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June 26-27-28, 2011

Dear F&F, Oh My!

June 26-27 We headed to Waya Island and found it frankly not overly interesting so we continued on to Manta Ray Bay Island to see the Manta Rays….not so much. We anchored next to friends on s/v \”Wetnose\” and settled in for the night. That night we went on a night dive and it was fun, but devoid of lots of the creatures I would have expected. Kate thoroughly enjoyed it; it was my first night dive in over a decade. I\’d forgotten how much I loved them.

That night, a low pressure system came over us and it started to BLOW! 25 knots steady with gusts to 40 knots. Our plan was to move to Somosomo Bay the next morning for protection and when we tried to raise the anchor, all heck broke loose. The \”geneker\” opened up unexpectedly and tore itself to shreds. It may not be repairable. I\’ll find out tomorrow from local sail maker Alan Marshall. The windlass again failed and we could not raise the anchor. We were completely safe and decided to call it a day. I dove the anchor to make sure it wasn\’t stuck on a coral \”bommie\”; it wasn\’t. So we will use \”lift bags\” in the morning to raise the anchor chain and anchor then put it away by hand.

June 28th We got up early, had breakfast and I went diving to buoy up the anchor. No drama and the gals helped me pull it up and stow it away. We\’ll have to head back to Vuda Point YET AGAIN to see if it can be fixed or move the stern windlass to the bow.

Upon arrival, Lorenzo of \”Baobab Marine\” determined it was a bent part on the windlass that was causing the problem. We\’ve fixed that and will thoroughly test it tomorrow.

Kate will be going on another catamaran off to Musket tomorrow and off to New Zealand by air the next day, we\’ll miss her.

When we came in Vuda Point, we got stuck on our starboard engine with a mooring line. I dove that to remove it…..life goes on.

I\’ll keep you posted on repairs and Sandrine and I will most likely head directly toward Savusavu over several days starting in a few days.

My phone was \”drowned\”, and I\’ll get a new one tomorrow.

KIT, Scott with the crew of s/v Beach House (Sandrine and Kate – for one more day)

June 25th, 2011

Dear F&F,

We left for the trip to Waya Island, most southern of the Yasawa\’s early as to travel the 30 miles and get settled. Kate was in \”her office\” (sun tanning of course) and Sandrine was listening to music. I did my weight workout and all was good. We arrived at Waya around noon and as lovely as it was, we just didn\’t feel we wanted to stay. So on we went the last 12 miles to Manta Ray Bay island. We anchored next to s/v Wetnose and Jim came by for a hello.

Kate and Sandrine went snorkeling and I quickly discovered that the internet despite advertisement didn\’t work here. The 3G system is supposed to be in, but it just wasn\’t happening. So back to good old \”sailmail\” and that\’s how I\’m posting this blog.

Kate decided we were going night diving as we had spoken to the local dive guide from Barefoot Plantation Resort and he said it was good right where we had anchored. So, Kate got to do her first NIGHT DIVE. I teased her about the sharks, Sandrine didn\’t want to hear about it and in we went.

I was a bit disappointed as despite the lovely coral, the ususal suspects were no where to be found. WESTERN Fiji is not known for it\’s diving. EASTERN Fiji (where we will be in about 2 weeks) is. So I\’m cutting the place slack for the time being. No moray eels, no octopus, no whitetip reef sharks. It was for me a bit disappointing, Kate of course was jazzed. She dove at NIGHT!

When we got back and cleaned up, Sandrine went up at 9 p.m. in her silks with the deck light on. She\’s getting stronger every day.

It\’s overcast now and the weather is supposed to start being really windy with some rain over the next few days.

The manta rays are supposed to be in the pass only 250 yards away; they come in at high tide which is this afternoon. We\’ll give them a snorkel try then and report back. More diving today too….

KIT, Scott and the Crew of s/v Beach House (Sandrine and Kate)

Internet is not good here, I\’m sending via sailmail, but I can download emails to beachhouse51@gmail.com

June 23rd, 2011

Dear F&F,

We fueled up, left for Navadra and passed \”Castaway Island\”. This is where Tom Hanks movie \”Castaway\” was filmed. We also were on the path of a literally UNCHARTED Island and reef which if we hadn\’t been paying attention (but of course we were), we would have run right over. It\’s only 100 yards long, but that\’s enough to ruin your entire day….. I marked it on my electronic chart for future use and we anchored in Navadra (pronounced Navandra) Island\’s lovely anchorage with two other boats.

Shortly after our arrival, Jim and crew on s/v \”Wetnose\” (originally from Marina del Rey) arrived and we went over for a visit. It was good to see a familiar face and meet Jim\’s partner and his wife, we had a nice visit.

The next day, we went for a lovely snorkel and ashore. The coral was really in good shape and my old nemisis the \”crown of thorns\” was unfortunately eating large patches of the beautiful coral for breakfast/lunch and dinner. This is a sensitive subject for me. I\’ll address this on the old website this Fall when I can. It sounds unbelievable, but this creature was somewhat instrumental in the loss of Cindy. Enough on this for now.

When ashore, a local with some tourists came up to us and told us we should leave \”sevu-sevu\” in the cave on the island. It is an uninhabited yet traditional land where to respect the ancestors we would leave a gift of Kava (Yangona) as a token of respect. Sevu-sevu is the ceremonial act of doing so. We of course know where the Kava goes, but it\’s the thought that counts, right?…:)

Kava if you don\’t know is a traditional drink in Polynesia that looks and tastes like dirty dishwater. Why then would anyone want to drink it? Glad you asked! It has a narcotic effect and you know when it\’s working as your lips go numb. The Tongan variety has so far been the best tasting, French Polynesia second and Fijians are notorious for being the biggest drinkers of Yangona, but it\’s just \”dirty dishwater\” here. At least so far. Hope on this one does NOT spring eternal…

So we then decided to go over to Waya Island (which would be our first Yasawa) for the night. The bow windlass broke yet again. This time it wasn\’t the motor, but the mechanism itself. As this was a critical system, we got it up using the electric halyard winch and did so in lengths of 15 feet at a time. This worked as an emergency \”get the anchor up\” system, but we couldn\’t live with this…..back to Vuda Point!…..

It all worked out again. The diagnosis was a stripped housing cover which would take at least a week to replace if not longer, so Lorenzo smartly \”tack welded\” it into place. It works, we\’ll leave for Waya (yet again) tomorrow.

KIT, Scott and the Crew of s/v Beach House (Sandrine & Kate)

Internet is not good here, I\’m sending via sailmail, but I can download emails to beachhouse51@gmail.com

June 21st, 2011

Dear F&F,

After Sandrine arrived at Vuda Point, the three of us went provisioning with our favorite taxi driver Abdul and then off to Musket Cove with the best of intentions to cruise the Mamanuca and Yaswawa Groups of Western Fiji. Kate will leave soon and wants to get in some more diving in (including her first NIGHT DIVE). We arrived as Musket, 2 hours from Vuda and spent a lovely few days diving the pinnacle and Sandrine got to \”fly\” in her aerial silks. (See PHOTO GALLERY).

Then we had another couple of \”boat problems\”. Ah, you remember boats?! Our generator\’s fuel starvation problem became worse to the point where it wouldn\’t stay running with any load on it. So, I went to Plan B and charged the batteries with the engines. The starboard engine then started to make this horrific sound. It was the high power alternator completely off the engine mount. I thought it was the new bearings gone bad, but wanted to check.

The next morning, I laid prostrate to the engine and did my slithering reptile \”boat boy\” best to put it all back into place. Started her up and……(drum roll). It sounded just the same! So back to Vuda Point we went after I took it all apart again.

GOOD NEWS all around: Generator. \”Atherosclerosis of the fuel lines\” Cleaned them out, changed filters, cleaned the filter housings and it works. This problem started a year ago, the guys here at Baobab Marine diagnosed and fixed it in 1/2 a day. Little did you all know that ALGAE grows in fuel. On your car, you use it so much and the gas stations tanks are so well used that water doesn\’t collect in their (or YOUR) fuel tanks. In the marine world, not so much! We don\’t use the fuel that fast as we store a lot and the humidity allows water in the tanks. Then algae grows and life can become miserable. We use biocides and water decontamination treatments, but after awhile, Mr. Bug (algae) can win. I had the tanks cleaned out in New Zealand, but the fuel lines and filter housings were forgotten. And now you know…..the rest of the story.

Alternator: The new bracket I had installed in New Zealand was rubbing against the belts. Re-shaped it, put back, we\’re good to go! Baobab comes through yet again.

Off to Navadra (pronounced Navandra) Island tomorrow.

KIT, Scott and the Crew of s/v Beach House (Sandrine and Kate)

Internet is not good here but I can download emails via sailmail at beachhouse51@gmail.com