Fiji

Arrived in Fiji very late Thursday night and the wind was blowing strongly with rain and it was pitch black when we tried to anchor at the mouth of the river where the Copra Shed Marina is based in Suvasuva. All very dramatic with gusts of up to 30 knots but we made it OK and got to bed by midnight. We were following Peat Smoke as they have better electronic charts than we do and we did not wan t to make any mistakes and end up on a reef!! The following day was spent clearing in with Health, Customs, Immigration and Bio security(foods and garbage). After the health officer had given us our Pratique we were moved to a Marina mooring Buoy just outside the Marina Office so very convenient!! Lunch ashore with David and Caroline (Peat Smoke) which was very cheap. We also had dinner ashore later in the evening and that was also cheap - £30 for the two of us to have a two course meal with wine! Suvasuva is lovely, everyone is so friendly and nothing is too much trouble. The population seems to be mainly Indian here (actual statistics are 60% Indian and 40% Fijian). There are a lot of cheap shops in the main town and cheap internet access and services. We have just left our oldest computer with a very helpful Indian called Firoz who is cleaning the PC up and putting Windows 7 onto it all for F$70 or about £24!! Today we are hiring a car for a couple of hours to do some exploring around the island of Vanua Levu which is one of the two main islands in Fiji. Also we have booked to attend a seminar run by a local cruiser here called Curley who has sailed the Fiji waters for years and apparently gives good information about the passes reefs and anchorages, the seminar lasts 2/3 hours so good value we hope at F$10 or around £3.30! We expect to stay in Savusavu for a few days before moving on next week to the main town of Nadi to do some provisioning before heading off to the World ARC rendezvous at Musket Cove Marina (one of the most exclusive yacht clubs in the world!) on 4 July. The rally departs for Vanuatu on 7 July. Weather is pleasantly hot and sunny during the day and cooling down at night so trousers and long sleeves for evenings.