GPS: 18 07.327S 178 25.374E
Run: 87nm (157.5km)
Yes we are in sunny Suva, well Suva. It has rained most days since we arrived in Fiji (although apparently we are on the “wet side” of Fiji!).
The water is cold 28 deg. We haven’t been game to go for a swim yet. We have been spoiled by the Isle of Wallis. Anyway back to Suva. We arrived this morning and found an anchorage outside the Royal Yacht Club. The trip was eventful. We had calculated that it would take about 26 hours, so we didn’t set off early. This meant that averaging 5 knots we would be in Suva about lunch time. Wrong, we had the main reefed right down and ran with the small staysail and we still were reaching over 7 knots, so we arrived in the dark and had to wait around outside the reef as the pass was not marked well and is not lit. In the early hours of the morning the halyard for the staysail broke (worn through) and the sail came down. A quick wet rush out on deck secured the sail, so we ran with just the main. When we got to Suva reef we had to motor back and forth to kill time till sunrise whilst manoeuvring between half a dozen fishing boats, ferry and cargo boats! We knew we were low on fuel but couldn’t tell how low because the fuel gauge died.
But we made it (with no sleep). Today a big sleep in. Tomorrow is a trip into town to get a new stainless halyard made and to stock the boat. The fuel gauge is repairable but getting fuel not so easy. The fuel pier is only 2.3m at high tide. We draw 2.5m, so it’s lots of trips with a Jerry can. The port/harbour is very busy with boats (some of the fishing boats and others are rafted together).
