Time to Go West, Sailors!

Here we are leaving Tonga for Fiji.

As the Pacific Cruising Rally moves to Vava'u, we will sail alone to Fiji some 550 nm. We are flying back to Portland, OR for our youngest son's PhD Cloaking ceremony. Dennis will return to Fiji to have the hull  bottom painted while I fly to Michigan to see our granddaughter for a week. Then I will return to the boat. There will be five more weeks in Fiji so we will sail around Fiji and visit places we missed and those we loved. From there, we will go with the Pacific Cruising Rally to Vanuatu and deliver our goods.

A couple of evenings of Sundowners on fleet boats

The passage to Fiji put me on the Passage Diet again. The Pahia Bomb didn't work! With just the two of us, my seasickness makes it challenging. It seems to be happening more frequently, too. I try to fight it, but fail most of the time. I counted that I have at least ten more passages before I am back on land. I need to get a handle on mal de mare.

We are all on Trillium for our last night

The passage to Fiji was under grey skies all the way, with mainly little showers. The seas where confused in the area where the sub tropical current was against the swells. The good part is that where there are clouds, there is wind. As a result we haven't used the engine at all. The engine would only give us another knot and we don't want to get there before the weekend as we can't clear in until Monday without paying off-hour rates. And why do that! Although miserable for me, the sail was fast as we got to Fiji in less than four full days. That is flying!

Here is the reason we have Sundowners so often. It is
just too beautiful not to enjoy with friends!

We spent a lovely weekend on the quarantine mooring outside of Vuda Marina. I wasn't sure if it was Saturday or Sunday when we arrived since we crossed the 180 degree mark on our way across from Tonga. The actual International Dateline jogs through the islands so as not to have two different days in one country. Unfortunately, without the Internet, I had no way to check it out. Hopefully the officials won't give us grief if we were on the mooring too long before clearing in with them.

It is always nice to come "home" to Vuda Marina in Fiji.

We are heading to the USA for Nick's PhD cloaking and graduation. His whole family will be in Portland, OR to celebrate his achievement! I am going on to Detroit for a little granddaughter love. We have been missing each other! Dennis will return to the boat to oversee the antifouling bottom painting and other projects.

 

 

We are still undecided as to where we return to NZ in November or sail to Brisbane AU. There are pro and cons to both. The suspense is killing me - as is the mal de mare! So that is the latest from S/V Trillium.