Today is 1st May 2008

It was the date we expected to leave Fiji for Vanuatu. Something I'm learning after a year on board Barraveigh is that the boat never wants to leave port after a few months rest & creates extra issues which put us behind time. Personally I can't really blame her! Its nice here in Fiji, why head out into the big blue where there is no such thing as a perfect passage!

We had good intentions to spend March & April working hard, then reward ourselves with play time out at the islands that tease us from the marina bar with their white sand glistening in the sun. We got side tracked & our departure from Fiji has been delayed a few weeks.
A health scare for Bobby resulted in a trip to Suva's (the capital) private hospital to have a mole removed. Three doctors said it was skin cancer but thankfully the biopsy is clear. It has been an emotional & scary three weeks. We have had our wake up call, lotion is smothered on our skin as soon as we awake & we have been doing our best to stay out the sun during the hottest part of the day – pretty hard to achieve living on a boat!

Whilst awaiting medical results, Bobby discovered problems with the engine. For those of you up on your boats continue reading for everyone else you can skip to the next paragraph ; ) Water was leaking from the water lock section of the exhaust. It is situated under our bed so as well as leaking water into the boat it would also leak exhaust fumes. Mending it is not so easy when you can't get the part anywhere in Fiji so a big thanks to a fellow cruiser who brought it over from Australia with her. Then Bobby noticed a weak spot in the shaft hose. The to do list was doubling by the hour. I considered banning him from checking anything else! A week or so weighing up the pros & cons of having the boat hauled out of the water to replace the hose finally gave way to attempting it in the water. A stressful day but it was a success. We will be forever grateful to Alan (s/v Kiwi Dream) who kitted up into his dive gear & jumped into the marinas dirty water to assist pulling the shaft out & plugging the hole to stop water flowing into the boat. There are very few people who would dare put even a big toe into the water as it is so dirty, (where do you think the contents of everyone's toilets go?) so he is a hero. As you are well aware by now fixing one problem leads to more problems. The shaft hose was fixed but the engine was now out of alignment. “Just realign it” I hear you say. Three days later, & a replaced engine mount (a bolt refused to move resulting in replacing the entire mount) & a day spent trying to find a 24mm spanner to do the job, we were finally back to the original “to do list”.

I have begun provisioning but it won't be anywhere near as full on as last year in Panama. The food in Fiji is pretty expensive in comparism & no where near as extensive. I just need to ensure we have the necessities to keep us going (yellow American mustard for Bobby & Pringle's for me!). Will stock up on those large & heavy items that are hard to transfer from shop to boat when you are at anchor & relying on a dingy that leaks water. Wet toilet rolls & wet cereal are no good to anyone!