine. The snorkeling was amazing. There was a small abandoned pineapple farm just behind those beach palms and an old fisherman snagged some and shared with us. The sweetest pineapples ever. The path over the top of Viti Levu is simply a maze of coral reefs. Sun above and behind you is the best way to navigate around the boat eating reefs and we managed to find safe harbor before the sun dipped in front of us each day. There are supposed to be guide poles and buoys to help, but the frequency of annual cyclones pretty much assures missing guides. Eyes open people. Along the west coast there were these sand dunes that looked like floating clouds or possibly alien space ships, we weren't absolutely sure which. I think it has to do with refraction, like seeing hallucinations in the desert. If you have a better explanation, please feel free to enlighten us. The path was a visual feast of green hills flowing into tropical waters. It was also sugar cane harvest time, so field after field were set ablaze. Visual entertainment unless the winds turn against you. The lights you can see thru the flames were cars navigating the main road that goes all the way around the island. Peace.
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