Camelot V - Update 9
April 7/00

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Fiji

Well I can not believe it has been so lone since I upgraded this page. I can not believe I have been in Fiji so long I can not believe the weather has been so nice. And I can not believe how fat I am getting. But I am thinking very hard about going on a diet.

Vuda Point Pub Click to enlarge

The stay here at Vuda Point Marina has been good, but we have been here almost six months and the old feeling of moss growing on the feet is back.
But before we get into the excitement of leaving let me tell you a bit about our stay.
Lautoka and Nadi which by now are sounding like old home town names are both nice little cities and between them both we have found we can buy most anything and get good work done at a reasonable price.
The stay in the marina has been very pleasant with about ten or fifteen boats staying right on through and about the same amount temporarily on the hard or left in the water while the folks went home to visit family or work. Enough that we had our own little community here, but still changing a bit all the time.
After Muriel arrived we spent a lot of time just getting familiar with the area, finding where the buses ran where the shopping was, how the banks and email systems worked. But then we got into our routine of just living and enjoying the good friends around us.
Muriel and Sherry from the boat Time Out organized biweekly pot luck dinners where we all ate some of the best food anyone could hope for. With Rob from Calypte helping them to organize a Christmas lovo that was simply phenomenal. A friend we had met, Sanjay and his wife Malini, came to the yacht club and did the cooking for us. We cooked two turkeys three chickens one ham and all the vegetables in the lovo. and as well everyone brought salads and deserts. In all we had about 30 to 40 people present and we had a lovely Christmas dinner on the beach under beautiful clear blue sky with the southeast trades blowing at us lightly off the warm Pacific. It was a perfect day and one we all dream of in the South Pacific.

Anchored at Musket Cove Click to enlarge

Then we just lived here for a couple of months. Took a buss trip over to Suva and around the island.
We got out of the marina a couple times on a 2 or 3 day trip to Musket Cove. Then it was time to do our haul out and get fresh zinks and bottom paint before our company started to arrive. Our friends Tex and Karen came for a visit and we again got over to Musket Cove for a nice few days. Then my two sisters Lois and Corinne came for about a week. Karen had gone back home by then and the rest of us went back to Musket Cove. After Lois and Corinne left it was also time for Muriel to travel back to Canada to get some business done and visit the family.
This just left Tex and I aboard so with another yachty friend, Rob from the Yacht Calypte, we again sailed for Musket Cove. This time with a goal in mind. Rob and I were to get our Dive Certificates. Which was a good time spent and our goal achieved.
Now it is time to get out of the marina and shake the cob webs of the sails. Tex, I and Jerry, another friend who flew down, will be bound for Savusavu with a few stops and detours along the way to do some exploring, snorkeling and diving. We plan to be gone within a day or two.