Crewless

Hello All,
It has been a while since I wrote so I will get you up to speed. I have just been doing little projects on the boat, polishing stainless and inspecting the rigging. The boat is ready to go to Vanuatu but I still have no crew. I had a few bites but nothing came of it. I do have a guy I met here crewing on another boat that said he would help if nothing else works out. His Skipper doesn't plan to leave Fiji right away so he could spare a few weeks. That would get me at least to Port Vila, Vanuatu. If that doesn't work I will go by myself.
There is an American boat that just showed up here a few days ago, I have met them a few times in the coarse of my trip. They plan to leave to Vanuatu next week so I will run with them. They are faster than me but we can figure out the right time to leave and we will end up together on Tanna Island. It is only a 4 day crossing so it shouldn't be a big deal. There is always hope but time is running out and I need to get this boat moving one way or another.
Port Vila is a very popular stop over for yachts , in fact I almost had a guy fly up here from there. Rob on Compass Rose posted a crew wanted add for me there and this guy emailed me. He found another boat to crew on in the mean time so I get to punt again.
I have made some good friends here while I have been waiting so there is always a bright side to things and you couldn't really pick a better spot to be stranded. hehe In fact the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks was filmed not to far from here.
Well that's all for now, I will talk to you soon.


PEACE

Saweni Bay

Hello All,
I know its been a while but haven't done much here, just looking for crew and looking for crew. This weekend I did go out to a bay that is pretty close by. It is 5 miles north of here and myself and Adam that works in the yard here and one of his friends, Bisco, which is a nick name took the boat there yesterday and anchored. It is a quiet bay and had a few boats there. We aired up the dingy and went to the beach. We met a few locals hanging out on there fishing boat and hung out with them till 9 pm last night. We had a great time and one of the yachties came in and hung out to. They fed us chicken Curry and some rice which was very good. we had a few beers and headed back to Vuda this morning. We had a 10 knot north easterly wind so we even got to sail back. Adam went home to see his girl friend last night but Bisco stayed on the boat. He works around here at the marina on boats freelance so has spent heaps of time at sea. We got to talking and seems he is very interested in sailing for a month or so. I will talk to him further here in the next few days.
I am really ready to leave but I need to be patient for a week or so to see if someone turns up that wants to go further than Vanuatu.
I will be here till I leave the country so I will keep in touch.


PEACE

Back in the Water

Hello All,
I spent 5 days on blocks getting the prop bearing fixed, new bottom paint on, painted a new green stripe on the water line and polished the hull. Everything looked really good, although I did paint last November here. My prop bearing was worn because the engine was out of alignment. On this trip I have had , by my own fault rope wrap around the prop and killed the engine 3 times out of 4. The pressure put on everything tweaked the engine just enough to wear my bearing prematurely. Its all realigned now so should be fine for a while so long as I don't wrap another rope around it, ill do my best.
I am still waiting on a reply from a Fijian guy I met 10 days ago. He sounded very interested in going at least to the Solomon Islands so I hope to hear from him soon.
On a side note, just hanging out here I have met and talked to so many cruisers, hard to name them all, most I just say hello to and some have figured out that I have heaps of tools on the boat so I have loaned out some to a few. That makes friends pretty fast. One couple that I have been talking to heaps is Tom and Colleen on there 38 foot boat "Mokisha" They are from Big Sur California and they are a really super couple. They are doing a major refit to the boat here and wont get out sailing again till next season. They have been sailing around for years and the boat finally was calling there attention when they got here. They invited me to have tacos on there land prisoner ed boat and had a great visit. I talk to Tom every day for a bit, we have heaps in common so we hit it off right away. Jim on "Summer Sky" is from San Diego and he is the one that figured out I have heaps of tools. He is doing some work to his 40 foot boat before his wife returns from the states so they will cruise Fiji a little more. They have already circumnavigated once but they like the Pacific best.
Well I have rambled on enough, you get the idea.
That's all for now


PEACE

still looking for crew

hello All,
I am still dry here at Vuda Point. I got the cutlass bearing fixed now waiting for weather to put the bottom paint on. it has rained off and on all day but it is suppose to clear i hope by tomorrow. matt will be leaving the boat to go to Australia by next week on another boat so I am still on the look out for help to vanuatu. I still have a Fijian guy interested so I will meet with him again next week. I hope to leave here by the 1st of August so we will see how that goes and weather permitting.
I have hope that something will work out for the best.



PEACE

High and dry

Hello All,
I got the boat on blocks right now doing a bearing on the prop shaft. I bought a new one in New Zealand because the old one was getting worn. It wasent wore out but I figured while I was here I would fix it. The bottom of the boat looks good. I did buy 4 liters of paint for a touch up so I should be good to get back home. We hauled out yesterday and we spent all day in Lautoka getting some supplies today. I should have the bearing installed in the morning and then I will wax the hull. Matt, my crew has been a big help with all of the projects. I hope to be back in the water Monday. Adam, One of the guys that helps getting the boats out of the water has been borrowing my bike to go home at night. He is a really cool guy and has helped me out heaps. We are planning a trip not far from here next weekend to one of the bays and have a BBQ on the beach. Adam has never sailed before so he is really excited about the trip.
Well thats all for now so I will talk to you later.


PEACE

Returned to Vuda Point

Hello All,
We made it back to Vuda at noon today, As luck would have it we had a very light wind right in our face coming back so we just burned some fuel. It is not very far but that's the way it goes. I have added new pictures to the Fiji Album so take a look and I will be updating my route so you can see where I went.
I have a few things I need to do so I will fill you in tomorrow.
Thats all for now.



PEACE

Malolo Lai Lai Island

Hello All,
Matt and I took a walking tour of the whole Island here at Musket Cove. It is not very big and the highest point is maybe 300 feet. There is a road that runs the whole ridge so it was easy walking. I took some great pictures of the surrounding area so I will post them when I return to Vuda Point.
After the hike we went to the little bar right by the beach and I was visiting with some travelers. It seems that not very far from here, about 5 miles south there is a world class wave for surfers. We had a high surf warning posted last week and the weekend and from what everyone was saying it has been the best surfing here in 20 years. A few pros showed up and were surfing 30 foot plus waves. Jon my crew talked about this place last year but I never looked to see where it was.
Fiji has so much to offer a visitor. It really is a fabulous place and is basically unknown to us North Americans. Most of the visitors are from Australia or New Zealand. And most of the yachts are from New Zealand.
We will leave here in the morning to head back to Vuda Point. I don't know what we will do today but we will see.

PEACE