Author: kerrizane

27 October 2016 (+12 UTC)

We again rose early to go the last 60 miles from the NE of Viti Levu inside the reef system to Denerau Marina near Nadi (pronounced Nandi) on the SE side of the island. Nadi is the second largest city with only Suva the Capital being larger. Viti Levu is one of the largest islands in the South Pacific, so it would be another 11-12 hour run to go from one corner of the island to the opposite corner.

The north coast of Viti Levu is sparsely populated and classically \”Bali Hai\” in appearance. The reefs for the most part offer protection from the ocean swell, but we have to pay lots of attention as in some cases they\’re invisible until you\’re right up to the edge. The good news is, the electronic charts here are very good.

We motored by lots of villages and a few modern ex-pat communities and finally passed the old city and port at Lautoka. Lautoka is the sugar capital of Fiji. There is a special dock to load the raw sugar into freighters for export. Next, we passed \”Enchanter\” anchored outside of Vuda Point and observed the marina\’s very first \”catamaran\” haul out. Rijnhard (of Enchanter) was ashore watching and didn\’t see us pass by, but said the operation went well enough. This is the same marina that told me 5 years ago to just be patient one more month and they\’d be able to haul me out to investigate a then small leak. We\’ll five years later, I\’d have been first instead of the other guy!…:-))) Needless to say, we didn\’t wait. I was told by the then marina manager at Vuda Point that the owner had been telling the same, \”be patient just one more month\” story for 5 years – 5 years ago!

We got to Denerau just around 5 p.m., tucked in our slip, dock power attached and have now had a good nights sleep.
We\’ll enjoy the main island for a few days, stock up, fuel up and a few repairs. Our solar panels are now not putting power into the batteries! Ah \”yachting\”….

There is another small weather front which we\’ll wait out here as well before proceeding to the outer island en route to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
the season is getting long and next month is officially Cyclone season here so it will indeed be time for us to be moving south and west toward Sydney.
Sydney is well south of the cyclone belt.

Internet here is good and I will really try and get some of the 7 photo blogs up that I\’m behind!
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/27 07:35
LATITUDE: 17-46.35S
LONGITUDE: 177-22.96E
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 5
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 90%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1012.5
AIR_TEMP: 26.7C
COMMENT: Beach House – DOCKED -Denerau Marina – Viti Levu, Fiji

October 23rd, 2016 (+12 on UTC)

Dear Friends and Family,
Today, we crossed the International Date Line and are now officially in the Eastern Hemisphere!

We had a long motor boat ride yesterday from Vanuabalavu to the north tip of Taveuni Island and this morning we left early and headed to the anchorage where
we could literally stand in \”yesterday, today and tomorrow\” at the International Date Line. The \”line\” only passes through three countries in the world!
Antarctica, Russia and Fiji! We now have photos of both Nikki and me standing on the Greenwich Mean Line (The Prime Meridian in England) and now the International Date Line (The Anti Meridian). Photos to be forthcoming soon as Fiji should have excellent internet.

We\’re safely on a mooring in Savusavu and we\’ll check in to Fiji sometime tomorrow morning.
KIT!!!
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/23 05:53
LATITUDE: 16-46.63S
LONGITUDE: 179-19.94E
COURSE: 069T
SPEED: 1.6
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 8
WIND_DIR: SE
CLOUDS: 80%
VISIBILITY: 30
BARO: 1011.5
AIR_TEMP: 26.7C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED -Savusavu – Vanua Levu, Fiji

21 October 2016 (+11 on UTC)

Dear Friends and Family,

We arrived yesterday mid day and found another boat, \”Kinabalu\” with Bob and Judy aboard. They had just arrived from Taveuni, Fiji
The sail from the Ha\’apai was quite breezy until we were about 70 miles out and went through a dissipating low pressure system. Fortunately, it was mostly just a bit of rain.

We\’ve anchored here in this lovely bay that reminds Nikki and I of traveling up the gorge in the Rio Dulce of Guatemala.
We decided to do \”the hike\” up to the top of the 200 meter ridge and found utter devastation up there from Cyclone Winston.
Winston\’s eye hit this island in February of this year and just ripped trees right out of the ground at Category 5!

After going thru my memories of being here 5 years ago, we finally found the track to the other side of the island and enjoyed the spectacular view of the local,
\”Bay of Islands\”. We\’ll move the boat around the island 6 miles today to anchor there. Lots of photos will be forth coming.
While in the Ha\’apai, I finally learned how to use my DRONE. Hopefully, we\’ll have some spectacular shots when I become competent at flying it!

We\’ll be here one more day before heading toward Taveuni en route to Savusavu.

KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/19 23:24
LATITUDE: 17-11.25S
LONGITUDE: 179-00.03W
COURSE: 214T
SPEED: 0.6
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 5
WIND_DIR: NE
CLOUDS: 15%
VISIBILITY: 35
BARO: 1012.4
AIR_TEMP: 33.3C
COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Bavatu Harbor, Vanua Balevu

13 October 2016 (+12 on UTC)

Dear Friends and Family,
We did the trip from \”New Potatoes\” as the cruisers call Niautopotapu in about 25 hours and covered 175 miles – all of it motoring into light southerlies.
We beat the re-establishment of the trade winds which was our goal as it would have made this trip very uncomfortable. The trade winds will start to re-establish late this afternoon. No whales so far!

We\’ve already caught up with several old friends on the radio and many of the boats we came across from Panama are here as well as many of the boats we met in French Polynesia. This is sort of a collection spot for boats prepping to go south to New Zealand. About 85% of the boats will be headed that way within the next 6 weeks, the rest of us will call seasons end between Fiji and Australia. A few are heading north for the Marshall Islands.
For us, it will be Oz. Still another fun filled 2200 nautical miles to go!

We\’re on a mooring, settling in and we\’ll go ashore in the next few hours to check in and see the lay of the land.
KIT,
All well onboard.
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/12 22:06
LATITUDE: 18-39.74S
LONGITUDE: 173-58.97W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 9
WIND_DIR: SSE
CLOUDS: 0%
VISIBILITY: 25
BARO: 1013.8
AIR_TEMP: 30.6C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Neiafu Harbor – Vava\’u, Tonga

12 October 2016 (+12 on UTC) Not across the date line yet, but \”politically\”, we\’re in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Dear Friends and Family,
We had brief 4 days in Niautoputapu (Forbidden or Secret Island), but it was quite interesting. This island only gets about 20 visiting yachts a year and that\’s a lot more than they used to get. We\’re probably the last to visit this season as Cyclone time will be upon this area soon.

This is an island that was badly damaged in the 2009 Tsunami and we got to see the evidence and hear some of the stories first hand.
We\’ll blog on that with the photo blog when we can catch up on the internet.
We left this morning around 8:30 a.m. local time and are about 1/2 way to Vava\’u, 165 miles due south of Niautoputapu.

We met a lovely young couple while we were there, Mana and Bulu and their two young children born after the Tsunami. They survived by being on the neighboring \”Volcano\” island. Their home on the main island was destroyed in their absence. Only 800 people inhabit this island.

We also weathered a pretty severe low pressure system and had a bit of a hurry up to relocate the boat in a 30 knot squall. All went according to plan and after that and a bit more rain, the weather has turned down right delightful. We had to make the decision to leave this morning as if we didn\’t, we\’d be bucking against the trade winds trying to get to our next destination, Vava\’u. This is the where most of the cruising boats head too along the main \”milk run route\” and the now, lack of wind after the storm is allowing us to motor the 165 miles overnight to arrive there tomorrow before mid day.

Tonga stretches about 600 miles, north to south in 4 island groups. Niuatoputapa is the most northerly and most remote. The Vava\’u are the second most populated and most interesting for the \”yachties\” due to their extensive cruising grounds, whale watching opportunities and good anchorages. Next further south is the Ha\’aapi (my favorite) and finally, the jumping off group is Tongatapu; the Capital and most populous.

These islands are one of the primary humpback calving grounds in the entire southern hemisphere and I\’ll be surprised when we arrive if we don\’t see several whales as we are now arriving at the height of the season. The Ha\’aapi usually has the most whales and for some reason, cruisers don\’t often stop at this most remote group. I suspect it is because the anchorages are not as well protected and the reef systems are more complex. It\’s also one of active underwater volcanic areas on Earth. Pumice can frequently be seen on the surface. The second deepest part of the ocean in the world is adjacent to these islands, the Tongan Trench. This is where the earthquake and volcanic activity arise from. You could fit Mt. Everest in the Tongan Trench and it would still have water above it.

We hear there is a lot of boats now in Vava\’u, mostly waiting to get a weather window to head South toward New Zealand for the coming South Pacific Cyclone season. We and some of the other boats will continue on West into Fiji before heading to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Lord Howe Island and finally into Sydney, Australia.

Vava\’u is noted as the best \”hurricane hole\” in the South Pacific as it\’s completely isolated from the ocean with 300 foot hills ringing in the 1/2 mile long by 1/4th of a mile wide bay.

There is supposedly decent internet available and if so, we\’ll try and catch up with some photo blogs. Hope springs eternal.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/12 07:50
LATITUDE: 17-15.88S
LONGITUDE: 173-57.07W
COURSE: 185T
SPEED: 6.6
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 8
WIND_DIR: SE
SWELL_DIR: E
SWELL_HT: 1.3M
SWELL_PER: 6
CLOUDS: 30%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1013.6
TREND: 1
AIR_TEMP: 28.3C
COMMENT: Beach House – EN Route – Vava\’u, Tonga

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/10/07 00:14
LATITUDE: 13-59.68S
LONGITUDE: 172-15.09W
COURSE: 217T
SPEED: 8.8
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 20
WIND_DIR: SE
WAVE_HT: 0.4M
WAVE_PER: 6
SWELL_DIR: E
SWELL_HT: 1.8M
SWELL_PER: 8
CLOUDS: 40%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1013.7
AIR_TEMP: 30.6C
COMMENT: Beach House – En Route – Apia, Western Samoa – Niatapatopu, Tonga

We\’ll give a full report on our tomorrow morning arrival. We really enjoyed Western Samoa
We\’ll be staying there till Wednesday when a big blow is passing by Southern Tonga.
A bit of a bumpy close reach, but tomorrow we\’ll be in safe harbor.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

Beach House – En ROUTE – Apia, Western Samoa – Now +12 on UTC and skipping a day ahead.

We had a nice stop over in Pago Pago, but are glad to be on our way. American Samoa is really sort of a \”shop/fuel/propane – take a quick look around\” and go type of experience. The Starkist Tuna Cannery is the major employer and as the smell of fish being cleaned out of their boilers permeates Pago Pago Harbor, I was just as happy to move along. We did a taxi tour of the island and shopped at a \”Cost U Less\” which is similar to Costco in the US and K.S. Market, which was close to it and well stocked. The bus system here is very inexpensive and the taxi\’s are like New York! We did three jerry can runs in the harbor for fuel, took a taxi to the markets and the propane filling station. There is an old aerial tramway that had a horrible accident back in the 1980\’s here. At a \”fly by\” the aircraft clipped the wire and all were lost aboard the aircraft. There is remnants of the old station next to the tuna cannery and on the opposite side of the bay. Some lovely colonial archetecture and of course some evidence of the 2009 Tsunami.

Pago Pago is notoriously rainy and the mountain next to the harbor is called \”Rainmaker\”. We had been led to believe that the Customs and Immigration was US Customs, but it is definitely NOT. The uniforms and badges are very similar, but it is strictly a local affair. Customs charges 100.00 USD on leaving and the harbor fee was 53.00 USD. I would not check in over the weekend or I suspect those fees would double. Pago Pago is also notorious for junk on the bottom of the harbor. One boat, \”Scoots\”, told us the Tsunami of 2009 added to the mayhem with tons of rubbish on the harbor floor. They pulled up a huge plastic bag of baby diapers on their anchor. Fortunately for us, as we left at 0400 this morning, we had only mud, no worries.

We\’re currently half way across the 37 mile wide channel en route to Apia, Western Samoa. Western Samoa, is linked extensively with New Zealand and as such, they have recently changed which side of the road they drive on and have become the Western most nation to politically choose to be in the Eastern Hemisphere, time and date wise to coordinate better with Australia and New Zealand. So when we arrive, we will change the clocks to +12 on UTC instead of -11 and jump ahead a day. The actual date line is still some 450 miles to our West, we\’ll cross that when we get to Eastern Fiji.

So KIT, we\’ll still do our update on our wonderful few days at Rose Atoll in the next few days.
A lovely day out here, just passing the Cargo Ship \”Pacific Forum\” en route to Pago Pago.
Scott and Nikki

TIME: 2016/09/29 20:05
LATITUDE: 14-11.12S
LONGITUDE: 171-05.04W
COURSE: 302T
SPEED: 6.7 (motoring)
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 9
WIND_DIR: E
SWELL_DIR: N
SWELL_HT: 1.0M
SWELL_PER: 10
CLOUDS: 30%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1012.5
TREND: 1
AIR_TEMP: 32.2C

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/09/25 07:34
LATITUDE: 14-25.16S
LONGITUDE: 169-27.57W
COURSE: 275T
SPEED: 6.9
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 16
WIND_DIR: ENE
WAVE_HT: 0.1M
WAVE_PER: 10
SWELL_DIR: E
SWELL_HT: 1.2M
SWELL_PER: 10
CLOUDS: 80%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1012.3
AIR_TEMP: 28.3C
COMMENT: Beach House -EN ROUTE – Pago Pago, American Samoa (68 miles to go)

We departed Rose Atoll after two lovely days there and I will write about it all when we arrive in Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango).
We may be stuck on the boat for a day as US Customs there is closed on the weekends.

Most of today has been a motor boat ride with light winds from astern and as Nikki\’s asleep and it\’s quite dark out tonight, I won\’t wake her to set sail, we\’ve only 10 hours or so to go. The wind just came up.

We are currently just south of the islands of Ta\’u and Manu\’a which are part of American Samoa. We also passed an area a few hours ago where it was marked \”Volcanic Activity\” (last reported 2001). Glad the water wasn\’t too hot!..:-)

Looking forward to some good old fashioned US Provisioning. There is a McDonalds and Carl\’s Jr. here as well as a Costco! Who knew!
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/09/21 19:02
LATITUDE: 13-51.31S
LONGITUDE: 165-33.63W
COURSE: 255T
SPEED: 6.5
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 10
WIND_DIR: NNE
SWELL_DIR: ENE
SWELL_HT: 1.3M
SWELL_PER: 10
CLOUDS: 15%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1013.3
TREND: -1
AIR_TEMP: 32.2C
COMMENT: Beach House -En Route – Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands – Rose Atoll, American Samoa (154 miles to go, exactly 1/2 way)

We\’ve motored the last 22 hour at between 6.5 – 7.5 knots. We haven\’t had any sail up at all until just now. The engines have been great, I note a slightly higher oil pressure on starboard than port. I\’m still a bit bitten by all that\’s gone on this season with the engines and as such pay paranoic attention to them. When we\’re motoring long distances in hot weather, having our stateroom air conditioner available (works off our inverter) is really a treat for the off watch. It\’s hot and sticky out here right now.

A very calm evening with isolated distant rain cells seen on radar which we can leave on all the time with the engines charging the batteries.

We\’ve finally got a bit of a sailing breeze at 10-11 knots from the N to NE which gives us a reaching condition. This is where the wind hits us from directly abeam; in this case from our port (left) side. We\’re sailing at between 5.5 and 7 knots. We do not expect this wind to last more than \”several hours\” and then it will really go flat according to the weather files. We want to give the engines a chance to cool and then I\’ll check everything really well before the home stretch to Rose Atoll.

Conditions are (at the moment) actually ideal in terms of sailing. The seas are flat, the wind fairly steady, boat moving along nicely with full main and geneker (our biggest headsail with the exception of the spinnaker used for more \”down wind\” work). We\’ve 154 miles to go and should be at Rose Atoll in flat seas and no wind tomorrow around 9 a.m. local time plus or minus.

We\’ll give an arrival report tomorrow once anchored (assuming we can enter – which is likely).
KIT,
Scott and Nikki